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Mira Ch. 01

By: tentaichi



I'd thought I had gotten away with staying in my room before my mum came knocking on my door. With a silent sigh I pulled off my headphones and spun around on my chair as the door opened.

"Amy, sweetie, it's dinner time now. Don't you want to come down?" I shook my head. I didn't want to spend time in close proximity to my family. I could survive without dinner, especially with the multitude of snacks I had hidden around my room.

"You can't avoid us forever," my mum looked down at me, smiling sadly. "You have to get off that computer sometime." I did everything short of grunt to display my moody teenage apathy. I heard the door click closed, and turned back towards my computer screen.

Recently I had been getting more and more interested in a small social networking game: ROSE. It was basically a life simulator: you walked around, talked to people, earned money from jobs to buy accessories for you and you virtual home. The customisation was amazing, and you could design anything that didn't already exist. My clothes in it were designed for me by a friend I had met on a different game about a year ago, and since I had started wearing them several strangers had asked if they could use the designs. Not that that ever happened in real life.

I looked down at myself. My figure had always been disappointing to me, too thick around the belly to be a pleasant sight. My mother and sister tried to compliment it, calling it "cuddly," but with my sister being thin as a twig I felt like shit in comparison. A fair portion of fat did reside in my boobs, giving me a decent 36D bust, however the ache of carrying them all the time wore away any happiness I got from that. Even my short black hair conspired to make me look bad, it hadn't been touched except for an occasional trim for several years yet still refused to grow past my neck.

For a long time I had felt myself becoming unhappy with my real body, and withdrew into the internet to find people who couldn't see what I was really like. I could put on a persona and they would believe it, because they had nothing else to base me off. I was whoever I chose to be. Even then I didn't have many friends, as I found it difficult to put the time in to keep in contact. Most of my time on the internet was spent alone.

I was taken out of my reverie by a dinging noise from my computer, indicating a new in-game message. It was from an admin of ROSE, and bore an interesting message:

"Happy birthday Amy! You turned 18 one week ago, and have been an active player of our little game for a while longer. As a reward for your ongoing support, we would like to offer you a free trial of our newest feature, a fully immersive reality simulator! Simply take the code at the bottom of this message to your local Give & Take Internet Café, tell them your name and enjoy this amazing new experience."

At the bottom was a code followed by some legal nonsense. I had no idea what it meant by reality simulator and at first had no intention of doing anything about it whatsoever. Then my mum's attempts to get me out of the house and doing things came into my head, and I decided that I might as well try to enjoy what was apparently a unique experience - and get my mum off my back at the same time.

The next day I found myself outside the internet café in town, having taken the bus. Nervously I approached a woman dressed in the company uniform and told her I played ROSE. She took me through a door in the back, down a corridor and into a room painted black with a single glass door on the other side.

"May I please see your code?" She asked. I handed over the paper I had written it on, and the woman typed it into a tablet she carried under her arm. "Welcome Amy - or should that be Mira?" She said with a smile, using the name of my character. "Step through the door, sit on the chair, and get ready to enjoy this amazing experience."

My hands were shaking as the I walked through the now open glass door. I had no idea what was going to happen, and it was too late to back out now. Inside there was a large chair, similar to a dentist's but made of leather. I sat and it automatically reclined until I was lying facing the ceiling. Before I could properly wonder what was going on, a series of bright lights burst from a screen over my face, and everything faded out.

When I came back to my senses, I was in an unfamiliar shop. The only other person around was a smiling, fairly old man behind the counter.

"Welcome Mira!" He exclaimed, smiling warmly. "You may be a little confused. As one of the most loyal players of ROSE, we have decided to gift you free access to one of our experimental features. This world here - the shop, the items, even you and me - may seem to be real, but is in fact being simulated by our technology."

I looked down at my hands. Surely he couldn't be serious? Everything was perfect. I would have believed that I had just passed out in the chair and brought into this shop for some reason, but apparently I was seeing a virtual world.

"If you don't believe me, try taking a look in that mirror over there." I stepped to where he was pointing and gasped. Instead of the dumpy girl with glasses I was used to ignoring in the mirror, a beautiful woman with long, strawberry-blonde hair, a slim figure and an amazingly cute face stared back at me. Even my clothes looked just like the ones my friend had designed for me on ROSE. This was my avatar, Mira, and somehow I was inside her.

"My my, you are pretty aren't you!" I remembered the clerk and walked over to the counter, speechless. "It's all overwhelming isn't it? We are definitely living in the future, being able to do this! Now, where we are is a private server, so only those users who also have access to this version of the game can join. Don't worry; at home you can still join all of your friends in every activity you love about ROSE, but until this technology goes public I'm afraid it's just you and a select bunch.

"Don't get worn down by that though, there's plenty to do and plenty of new people to meet! Tell you what," he said furtively, leaning close, "why don't I give you a new dress? Something exclusive and fun, to really show off these graphics." He winked and handed me a bag with what seemed to be a dress inside, complete with stockings and underwear. "Go on, get changed!"

I blushed bright red. "Wh- what? Here?" I whispered, shocked at what he seemed to be suggesting.

Instead the clerk just started laughing. "This is a game my dear, you don't need to strip down to change outfit! Just think about opening the menu and it will come up. From there you can change your clothes to whatever you happen to have on hand." I felt embarrassed at my stupidity. Of course I wouldn't be expected to strip, in what game do you need to take your clothes off before you can change? Trying to move past that blunder, I tried bringing up the menu like he had said.

A glowing green interface now hovered in front of me, and I moved it along by waving my hand until it reached the clothes button. I pressed it, and was presented with two choices: the clothes I was already wearing, and the clothes just handed to me. Apparently I could separate the outfits to look at what they consisted of, and then mix and match, but right now I just wanted to change into my new dress. I pressed it, and my body shimmered for a moment.

"Bravo!" The clerk exclaimed, clapping enthusiastically. "Well go on, take a look!" It took a second for me to work out what he meant, but then I turned around and ran to the mirror. What I saw was incredible.

The dress was a beautiful red, with gold trimmings around the cuffs and the neckline. It was cut under my breasts which were instead covered by a white button-up shirt, and the collar was clasped around my neck with a black bow. The skirt stopped around mid thigh, with pale pink ruffles coming out of the bottom, just a couple of inches above the top of my white stockings. I was absolutely breathtaking.

"Thank you!" I shouted to the clerk, who was still smiling widely, "it's the most amazing dress I've ever owned."

"I'm glad you like it," he replied. "It was designed especially for you." I was shocked out of my happiness by an odd feeling. An itching sensation somewhere unsociable. My smile faltered as I tried to surreptitiously reach under my dress and scratch at my itching, insistent asshole. My fingers didn't meet flesh however. Instead, something stiff seemed to be attached to the back of my panties, and attempting to move it caused my asshole to feel like it was being pulled.

The clerk's smile never faltered. "Oho, you have discovered the attachment! Are you enjoying it?" My eyes bulged. He knew it was there? What was it? Why hadn't he told me?

"What is it?" I asked, scared.

"Simply a small plug. We want everyone in this world to be as comfortable as possible, and I am told many celebrities use these to help them relax in their stressful lives. Here, let me show you." He pulled out from under the counter what appeared to be a small remote control. He turned a dial, and instantly the plug started to vibrate.

"I -" I started. "Oh, oh god. Please, please," I was stuttering, unsure of what I wanted to say. The vibrations seemed to run through my entire body, making me shiver with a feeling I couldn't quite put my finger on. Deciding to take matters into my own hands, I reached behind me intending to pull the plug out.

Hands gripped my wrists and held them in front of me. "Please trust me," the clerk smiled, somehow now out from behind the counter. "I assure you, you will regret it if you don't experience this."

I had never had anything in my ass before. My infrequent masturbation sessions had been fun, but I had never strayed south of my pussy. These sensations were completely new. The itching hadn't faded, but the vibrations were something different. Not pleasurable, but not annoying or bad; just different.

"Now let me show you something you can't do in the real world. Just to make sure you realise how good this place is." My eyes were closed so I couldn't see what he did, but soon I felt yet another new feeling in my ass. As I realised what was happening, my eyes shot open. The plug was changing shape! Elongating, widening, then shrinking back down. Sometimes it would rotate, sometimes it would just stretch a couple of inches more into my ass, then shrink down again.

"We're just getting started, don't worry." I was watching this time. My arms had been released without me noticing but the clerk was still in front of the counter, holding the remote. He moved a slider along, and the plug seemed to start retracting, pulling out of my back door. I gasped, hoping it was over, but the clerk smiled and kept staring at me.

With a sudden push the plug went back into me. It slid easily, but the feeling it gave me was nothing like what had been happening before. A warm, full sensation started in my belly before the plug was pulled out again, my asshole stretching over the thicker parts of it. My eyelids flickered and a gasp tore from my throat.

"Bear in mind, this plug is only 8 centimetres long. At its widest it may be 2 centimetres in diameter. I could be filling you much more if you ask." I shook my head. I tried to tell him I didn't even want this, but the plug kept moving in and out, in and out, over and over and I couldn't even attempt to form enough words to tell him to stop it.

The change was so gradual I didn't notice it at first. The full sensation that came to me when the plug was at its deepest was changing, and I found myself wishing the next thrust would come faster, that the plug would spend longer in me. I had both hands on the counter, leaning over as if an actual person was fucking me from behind instead of an inanimate object. Every movement of the plug was accompanied by my gasping, and it was with some surprise that I felt the first trickle of moisture run down my thigh.

I could barely believe it. This ass fucking was getting me wet enough for some of my juices to go rolling down my leg. The warmth and fullness was still there, but now it was pleasurable. I was enjoying myself. I was enjoying myself so much that I found I wanted more. I couldn't resist, and there was nothing for me to push my ass back onto. If I wanted this in me deeper, there was only one thing I could do.

"More." It was a whisper. I might not even have said it, instead continuing with my gasps. "More." This time I had collected myself and created an audible word. I didn't see it, but I could imagine the clerk's smile widening as he fiddled with settings on the remote. The change wasn't gradual, instead coming at once.

The plug widened until it must have been well over an inch in diameter, and the next thrust felt like it went over 15 centimetres into my ass. The gasps from my mouth were now definitely closer to moans, and the single drop of wetness down my leg had turned into a very wet patch on the front of my panties with more drops coming down every second. All the pleasure in my ass was building and felt like it was about to peak when I heard a click from behind me, and the vibrating turned back on.

Suddenly I came explosively. My eyes rolled back and my mouth opened wide, letting screams of pleasure fly from my lips. My butthole clenched and relaxed around the plug still sliding in and out of me. I felt my tight hole stretch further and for a brief moment wondered whether it would remain as tight as before, but soon the pleasure of coming washed every thought away. It was bliss. The constant movement of the plug had me feeling better than I had ever felt in my life. Everything carried on, but I couldn't hold my eyes open. My head fell down and lay on the counter, with the plug still moving in and out, stretching my butt with every thrust.

I had no idea how much time had passed, but when I came to my senses I was lying back on the leather chair, gasping, with the last vestiges of the amazing feelings in my ass fading away. My panties were wet, but I felt behind me and could find no evidence of anything having been in my ass. Apparently it had all been virtual after all. Shakily I got to my feet and left the room.

Mira Ch. 02



Alright guys, you asked for it. So here it is. But, I must remind you all that for every chapter of this one you get it'll be that much longer before you see another chapter of Leader of the Pack. :P So do be patient with me. I'm already being delayed by work and school. As much as I'd like to be a full time writer it's not been in my cards thus far. Maybe someday…

*Chapter 2*

The black was spinning and swaying drunkenly in Mira's head as she woke. She groaned as she felt the nausea and dizziness twist her stomach. When she opened her eyes she found herself in complete darkness. The fire had gone out in the hearth. How long have I been asleep, she wondered.

At first she didn't remember where she was. The bed was warm and the bedding was silky. This wasn't her bed was it? The black was heavy on her chest and her stomach suddenly heaved. When she tried to lean over the edge of the bed to vomit, her muscles didn't want her obey her urgent command. As she began to heave she found the strength to turn over just in time to lose the bile in her stomach down the side of the silky bed sheets and all over the floor.

Mira groaned as she continued to heave and nothing came out. The bile she'd lost smelled foul and tears came to her eyes as pain joined the weakness in her muscles all over her body. She had never felt so sick in her life. Her head screamed its upset at her for having moved at all, searing down her neck and shoulders and back to mingle with the sore tired pain that started in her legs and moved up her chest.

With more effort than it should have taken she managed to work herself onto her back at an angle in the bed. But at least her head wasn't dangling over the vile smell that the bile vomit was emanating from the side of the bed. Confusion and fear spread through the sick and pain. Where am I? Her brain didn't want to think. It hurt too badly. Suddenly she realized what had brought her from the bliss of unconsciousness into nightmare reality. She needed to use the chamber pot. She racked her brain to try and remember where in the black it might be. As she tried desperately to remember, flashes of where she was and what had happened to her began to flash across her vision in blinding clarity. Her hand reached unsteadily downward to find the hair on her mound matted and crusted to her body with his dried spendings. Mira withdrew her hand as if it were on fire.

Butterflies joined the nausea in Mira's stomach and stirred it to the point that she began to heave again. She was grateful for her empty stomach as she felt her jaw extend, her throat contract, and her muscles jerk painfully. There was no way she could roll over again and if there had been anything in her, it would now have been on her. But now her bowels were complaining more violently. It was all she could do to keep from peeing the bed. More tears squeezed out from under her eyelids. 

Mira threw the blankets off to the side of the bed. Determination boiled in her as she forced herself to sit up. She whimpered with each movement as she lifted one leg and then the other off the edge of the bed. She sat there a moment, breathing heavily and gathering her strength as she tried to judge the distance to the chamber pot in her mind. She could picture it under the small stand, against the far wall, fifteen or maybe twenty feet from where she was. It's not that far, Mira reassured herself. 

A gurgling in her stomach urged her to move. Mira scooted forward until her feet touched the carpeted stone floor. The room was starting to spin again. Mira took a deep breath and tried to stand. For a moment, she actually believed she was going to manage to get to her goal. Without warning her legs gave out as they felt her weight. Mira cried out as she tumbled to the floor. She grabbed for support only to topple the small stand next to her bed. There was a loud crash as the porcelain pitcher that had been on the stand hit the stone floor. Mira heard the sickening thud as her head hit the floor. Pain screamed through her skull. A monstrous image of a pale skinned creature with empty eye sockets and a mouthful of fangs enveloped her. Mira felt liquid warmth puddle and flow over her thighs as she began to black out.





Mira Ch. 02



Mira lounged in her dorm room, toggling between procrastination and her history paper on her lap top, when Loren stormed through the door. Mira winced watching as the door slammed against the wall, denting the plaster. 

"Jesus Loren!" 

"I can't believe that asshole had the nerve to just break up with me out of the fucking blue," Loren exclaimed throwing her school bag on her bed. 

"Chase broke up with you?" Mira asked carefully, watching Loren fume. 

"Yeah. He said some bullshit about how I was screwing around with Wes and it was the last straw or some shit."

"Well, you were screwing around with Wes, among other people." 

Loren shot her a withering glare. "Don't defend his point of view, I'm the woman wronged."

"You cheated on him. That's cause for a divorce or death in some places let alone a break up. It's not like you're sorry about it." 

Loren mulled the thought over. "Whatever. I only came back to him for the great sex."

Mira shook her head, wondering if Chase would say the same. 

Instead of succumbing to the pressure to join her roommate and the other girls for a "Boys suck" girls' night out, Mira made an excuse about having work, and headed over to Chase's apartment. He opened the door just as she was about to knock. 

"Hi." 

He smiled, taking her hand and tugged her through the doorway. 

"Where is everyone?" she asked, looking around the space. 

"They left after pre-gaming here, to cheer me up." 

"Yeah, I heard you broke it off with Loren. She's livid and probably making out with everyone who buys her a drink." 

"I am still kicking myself for waiting so long to end it. We were terrible together. I guess I got comfortable and didn't want to look for something better." 

Mira let her bag slide of her shoulders to the floor as she reached to wrap her arms around his neck. "I'm glad you are looking for something better. But seriously, if you just want to hang out, that's fine with me. I am here for you." 

Chase shook his head. "I want you. In my bed, in my arms, in the kitchen, in the shower, you get the picture. I want you completely nude. Or just in heels. I want to finally be with you, no qualms, no crazy girlfriend in the way." 

Mira grinned. "I think that could be arranged."

Chase walked out of the bathroom in his boxers to see Mira, her knees up and her feet in black stilettos. She had her eyes closed, her head resting on the pillows with her hair curling around her face and her legs splayed open as she played with herself. He smiled, leaning against the door jamb, watching her alternatively tweak her nipples as she circled her clit with the pad of her finger or plunged her fingers into her vagina.

"Are you going to join me or should I keep going?" she asked, watching him from beneath her lashes. 

"I was enjoying the show." 

"Well, I would enjoy the show more if you come join me."

Chase arched his eyebrow. "Oh really?"

"Yep. So why don't you lose the shorts and come hither," she teased. 

"Don't look at me." He turned his back to her, his hands at his hips, hooking his thumbs under the elastic waistband. 

Mira laughed as he rotated his hips, shaking his ass as he lowered his boxers before climbing on the bed. "Very nice." 

"Oh thanks." He positioned himself between her legs, his nose almost touching the back of her hand as she lightly caressed herself. Looking up at her, he kissed along her right thigh and then her left. She moved her hand to the top of his head, tangling her fingers in his hair as he purposefully refrained from giving her clit attention. He sucked on her outer lips and then the more sensitive inner lips, watching her expression as she tried to keep her eyes from drifting closed. 

Mira let a little gasp escape her as Chase began thrust his tongue deep into her hot pussy. He licked upward, from her vagina to her clit, using broad strokes.

"Do you like that?" he asked, his breath hot against her skin. 

"Yes," she breathed. 

"Yes what?"

"Yes, I like it when you lick my pussy." 

"Like this?" He flattened his tongue, stroking her clit. She arched her back, whimpering as he slid his middle finger, palm up, into her wet vagina. He curled his finger, feeling the small rough patch he was looking for, adding his index finger. Chase could feel Mira's muscles clamp down on his fingers as he began to slowly thrust in and out of her while he licked her clit. 

"Chase," she said, her hips raised above the bed, her fingers tightening in his hair. 

"Mmmhmm?" 

The vibrations from the sound against her clit made her sink her teeth into her lip. "Don't tease me." 

Chase focused on his task. He alternated flicking her clit with the tip of his tongue and licking in broader strokes increasing his pace in increments. His fingers deep inside her kept a steady rhythm, stroking that spot within her.

Chase lifted his mouth off her clit, just enough to speak, when he first felt her begin to tighten. "Do you want to come?" 

"Yes I want to come."

"Are you close?" He asked, already knowing the answer. 

"So close." Her eyes were screwed tight, drops of moisture beading on her eyelashes. Her chest rose with each pant.

"Don't come until I say you can." 

"I want to, badly." 

"Don't." He began licking and flicking her clit, one hand thrusting hard and deep into her pussy and reaching up to grip the nipple she wasn't already tugging and twisting. 

"Please?" she gasped.

"Please what?" he said without lifting his mouth from her.

"Let me come, please let me come." 

Chase returned to licking her clit, watching her writhe on the bed. "Okay you can come now." 

She cried out, back arched as he brought her over the edge, sending her into convulsions. He smiled as she drenched his fingers, slowing his pace. When she caught her breath, she opened her eyes to watch him licking her juices from his fingers. 

"You make me come so hard. Thanks."

"You are welcome." He gave her another lick before straddling her legs and moving up her body to kiss her. 

Mira moved to put her arms around him but he caught her wrists and pinned them behind her head with his hand. Chase kissed along her cheek bone, licking behind her ear and catching her earlobe with his teeth. ¬¬¬

"I like that you take control," she murmured as he blew warm air against her dampened skin. 

"Always?" 

"I don't know. Not always I guess." She gasped a little when he caught her nipple with his teeth, sucking on her tender breast, one after the other. 

"We'll figure it out along the way."



Mira Ch. 02



I woke up in my bed at home, with no memory of getting back. Vague images and thoughts ran out of my mind like water through my fingers. After a minute of concentration, it came to me. Everything that had happened yesterday.

Lying in bed, I tried to reason with myself. It was in the game. It wasn't real. Nobody could prove it had happened. But that didn't change the fact that it did happen.

Nor did it change how good it had felt.

I tried to be normal, going through the motions like I would on any other day. Go downstairs, have breakfast, have some kind of talk from mum, ignore mum, go back upstairs, boot up my computer. When I logged into ROSE on instinct without even noticing is when I couldn't pretend any more. There was a new message in my inbox.

"Hi Amy! We noticed you tried out our new feature yesterday. Was it as good as we hope it was? We welcome any feedback or suggestions you may have. Simply reply to this message with any comments, even just to tell us you liked it! Have a great time on ROSE today!"

I swallowed hard. Should I tell them? Did they realise what had happened there yesterday? If it was still being trialled, surely they would keep watch on the players. My mouse hovered over the reply button, wondering what to do. Eventually though, I just sighed. There was no way I could put it into words. And then there was the embarrassment of sharing such a thing with strangers over the internet. Instead I closed my browser and fell back down onto my bed.

I had to go back. I knew it was eventually going to happen, that my curiosity and memory of the pleasure would override every sensible part of me, making me march out of the door and into that world. The only question was when. I felt myself tense up, worried about my lack of self-control. Sinister, whispering parts of my mind tried to justify going back.

"It won't necessarily be like the last time. You can act like you're just playing ROSE, but in this amazing virtual world! You can find out what they've done with it, what you can do. You are one of the very first humans to be part of a virtual reality. Why aren't you taking this opportunity?

"Even if history does repeat itself, what's so bad about that? You enjoyed it last time, and you were resisting. Imagine just how good it will feel when you give in. You're going to do it anyway, why not now?"

I tried taking a deep breath. It took me a couple of seconds, but I got there. My mind was made up.

Since I was so nervous, everything went past me in a blur. Before I knew it, I had got dressed in clothes suitable for going out, made my excuses to my mum, got on the bus and ended up outside the internet café. Walking in, I saw the woman who had helped me yesterday. She noticed me too and smiled widely, walking towards me.

"You're back! I was hoping you would be. Follow me, I have something for you." She led me to a desk and stepped behind it, reaching underneath to pull out a small envelope.

"This is your card. It only arrived this morning so I couldn't give it to you yesterday, but this will let you get in without needing to be escorted. Of course, if you do need help of any kind, stop me and I'll be right on it."

Throughout all of this she kept smiling, and I tried to reciprocate. The ball of tension in my belly was too much for me to overcome however, and I probably just looked like I was ill. She looked a little worried, and placed a reassuring hand on my shoulder.

"I'm serious," she spoke calmly. "Anything you need, come straight to me. Whatever it is." I told her that I was fine, and after a second she nodded.

"Have a nice day."

Before getting in the leather chair this time I walked around it, looking for the equipment that allowed my mind to enter a computer. There was no evidence of anything under the chair, or even on the ceiling where the lights that had made me pass out came from. I resigned myself to not knowing, then took a couple of breaths to steel myself. Ready for what was to come, I got in the chair.

This time when I had recovered, I found myself in my room. Not my real bedroom, but a perfect recreation of the bedroom I had made in ROSE. The wallpaper was designed by me, but all the bed linen and furnishings were basic ones from the shop. I looked around, astounded by how real everything was. The entire room had been lifted from the cartoonish style of ROSE I was used to, and had become indistinguishable from Earth.

I was in the dress I had received yesterday, but a quick check of my panties revealed that there was nothing in my ass. I looked it up on the menu, and somehow the plug had become separated from the rest of my outfit. I could recombine it if I wanted to, but with a shiver I closed the menu again.

While I was thinking about what to do, a message popped up in front of me, telling me that for logging in I had received 5000 points. This was confusing to me. It was normal to get points for logging in - once a day you received 1000 points - but it had never been 5000. 1000 was about enough to get you a small accessory. If you wanted anything bigger you had to save, work or gamble. With my new-found wealth in hand, I decided the item shop would be the best place to call upon first.

The first thing I saw upon stepping into the shop was the clerk. He looked the same as yesterday, smiling obliviously, and I felt all of my nerves suddenly build up inside of me again. I closed my eyes tightly to steady myself, then walked up to him when I was ready.

"Hello Mira, lovely to see you again! I trust you are having a pleasant day? What can this shop provide for you?" I asked him about the 5000 points, the first thing that came to my head.

"Well, we want to encourage people who have access to this world to use it! For that reason, for the time being, every person who logs into ROSE through virtual reality will receive 5 times the normal daily points. Now, I understand you must have cash to burn what with your sudden windfall, so might I recommend a new item?"

I nodded slowly, wondering what it might be. Reaching under the counter, he said:

"It is called the pink butterfly. I believe it may be to your liking." He placed something on the counter, then stood back so I could examine it.

It appeared to be a smooth cylinder, like a bullet round at both ends. It was about an inch long and a little over a centimetre in diameter. Out of one end came a wire which led to a larger square with a dial on it. It was all coloured bright pink.

"What is this? What do you use it for?"

The clerk looked puzzled for a moment before chuckling. "For your ass of course. This item is intended to bring you pleasure like you have never felt before."

I froze, eyes wide. Again? He was trying to get me to have something in my butt again? A voice in the back of my mind told me I shouldn't really be so surprised, but I didn't listen to it.

"No, sorry, I- I can't." I stuttered, walking backwards towards the door. "That - not again, no -"

He interrupted me softly. "Mira, I know yesterday may have been startling for you. But trust me, please. All I am trying to do is help you realise a way to be happy. Yesterday I had to be forceful so that you could experience it once, but today I hope you can make the decision to do it again, at your own pace. You can take this butterfly away for just 3000 points, try it out, and then see why you should be listening to your body right now. Your body wants this, Mira. You just need to let your mind out of the way."

I felt like slumping to the ground. My body did want it, I was sure of that. But this wasn't the sort of thing a person should enjoy. I was still a virgin, yet this shopkeeper was trying to sell me toys to stick in my asshole. It was all too much.

"I'll... I'll take it." My voice surprised me somewhat, but I walked back over to the counter, palm out. The clerk smiled and put the butterfly in my hand. I turned away and almost ran through the door, a scared little girl escaping a situation she couldn't handle.

Back in my room, I chucked the pink device onto my bed. I could barely believe that I had just bought it, or what I was intending to do with it, but I couldn't deny what my body was telling me. I knew before I checked that the front of my panties was damp.

I turned away and took a few steps. I nodded slightly, trying to get the will to carry on, then slowly pulled my panties off and chucked them to the side. I debated whether to take off my dress, but I felt more confident in it somehow, since I had been wearing it yesterday during my first experience. Besides, with the skirt being so short and light it wouldn't get in the way at all.

I spun around on my heel and walked towards the bed. Reaching down to pick up the butterfly, I noticed a small pink tube next to it, labelled "personal lotion" and I realised it must have come with the toy to use as lube. Before I could change my mind I sat down and squeezed a generous amount onto my fingers. Despite this the tube didn't seem to have any less in - the game must be replenishing it for me.

I lay down, lifted my bum up to pull the skirt under it, and reached towards my asshole with the fingers I had dumped lube onto. I didn't know exactly what to do; this wasn't the sort of thing normally talked about in sex ed, so I just smeared a load around my hole. The cold surprised me and I flinched, but my fingers kept rubbing and it gradually warmed up, relaxing me.

I kept rubbing softly, wondering what to do next. Should I go straight for the toy? Or should I try with a finger first to get a little lube inside me? I decided to go with the latter, to make sure I was fully prepared. The butterfly was about the thickness of my finger, so I knew that if I could get one inside, I was ready.

I got a little more lube on my finger first, then pressed it firmly against my tight hole. My flesh yielded a little, but my finger didn't go inside. I pushed slowly, not trying to force it, when suddenly I felt my hole open to the intruder and my finger slid in to the first knuckle. Pulling it out to make sure it wasn't stuck or anything, I collected more lube that had been smeared over my ass and went again.

This time my finger slid in on the first push. Once inside, I didn't stop. My finger slid almost without resistance right down to the base, and I gasped at the sensation. There was no pain whatsoever, instead all I felt was a slight fullness and a warmth in my belly. The pleasure I remembered from yesterday wasn't there - at least until I started moving.

When I pulled my finger out I was just meaning to get it out of the way, since I had decided I was ready for the toy. However, what I didn't count on was the pleasure of something sliding out of my asshole. A shiver of joy ran up my spine and I started breathing more heavily. I could feel the moisture in my crotch grow until a couple of drips ran down my pelvis. I didn't want to wait for the toy anymore, instead pushing my finger back inside so I could slowly pull it out again. My eyes closed as I let out my first moan.

The feeling was incredible, like nothing I had ever felt before. It was completely different to the pleasure I got fingering my front. My eyes were closed, but my spare hand clumsily groped the bed around me, looking for the butterfly. The tips of my fingers caught onto the wire and I grabbed it and pulled it down to my ass. All this time my finger was still sliding in and out of my tight hole, the ring of muscle at the edge relaxing with every shuddering breath I took.

I didn't want to go a second without the pleasure I was feeling, so as fast as possible I grabbed the bullet end of the butterfly, took my finger out of my ass and slid the toy in in its place. I may have been a bit overzealous in pushing the butterfly in, since with a quiet pop it went right the way into my ass, pink wire hanging out now the only way remove it.

The feeling wasn't there though, I realised. What had been so great before wasn't just having something in my ass, not that that wasn't nice, but the movement of something inside me, stretching my entrance and rubbing sensitive spots I didn't know existed. It was then I remembered the remote. I picked it up and carefully moved the dial by one notch.

The butterfly started vibrating, and I dropped the remote as the feeling swept over me. The vibrations spread across my entire body, reverberating in my ears and running down my arms and legs, but most important was what it was doing to my ass. The tingling massage was probably the best thing I had ever felt in my life, a golden glow of pure pleasure coming from inside me. I could feel my hole clench and unclench as my breaths got shorter and more desperate, becoming moans and screams of joy.

My first orgasm of the day swept over me shortly after, filling my head with white light. I arched my back and screamed from the sensations, shivers running everywhere through my body, and I felt a rush of juice coming out of my pussy. It wasn't a proper squirt, just a lot dribbling out of me, but nothing like that had ever happened. It was the best orgasm of my life, the scary part being that I wanted more. 

The musk of my own vagina crept up my nostrils, and fingers from both hands scrabbled to reach my back door. My right hand got there first, rubbing its middle finger around the hole before plunging into the slick entrance, sending another rush down my body. My left hand closed around the remote, and slid the dial up several more notches. I cried out as the buzzing from inside me got louder, and the feelings from inside me got more intense.

The butterfly was acting oddly. I didn't notice at first, preoccupied as I was with the fingers passing in and out of my asshole, but it seemed to be inching deeper into me. The vibrations were getting more and more pleasurable the further it went and all of this overwhelming bliss was stopping my normal nervous response. Instead of getting worried, I basked in my steadily increasing feelings and readied a second finger to try and get into my ass. I removed the first completely, then lined them up at the entrance before taking as deep a breath as I could.

I was on the cusp of a second orgasm and didn't have time to be worried about whether they would both fit, so instead I just shoved them as fast as I could. The sensation drove me over the edge, and they started pistoning in and out of me of their own accord while my eyes rode up into the back of my head. My screams reached higher pitches than I thought possible, but I didn't care. All that mattered was the pleasure, the feeling of my fingers inside my dirtiest hole, the sensation of a vibrating toy deep in my ass. The dampness around my pussy had become a stream, a constant flow of sticky juice going down into my asscrack and helping to lube my still moving fingers.

I don't know how long I might have carried on, but my left hand still held the remote and turned off the butterfly. As my body relaxed my right hand fell to the mattress, the fingers finally stopping moving. For several minutes I lay there, getting my breath back and enjoying the afterglow of the strongest orgasms I had ever had.

The toy was still in my ass, and the only way to get it out was to pull on the cord connecting it to the remote. The feeling of it sliding through me made me gasp again, but what truly stunned me was the length of wire that came out. It must have been at least 12 inches, meaning that the butterfly had crept its way over a foot through my ass.

Reaching up to pull sweaty hair off my face, I wondered what to do. I had meant to wander around the world today, exploring this virtual place, but now it would feel odd. Both times I had been here my experience had gone from an amazing new video game to... Well, to what had happened. Anyway, I knew I wouldn't be able to concentrate if I stayed today. I logged out of the game and woke up in the internet café.

Yet again there was no evidence that anything had been going into my ass. What there was however, was a lot of sweat. The leather chair had beads of salty water all over it, and the back of my shirt and trousers were damp to the touch. Clearly my real body had reacted to what was happening in the virtual world. Again my panties were soaked, but luckily had not left a mark on my trousers. I didn't know how I would explain that.

It was with unsteady legs that I made my way out of the café and back to the bus station, but it was also with a smile on my face. I would go back tomorrow I decided. What I would do there was flexible.



Mira Ch. 02



Rillan stared at the rugs on the floor and wondered if it would be easier to clean the mess from the rugs that had been in Mira's room. He was looking over the layer of dust and trying to guesstimate how many times he would have to beat the damn things to knock the time from them versus how much water and soap it would take to clean the bile and urine off the others. He smiled to himself, wondering what the druids would think if he left the rugs outside with a note asking for them to be cleaned.

Suddenly sadness descending on him like a tidal wave. He looked up and ran his eyes over the things in the room. He couldn't take Elizabeth's rugs out of here. They belonged here. He turned and left the room, closed the door quietly, wishing he had never gone back in there, and went to find the soiled rugs to clean them.

Mira lay in her bed staring at the ceiling. She hadn't left the bed except to eat and use the chamber pot. A couple times she had heard her door open. She would lay still and keep her eyes closed. She didn't think he ever came all the way into the room. As far as she could tell he just looked in and then left again. Mira wasn't really sure why he kept coming back. She hoped he wasn't still hungry. She was only barely feeling better from the last round and didn't think that she could handle going through that again already.

The tired feeling had left her and Mira was becoming restless. She memorized every crevice in the ceiling. It was the only part of the room that looked like cave. What she really wanted was to see the stars, her friends, grass, so many things. She thought back to the shaft that she had seen in Rillan's room and wondered if it was the only view of the sky inside these caves. She was starting to really feel the loneliness here. It was one of the things that made her feel bad for Rillan. Mira had always been very logical. She knew that no matter how lonely she might feel, Rillan had been dealing with this awful place a lot longer. 

The sigh that escaped her lips almost startled her. Mira didn't even realize how long it had been since she had said something. Even the sound of a sigh seemed loud and inappropriate. By all the Gods I can't live like this, she thought. I need to see the sky and to feel the breeze and the rain. I need to speak and sing. I need someone. Tears started to form in her eyes. 

Throwing the blankets back, Mira sat on the edge of the bed. She braced herself for the jolting cold of the stone floor beneath her feet. The chill that ran through her was exceedingly unpleasant after she had spent so much time in her nice warm bed. Throwing open her closet doors she found a simple dress and pulled it on. Then she slid her feet into a soft pair of shoes, deciding to leave them near the bed in the future. Maybe I can ask Rillan to get me some slippers, if he'll even talk with me. 

Mira had found herself wondering if she had been wrong. At first she had believed that Rillan wanted girls around because he was lonely and wanted a friend as well as food. But the more he growled and glared, the more Mira found herself doubting that original conclusion. He was mean and unpleasant no matter what she said. She didn't know what to do.

She forced herself to stop thinking about Rillan. What she wanted right now was to see the sky and the only place she knew where she could do that was his room. Her brain was working on an excuse, in case he found her there, as she walked out the door of her hallway and headed toward his. She held the lantern high in the air, sending light scorching down the dark hallway. Mira started by checking the main room at the end of the hall, where she had always found him before. The room was dark and cold. He hadn't been there for some time. 

Mira crept around, opening doors and looking for him. But every room was dark and there was no sign of Rillan. A sick feeling started in the pit of her stomach. What if he was sent on an assignment? She didn't know how much worse what had happened to her could be. The idea of finding out wasn't high on her list of things she wanted to do in the near future. Once she had established that he wasn't anywhere nearby she snuck down the hall to his door. 

Reaching out she grabbed the handle and started to turn. A noise down the hall made her jump and she held the lantern up to see if he was coming down the hall. An image of a gaunt, pale, beast with black cold eyes returning from an assassination or some other evil assignment flashed through her imagination and she suddenly felt eyes on her back. Mira held the lantern up higher and looked around at the darkness. The idea of returning to her room and going back to hiding under her blankets was becoming more tempting. 

Just then a soft breeze wafted from beneath the door, as if it was calling to her. It had been so long since she had felt anything save the still and dark of this place. With a new resolve Mira turned the handle and pushed the door open. The hall was completely black and there was no light from the end where his bed was, not even a dim light speaking of a fire in the hearth. She crept down the hall. Another noise had her turning and holding up the lantern again. Her heart was thudding in her chest. Mira feared he'd hear the thumping noise and come find her. Suddenly it occurred to her that he might be in bed asleep. She stopped again.

The lantern light began to waver as Mira started to tremble. Why am I so scared? What's he going to do? Bite me? He's already done that. I survived. Her brain was working over time. Mira resolved to leave the lantern on the floor and go the rest of the way with just the light it was throwing. She could see the door to his room, it was open. The lantern was throwing enough light that she'd be able to get inside and she'd decide what to do then. Besides, if he was asleep then the less light the better. She just wanted to see the stars and feel the breeze on her face and then she'd leave.

Glancing behind herself one last time, Mira slunk the rest of the way down the hall. She realized as she poked her head in the door and stared into the dark that the reason she was frightened was because she was doing something she knew she shouldn't. She felt like a little kid trying to sneak a sweet from the jar, when she had already been told 'no.'

Carefully, Mira tip toed into Rillan's bedroom. A sudden flash of light from a square in the ceiling beaconed to her. Mira realized that it would take an awful lot of wind to blow down the shaft as strong as she had been feeling it. There must be a storm, she thought excitedly. She almost forgot that Rillan could be in bed asleep as she eagerly worked her Rillan watched her walk down the hall opening doors and sneaking about. What is my brave one up to? 

He had taken the rugs to the cave entrance with the intention of leaving them where air could get to them so that they would dry. But a thunderstorm was threatening. He had stared into the sky for some time. Warm, humid air stuck in his lungs as he breathed in the night. Once he had thought he would grow used to being in the crypt he called his home. It had taken time, but he eventually realized that his desire to sleep beneath stars would never be abated.

When Mira neared his door with the obvious intention of going inside, Rillan nearly stopped her. Tension held him in the shadows as he wondered if he had locked his door when he left, until she disappeared into his hall. 

He was swearing to himself as he followed her. But if she's looking for you, shouldn't you be pleased, he said to himself. The emotional torrent that had been plaguing him since her first defiant stare began tugging at his mind. I told her not to be in my rooms, he growled to himself.

The indecision of how to respond to her blatant disregard of what he had told her and the desire to know what exactly she was up to, kept him in the shadows. He was partially amused by her attempts to see if she was being followed. He even made some noises to scare her off. He figured that if she thought she was being watched she might run back to her room. There was fear evident on her face. Rillan was very familiar with fear. But Mira continued in her purpose. First came the soft feelings of admiration for her determination and ability to continue in the face of being frightened. Then came the anger for the fact that she should be listening to him and she wasn't.

Rillan snuck into his own bedroom to see what Mira had come here for. He had expected her to call out or to check his bed. Does she really think she's sneaky and clever enough that she would be able to do this unnoticed? Does the fool girl have no respect for what I am or what I could do to her? The soft feeling hit him in the stomach again. She really doesn't think I'd hurt her. That's what makes her so brave.

Mira stood under the shaft staring up into the darkness. Flashes of light streaked across the sky and were followed by a strangely muffled crackling. "Even the thunder is strangled down here," she said in a sad whisper, without realizing that she had spoken aloud.

Anger and frustration boiled in Rillan again. Such a small comment and yet it stung him deeply. Elizabeth had said things similar. By all the Gods she is so much like Elizabeth.

There was more muffled thunder and then a trickle of water came down the shaft. It was cold and clear and clean. This was the point where Rillan usually put something beneath the shaft to catch the water so that it wouldn't make a tremendous mess on the floor. He almost stepped out of the shadows.

Mira reached her hand up to the water and felt it trickle over her palm and down her arm. She breathed in the fresh clean breeze. Something about the darkness she had been in for all these weeks made her appreciate the experience all the more. Mira stepped under the trickle of water and let it run over her face, down her neck, and across her chest. Goosebumps arose on her skin as the cold water trailed over her flesh.

Rillan hadn't seen beauty like this in so long. The girls usually lost their glow relatively quickly here. He breathed slow and deliberate, watched the water caress her skin, and wondered briefly what it would taste like to drink it from her as it ran along the curve of her breast. He wished she was naked so that he could watch the water trickle along her stomach and legs as well.

He hated her for making him feel like he should let her go and not curse her with a life below ground with him. "I thought I told you not to come in here," he growled.

Mira flinched when she heard his voice. Then her blood ran cold as his deadly tone sunk into her. She didn't need to see him to know that he was furious beyond anything she had yet to see. "I," she faltered. From somewhere deep inside her anger wrapped around her fear and bubbled to the surface. It wasn't fair. He kept the only air in this place for himself. Why was he so mean? "I just wanted to see the sky. Do you always have to sneak up on me like that? It's obnoxious," she growled right back.

Rillan was taken aback at first. He never, in all his years, dealt with a woman this blatantly defiant and argumentative. He stepped toward her until the light from the lantern fell on him and shadowed his features menacingly. "This is my place. I've never had to punish one of you before. But I'm seriously contemplating it. You have no idea how much your behavior is trying my patience."

Mira flinched again on the word 'punish.' She didn't think there was any way that he could devise something more miserable than what had already happened. But she did get the impression from him that he would try. Somehow, though, she just couldn't stop her mouth. "My behavior? At least my behavior is consistent. You're the one who seems gentle and caring one minute and then turns into a goon the next. You said that I was supposed to be a companion to you and the druids did me an injustice in their training. But you behave companionable one minute and turn into a monster the next and I'm not referring to the blood drinking. Even that was preferable to the way you're treating me now." Mira was trembling. She didn't know what to expect after her tirade. 

"Get out before I bloody my hands with you," he sneered at her.

Mira looked up at the shaft and then back to Rillan with tears in her eyes. "This is the reason they wanted away from you," she said softly and started to walk past him toward the door. 

The comment pushed Rillan over the edge and he grabbed for her as she tried to pass. Mira dodged the grasp and screamed then started to run down the hallway. There was nothing save silence following her and as she neared the door she glanced back to see if he was following. Out of nowhere he grabbed her by the neck and slammed her back against the wall. Her skull cracked harshly against the stone and the wind was knocked out of her lungs. Mira was trying to fight the spinning and the lack of air as he began speaking.

"You bitch. You have no idea what I've been to others. What do you want? To go outside? For me to be sweet and kind to you? I've gone the route in the past girl. You'll beg for one day. Just one. You'd swear you love me and promise to come back. And as the sun rises above the mountains and I'm trapped in this hell you'd enjoy the feel of the air and the grass and the breeze. You'd feel the warmth that only the sun can give. Then you'd come back. You'd keep your promise. Only now you'd be more miserable, because you'd have seen what you were missing. Then you'd beg for another day and give more promises. Then it'd be a week. Then more. Until you wouldn't come back at all. And I'd not blame you. But for the lies you told me. And even those I would eventually forgive and understand. How could you possible want me over the sun? Then I'd curse myself a fool for having allowed another woman to creep into my soul, when I already learned that lesson once." As he spoke his words gradually lost their vehemence and Mira thought he sounded as though he may cry. "Go back to your room girl. Do not come here again. I promise I won't be so kind next time. I keep my promises."

Rillan dropped Mira to the floor and began walking toward his room. Tears streaked down Mira's face and there was a red handprint that was already beginning to show signs of bruising on her neck. Mira couldn't decide if the tears were from what he had done to her or from what he had said. She walked out the door, knowing better than to push him any farther that night. She had a great deal of thinking to do.

********

There you are. I have no idea whatsoever where this is going. I certainly didn't plan it. You guys are nuts! :) I'm half thinking I should start a poll. Whichever story gets the most feedback, comments, and votes will get the next chapter. What do you want? Mira or Leader of the pack? =P

Subliminal message: I see you looking at it, the "add to favorites" button. You want to push it, you know you do… 

They like me! They really really like me! *tears of joy*

THANKS

secretme



Mira Ch. 03



Hey guys,

So I've rewritten this chapter three times. I don't know about this one. I'm having a rough go. I just don't like the way it's coming out. I feel like I'm struggling and that doesn't bode well for this one's shelf life. My brain is working in different directions. I could force it out. But I don't think you guys would like the way it goes if I do.

So here's the deal. I'm gonna write some other stuff that I'm feeling more inclined to write and then I'll come back to this one. As much as I'm capable of writing on demand I don't want the stuff I'm posting here to feel like work or I'll get tired of it and stop. None of us want that! But I promise I'll come back to this. 





Mira Ch. 03



Mira and Viola

"Viola called me asking if she could spend the weekend with me."

 Chase glanced over at Mira as she mixed the pancake batter. "When did she call?" Viola was Mira's younger step sister. 

 "Last night. We have to iron out the details, but she'll probably come Friday and leave Sunday night. It's only a two-hour drive for her."

 Chase tried to think back. "I don't think I've ever met her." 

 "Probably not, we only visit each other a few times during the year. She's just starting to get the feel for college."

 "From the pictures you have, I wouldn't guess you were step sisters. You two look alike." 

 "Sometimes I see it, sometimes I don't. I mean, she's a lot taller, more like a model. I'm too short and curvy." 

 Chase moved behind her, wrapping his arms around her abdomen, resting his chin on her head. "You are perfect the way you are. I love your curves and your flat belly. I like how I can barely fit your tits in my hands. And how you're tiny waist flares out a little and your perfect round butt is just..." he trailed off.

 Mira smiled, leaning into him, "I like the way I am, but that doesn't mean I can't dream of having Amazon legs or being statuesque."

 "I get it. Why don't we make the pancakes a little later, I'm hungry for something a little juicier," Chase murmured into her ear.

 "If you insist. We have a while before your housemates wake up" She covered the batter in plastic and set it in the fridge for later before following Chase into his bedroom.

 Within a few moments, Chase had her hands tied the bedposts and a scarf over her eyes. She waited in anticipation, jumping a little when she felt something lightly trailing along her right thigh.

 "Can you guess?" Chase asked, moving the feather down her abdomen, over her smooth mound.

 "It feels like a feather."

 Chase watched as her lips parted, gasping as the feather danced over her engorged clit. "Good guess."

The disappointment was clear on Mira's face when the feather disappeared but she started when something cold and wet circled her breast.

 "Is that ice?"

 Chase didn't reply, concentrating on tracing her breasts and nipples. Then, down around her navel.

 Mira gripped her restraints as the ice touched her hot center, along her lips, and across her clit until Chase slipped the melting ice-cube into her pussy. She clenched, feeling the ice melt within her. 

 Chase followed the trail of water he'd made with the ice, using his tongue to warm her chilled skin. He sucked her nipple, lightly grazing it with his teeth before paying attention to the second one. As he licked along her skin, he pressed his middle finger into her pussy, feeling the chill from the melted ice-cube.

 Mira moaned as he sank one finger and then a second into her, crossing them as he began to thrust into her.

 "Do you like that? Do you like feeling my fingers fuck you, warming you up from the ice?"

 "I love it, you feel so good." Suddenly he was gone. Mira waited for what was next, her body thrumming with sexual tension. The bed moved and she felt the tip of his cock pressing against her lips. She opened her mouth and he filled her with his cock. Groaning she sucked him and ran her tongue over the underside of him.

 Chase savored he feeling of Mira sucking him before licking her inner thigh, kissing her smooth mound before touching his tongue to her clit. As he sucked and licked he thrust his fingers deep into her.

 Without her sense of sight, it felt like every caress, every stroke was orgasmic in itself. When she felt him spreading her juice to her asshole, she knew she was done for. He saturated the area before probing her with his ring finger.

 Chase flattened his tongue against her clit and then made circles around the left side of it where he knew she was the most sensitive. His ring finger was deep in her ass, two others in her pussy as he fucked her. Her body was tightening and he knew she wasn't far from cumming.

 Mira tilted her head back, letting his cock fall from her mouth. "Fuck, if you keep doing that, I'm going to fucking cum."

 Chase ignored her. He didn't stray from his rhythm until he felt her go rigid.

 "Fuck, Chase!" she cried out, convulsing.

 Chase felt her flooding his mouth with her juices as she continued to spasm.

 "That was fucking fantastic," Mira said when she could.  

 Chase moved so that he could take off her blindfold and untie her. 

 Mira blinked when he took of the blindfold, adjusting to the room. Then, she looked Chase in the eyes, "I want you to fuck me hard." 

Chase gripped her chin, bruising her lips with his. "Get on your hands and knees, facing the head-board." When she was in position, he entered her with one stroke. He got into his rhythm, picking up the pace as Mira moaned. "You're so hot and wet." Her inner muscles worked him like a glove."

 "Fuck me harder, I want to feel you spurting cum inside me."

 Chase obliged, slamming his cock into her, his tight balls hitting her ass cheeks. He gripped her ass and slapped her just hard enough to bring some pink into her skin.

 "Don't stop," Mira said, breathless.    

Chase slapped her again, a little harder this time, waiting a few seconds before repeating and slapping the other cheek. Soon her cheeks were rosy red. He couldn't last any longer. "Fuck, Mira I'm going to cum."

 "Cum inside me, I need to feel you cumming inside me."

 His orgasm hit him hard. He convulsed, shooting his hot cum into Mira's pussy.

 She clenched her muscles before sliding off him and sucking his cock, tasting her juices intermixed with his cum. They collapsed on the bed.

 "That was wonderful," Mira said her head on his chest.

 "You're incredible," Chase added.

 "You made me cum so hard. And then spanking me?—That's definitely something we're adding to the box."

 "Agreed." He pulled her closer. "Let's just take a quick nap and then get those pancakes."

 "Good idea," Mira murmured her eyes drifting closed.

 Friday Chase helped Mira put the air mattress in his room. He'd cleared it with his housemates. They knew it was better to let Viola stay with them instead of in Mira's dorm room where Loren was still peeved that Mira was dating her ex. Apparently, when Mira had told her sister she was staying at Chase's Viola laughed and said, "As long as you two don't wake me up having sex." Viola said she would be there for dinner. Just as Mira was pulling the vegetable lasagna out of the oven the doorbell rang.

 "Chase, could you get the door? It's probably Viola."

 Sure enough, when Chase opened the door a 5'8 brunette met him. Viola stood in the doorway with her duffle.

 "You must be Chase," she exclaimed, giving him a hug. "Mira's only said great things about you."

 "Same, I'm glad to meet you." He ushered her in, closing the door behind her. "You didn't have trouble finding the place, did you?"

 Viola shook her head, "Mira gave me great directions."

 "Hey Vi, I'm so glad to see you!" Mira said, hugging her sister.

 "Me too, I've had so much work lately I needed a break. Is that veggie lasagna? It smells great."

 "Absolutely, just for you. Let me introduce you to the other guys. They've been so great letting me stay with Chase through this whole Loren drama. There's Jasper, Casey and August."

While Viola met everyone, Mira asked Chase to get the table started. "Come on Vi, I'll show you your air mattress."

 Vi laughed, "Great, I've always loved sleeping on such exquisite beds."

 "So, what do you think of Chase?" Mira asked, a little nervous to have her younger sister's approval. They may not be blood, but she loved Vi more than anyone.

 "He seems very nice." Then Vi smiled, "And very attractive." 

 "I'm glad you like him! He really is wonderful. I hope it's not weird to stay in here," Mira said, entering Chase's room. She put Viola's bag by the air mattress.

 "Not at all. A bed is a bed." She sat down on the edge of Chase's bed. "You never told me how you two met."

 Mira blushed. "Well, he dated Loren for a long time."

 Vi's mouth dropped. "Loren? You're roommate Loren?"

 Mira nodded. "And once, I'd come back from the gym and they were showering or something. Chase came back alone, didn't see me, and tossed his towel on her bed."

 "Let me guess—he was naked and you turned around."

 "Yeah. I mean I knew him from Loren I guess, but that was the first time I saw him as himself."

 "How's the sex?" Vi asked curiously. She'd had a boyfriend in high school but they broke up before college. Now she just liked to make out with guys at parties, but she wanted a real relationship. 

 Mira debated what to tell her little sister. "He's amazing. He's adventurous and creative and very talented."

 Chase called from the other room, "Hey, table's all set where's the guest of honor?" 

 Mira turned to leave, "Come on, let's eat. You're probably hungry and you'll need something for the drinking we'll do tonight"

 "I can't wait," Vi replied following Mira out to the table where they sat down with the guys to eat.

 Before they started pre-gaming, Mira and Vi changed into clothes more appropriate fora night downtown. Vi brought a black miniskirt and a dark green halter top with a plunging neckline.

 Mira looked at her outfit, "I love that top. I'm jealous you can go braless like that."

 "The joys of being flat chested. Oh, I brought my black pointy shoes too." Vi looked over and saw Mira pulling a one-shouldered black cutout dress from her bag. "Wow. That's a great dress."

 "Thanks. I bought it after I lost a few pounds last semester." 

 "Can I borrow your straightener? I didn't bring mine."

 "Sure." Mira dug through her bag to find the straightener and handed it to Vi.

 Viola plugged the device in, watching as Mira stripped out of her jeans and cami.

 "Do you think I can pull this off braless?" Mira asked, pulling the dress on. She adjusted it and faced her sister.

 "Definitely, it's thick fabric and it has a lot of stretch."

 "Great. I hate wearing strapless bras." Mira rummaged through her underwear to find the perfect one to wear with the dress. She pulled a nude colored translucent thong out and shed her cheekies, swapping the panties.

 "So, are you completely bare?" 

 Mira glanced over her shoulder at Vi, adjusting her panties and dress. "Yeah."

 "Do you do that all the time?"

 "No, but everyone once in a while. Usually I leave a bit on the mound but I decided what the hell."

 "Doesn't it hurt? You probably wax, right?"

 "It's not so bad after the first time. I always take a few Advil an hour before. But usually I just get the sides and bottom done, and trim the top."

 "Yeah, I just trim it."

 Mira examined herself in the mirror checking to see how much showed when she bent over or danced. "Good. I'm not flashing too much."

 "What about me?" Vi asked moving around.

 "You look good too. Do you want help with your hair?"

 "Nah, I got it. I just need to get the kinks out. I had it up while I was driving."   

 Mira sprayed her hair with beach spray and plugged in her curling iron. She wrapped pieces around the iron and curled her hair into loose waves. When she finished she turned to her makeup bag. "So what look do I go for?" 

 "Lots of mascara, pink lips—Do you have a green eyeliner?" 

 "Yeah and mascara." 

 Vi glanced at her. "Green mascara? Seriously?" 

 "Yeah."

 "That's weird. I just want the eyeliner." 

 "Whatever." Mira searched through her bag and set it on the desk for Viola. 

 "Thanks." Vi finished her hair and turned the iron off. 

 Chase walked in to find Viola and Mira finishing their makeup. "You guys look phenomenal." 

 "Thanks Chase, you're so nice," Vi said, looking over at him. "I'll fit in down town, right?" 

 "Definitely: skimpy skirt, skimpy shirt, high heels. Perfect." 

 "Ok, we're almost ready." 

 "Great, everyone's here, there's beer, liquor and mixers. We have a pong table and flip cup ready too." 

 "Chase, could I partner with you for a round of pong? I haven't really played before but I figure if I play a game with you or Mira that'll loosen me up and help me get along with everyone." 

 Chase looked at Mira to see her reaction; He caught the subtle nod. "Yeah, no problem. I'll put us on the list." 

 "Thanks a lot." 

 He left the room, leaving them alone to finish getting ready. 

 "You're in good hands, he's great at beer pong." 

 "I can tell. Then again, everyone's better than you," Vi teased. 

 Mira hip checked her, ruining her eyeliner. 

 "Hey, uncalled for." 

 "Be good Vi."

 "I can be good at school, I'm here to have fun." 

  Chase knew Mira was keeping an eye on her sister as he poured beer in to the cups, setting the game up. She was putting up a good front, and headed off to start a game of flip cup. 

 "I'm so excited to play," Vi said after being introduced to their opponents Casey and Eliza. 

 "Good. I like to think of myself as a fun partner." 

 "I'm sure. Mira wouldn't have stuck around if you weren't." 

 "Oh great thanks." 

 "No problem. Now let's play." 



 At some point during the game, Chase realized that the now tipsy Vi was teasing him especially. Whenever she bent down to get the ball she'd bump into him or touch his arm. He was thinking she just might be a touchy-feely drunk, but at the same time he didn't want Mira accusing him of trying to get with her sister. 

 "Ok Vi, we have two cups left. You can do it." 

 Vi squinted, holding the ball at eye level, ignoring Casey and Eliza's attempts to rattle her. The ball sailed through the air into the cup. "Wooo!" Vi yelled slapping Chase's hand in a high-five. 

 "Awesome shot." 

 "Thanks. All you need to do is sink this baby, Chase, and we are victorious." 

 Chase grinned. "Oh I think I can bring the gold." He grabbed the ball and took aim, inhaling and exhaling before letting the ball fly. It made a resonating splash before Vi started shouting, jumping up and hugging Chase and kissing him on the cheek. 

 "Ok everyone, we're getting ready to head down town. Finish your drinks and grab your shoes," Mira called out. 

 "How about shots for the road?" Vi asked.

 "Sure. Shots for the road are in the kitchen." 

 Chase moved towards Mira, grabbing a shot glass. "Got any 151 left?" 

 "Yup." She pulled out the bottle and lined a shot glass up with his, pouring into both of them. "Congrats on the game, you guys did really well." 

 "Thanks. Cheers," he said clicking his glass with hers as they threw back the shots. 

 "Hey, I'm the one who wanted one!" 

 "Well, get a glass Vi." 

 "What is that?" Vi asked grabbing a shot glass. 

 "Bacardi 151." 

 "Cool. Pour me one please." 

 Mira obliged. 

 "Can I drink a shot on my own?" 

 "Absolutely," Chase replied, watching her throw it back. 

 "Fuck that's gross." 

 "Ok, let's get out of here," Mira said pulling on her heels. 

 "Woo, I can't wait to dance!" Vi exclaimed sitting down to put hers on too. 

 "Vi, you are drunk." 

 "Woah Mira, I'm tipsy. Not drunk. Yet." 

 "Ok Vi, let's go dancing." 

 "It's like a moth to flames," Chase muttered, standing at the bar, one hand around Mira, the other around a beer. 

 "I know. It's like the drunker she is, the brighter the light." 

 "Fascinating. Come on, hot stuff, let's dance." Chase drained his glass and set it on the counter.

 Mira grinned and lead him out to the dance floor, pressing her back against his front, still keeping an eye on her sister. 

 "I really love this dress. I can tell you aren't wearing much underneath it," Chase whispered into her ear, his hands on her waist. 

 "I picked it out thinking of you. Think about you peeling it off me. I even picked out my skimpiest panties." 

 "Your ass is magnificent." 

 Mira leaned into him. As she grinded against his crotch he pulled her hair over her left shoulder so he could kiss along her neck and ear. They danced together through a few songs until Mira went to get more drinks. 

 Suddenly, Viola was standing in front of him, smiling like Salome. 

 "Having fun?" Chase asked.

 "A blast. They have the best music here. Where's Mira?" 

 "Getting herself another drink, I'm two beers and a shot ahead of her." 

 "Ok good, dance with me until she gets back." She pressed her body against him, writhing to the music. 

 Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck, Chase thought. "Listen Vi, this isn't a good idea." 

 "Oh, come on Chase. Relax, have some fun." 

 The ass of his girlfriend's step-sister was grinding on his crotch. He was so fucked. 

 From the bar, Mira glanced back at the dance floor over to see Viola dancing with a panicked Chase. It was part comedy, part porn. Viola was drunk off her ass and Chase was trying to fend her off without crushing her. 

 "You know what, make that a double and a beer." Mira dropped the bills on the bar with a decent tip and slammed the shot back. She moved to a corner to watch and sipped her beer. She saw the moment Chase gave in and committed to dancing with Vi, and how she teased him. 

 What the hell am I doing? I am sitting in a club, halfway between tipsy and drunk watching my sister have sex on a dance floor with my boyfriend. I am officially a pervert. And then it hit her. She began to plan something that had the potential to be amazing. Send a text to her sister; she told her to meet her at the bar and not to tell Chase. Then, she waited. By the time Vi checked her phone, Mira's beer was running on empty. Vi whispered something to Chase and bounded across the club. 

 "Yeah, hey what's up?" 

 "I have a deal for you." 

 "Like what?"

 "You come back with me and Chase. I give you fifteen minutes, alone, to get Chase into your pants. If not, you don't get a second chance and the next time you're all over him you answer to me. Oh and you buy my drinks tomorrow night." Mira watched Vi think about the offer. 

 "Deal. After I get another drink." 

 "Fine by me. Get Chase another one too." 

 Maybe that last drink was a mistake for them, Mira wondered, helping Chase and Mira into the cab. Chase was in his horny stage of drunk, rubbing his hands along her inner thighs. On her other side was Vi, who was planning her attack. Thankfully, the ride was short. Mira paid the cab and let Vi usher Chase to the door where he spent a few moments fumbling with the keys before opening the door. 

 "Hey, Vi, take a minute, let Chase get ready for bed, and then go on in. I'm going to take a quick shower." 

 Vi nodded as Chase stumbled into the room already stripping off his shirt. After a few minutes Vi went into see Chase in the middle of unbuckling his belt. 

 "You are beautiful." Vi said from the doorway.

 "What?" 

 "I said, Chase, you're beautiful." 

 "Look, Mira's going to be here in a sec." 

 "She's in the shower, relax," Vi said moving towards him. 

 Chase didn't like the look in her eye. Mira had that same look when she was going to pounce on him. He was too busy thinking to realize how close Vi was until she touched him, moving her hands to unbuckle his belt. 

 "Let me help get you out of these." 

 "No, Vi, go on." 

 Vi pouted and sat on his bed, her legs open. 

 Chase managed to get his pants off, keeping an eye on her. 

 "Don't you think I'm pretty Chase?" 

 "You know you are," he grumbled. 

 Vi tugged her shirt off, revealing her small breasts and hard nipples. 

 "Fuck Vi, why are you trying to do this?" 

 " I want you." 

 "Look, you're nice—and beautiful. But don't do this." 

 Vi stood up and kissed him, pressing her tits against him, wrapping her arms around him. She loved how he felt against her, but she didn't have time for this. She broke the kiss, falling to her knees. She pulled his hard cock out from his boxers and started to go down on him. 




Mira Ch. 03



Waking up the morning after was slow. I was still glowing from my experiences the day before and so came to luxuriously, my head filled with softness and warmth. What made me get up was a feeling I was getting more and more often: an emptiness in my butt. Reminiscing on the times I had spent in-game with my little hole stuffed was enough to make me squirm under my sheets, and rubbing myself back there lightly got me scarily damp, very quickly. If I hadn't been so driven to find more things I could stick inside myself I might have noticed the clear signs of addiction.

I knew I wouldn't be able to wait until I got into town, so I tiptoed to the bathroom and found what I wanted: a bottle of lotion. Back in my room I threw my pyjama bottoms off without a second thought and booted up my computer. While waiting for it to turn on I slicked up my left hand started to press against my asshole with my middle finger. My right hand reached up to pinch my nipple and as I gasped at the sensation my finger slid right into me.

It was the first time I had had anything inside me in the real world, and it didn't disappoint. ROSE had captured the feeling perfectly, and the glowing ball in my belly was quickly turning into a roaring fire as I started to finger fuck my tightest entrance. My eyes were drawn to the computer screen despite any other distractions, but I ignored it for the time being to fit another finger in.

The feeling of being stretched overwhelmed me. Both fingers pumped in and out, causing the ring of muscle in my backside to expand and contract rapidly. My eyes rolled up into the back of my head as my pussy started clenching on thin air. Waves of pleasure washed over me, forcing gasps and moans out of my throat. The orgasm was quick and violent but succeeded in calming me for a while at least.

Now that I could use the computer without something else occupying my attention, I started looking for toys online. Fingers were great, don't get me wrong, but could only go so far. And anyway, I had no guarantee that I would be able to carry on accessing ROSE and didn't want to abandon my rapidly growing collection of toys over there. Using some money I had saved up over a summer job I ordered a small selection of vibrators and dildos, as well as plenty of lube. They would arrive in the next few days. I made my excuses to my mum and skipped off to the internet café.

It was only on the way there that what I had just done sunk in. With barely a second thought I had bought sex toys and never for a moment doubted that I would be putting them in my ass. For some reason though, I didn't care. The sort of anxieties that would have plagued me a few days ago - my mum finding them, whether I would hurt myself, whether I would need that money later - just didn't occur to me. I was a changed person. All that mattered was getting more pleasure.

I breezed through the café, laughing internally at the memory of how nervous I had been the day before. It was with a happy sigh that I lowered myself into the leather seat in the back room. I smiled up at the blinking lights before everything went dark. 

The warmth and cosiness of my virtual bed was incredibly realistic. I knew that every time I went into ROSE I commented on how perfect everything was, but for several minutes I honestly didn't realise I was in the game, instead curling up and nearly going back to sleep.

One of my hands moved on its own to press against my tight little hole, bringing me out of my stupor. My middle finger was wet and I knew that I had sucked it while still half unconscious. It sank in to the first knuckle before I woke up properly, and with some regret I pulled it back out. I swung out of bed but paused. A wicked thought had crossed my mind. Before I could consider it for too long, I shoved my finger into my mouth and licked.

The taste. I didn't know how to describe the taste. Despite having anal sex - even if it was with inanimate objects - several times, I had never put anything from my ass to my mouth. Now that I had done it, I didn't know what words could do it justice. Earthy was one people sometimes used, and I could see why. Tart was another, but I didn't even know what that meant. After a couple of seconds of sucking, my tongue rolling slowly around my finger, I thought of the perfect description.

It tasted like ass. Of course it tasted like ass.

But that didn't mean it tasted bad.

I headed on over to the store, with the clerk smiling as mechanically as ever. He still made me uneasy, but if I wanted new toys I had to deal with him. As usual he was very helpful, advising me on what was popular and what was rare, and I walked out happy with a couple of purchases. When I was walking home though I paused for a second to think.

I had been given access to this amazing new world. So few humans had yet been able to truly enter a virtual reality, and all I was using it for was sex. Granted, the sex was amazing, but there was so much more that I could do; there would always be time for me to get myself off later.

So instead I headed to the casino. My new toys had depleted my funds somewhat, and even with quintuple points I couldn't keep this lifestyle up forever. If I didn't make any money I could still say I had done something new.

Inside the casino I was immediately overwhelmed. The bright lights coming from huge, hanging chandeliers; the noise of hundreds of people walking around, celebrating wins and lamenting losses. Even the smell reached me: light, sweet and relaxing. For a few minutes I just wandered around and tried to get my bearings. Over here there were tables dedicated to poker, nearby were yet more tables for blackjack. On the other side of this room there were roulette wheels and filling an entirely new room were seemingly hundreds of slot machines.

In the real world, I would have turned and fled. I was used to seeing strangers on the streets and otherwise only seeing a couple of people. A place like this, so densely packed, was terrifying for me, but I knew one thing: in this world, I could be what I want, and do what I want.

I stepped over to a roulette table with my head held high and placed a small bet on it coming up black. I was still trying to get accustomed to the atmosphere so it jarred me slightly when I was told I had won - though the payout was admittedly small.

Enthused by my first win, I decided to be more daring, and placed 1000 points on the number 17. My breath caught as the ball started rolling around the wheel, bouncing and clattering. The racket of everyone else seemed to disappear, leaving me alone with the wheel. The spinning slowed and slowed, but didn't slow down enough by the time the ball had settled in a pocket. I couldn't tell where it was and with my nerves climbing higher I closed my eyes tightly.

"Number 17!"

I opened my eyes to a screen in front of me, informing me of my 35000 point prize. More than I would have made in a month before I got access to this version. More than I dared dream I would win today. My celebration would have embarrassed a 13 year old, jumping into the air and letting out a squeal of excitement.

My landing was awkward, sending shocks up my legs and leaving an odd feeling in my pelvis, centred on an area I had become intimately familiar with recently. Once I reached a hand up to investigate I discovered why.

Instead of the pale lace underwear I had had on, I had tight fitting nylon panties. They seemed to almost be welded to my flesh; though they weren't painfully tight for some reason I couldn't even get a finger under them. Ignoring the snugness of my new underwear, my butt still felt weird. Almost exactly as if I was in the middle of playing with myself.

Further investigation revealed what I had feared. There was a large, solid object stuck on the inside of my panties, and firmly lodged inside me. Just the slight movement of it twisted my insides delightfully, and I found myself suppressing a moan. My face was flush from the pleasure and the embarrassment of being out in public like this. I pulled up the game menu to see just what had been put up my backside.

On my equipment list was an item I didn't recognise, just a question mark for an icon and no name. Pressing it opened a description that seemed to be a long list of specifications, but a quick scan made my eyes grow wide in shock and fear. Words like "size/shape changing," "remote control" and "punishment device" made me hit the unequip button as fast as I could, but to no avail. It seemed like my new toy was staying put.

I elected to ignore it for now. Nothing had happened since it was put on me and besides, I was quite enjoying it. The feeling of fullness excited me and I jiggled my hips a little compulsively, savouring the movement of it inside me. If all it did was this, I could definitely make do.

When I came out of my reverie I realised that I had been staring at nothing for over minute, and a couple of people nearby had noticed. Everyone else was too involved in their gambling to care, and when I shook my head and started acting like a person again the few people watching me lost interest.

I was still on a high from winning last time, so decided to up the ante and bet 15000 points on a single number. For no real reason I chose 8, and as I leant over the table to get a closer look at the wheel I was reminded of the presence in my ass, pressing against my insides.

Again I closed my eyes, waiting for the ball to stop moving. In my head I saw the ball spinning around the rim of the wheel, slowing down and dropping into the inner circle. My eyes were squeezed shut now and I was just waiting for the announcer to say the number.

"Number-"

I stopped paying attention when the toy in my ass started vibrating. If I had had to guess, I would say the toy had been about six inches long and maybe just under an inch in diameter at the base. Now it was vibrating with such force that it felt ten times larger. My entire lower body felt filled with it. It was touching everything inside of me, places I knew and didn't know existed. My knees instantly gave out and I fell to the floor, my thighs clenched and twitching at the sudden onset of glorious ecstasy.

Screams flew from my mouth as the intensity of the vibration increased. At the same time, tiny nubs grew from the surface of the toy and it began rotating excruciatingly slowly. My insides were now being kneaded, handled almost violently. Pussy juice seemed to be flowing freely from me in a way I knew must be impossible. I couldn't tell whether I had even come yet - my mind was incoherent. I may have never reached it or I might have experienced one, massive, prolonged orgasm from the moment the toy activated.

Throughout all of this people were watching me. I was still in a crowded casino, and when a girl starts screaming in ecstasy and falling into a pool of her own fluids, people notice. While the toy kept moving and vibrating inside of me and I kept feeling wave after crashing wave of pleasure slam into me a circle of concerned onlookers formed.

Hands suddenly grasped my upper arms and tried to pull me to my feet. I was so far gone that every new tactile sensation was an extra glittering facet on the jewel of bliss I was staring at. Leaning on someone for support was enough to make my whole body shudder in joy as my bladder let out, sending a cascading torrent of fluid down my legs. With all the sticky juice that had come from my crotch already I don't think anyone really could have noticed. I was dragged limply away and soon lost all perception of the outside world.

It was impossible for me to tell how much time had passed, but when I came to I was loosely tied to a chair. The toy that had brought me over the brink of bliss was still there, and still vibrating though the amplitude was far less than it had been. When my eyes opened I was in a nondescript room with only two chairs, a metal desk and the item shop clerk.

He was sitting across from me and in the other chair, with the desk separating us. I was reminded somewhat of a police interrogation room, but the walls were a bright yellow and there was thick blue carpeting, giving it a completely different atmosphere. 

"At last, sleeping beauty awakes. Those straps must be uncomfortable, we'll get rid of them for you." At his words the bindings holding me to the chair disappeared and I steadied myself. I was still swaying slightly from the sensations coming from my butt.

"I'm sure what it at the top of your mind is the state of your money. You will be delighted to hear that the roulette ball landed on the number 8, and you have received the incredible prize of 525000 points!"

While I was slightly taken aback by this outcome, I did have enough presence of mind to raise an eyebrow at the clerk, who got the hint.

"Okay, time for real business. You have been enjoying yourself here - and that's not a question. This is an incredibly expensive beta test of revolutionary new technology, and we have to keep an eye on as much as possible. To this end you have been observed constantly throughout your time here, in more ways than visually. You love everything about your experiences here."

I couldn't deny any of his words. More proof to them was given by the fact that, even though this revelation was disturbing, I wanted to ignore the man and sink onto the toy in my butt. I just wanted more pleasure.

"But it's not just you that's having a good time. Your experience is just what we who develop ROSE need. The problem comes from artificial intelligence. Specifically, artificial intelligence is really, really hard. Even with technology advanced enough to allow a mind to control a complicated program like this, we can't produce a neural net complex enough to simulate the human psyche. But this world needs people, it needs one hundred percent perfect interactivity. We can just hire people to be shopkeepers and police and the like - the simulated jobs are certainly cushier than their real-world counterparts, if only by you being able to do them sitting down.

"But there are some jobs you can't pay people to perform; there are some jobs normal people just can't do. And we need them to be done. Virtual reality doesn't just end with ROSE. It will be the market to end all markets, because it is the dream to end all dreams. Anything you want to happen, you want to be able to do, you can just step into the simulated reality that satisfies every urge you have. But a reality isn't perfect without a populace, and the biggest projected market will need a few very dedicated people to make real.

"I talk about sex, of course. You give people absolute power and their first thought is how they can use it to maximise sexual pleasure. You were given a whole new world to explore, and you spent every moment craving sweet release." I squirmed in my seat at his words, which just made me wetter as the toy moved inside me.

"If you agree to take the job I am about to offer, you will experience more sex than anyone else on the planet. You will receive the same number of orgasms in twenty four hours as most people do in a lifetime. Because your job is to be the object of fantasy for anyone who wants anal sex. With a little work we can 'expand' your consciousness and allow you to exist in multiple virtual worlds at once. There, whenever someone wants to plunge something into the asshole of a beautiful woman, you will appear. Whether they are craving a quickie with the pretty blonde in their local coffee shop or a live-in butt slave, permanently plugged with toys of monstrous sizes - it will be you. You will be in a thousand different bodies, play a thousand different roles, but every time it will be you and you will feel everything.

"Over your time here in ROSE we have witnessed you blossoming from a shy virgin to something insatiable. You have rewired yourself to crave the feeling of having your dirtiest hole fucked to the point where you don't even think about doing it any other way. We can satisfy that urge like nothing else in the world can."

My pussy was flooding again. Just the idea of being able to have something fuck my ass again would have been enough, but here I was being offered a universe of anal sex. My mind may have already been broken, but I would make the same decision again and again. The feeling of having my butt stuffed full, or my tight anus being stretched open was all I could think about. I opened my mouth to accept the offer, but was cut off.

"If you accept you will never have a moment's rest. The best doctors in the world will look after your body but you will live here, in ten thousand virtual realities.

"You will be a butt slave. An anal whore. Your one purpose in life will be pleasuring everyone you meet with your ass. Impossibilities will be normal for you, because here you can do anything. However big something is, it will fit in you. However much you are used, you will not break and you will remain perfectly tight. Pleasure will be your only sensation. Do you want this to be your reality?"

As he was speaking the vibrations in my behind were getting more intense. Shakes ran up and down my body. The warm glow of pleasure just from being filled was a raging inferno. I was on the verge of the last orgasm I would ever have, because it would never stop. As my mind went blank and ass clenched down I screamed out in response.

"YES! YES! YES!"

I blacked out again and awoke with Amy gone. I was now Mira, queen of the virtual universe and slave to glorious pleasure.



Mira Ch. 03



"It's not yet sunset," Rillan said.

Mira flinched when she heard his voice. It wasn't as if she didn't know he was there somewhere. But she hadn't actually noticed him when she entered. He was standing next to his fireplace, staring into the flames. Shadows darkened his features and made him seem more menacing as he stood there.

"When the sun can no longer reach it, I'll open it. But not before."

Mira nodded quickly, but remained silent. She was very tired and was afraid of how he would react to any continued conversation about the shaft. He didn't seem upset at the moment, but she wasn't willing to risk it. "I suppose then I should get ready," she suggested and yawned.

Rillan was amazed. Her voice didn't waver a bit. He smiled at the yawn. It was a strange compliment. Generally people who are scared don't find time for yawning. "You look tired," he said gently.

Mira blushed. "I suppose a little." Her heart started racing a bit. Would he be angry if he knew she had planned it that way? She was trying to read his face but the shadows obscured any clue as to his mood. "Why do you always keep it so dark?"

Rillan looked around. "I don't need as much light to see as you do. Darkness doesn't bother me."

Mira nodded. She knew that. "Well," she started uncertainly.

"Are you truly in such a hurry," he asked. He wasn't sure how to take this.

"Not a hurry exactly, just… I don't know." Her eyes fell on the door to the shaft again. 

Rillan watched as she did her best to look everywhere else. You just don't belong down here, beautiful, he thought sadly. "Mira," he said seriously. "Why are you here?"

She looked up at him in confusion. "Because you said-"

"No," he interrupted. "Why did you choose to be a sacrifice? Why did you choose this life?"

Mira stared at the shadowy figure in front of the fireplace. She didn't want to answer that. There were too many sad memories there. "Does it matter?"

"Yes," he said in an authoritative tone that bit into her. "I need to know why you chose this."

There was a long pause while she tried to find a way around it. There was no point in lying. The only reason she didn't want to talk about it was because she didn't like talking about it. She didn't think it'd make a difference. "You killed the man who killed my father."

Rillan wasn't sure he wanted to know who or when. But if she felt like she owed him something then that could explain a lot. "I do my assignments. I didn't kill anyone for you Mira."

She shook her head. "I never said that. I didn't have anyone left after he died. I volunteered for this because it gave me a purpose."

"Purpose," he echoed quietly and then turned back toward the fire. He could certainly understand that. "Far be it for me to impede someone in their purpose. Take your clothes off Mira."

He didn't watch, but he listened as soft swishing sounds told him that she was complying with his order. Rillan had been longing to take her again since that first night they had been together. It had been a very long time since any woman had responded to him the way that she had. She found him terrifying when he turned. He had no delusions about that. But she forced herself to bottle the fear well enough that she responded to his touch with something other than fear. She'd never know how much that meant to him. When the room went silent except for the crackling noise of the fire Rillan finally turned around.

Mira had her eyes closed. She was waiting for him to descend upon her, fangs protruding from a mouth too large for his face and black coal eyes sunk deep into shadowed sockets. The image in her mind started her heart racing and she waited.  

Rillan stepped up to her. Mira's chest was expanding and contracting with labored breaths and he watched her breasts rise and fall with the effort. He could guess what she was thinking. Leaning in close to her, he breathed in the scent of her hair. His breath on her cheek made her flinch. She hadn't realized that he was so close.

Mira's heart was pounding in her ears. The vision in her mind grew progressively worse. She imagined his thin pale lips curled back from his fangs, his ears set farther back on his head and his skin almost translucent white pulled tight over his sharply angled cheeks and jaw. His voice startled her.

"I know that your racing pulse has nothing to do with wanting me right now," he said gently. He reached up and stroked her cheek. "In truth I'm no better than your teachers. I gave you a foul impression of me." He leaned down and lifted a handful of hair to his face. "I'm sorry. It doesn't have to be like that. I've rarely done this Mira, but I'll give you a choice."

Mira's brow had furrowed and she appeared confused, her eyes still squeezed shut. 

"Look at me. I haven't changed."

She opened her eyes and found that he was only inches from her. Rillan's dark blue eyes bored into hers. Mira almost forgot that she was naked until his gaze shifted. She blushed a deep red that only worsened as he smiled. "What," she asked as she cleared her throat, desperately wanting something to cool her heated embarrassment.

Rillan's eyes met hers again and he reached up to cup one breast in a cold calloused hand. Mira shivered as his frozen digits closed around her soft mound and gently squeezed. He circled her nipple with his thumb and licked his lips, anticipating the feel of the firm nub in his mouth. "In the past," he said and his eyes dropped to the breast he was playing with, "most of the girls who have come here have wanted as little contact with me as possible. So I waited as long as I could and then I went to them. But you seem to be capable of dealing with me better than the others have been. So I give you the choice. I need the same amount of blood no matter when I take it. I can either come to you and drain you near death once and a while or I can come to you and take small amounts more often. You'd not feel the kind of pain and sickness as you did before, but you'd have to lie with me more frequently." As he finished the suggestion his eyes nervously returned to hers. He had never wanted to read anyone's thoughts before. She was so strange to him. 

"I don't understand why anyone would choose pain and sickness over time with you." Mira felt his thumb and finger pinch her nipple. This time her racing heartbeat had nothing to do with fear. Mira momentarily lost track of what she had intended to say. "Uh," she looked into his dark blue eyes. "How often would you need to…" Mira's voice trailed off as his other chilled hand began to slide along her hip and he stepped closer, bringing his mouth so near hers that she could feel his breath on her lips.

Rillan smiled as a little whimper involuntarily escaped her mouth. He neglected to tell her that he had been too annoyed with most of the other girls to bother with little pleasantries like this. They were all so frightened of him that it made him feel as though he was raping them. With the others, more often than not, he took their blood and left their bodies alone. He couldn't help himself with Mira though. He almost felt alive when his touch was able to cause her such obvious pleasure.  

Rillan nudged her nose with his own, repositioning her face so that he could kiss her, but he only teased her with his lips, coming close and not quite touching her. To his delight, Mira's hands snaked up into his hair, stopping his game and bringing his lips to hers. She felt the strange cold of his skin as her lips pressed against his. Heat flooded into his body from her. Rillan pressed his tongue along her lips and she parted them, allowing him to taste her mouth.

He rolled her nipple between his thumb and finger and a soft moan bled into his mouth, stopping the kiss. Rillan lifted his head and looked down into her eyes, answering her nearly forgotten question. "The more often I feed the less I need to take and the less sick you will feel from the experience. I leave the choice of timing to you. Come to me when you're willing. But know that if you don't come to me, I will eventually come find you."

Mira nodded, not really caring at this point what the rules were. She only wanted him to keep touching her. She had never known anything like this in her life and she wished that this part would never end, as much as she hoped the feeding would never come. Is his touch worth the price of it?

Her obvious compliance only confused Rillan. He wasn't sure if she was insane, masochistic, or so empathetic that it didn't matter. He couldn't make himself believe the later. In truth, in this moment he didn't care so much about the why. He hadn't been with a compliant woman in so long. Whatever her reasons were, they were good enough for the now. Besides, the conversation would serve as a decent reason to spend time with her later.

Cold hands slid across Mira's heated skin and goose bumps broke out along her flesh. Rillan leaned in to her and closed his eyes. Her hands were on his shoulders and he pulled her body against his own, reveling in the warmth of her, even through his clothes. Rillan stroked down her back. His fingers danced over the goose bumps as Mira shivered. Her breath was coming in heavy waves and her little hands had fisted in his shirt. When he looked to her face again her eyes were closed and her head had lulled back across her shoulder, exposing the pale line of her neck to him.

Everything in existence momentarily melted away. Rillan leaned down and kissed her neck, tasting her skin and taking in the scent of her arousal. A soft seductive beating just beneath the surface tantalized him. Rillan felt the hunger roll in his stomach and surge through his dead body, as certainly as he felt her heartbeat pounding in her chest pressed against his. Before he could lose his control he pushed her away.

Rillan paced across the room. Mira's look of disappointed confusion was not lost on him as he stood near the fire. He laughed, almost manic as he stared into the flames eating away at the wood in the fireplace. 

"Did I do something wrong," she asked timidly.

"No," he growled. "Get into the bed Mira."

Rillan didn't even look up at her. He knew full well that his eyes would frighten her. He was about to lose the fight with his hunger. He had waited too long. This one deserves better, his mind chanted. "Close your eyes Mira," he said almost too softly for her to hear. "Don't open them."

"Aren't you going to," she paused, too sweet and innocent to say what she was thinking. "I mean before…"

If Rillan didn't already feel guilty about everything he would have started to now. She actually wanted him to make love to her. He wanted so badly to look into her eyes, but he couldn't allow himself to frighten her any more than he already had. "I'm too hungry right now Mira. Touching you only makes it worse. After the feeding's done I'll pleasure you." My sweet one, he added in his mind.

Mira's mouth went dry. She clamped her eyes shut and went stiff, beneath the soft blankets. He couldn't have given her a more clear warning of his intentions. Mira could hear fabric rustling and then the bed moved.

Her heart pounded so hard against her chest that she feared it may explode through her rib cage. She could feel the shifting of the bed as he moved closer to her. The pressure was all around her. Her mind's eye clutched desperately to a vision of tanned leather skin, dark blue eyes, and a gentle smile. But in the endless moments she waited for him to touch her a monstrous image was steadily distorting the one she was trying to hold onto. 

Rillan watched her tremble. The beast in him was pleased at the sight and smell of fear. He craved it. There was something sweeter about blood tainted with terror. He moved slowly, letting his icy touch make her flinch beneath him. Rillan pressed her head to one side and leaned down to bite her. His fangs sliced into her flesh. 

Mira whimpered in pain as she felt the sharp piercing and then the rhythmic pressure as he sucked her blood from her. She gasped as the darkness began to swim. Tears squeezed from her eyes and she started to relax as she surrendered to the situation. Rillan's cold heavy body pressed down on her, pinning her beneath him. His icy grip on her arms was painful as he held her down, just in case she decided to fight it. Mira was finding it difficult to breath as the cold pressure on her chest, the pain searing through her neck, and the spinning darkness enveloped her. As she felt her consciousness slipping away she surrendered gratefully to the black.

Rillan took his time finishing his meal. He was careful not to take any more than he needed. Warmth flooded through his body, both from the blood and from being pressed against her. He reveled in the feeling as the chill left him. It wouldn't last long, but he would enjoy it while he had it. When he was sated he lay down beside her and pulled her into his arms. Her back was to his chest and her head rested on his shoulder. His body shifted back to normal and he sighed contentedly as he held her.

Elizabeth drifted back into his mind. That was the last time he had allowed himself the pleasure of keeping a woman in his arms as she slept. He took in a deep breath and let it out, staring up at the cave ceiling. She had been very different though. Elizabeth had lost her mind almost the instant she had been delivered to him. It was easy enough to ignore. She wasn't crazy in most ways. Her mind simply chose not to acknowledge the demon half of him. She behaved as if she was his lover or wife and life here was perfectly normal. At first it had bothered him. But quickly he came to accept it as a reasonable way for her to cope with what he was. Elizabeth smiled and loved him, until he changed or needed blood. Then she would become catatonic until it was over. It was with Elizabeth that he had learned to eat normal food again. She would cook dinner for him, make him clothes. After a while he had even grown to like the way she had adapted. It allowed him to forget himself when he was with her.

Now there was Mira. Rillan wondered how long she could last down here. If she were living amongst her people, he had no doubt that she would be the wife of a powerful person. She would give birth to warriors or teachers. She had the inner strength to know and accept what he was, the intelligence to be afraid of it, but the bravery to survive it. He held her tighter. He knew she could survive indefinitely down here. He would bleed her dry and watch her die slowly. 

Rillan pressed his face into her hair and took a deep breath. This was exactly what he had wanted for as long as he had been here. Now he was finding himself unable to justify keeping her here. The others were one thing. Sacrifices that were pitiful excuses for what the people he protected were capable of. To some extent he believed that he was helping their population by eliminating such weak excuses for human beings. But Mira deserved to be married and have children. Things he could never give her. A voice in the back of his head warred with him. Haven't I earned this? She volunteered. It's what I want. Rillan growled at himself and his own misery. One year, he decided. 

Rillan wrapped his arms more tightly around her. She was young enough. He'd keep her for a year. At the end of the year he'd send her back to her people, arrange for her to have whatever she needed, and have a new girl sent to him. For now he would enjoy her company. Rillan could feel a strange pain in his chest. For the first time since he had offered himself up for this life he was truly regretting his choice. He had always believed that revenge and the good he had done outweighed anything that life could have offered. 

He closed his eyes and shut the thoughts out of his head. It wasn't long before he drifted to sleep holding Mira in his arms.



Mira Ch. 04



Hi guys,

I know you've all been waiting for this one. Some more patiently than others. ;) Keep the feedback and comments coming!

I'm gonna try and get some stuff written more quickly again. So keep an eye out. I have a little time.

If you get a chance go vote in the Reader's Choice Awards! There's tons of good stuff. :D

Thanks for the comments, feedback and adding me to your favorites. You have no idea how much I appreciate all the support for my writing! *kiss*

Chapter 4

Rillan woke to a warm body trying to squirm out of his grasp. He opened his eyes and smiled as he watched Mira attempt to get out of the bed without waking him up. "Trying to escape?"

Mira flinched, her head swiveled, and she leveled a glare on him that had him laughing. He pulled her, protesting, back into the bed. "Hey," she squealed and fought against his iron grip to no avail.

Rillan was having none of it. He was glad she was feeling well enough to put up a fight, but he wasn't ready to get out of bed yet. He still owed her. She had passed out before he could finish feeding and he had been too hungry to enjoy her body before eating. So he had plans for her before letting her go. Rillan moved so that he was propped over her and looked down into her annoyed eyes. "What," he chuckled. 

"You can't let a person find a chamber pot with some dignity," she snarled at him.

Rillan rolled off of her, still laughing. It felt good. "Just come back. I'm not done with you yet."

Mira scooted to the side of the bed. Her stomach turned some. It was nowhere near as bad as it had been the last time. Still, she wondered what he had in mind. "I don't know if I'm up to whatever you're thinking about. You're not still hungry are you?"

Rillan's good mood fell a bit. He sat up behind her and stroked her back. "No, not hungry. Are you all right. I guess I should have considered this. You tend to make me think in different directions at the same time though. Do you need help?"

Mira blushed. "No, just tell me where the chamber pot is."

Rillan got out of the other side of the bed and grabbed his robe from a chair nearby. He walked around to Mira and placed the robe over her shoulders. "It's in the stand there," he said, pointing. "I'll get the bath warming. You'll feel better after you get cleaned up and eat."

He watched her stand, making sure that she could, and then left the room, not bothering to dress. Mira watched the naked man retreat into the darkness of the hall and saw some light begin to flood into the gloom. He must be lighting candles. She managed to find the chamber pot and finish with it before he came back. 

As Rillan walked into the room with some things for the rarely used cook pot that was on the floor near the fire, Mira couldn't help but appreciate what she saw. He was all lean and muscled. Firelight danced off his skin and Mira felt heat begin to pool between her legs, even if she wasn't feeling at her best right then.

Mira was lost at what to think. The last time she had been in his room he had nearly killed her. Now he was warming her a bath. It was difficult to decide how to behave or think with mixed signals like that. She sat on the edge of the bed. 

Mira's eyes drifted to the covered shaft that led outside. She hadn't noticed before but the angle of the bed seemed near perfect to allow for someone lying in bed to look out the shaft and see the sky. She wondered if he lay here at night watching the stars. I would, she thought longingly.

Staring at her from the fireplace, Rillan could see what she was looking at. He walked across the room and over to the release for the heavy door covering the shaft. Mira shifted nervously. She hadn't known that he was watching her. "Fresh air would probably do you some good," he said lightly and forced a solid bolt to the side then allowed the door to fall open. 

From her seat on the bed she could see the moon just off in one corner of the shaft. It was a clear night and stars dotted the sky. After a few moments Mira could smell the night breeze filtering down the shaft and into the room. She never wanted to close her eyes again.

"I'll leave it open," Rillan said. "You're bath is ready."

Mira finally tore her eyes away from the sky and looked at Rillan again. "Thank you." She wasn't sure what else to say.

Rillan nodded at her and gave her a weak smile. "Do you need help?"

She looked into his hopeful eyes. Mira was getting the distinct impression that Rillan was feeling badly about the way things had gone the last time she had been here. She didn't know what he thought he was going to help with if she was in a bath. The thought had her blushing again as a look of uncertain curiosity over took her soft brown eyes.

Rillan smiled. "Come on," he said, offering her his hand to lead her back.

Shadows danced around the hallway as Rillen led Mira to a wash room very similar to her own. There was a large tub set into the center of the room with steps up to get in. Mira could smell rose water. When she looked into the tub she found that there were petals floating in the water. Rillan took the robe from her shoulders and helped her into the water. The warmth seeped into her skin as she sunk down into the fragrant bath. Before Mira knew what was happening Rillan had stepped in behind her and water sloshed out of the tub around the sides as he sat down, drawing her back into his arms.

After a few moments of surprised, uncomfortable, uncertainty, Mira relaxed. She let her head fall back against Rillan's shoulder and closed her eyes. A soft sigh escaped her lips as the warm water took the chill from her body. Just as she thought she might fall asleep, Rillan moved and reached for something. Mira was too tired. She didn't bother to open her eyes to see what was happening. She figured she would find out soon enough. 

"Sit forward," Rillan said softly and gently pressed her forward to prompt her into movement.

Mira finally opened her eyes and saw that he had soap and a thick plush cloth in one hand. She leaned forward, bringing her knees up to her chest, and laid her head on her knees, wrapping her arms around her legs and giving Rillan access to her back. She felt the soft cloth slide over her skin and she sighed contently, letting her eyes close again.

Rillan put more soap on the cloth and ran it along her arms and down her sides. He took his time, watching the suds slide down her skin and into the water. Once he was satisfied with her back he pulled her into his arms again. Mira felt the soapy cloth skim over her breasts as he began washing her shoulders and chest. The soft cloth tickled over her skin. Her nipples puckered as he spent some time soaping one breast and then the other. Mira arched her back, pushing her breast into the palm of his hand and moaning softly. Arousal and exhaustion warred with each other in her body. Rillan's hand moved down along her stomach, painfully slowly. 

Mira parted her legs as Rillan's hand moved lower and lower along her stomach. He paused. The strange pain in his chest began again. He couldn't believe that she was so willing and eager to let him touch her. She squirmed wantonly in his arms and lifted her hips, protesting the pause in his caress. Rillan bent his head and placed a lingering kiss on her neck and nuzzled gently along her jaw line, up to her ear, kissing random spots as he went. He purposely held her off longer, wanting her to ask him for more, adoring the way she seemed to need him. He didn't really believe she wanted a monster this way, but what man was left in him was near tears with appreciation of the fact that she was even willing to pretend.

Another small groan escaped from Mira's mouth. Her hands reached beneath the water, took hold of his hand and pushed his fingers into her slit, delighting in the rolling pleasure that the pressure created in her lower stomach and up her body. Rillan slid his fingers teasingly along her slippery opening, letting her moans and movements guide his touch to where she wanted it. When her body began to tense and tremble in his arms he was more than a little surprised. He pressed his finger inside her so that he could feel her come. Her soft inner walls sucked on his finger hungrily. Her whimpers in his ear told him with a great deal of certainty that it wasn't as satisfying as she would have liked. 

Mira tried to push down further onto his finger as the fluttering sensations ceased. But the position in the tub and the confined space made it impossible for her to get the leverage she needed. She looked back at him over her shoulder with an almost desperate glow in her eyes. She was too shy to ask him to do anything specific to her. But the need was there as she looked at him. Embarrassment flooded her as she realized how she was behaving. 

Mira blushed a beautiful shade of crimson and looked away from Rillan again, uncertain how exactly she should be with him. She really didn't know what he wanted. He had been so confusing. Was she a meal or a lover? An intruder in his space or a welcome guest? A friend or a reminder of all the worst parts of his existence? In lieu of knowing what he wanted from her she opted on waiting for him to give her another direction of some kind.

Rillan was torn between crying and laughing. He pulled his fingers from her and she whimpered again. "Shh," he whispered against her ear. "There's more," he promised. Rillan kissed her ear lobe then guided her to stand with gentle pressure against her back and sides.

Pulling a towel from the rack standing near the tub he wrapped her in it and then stepped out, turning to offer a hand for her to step down as well. Mira's eyes roamed his wet naked body of their own accord. She allowed him to help her out of the tub and then stood in absolute bliss as he proceeded to dry her off with the towel he had wrapped her in. She could feel his hands through the soft material, massaging her shoulders, back, sides. He knelt in front of her and rubbed the soft towel over her hips, down her thighs, inside her thighs. Mira's breath was coming in short gasps as she felt the need for his touch in very specific places building again.

Once Rillan was satisfied that she was dry, he stood with the towel in his hands and quickly ran it over himself. It was still wet from her body but he was partially dry from the amount of time he had spent on her anyway. When he looked into her eyes again there was intense concentration staring back at him and she was biting her lower lip hard enough to draw blood.

Mira watched his eyes bleed to black as he stepped toward her. Her heart raced with fear once she saw the change. But there was no running from him like this. The black sockets were unreadable and she was certain that he was about to feed on her again. To her surprise he only kissed her, sucking her lower lip into his mouth and tasting the sweet, warm, coppery liquid on his tongue.

Rillan scooped Mira up into his arms and carried her back to the bedroom. The air had cooled and smelled of the world outside: summer breeze and forest. He laid Mira on the bed so that she could gaze out the shaft at the night sky. With her eyes trained on the stars that she hadn't seen in so long, Rillan's change in demeanor vanished from her thoughts and she nearly missed his movement over her body.

A gasp was forced from Mira's mouth as Rillan pushed her legs apart and leaned down to lick the soft pink folds of her sex. He looked up into her eyes with an accomplished grin. Mira stared back shocked and uncertain what to say or do.

"So it is possible to get your attention away from dreams of running outside," he said impishly.

"You are a very confusing man," she said with a hint of anger in her voice.

As if testing her Rillan leaned down and licked her again. Mira's eyes widened, watching as his tongue snaked out and stroked the sensitive flesh. He lingered on her clit, sucked it into his mouth, and then sat back, looking into her eyes again. 

With her eyes drilling into him he began to feel guilty again. Releasing her flesh from his lips he sat back, staring down at her exposed pussy distracted as he spoke. His eyes intent on memorizing ever fold. "I'm sorry for that," he said. "The inconsistency. How badly do you want to see outside?"

Right now the only thing Mira wanted was the end to the conversation and have something much larger than his finger or tongue inside her. She squirmed before him on the bed, her legs spread wide in a wanton display that she did nothing to correct. If he put her in that position she was willing to stay there. "Do we have to talk about that?" She was concerned where this was going and made a mental note to only look out the shaft when he wasn't paying attention.

Licking his lips, Rillan continued to stare at her swollen weeping sex. By all the gods she's beautiful, he thought. "No," he said, never tearing his eyes from her. He reached down and stroked the protruding wet folds teasingly with a feather light finger as he spoke. "But I will revisit the topic shortly. Just tell me one thing."

Arching her back, Mira tried to get more from his fingers than the cruelly light touch he was providing. "What," she breathed heatedly.

"Tell me truthfully," he stopped touching her and moved up her body. Pinning her down he let the blackness take his eyes so that he was looking down on her trapped form with the beast. He watched her squirm beneath him, uncertainly, the flushed passion suddenly abated. "Do you really want this to make love to you," he asked in almost a whisper. Rillan decided that he could handle it if she was only pretending for his benefit and her own self preservation. He would live with that. But he wanted to know for certain what it was he was dealing with: a woman insane enough to want him or smart enough to lie to him. 

Mira stared into the black. She didn't want to answer him. It felt as though he could read her and know if she was lying to him. "No," she finally said.

Rillan nodded, the pain in his chest was back. She's smart. The though drifted listlessly through his mind. He shifted back to the task at hand, wishing he hadn't wanted to know so badly. Without looking at her face he moved his mouth to her breast, determined to bring her as much pleasure as her bravery had afforded him.

When the wet heat of his tongue began swirling around her nipple it was almost impossible for her to gain enough self control to stop him. She didn't understand the pain on his face when she had answered him. It wasn't as if he was in love with her or even cared about her. Was it? Mira forced Rillan to look at her. His eyes had returned to the deep blue that made her forget what he really was. They were a little glazed and concerned. Rillan was worried that she had decided to stop this now that he had made her admit she didn't want it.

"I want you to make love to me," she whispered timidly.

He looked into her eyes searching and shook his head. "That doesn't make sense."

Mira swallowed. "You, not the vampire," she explained. "Maybe I'll grow used to that in time. But for now can't it be you?"

Rillan didn't know how to respond to that. She couldn't be real. He was having some kind of dream. Without a word he moved back up her body and kissed her. His lips pressing insistently against hers, his tongue searching her mouth. Mira wrapped her legs around his waist and pulled him down onto her. 

Mira felt his hard, thick, shaft press against her. She thought she might go crazy if he continued torturing her like this. Rillan's lips moved from her mouth and he kissed and gently bit his way along her jaw to her neck, breathing her scent in and losing himself to her. He felt her hips writhe against him. Rillan's cock began to grow slick with Mira's pleasure as she squirmed beneath him. 

If he hadn't been near giving her what she wanted he would have given in when Mira turned her head, her lips a breath from his ear, and whispered "please."

Rillan pulled away from her again so that he could watch her face as he entered her. Her eyes glowed with intense passion. Her breathing was ragged. There was a sheen of sweat beginning to cover her skin. Rillan reached between them, took his cock in hand, and brought it to her entrance. He couldn't keep the soft smile from his lips as his angel looked down to watch him enter her. There was a strange innocent curiosity on her face. 

The thought was matter-of-fact when it solidified in his mind. I'm in love. The smile slid from his lips at the realization. Slowly, watching her, Rillan began to push into her. After only a couple inches Mira let her head fall back, her eyes close, and her breath caught in her chest. Rillan couldn't of anything more beautiful in the whole of his life. 

Mira moaned as the last of Rillan's cock was buried in her trembling body. When Rillan began to move against her with slow deliberate strokes, soft gasps and whimpers were forced from her lips. Rillan tried to memorize each sound, gauging what she liked best from the different noises that his thrusts rang from her body. She seemed lost to the passion and she was exquisite to see. Nothing else in the world existed beyond that bed. 

Mira felt the heat and need growing in intensity as he thrust faster and harder into her. Her hands fisted in the sheets, her back arched and her body on fire, Mira felt the passion explode in her like nothing she had ever felt before.

Rillan could see how close she was. He fleetingly thought that it was watching her and not the act that was bringing him to the edge. When he felt her cunt tighten and begin to spasm around his cock he fell over the edge as well, releasing into her. 

Rillan couldn't stop staring at Mira as she calmed from their passion. It was as if blinking was too much time lost. The small pleased, satisfied smile on her face. Her eyes looking back at him with a shy wonder. Her skin hot from exertion, covered in sweat, and blushing red under his gaze. She was perfect. But he couldn't help wonder how long this could possibly last.



Mira Ch. 05



I know this has been a long time in coming guys… Sorry. I got caught up in editing Leader of the Pack. Now that it's done I can get back to the fun part of writing! :D And for all my efforts, the revised, cleaned up, fixed version of Leader of the Pack is available for purchase at excessica.com . Thanks to everyone who encouraged me to publish it! Keep an eye out, Mira should be coming more quickly now. 

Chapter 5

It's time, Rillan thought, standing outside the heavy door that was closed on Elizabeth's room so long ago. He rarely ventured into that space. Walking down the hall ghostly memories assaulted him, reaching into his mind from the hanging cobwebs. As he reached the main room he could almost see her sitting at the corner table, sewing. She was always sewing. And the room always smelled of cooking stew.

"Rillan," Elizabeth looked up from the pile of material in her lap that would eventually be a dress. The one she was wearing hung loosely from her frame. She didn't seem to notice that she had lost so much weight. "I was starting to get worried. It's been days." She laid the dress carefully on the table and virtually ran across the room into his arms.

"Easy, easy," he teased, holding her gently. "I'm in pretty bad shape this time." Though, even in my worst shape, you're too withered to cause me any real pain. Rillan buried the thought in the back of his mind. It was easy enough to do, considering she never acknowledged the darker side of their existence. Why should he?

Emerald green eyes stared up at him with concern. Elizabeth pushed him away from herself and looked him over. "What's wrong?"

"Same thing that's always wrong," he sighed. He hated what he did to Elizabeth when he returned more than he hated assassinating the poor fools he was sent to kill. At least this time he wasn't so far gone that he attacked her without warning. "I'm weak. I need to feed."

"Is that all?" Elizabeth smiled. Her lips were still rose petal pink, though her face was gaunt and pale. "I have stew cooking. It will be ready soon. Sit down. I'll get some bread and cheese for now." Rillan allowed her to guide him to the bed and sat down. She stroked her hand over his forehead, brushing his hair back from his face. Kissing him gently on the cheek she stepped back from him and disappeared to the hall toward the pantry.

Rillan breathed heavily. He could feel the blood lust building. Body aching with the need, he knew he wouldn't be able to play house as long as Elizabeth wanted. He felt obligated to participate in the farce for some time before taking from her. 

Elizabeth reappeared from the hallway with bread and cheese in hand as well as a bottle of wine. Humming happily to herself, she took the food to the table, produced a couple plates and some cups. In short order she managed to set a pleasant table. It was all he could do to not fall upon her as she worked.

"Come over here and have something to eat," she called.

Rillan forced himself to his feet and went to the table. With the air of a faithful wife preparing a meal for her loving and devoted husband, Elizabeth served the bread and cheese, poured Rillan some wine, and went to the hearth to check on the stew. More than a little concerned, Rillan realized that she looked much more skeletal than the last time he was in her rooms. Has she eaten anything, he wondered. He had noticed that she only ate when he was in her rooms. That alone spurred him to visit her much more often than he used to. 

Elizabeth pulled the stew pot from the wrought iron hook over the fire. "I think it may be cooked well enough." She smiled up at him and Rillan noticed another tooth was missing.

She'll not survive another feeding, he realized. She's too fragile. His stomach turned. Rillan briefly considered leaving and seeing if he could find a worthy blood donor in one of the nearby cities. I pledged to never do that. If he did and was caught then the druids would end their relationship with him. I'd never be able to live feeding off of people that way. I'm monster enough like this.

"How was business in the city, my love?" Innocence and love stared at him from the emerald glow in her eyes. Those eyes were the only part of her that wasn't showing the wear of the past decade.

Rillan had even grown used to her strange questions. "I accomplished everything I was sent to do," he replied without pausing.

"I'm so proud of you. How many women have husbands as successful as mine?" Elizabeth virtually glowed with pride. 

Rillan leaned across the table, took her hand in his, brought it to his lips, and placed a soft kiss on her palm. As his lips touched her skin, his senses fired. He could hear her pulse and smell the blood flowing through the veins in her wrist. Feeling his body begin to shift, he closed his eyes and tried to calm the beast within, but he knew that he was losing this battle.

"Elizabeth, take off your clothes and get into bed." His voice was tinged with the guttural demon tone that instilled fear in so many would be conquerors.

"But you haven't touched your stew," Elizabeth responded playfully, as if she didn't see or hear the change in him. "Isn't it a bit early for such games?"

Rillan wasn't able to cope with her teasing this time. "Just do as you're told," he growled. It took all the will power he had to keep from raising his eyes to hers. The last time she looked directly into the black sockets, she fainted and didn't recover for over a week.

Nearly in tears at his tone, Elizabeth stood quickly and went to the bed. "I'm sorry," she whispered. "I didn't mean—"

"Don't," he snapped, stopping the apology. The last thing I need is for her to start apologizing again. "Do as you're told." Guild washed through him as he got up and put out the lights around the room, refusing to even glance in her direction. I'll make it up to her in the morning, he told himself. Swishing material sounds told him that Mira was following his order.

Rillan turned toward the bed. He could see her in the darkness feeling her way onto the bed. Removing his own clothing, he watched her crawl to the middle of the bed and lay down on her back. 

Elizabeth stared blindly into the darkness. "Rillan?" Fear and uncertainty were growing in the pit of her stomach. I've done this before. Somewhere in the back of Mira's mind a vision of fangs and empty black eye sockets sent a shockwave of terror through her body.

Standing next to the bed in the darkness, Rillan could hear the sobbing begin. He knew the progression by heart. In a few moments the crying would stop, the room would fall deadly quiet, and Elizabeth would black out. Each second was palpable as he waited for her breathing to even out. Watching her through the pitch black, abject terror on her face, he considered ending it for her. In her state of mind, Elizabeth would never ask for death. Her denial was too complete. There were only these brief instances, just before he fed on her, when lucidity overcame her fantasy and she remembered what he was. 

Finally, her trembling stilled, her heartbeat slowed, her breathing became shallow, and the last of the tears ran down her cheeks. Blank void was all that could be seen in her eyes. Rillan crawled up the bed next to her. Gently he ran his fingers over her face, closing her eyes.

Taking her in his arms, she felt even smaller than she appeared. Rillan cradled Elizabeth close to his chest and bent over her, biting her neck where her pulse seemed strongest. Warm blood flowed into his mouth, with each heartbeat. Careful to not take any more than necessary, Rillan only barely sated his hunger. Setting Elizabeth on her pillow, he lay down next to her and gathered her into his arms. Rillan knew that when Elizabeth woke, she wouldn't remember any of this. She would sigh happily and cuddle against him as if they were lovers and nothing was amiss. Then she would make him breakfast and force him to eat it. 

A crack of thunder caught his attention and he looked to the open shaft in the ceiling. Elizabeth's room was the only room, other than his, in the caverns that had a shaft to the surface. He couldn't remember if the door on the shaft in his room was shut. Briefly he considered getting up and going to make sure. A ledge above the shaft in Mira's room prevented the rain from streaming into her room. The shaft in his room couldn't claim such a luxury, and he knew that the rain barrel wasn't under the shaft. Rillan started to pull away from Elizabeth to go deal with the problem, but a small whimper stopped him.

Rillan sighed, accepting that the carpet in his room may be soaked through by the time he got there. Some things are more important, he thought. Eventually, the sound of thunder, rain, and Elizabeth's heartbeat lulled him into a fitful sleep. 

Blood running in rivulets down the shaft in his room and pooling on the floor plagued his dreams. Cold dead brown eyes stared at him as his latest victim relived his slaughter while Rillan slept. He found himself walking away from the blood filled room and ghostly body. As he opened the door to his rooms, he walked out of the caverns into the clearing at the main entrance. Sunlight blazed down on him, searing his exposed skin. Ignoring the pain he walked to the stone altar at the center of the fenced clearing to find a pile of parchment papers. So many papers covered the altar that they overflowed the edges and fell to the ground. He knew these papers well. Lifting one of the scraps of parchment, he read the name on it, then another. Some of the names were that of the men he had assassinated since coming to work for the druids. Other papers held the names of the women who had died in his service. Some of the names were unfamiliar to him, but he instinctively knew that the names belonged to dead people. Maybe they were the names of the faceless bystanders who were killed during his missions. Perhaps they were family or friends of the others he had killed. Either way, the papers were too numerous to count. A breeze from the mouth of the cave blew the papers off the altar. They flew into the sky and disappeared into the trees at the edge of the clearing. One paper remained on the altar. Rillan's hands trembled, as he lifted the paper and read the name scrawled on it. Elizabeth.

When Rillan's eyes opened he already knew she was dead. Her body was still warm, but there was no heartbeat. A tear formed in the corner of his eye. He lay there holding her for so long sunlight began to threaten at the mouth of the shaft. At last, he got out of the bed, refusing to look at the body he left behind. For days Rillan refused to enter her rooms. He didn't want to face the task of taking her to the altar in the clearing. He didn't want a replacement. In the end, he turned off all feeling he had left, walked into the bedroom, wrapped the body in a blanket from the bed and carried her out of the caverns.

Elizabeth's small frame seemed to weigh tons as he brought her into the fresh air and moonlight. "It's not right. The first time moonlight graces your skin in nearly a decade and you're not able to feel it," he whispered as he laid her gently on the cold stone. He stood over her for a short time, unable to remember the words to the prayer that his people said over the dead. It had been too long since he had heard it. Death is too constant around me. If I were to begin reciting the words I would never again be able to say anything else, he thought despondently before turning back to the darkness and solace of the caverns.

Returning to her rooms, Rillan stood beneath the shaft, reached up and closed the heavy wood and wrought iron door. The hinges creaking echoed down the halls and thudded with finality as he forced the latch into place. 

Reaching up through the cobwebs Rillan took hold of the latch. Gripping it tightly he pulled. Nothing happened. Years of disuse rusted it in place. Grim determination pushed Rillan on. Taking hold of the handle with both hands, Rillan's eyes darkened to black and his skin paled. One solid yank from the monster forced the rust immobilizing the latch to crumble, raining down on him in orange metal flakes. The sound of scraping metal screeched down the hallway, echoing out the main door and through the caverns. Latch finally open the heavy door groaned on its hinges as Rillan swung the door wide. More than a century of accumulated dead leaves and rotting vegetation dumped onto Rillan from the neglected doorway to the outside.

Brushing himself off, he peered up the shaft into the night sky. Elizabeth's skylight wasn't as deep as his. The moon seemed a bit closer as seen through this shaft and it didn't take quite as long for the night air to filter down into the room. Fresh night breeze washed away the still stale air in the bedroom.

Elizabeth's room was exactly the same as the day he carried dead body out, with the exception of layers upon layers of dust and hanging cobwebs. "I really have my work cut out for me," he grumbled to himself. He walked to the table in the corner where Elizabeth had left the dress she was sewing that night. Picking it up sent a cloud of dust billowing across the room. Rillan choked on the air, but continued his task with determination.

Chills ran down Mira's back as a screeching metallic noise woke her. Sitting bolt upright in bed, her mind raced. She wasn't sure where she was or how she had gotten there. Slowly her eyes adjusted to the dim light dancing around the room from the fireplace. As the details of her room came into focus Mira, remembered with eerie clarity the last thing she did before falling asleep. Or perhaps I should say passing out, she thought.

"Rillan," she called into the darkness. There was no answer. "I wonder how long I was out this time." She could smell stew simmering in the kettle in the fireplace and there was a full pitcher of water and a cup on the stand next to her bed. 

Mira sat up and swung her legs over the side of the bed. Picking up her dressing gown from the foot of the bed she pulled it onto her naked body and slid off the edge of the bed. The frigid stone floor sent chills through her and she quickly found her slippers. Memories of the first time she woke up after his feeding rushed into her mind. It surprised her to find that she didn't feel too badly at all this time. She began moving about the room lighting candles. She ladled some stew into a bowl and placed it on the table before going to get some bread, cheese, and a bottle of wine from the storeroom. 

Mira couldn't decide if she was disappointed or relieved that she didn't wake up in his bed. Her body tingled with the memory of what had happened just before she fell asleep. A smile crept across her lips with the thought. 

After she ate, Mira warmed herself a bath and then went about trying to get back into her routine. However, she found that her mind continually drifted back to that night in Rillan's bed. She considered going to him again, but embarrassment held her back. Eventually, she wandered down to the study with all the books; half hoping she would run into him. But the halls were silent. 

When she returned to the room she took her silver whistle and sat down on her bed. After an hour of unsuccessfully trying to distract herself from the insistent tingle between her legs, Mira set the whistle aside. Nervously she scanned the shadows for any hint of movement that might reveal Rillan watching her. 

When she was relatively satisfied that she was alone, Mira laid down on her bed. Hesitantly, she pulled her skirt up her body. She briefly considered how embarrassing it would be if Rillan caught her, as she slid her hand into her underwear. A soft moan escaped her lips when Mira's fingers slipped across her mound and into her wet heat. Slowly she began stroking her clit, running her fingers in long satisfying caresses. Closing her eyes, she pictured Rillan sitting between her spread legs, his fingers exploring her pussy. Mira bit her lip and tried to hold back the whimper, as her body began to shake.

Mira lay there after the waves of pleasure calmed. It would have been a lot more intense if Rillan had done it, she thought, with some disappointment. 

Cleaning Elizabeth's rooms took Rillan far more time than he first expected. Every night that week he returned to his own rooms and turned his bath water black with dust. 

He stood in the middle of the main room examining his handy work. There wasn't a trace of dust, the rusted latch on the shaft cover had been replaced, he brought in new blankets, took all of the things that had been Elizabeth's to a storage room down the hall, he filled the store room with fresh food, and brought in wood for the fireplace. 

Rillan left the shaft open to allow fresh air to circulate through the chambers, and he left. Striding down the hall, pleased with himself, Rillan decided that he had earned some sword practice. It had been a while since Rillan swung his sword. Over the past month he was either not in the mood or busy with something else. 

Rillan lit the candles in his practice room, shed his clothing down to his breeches, and selected a well used sword from a rack on the wall. Swinging it back and forth, loosening the muscles in his arms, and rolling his head along his shoulders, Rillan approached the armored dummy. Shortly the sound of clashing metal on metal rang out down the hallway.

Book in hand, Mira walked down the hall toward the study. She wasn't sure what she wanted to read next. There was that book of stories about dead leaders or that book about the creation of the sun. Mira was suddenly snapped out of her thoughts by the sound of metal striking metal. A smile crept across her face. Without thinking she passed up the door to the study and continued to the end of the hall and the large wooden double doors.

Mira could see the light emanating from cracks around the door. She pushed the door open, and light spilled out into the hallway. Standing in the doorway, Mira watched Rillan sparring with the armor clad dummy. 

Rillan only barely registered that the door swung open, but he rarely missed a change in his environment. That type of observation had long since become second nature to him. Continuing to batter the dummy he waited to see if she would approach, a smile on his face. 

Mira was contemplating what excuse she was going to use for seeking him out and interrupting him while he was practicing. Just as she was turning to disappear back down the hallway he called out to her.

"You came all this way, Mira, presumably looking for me. Is there a reason you've changed your mind about whatever it was?"

"Shouldn't you be at least a little out of breath after all of that," Mira asked nervously, trying to change the subject.

His warm smile virtually pulled her into the room. "I don't tend to get out of breath."

Mira walked up to him, her mind grasping for a good excuse. Why didn't I think of this before? I'm going to look like a complete fool. "Uh, I was just wondering if the rugs in my rooms would be replaced," she sputtered, in what she believed to be a sudden stroke of genius.

Rillan stared into her eyes. He knew she was hiding something, but he couldn't figure out what she could possibly be trying to keep from him."

"Actually, I intended to talk to you about that." Rillan leaned his sword against the dummy and picked up his shirt from the arm of the chair where he had left it. "Come with me." He started walking toward the door pulling the white shirt over his head as he went. 

Mira felt her heart begin to race. She hated that he was putting on a shirt. "Where are we going?" Rillan didn't answer her. He just looked back at over his shoulder in the darkness. Mira couldn't see the excited glint in his eye, but it was obvious that he was pleased with whatever he was doing. They approached a door that Mira only vaguely remembered being there.




Mira Ch. 05



Rillan stopped outside the door with his hand on the latch. "I asked you how badly you wanted to see outside and you never answered me."

Confusion surged through her. She looked at the door he was standing in front of. The implication was pretty clear that behind the door there was something to do with outside. He didn't sound as if he was angry or annoyed with her. "I know. I don't really know how to answer that."

"I have a gift for you."

Mira's heart pounded relentlessly against her ribcage. "I don't understand."

Rillan smiled in the darkness, as he lifted the latch and pushed the door open. He held it aside for Mira to go in. 

Cautiously she stepped past him and walked down the short hall to the bedroom at the end. The open shaft immediately drew her attention. Fresh air pouring into the room drew her closer. Standing beneath the open shaft she stared up into a starry night sky.

"If you move the bed to the right spot you should be able to see the sky as you're falling asleep."

Mira turned to look at him, tears in her eyes, afraid to say anything.

"You don't have to move into this room. There is no music room, or any of the other rooms that your current quarters have. Originally I never expected companions to remain in their rooms all the time. That situation developed over the years. This room is more like mine: the bedroom, a bathing room, and a small storage room. In the beginning the rooms that you're currently living in were meant to be a separate area to go to for entertainment. The room that is your bedroom used to be a library." When Mira still didn't respond Rillan became concerned and added, "Like I said, you don't have to move into this room. I just thought you might like it better."

"I do," Mira finally said, a catch in her voice. She walked haltingly toward him and without hesitation wrapped her arms around his neck, buried her face against his shoulder and began crying into his shirt.

"I hope those are good tears," Rillan said with concern, stroking her hair gently.

"Very good tears," she sobbed. 

Rillan loved the feel of her warmth against his cold body. He held her while she tried to get control of herself. When Mira finally looked up, Rillan cupped the side of her face with his hand and wiped a tear away from her cheek with is thumb. She's even beautiful through tears.

 At first Rillan didn't understand the intensity in her deep brown eyes. Nothing ever shocked him as much as the kiss that Mira placed on his lips. Momentarily stunned, Rillan stood there motionless, letting her kiss him. When it eventually sunk in what was happening, Rillan swept Mira up into his arms and carried her to the bed. The kissing grew more passionate as he pulled her skirt up to her waist and worked his hand beneath all the material. 

Mira let out an appreciative hiss as his fingers delved between her legs. Driven on by the Mira's obvious desire for him to make love to her, Rillan took hold of her skirt and ripping the waist band, pulled it from her body, leaving her completely naked from the waist down. Watching her flushed expression for any sign of reluctance Rillan untied his breeches and pushed them down his thighs, as he moved forward between her legs. 

Dark blue eyes gazed wantonly into brown, and Rillan pushed his cock into her without pause. Mira grabbed the white material of his shirt in her fists, struggling to pull it over his head and off his body. She threw the shirt to the floor beside the bed and ran her hands over his chest. Hands on the bed to either side of her, Rillan braced himself over Mira as he thrust into her over and over again. He listened with pleasure to the whimpers and moans wrung from her lips. He was amazed. One thought blazed through his mind. She started this.

Mira trembled. Her small hands squeezed his shoulders, and her face contorted into a mixture of pain and pleasure as she came. Seeing her give in to the torrent of passion was more than he could take. Rillan's body tensed, his hands clenched the blankets, and he growled his release. His arms nearly collapsed under him. With some effort, he fell to the bed next to Mira. Waves of sensation pulsed through his body. Mira rolled to her side, laid her head on his shoulder, and sighed her satisfaction, as they lay together, recovering.

"I don't believe I've felt anything like that since I died," he said under his breath, too softly for Mira to hear. He stroked her hair and kissed the top of her head. "If I had known that this would be my 'thank you' I would have cleaned this room up for you long ago," he teased.

"I didn't realize how much I wanted something like this," she said.

Rillan smiled wondering if she meant the sex or the view of the sky. "I'll do my best to make you happy while you're here," he said seriously.

"You truly make no sense." Mira propped herself up on his chest so that she could look down into his eyes.

"Maybe someday I'll explain why. For now take me as I am." Rillan considered how happily he brought her to this room. I guess it's time to let Elizabeth go. Perhaps she had something to do with bringing you to me, he mused, staring into her sparkling brown eyes.

Mira leaned down and kissed him again, as her response. Slowly they removed the rest of their clothing, worked their way beneath the blankets, and spent the rest of the night together.



Mira Ch. 06



A gentle breeze sighed as it swept through the branches of the trees surrounding the clearing. Rillan never could decide if the empty clearing late at night was peaceful or ominous. He waited in the shadows of the cave mouth until he was positive no one was watching. Slinking through the shadows he made his way to the stone basin where letters were left for him. Cold acceptance was all he felt as he saw the parchment, gleaming white reflecting moonlight in the darkness.

I knew it would happen, he told himself. The past few months have been more dream than reality anyway. He didn't know if the annoyance he felt was with himself or with the druids. Without looking at it he pocketed the letter and gathered the supplies that had been left. Arms full of bags of food he trudged through the caves. Normally he would take the food in to Mira's store room, but he didn't want to face her just yet. Dumping the supplies in a storage room off the main hallway, Rillan headed for his rooms. 

A sweet cheerful melody called to him as he passed the door to Mira's room. She played for him often lately. Usually the sound reached into him, drawing a long absent smile from his lips. Now it only served to remind him that this happiness was fleeting. He closed the main door to his rooms behind himself. Upon reaching his bedroom, Rillan reluctantly pulled the letter from his pocket. Sitting down in a large chair next to the fireplace, he held the letter in his hand, staring at it. 

A long moment passed while he contemplated the ramifications of not taking the assignment. In all the years I've done this, no woman has ever affected me to this extent. Rillan growled at himself. This is my job. He turned the letter over with intent. A red wax seal held the letter closed. He barely glanced at it as he broke it and opened the folded parchment.

"Tiberius Caelius Novanus," he read aloud. Rillan didn't know the man. He had been underground too long to know the current leaders. This was yet another point of contention in his mind. He was torn between being blissfully unaware of who he killed and keeping tabs on current events if only to keep the druids honest in their targets. The only problem with the later was the guilt he felt when he knew of the families the men he killed left behind.

Ripping the parchment into several pieces he stood and tossed it into the fireplace. He rarely lit the fire, preferring the darkness in his rooms. This was one of the few exceptions. He always burned the parchment that bore the names of his victims. Flames leaped up from the old coals in the grating. Slowly the flames danced higher, licking at the wood until the paper lying on the top of the pile caught fire. Rillan watched the paper burn, the red seal melting to run like blood into the tinder. 

As the fire blazed in the hearth Rillan returned to his chair, considering how he would prepare Mira for what was to come. There's always the chance that it won't take long and it won't be too bloody. The possibility exists that I'll return here with my mind intact. Rillian could count on one hand the number of times that happened. He drummed his fingers on the arm of the chair, while the fire burned on. This was inevitable. I knew that the assignment would come. But so soon? The fates couldn't have given me a year or two with her as she is, he thought. 

Rillan couldn't stop thinking about all the time he spent with her since he gave her Elizabeth's room. It started with helping her move the things she wanted to the room. After that she offered to play some music for him. Within days he found that he was rarely without her. At first he believed it was only the dark loneliness of his well furnished tomb that brought her to him so often. When she began making it clear that she liked sleeping in his bed or having him in hers, he began to wonder if she truly felt something for him aside from fear. He had yet to have that conversation with her. For the moment he was happy in his oblivion. The last of the flames shrank into the coals and even the glowing embers were fading. Forcing himself to bottle his upset, Rillan composed himself, took his heavy cloak from the chest at the end of his bed and left his rooms. 

On the way to Mira's rooms he stopped in the large main room at the end of the hall to collect his sword. Lifting the weapon, Rillan examined it as he contemplated the number of heads the blade had severed from bodies. I suppose there is some comfort in the idea that the blood is on the sword and not my hands. He collected his sheath from the weapons rack and thrust the weapon into the soft, supple leather, hearing the familiar thwack as the hilt stopped against the lip of the sheath. Clearing his mind of all thought he strode out of the room and down the hall.

He only briefly knocked on the door before letting himself into her room and walking down the short hallway toward her bedchamber. Fresh night air greeted him as he opened her door. He smiled and shook his head. She never closes it. Remembering what he was there for, the smile fell from his face. Mira lay asleep in her bed. There were times with women before her that he didn't bother to warn them or say when he was leaving. He shoved the thought out of his mind. She deserved better than that.

Moonlight puddle on the bed around her head and shoulders. She had moved the bed beneath the shaft so that she could stare up at the sky. The soft white glow exaggerated her pale skin. She looks to be a spirit or fey. Rillan reached out and stroked her cheek gently. "Mira, I need to speak with you."

There was just enough volume and insistence in his voice to wake her. Mira stretched happily, the blankets falling away to show that she was naked in bed. She smiled up at him sleepily. "I had resigned myself to sleeping alone tonight."

He eyed her skeptically, staring at her bare breasts. His hand trailed down the side of her neck, along her chest, and skimmed teasingly over her nipple. "Do you always sleep naked when you believe you'll be sleeping alone?" 

The stoic tone in his voice told Mira that something was wrong. "What is it?"

Refusing to think any more about the situation, Rillan sat down on the edge of Mira's bed. His voice hard and forceful, he stared unwavering into Mira's eyes. "I won't be staying tonight. I need to feed and then I leave on assignment."

Unconsciously Mira pull the blanket to cover herself. A chill went through her body at the image summoned up in her mind when he mentioned feeding. No matter how much I love the man, I think I'll forever fear the demon. "Alright," she said meekly. "Do you know when you'll return?"

"No. Be prepared for the possibility of something worse than the first time I used you."

Something about the way he phrased it made Mira cringe. "Okay," she said, overcome with grim acceptance. 

Rillan watched her staring at and clinging to the blanket. Anger and frustration with himself took hold of him. In a sudden rush, his eyes sunk into his head, black as night. The skin of his face seemed to pull tight to his skull, making his mouthful of dagger sharp fangs appear lipless and larger, protruding from his head. 

Mira suppressed her scream, as she shrank back from Rillan. Usually the room was pitch black and she only had to submit to rough hands in the dark, then pain that caused her to black out. The moonlight on his face was more than she could handle. As Rillan moved in to take her, she fainted. The vampire cared little for whether his prey was conscious or not. Tearing the blanket from her breast, Rillan descended on her with fiendish pleasure. Biting down viciously on her collar, he reveled in the feel of warm blood, thick and sweet, spraying into his mouth with each heartbeat. Clawed hands wrapped around her upper arms tight enough to pierce the skin and leave bruises to form in the morning. 

He needed very little blood this time. After he took his fill, the vampire stood, leaving Mira lying across the bed awkwardly bent over. He walked toward the shaft in the ceiling, staring out at the moon. The vampire didn't even spare a glance back at the crumpled form in the bed. Leaping up into the shaft as if the movement was second nature, Rillan was a blur of dark movement, crawling spider-like along the stone walls, casting a shadow over Mira, until he slunk over the crest of the shaft into the night.

Mira woke, hunched over in bed, with an ache burning in her back and hip. Sunlight beamed in through the open shaft, onto the bed. Lifting her face toward the light she let the warmth seep into her skin. Images of her last moments with Rillan flashed through her mind. Ignoring them, she wonder how long she was out and when Rillan would return. His words haunted her. The last thing she wanted was another awakening like that first one.

Sighing, Mira pushed the blankets back and stood, stretching her sore body. She looked up and out the shaft again, grateful that he allowed her to have the luxury of being able to see the sky. With that thought in mind Mira set to work preparing the room for the misery she anticipated. She moved the chamber pot closer to the bed, made sure the pitcher had fresh water, and she began preparing stew with the intent of keeping it going until the ordeal was over. 

The moon slipping down beneath the horizon would have told Rillan that it was time to find shelter for the day, if he hadn't felt the sun sneaking up behind him. His path, carefully planned, took more than a week to reach Noviodunum. As fast as he traveled, the dawn always forced him into hiding, impeding his progress. 

Small stone and timber round houses, cared for and watched by the druids, served as way stations, strategically placed in his path to the city. He traveled this path so many times over the years he could have done it in his sleep. Rillan walked through the door just as the sun peeked over the tree line. He closed it securely behind himself and then made his way to the straw filled mattress on the floor. He didn't even bother to light the fire. He knew he wouldn't need it. Periodically, over the years he had lit the fire as a pleasant distraction. The last few trips, however, he had taken to sleeping from the time he walked in until he had to leave. He spent less time thinking that way.

Rillan felt as though he just closed his eyes, when he sat up on the bed and noticed that there was no light filtering through the cracks in the old build's roof or corners. He took a moment to stretch and yawn before slinking out the door into the night. 

The first few nights went the same as every other assignment. Sleeping through the day and moving with the night wind as soon as the sun vanished from view. Two days from the city, just as the first light of the day began to color the sky Rillan came to that used to be his stopping point. The round house foundation remains were long cold and the surrounding forest was silent. Rillan guessed that the burning took place days before if not longer.

Walking around the pile of ash and stone that used to be his shelter, Rillan found no sign of who had burned it or why. It may be possible that someone in power in Noviodunum knows I'm coming. If the caretaker had gotten away from this then we would have known that the place was burned. So either he's dead or captive. Rillan looked to the lightening sky. I wonder how much he told them and if the safe houses closer to the city are destroyed as well.

 Accepting the possibility that there may be no more shelter between himself and Noviodunum, Rillan pulled the hood on his cloak up and pulled the heavy wool around his shoulders, careful to obscure as much skin as possible from the oncoming light. It wouldn't kill him, but it would be painful and completely drain him before he even reached his target.

Rillan kept to the shadows as much as possible. Travel was slow going. He didn't want to get into town with obvious burns on his face or hands. Most people wouldn't know what he was. Still they may think he carried some disease. That would make getting a room at the inn nearly impossible.

The sound of horse hooves pounding through the dirt prompted Rillan to take to the trees. Hiding in the branches of a tall oak, he watched several uniformed men on horseback charge through the woods. He couldn't help his suspicion, considering he wasn't traveling on a trail of any kind. When the horses disappeared into the trees, Rillan climbed down again. 

Risking exposure to the sun he chose to speed his travel. Something isn't right, he thought. He contemplated the circumstances of the assassinations he had performed over the past few years. They were all political, by his understanding. That could mean attempted retribution for any of the factions that may have been affected by the death of a leader. I suppose there has to be someone in Noviodunum intelligent enough to draw a connection between the assassinations and the druid nations. As intelligent as the elders are, I can't imagine that no one has noticed over the hundreds of years that I've been doing this that the people who die are the ones who lobby for northern assimilation and movement.

Near nightfall he came to the remains of the next round house in his path. As he knelt to examine some ashen footprints in the underbrush, shuffling from nearby bushed caught his attention. Darkness was descending on the decimated clearing. Knowing that he was already seen, Rillan stood and pushed the hood of his cloak back. Rillan's eyes bled to black and sunk into his skull. His senses sharpened and the sound of a rapidly beating heart called to him. Turning toward the sound, Rillan cocked his head and peered menacingly directly at the source of the sound. Shallow breathing quickened in the darkness. 

"I can smell your fear," Rillan hissed at the hidden prey.

Suddenly a flurry of movement burst from the bushes and a human form scrambled into the trees, running for his life. With the callous nature of any hunter pursuing his prey, Rillan followed with practiced ease. In a matter of moments he was behind the figure. Savage clawed hands grabbed a flailing body and slammed it into a nearby tree. His head hit the tree with a sickening thud. 

"Give me a reason not to drain your life and leave you as carrion for the wolves," Rillan sneered, in a deadly undertone, through a mouthful of daggers. The demon didn't register that the form he menaced was only barely a young man. 

The boy whimpered an inaudible response, as the vampire drew closer. Wide eyed with terror, staring into black, lifeless sockets where eyes should have been, the only thing the boy could manage to say was, "please." 

The distinct foul odor of urine assailed Rillan's senses and caused a pause. Somewhere, far off in the black of the forest a desperate voice called out, "Briac! Briac! Where are you boy?"

Reality swept in and the vampire retreated. When Rillan looked at the boy again he was unconscious and had peed himself. Rillan laid the boy down on the ground and stared at him with sympathy. The fates have blessed you with great luck child, Rillan thought, realizing that he was more on edge than he had thought. 

Turning toward the concerned calls in the darkness Rillan decided to chance that the boy and whoever was looking for him were not a threat to him. He had some questions that they may be able to answer, and he wanted to know why they were this far from the city at dusk. "He's here," Rillan called out in answer to the increasingly frantic cries.

"Where," the voice returned.

"Here. Follow my voice."

Minutes later a short, barrel-chested man in roughly made brown breeches and vest came into sight through the trees. "Thank the fates," he breathed heavily when he saw the boy lying on the ground. He brushed past Rillan and knelt next to the Briac. "Do you know what happened here, stranger?"

"He appears to have fainted," Rillan responded sympathetically as the man examined the boy. "I believe he hit his head. I think I frightened him. He ran."

The man looked up at Rillan momentarily. "He has always been skittish." The man paused and wrinkled his nose as he noticed the urine stained pants. "I told him not to wander off." He stood up and offered a hand to Rillan in greeting. "Well met, my friend. I thank you for your help. I never would have found him if you hadn't called out. I'm Brian. The lump on the ground is my son Briac."

Rillan nodded and clasped the man's wrist. "Rillan. Please don't thank me. He would have found his way back to you himself, if I hadn't scared the wits out of him."

"The fool deserved it. I told him to stay close. The wood is dangerous these days. My camp isn't much, but you're welcome to share it if you wish. Safety in numbers." The man released Rillan's wrist and bent to pick up the boy. He lifted Briac easily and threw him over his shoulder to take him back to his camp.

"I appreciate the offer, but I have a long way to go yet." 

"You're traveling at night?"

"I've never had trouble with it before," Rillan replied, as they walked toward Brian's camp. "I'm not from this area. Can you tell me why you speak so ominously and yet are in the forest yourself."

Brian gave Rillan a sidelong suspicious look. "You haven't heard about the upheaval in Noviodunum?"

Rillan sighed heavily. "No."

There was a long pause as Brian debated how much he should say to a complete stranger he found standing over his son's unconscious body in the forest at night. He was starting wonder if Rillan had more to do with Briac's condition than he had originally thought. Clearing his throat he decided on some common knowledge information that couldn't get him into too much trouble if this guy was one of Tiberius' men. "A new militant faction has come to power. The new senate is bent on fortification of the current holdings. There have been some attacks from barbarians to the east. But more than that, they're recruiting for the army."

Suddenly Rillan understood why the man and his son were in the forest a day's hard travel from the city. "Recruiting?"

Brian stopped walking and faced Rillan as if to answer a challenge, a hard angry look in his eyes.

Rillan held up his hands and shook his head. "I'm nothing to do with the army, friend. Honestly, do I look like I belong in the army?"

Brian really looked at Rillan for the first time. His clothing was a bit old fashioned, but well made. To Brian's mind, Rillan looked a bit out of place. It's almost as though someone plucked him from a 100 years ago and set him down in the forest. Still, at least he wears breeches and not a toga or kilt. "No. I guess not." Brian backed down and started walking toward camp again. 

"So are the burned houses part of the recruiting process," Rillan asked. If it's wide scale then it may not have anything to do with me. 

 "I wouldn't put it past them to burn houses. They don't like being told 'no,' and they like making examples of people."

Rillan nodded contemplatively. "And what of the settlements to the north?"

"I've seen several groups of men marched into town in chains. Pressed into service. I guess Tiberius is desperate enough for soldiers that he's collecting men from the northern communities. Keeps them in the army under threat of harm to the women and children left behind."

Rillan had fallen victim to a similar recruiting method in his youth. Anger boiled in him. At least I know that this target deserves it. "If Tiberius is taken out of power, who takes up where he left off?"

Brian paused again and shot Rillan a measuring look. "Could be anyone in the senate. One tyrant is about the same as the next."

"I guess it's too much to hope that he might be replaced by a good man," Rillan said, staring off into the darkness. As the men emerged from the tree line, Rillan spotted a small pile of gathered sticks and branches alongside two small packs.




Mira Ch. 06



Brian bent to set Briac on the ground. "Whether or not a man is good is relative to the next and what he wants and believes," Brian said. "There are plenty of men in the senate who believe Tiberius to be the savior of the nation." Brian pulled a pack over to where he was crouching and took a thin blanket out of it. "I suppose if you take into consideration that the eastern border would be overrun by now without the men Tiberius has pressed into service, you might say that Tiberius is only doing what is necessary." 

Looking up from Briac's limp form, Brian found that he was completely alone. There was no trace of Rillan anywhere. Quickly, he piled the sticks and branches together. "Spirits," he whispered fearfully, as he hurriedly lit the campfire, staring into the trees, uncertain if Rillan had been real or an image of his imagination.





Mira Ch. 07



Warning: This chapter is short and contains a great deal of gruesome detail. The horror part of erotic horror. If you don't like blood and gore you may not want to read this one.

*

Nightfall brought a soft knock on Rillan's door. When he opened it Arial was standing there with a middle-aged, nervous man in a toga. Stepping back, Rillan opened the door as wide as he could in the confined space and allowed them both in. 

Arial smiled winningly at Rillan. "This is Darius. He waits on Tiberius and his wife works in the kitchens."

With the mention of his wife, Darius looked a bit smaller. "Well, she used to," he said to the air.

Arial shot Rillan an apologetic gaze. "She's fallen sick. Darius needs money for the apothecary."

"I'm sorry for your troubles." Rillan felt little sympathy overall. At least the man has a wife to be sick. "I pay well, if that's any aid to your cooperation."

"I'll cooperate," Darius said in a muted voice. "Arial said that all you want to know is what Tiberius does all the time."

Rillan nodded. "That's all." He produced several golden denarii. "As much detail as you can."

Rillan listened carefully as Darius related the intricacies of a day in the life of Tiberius Caelius Novanus. He looked a bit uncomfortable when Rillan started asking questions about the number of guards in the house and where they were at night. 

Neither Arial nor Darius was fool enough to not draw some conclusions about why Rillan wanted a daily itinerary, especially after Rillan's questions. Even so, the money was enough to support Darius' family for the entire year. 

"There is one thing that I would add," Darius said. "Tiberius was a general before he took control in the senate. You ask a great deal about guards. He doesn't have many because he doesn't need them."

"Thank you for that," Rillan replied and added another coin to the pile. "Is there anything else you would add?"

Darius thought hard to come up with something else that might add another denarius to his payment. Finally he shook his head. 

Rillan pressed the coins into Darius' hands. "I don't think I have to tell you to forget that you were here."

"No. That goes without saying." Darius took the coins, excused himself, and skulked off into the night, grateful that the ordeal was over. 

Arial stayed behind for a short time, but once she established that she wasn't going to be able to bed Rillan, she excused herself. 

Rillan was just beginning to feel the wearying effects of all the travel, day and night. Not to mention the constant nagging longing he had for Mira. The woman never left his thoughts. Even now, standing in the shadows of the stone wall surrounding Tiberius' home all he could think was, Finish this and then you can return to her. 

Intently, he watched the windows of Tiberius' villa. The candlelight long since extinguished, Rillan was only waiting now in the hopes that Tiberius would be asleep for the attack. He had dealt with warriors before, but it was always more difficult than the standard overfed politician helplessly cowering in a corner.

Impatient for an end to this assignment, Rillan took a deep breath and summoned up his demon. Blood lust ran rampant through his senses. This half reveled in the task at hand. No remorse, he told himself. Do what must be done, because no one else can.

Crawling from one shadow to the next, Rillan slid easily up to the villa. He scaled the wall and crept on his stomach along the burnt orange tiled roof. Lying along the edge of the roof he scanned the courtyard and garden for people. A large statue of a man, presumably Tiberius, dominated the center of the courtyard. Intricate mosaics made up the walkways throughout the courtyard garden. Lanterns illuminated the courtyard throughout the night, even in the absence of people, illustrating the decadence of the household.

The shadows within the peristyle, insisted that Rillan be cautious. He listened for breathing or movement, waiting long moments patiently. After having established that there was no one there, he lowered himself into the courtyard. Slinking beneath the overhang, past the columns, Rillan melted into the shadows of the peristyle and followed the extravagant mosaics past the kitchen and latrine into the atrium. He counted doors along the wall, until he came to the one that Darius had indicated belonged to Tiberius.

With a practiced hand, Rillan lifted the latch and slowly pushed the door open. As small and rancid as his room at the inn was, this room was spacious and fragrant. Incense burned somewhere in the darkness. There was a sitting area with several large chairs. Columns acted as the divider between the entrance and the chairs and the bed chamber.

Spying the mounded blankets on the large bed, Rillan moved through the darkness to the bedside. As he reached the piled blankets, he knew something was wrong. He heard no breathing, smelled no blood or sweat. No human is that clean, he thought. 

Rillan sensed the attack, just as a wicked spatha sliced through the air and bit into the mattress sending a cloud of feathers into the air. Instinctually Rillan sank into the shadows. Moving faster than Tiberius' eye could follow, he scaled a column and watched the man search for him from the darkness.

"Lord Rillan Tiernay," Tiberius said with some awe and respect. "Vampire assassin. I wondered when you would come for me." Tiberius held his spatha lightly in his hand, as he cautiously searched the shadows, careful not to let his guard falter. "I was told not to take this villa. The senate believes it cursed. Do you have any idea how many druids I had to interrogate before I found out what demon they commanded."

Rillan knew that Tiberius was taunting him with intent. The man moved as if he was more than familiar with the weapon in his hand, and he was confident enough in his abilities that he chose not to call his guard to his aid. Rillan decided to watch a bit longer. The man had earned some respect.

Tiberius shifted his search from the large deep shadows to search the less obvious possibilities. "There are legends still told about you," he spoke into the darkness. "Stories about the great warrior Northman who held back our armies for years before vanishing. What was it? The destruction of your army? The death of your family?"

Tiberius was taking it too far. Rillan could feel the anger edging him closer to attack. He didn't care about the cost at this point. He knew that he couldn't be defeated. The fates will never bless me with an easy or honorable death.

"As I understand it," Tiberius continued as he exhausted the possible hiding places on the ground and turned his eyes toward the ceiling. "You were given the choice between joining our cause or seeing the death of your wife and child. You chose to watch them die. How does it feel to hold your ideals so high as to make that kind of sacrifice?"

Tiberius' words summoned up images in Rillan's mind of his wife and daughter consumed in the fire that destroyed his home and life. He could still hear the screams as he was forced to watch them burned alive. Their screams failing to the crackling of the blaze, they held him there long enough to see the flesh charred and fall ashen from their bones. Anguish and misery hazed his senses, and Rillan fell upon Tiberius.

Rillan drew his falcata and lunged haphazardly at his target, anger blurring his reason. Tiberius crouched back, as he whirled to face the vampire. He was in no way prepared for what he saw coming at him. Translucent skin pulled taught against his skull, sunken black eyeless sockets stared into him and lips drawn back in a sneer revealed dozens of dagger like teeth protruding manically from a mouth too large for his face. Tiberius lost all ability to speak or think as he stared entranced at the monster descending upon him. 

Lifting his curved blade, Rillan aimed for Tiberius' skull. At the last minute Tiberius recovered enough sense to thrust his spatha up into Rillan's stomach as the falcata slashed through flesh and bone from Tiberius' shoulder, through his chest and across his stomach. Rillan released his weapon and staggered back. Blood sprayed from the sliced artery in Tiberius' neck and dribbled from his mouth, down his chin. Looking down he saw his intestines spill out of his opened stomach, and then he collapsed on the floor. 

Rillan held the sword lodged in his stomach. Thick, dark, brown-red blood oozed out around the blade. Taking hold of the hilt, he pulled the sword out, only barely stifling a painful moan. Rillan stared at the gaping wound in his stomach, knowing that he wasn't strong enough to heal without fresh blood. The vampire looked to Tiberius momentarily and then turned away in disgust. I'll lie down and turn to dust first.

The compulsion was already taking hold of him. Blood lust. His mind raged. Mira. The thought of her forced the vampire down. He had just enough sense left to know that it was nearing dawn and he couldn't travel during the day like this. 

Warm copper tainted the air Rillan breathed. Warmth seeped through the sole of his soft leather boots. Looking down Rillan watched red pooling around his feet. Without another thought he walked out of the room, as if he was walking down a hallway in his own home. A small child emerged from the latrine as Rillan passed, wordlessly down the hall. The little boy followed him a few feet before looking down and seeing the bloody footprints Rillan was leaving behind. Rillan could hear the child's cries echoing through the peristyle, as he swung himself up onto the roof and clumsily dragged himself over the apex and down the other side. 

The inn seemed to be days away as he stumbled through the streets. Coming to the front door of the inn, Rillan found it bolted. Arial was the one who answered his pounding.

"Are you insane? You'll wake the whole inn. An accomplishment considering most of them passed out." Arial stood aside to let him in and then bolted the door behind him. 

Cloak wrapped around himself, Rillan lurched across the main room without stopping for pleasantries.

Arial rushed up beside him and pulled his arm over her shoulders to help him. "By the Fates what have you done," she hissed under her breath. Her eyes never leaving his blood stained boots. Fear spurred Arial virtually dragged Rillan across the main room, out the back door, through the courtyard and into his room. Helping him onto the bed, she stood wringing her hands and staring at him. "You'll get us all disemboweled. You can't stay here."

Rillan sat hunched over on the bed, holding his stomach. Only barely hearing Arial through the ringing in his ears, it took all his willpower to remain in control and not take what he needed from her. "No one knows I'm here save you and your friend. Assuming you both keep it to yourselves, there should be no trouble. I'll leave come nightfall. Now get out of here." He lay back on the bed, and the cloak fell open.

Arial's eyes widened and panic turned her stomach. "You're hurt!" She went to his bedside and untucked his shirt from his breeches, to get a closer look at the gaping wound in his stomach.

Her heart raced, and Rillan could hear each beat as if a drum was pounding in his head. "Stop." Rillan grabbed her wrists and pushed her away from himself. "Get out!"

"I can't," Arial cried in a trembling voice. "If you die here, I don't know what I'll do with the body."

Rillan smiled and coughed out a low demonic laugh. "And here I thought you cared," he said sarcastically. He could feel his control slipping. Laying back on the flea infested pillow, he closed his eyes, knowing that they were already shifting. "You need to leave now. I'll not tell you again."

"Fucking fool," she spat at him, as she walked to his bedside again. "Take my help. Who cares why I give it." Arial finished pulling his shirt from his breeches. Looking at the wound she thought she may be losing her mind. It wasn't actually bleeding. There was a vicious gaping hole in his stomach. His shirt was stained with thick, red-brown ooze that obviously came from the wound. She would never expect any man to be able to walk around with an injury like this, and she never seen a wound like this before. Suddenly, Arial felt incredibly uneasy. Slowly, gently she placed the shirt back over Rillan's wound. "Maybe you're right. I should go," she said nervously. Something in her was screaming, turn and run! 

The vampire watched the girl finally start to understand. A wicked smile pulled thin pale lips back from dozens of protruding dagger-like fangs. "I suppose," Rillan started in a guttural, low voice, "it's just as well you stayed. You'll make my walk home much easier."

Reluctantly Arial raised her eyes to the face of the creature speaking to her. Her chest immediately constricted on her lungs. She had no breath to scream. Terror held her in one spot as he approached her. Rillan stood, his face inches from hers. "You smell tainted whore. Too many nights in the beds of scum for a pretty silver coin." Leaning even closer, his nose in her hair, he drew in a deep tormenting breath. "Still you'll do."

Whimpering, Arial stood still as the monster taunted her. Tears formed in her unblinking eyes and overflowed down her cheek. A snake-like tongue slid out of Rillan's mouth and licked the salty drop from her face. 

"You should have left when I gave you the chance," Rillan whispered, in a regretful tone that only confused Arial. I don't need to feed this badly, his mind warred with his instinct, but his drive for self preservation was too strong. 

A clawed hand grasped Arial's sarong and ripped it off her body, spilling coins across the floor and revealing her naked pale flesh. He ran claws along her soft white skin, along her side and across her breast. Tears streamed down her face, dripping off her jaw and splashing on her chest and breasts. Take her or let her go, he told himself. Torture is not necessary. He took a deep breath trying to control his inner beast. She knows what I did and what I am. I can't let her go.

With that resolution firm in his mind, Rillan grabbed her arms, pulled her body against his and bit down on her neck. Fangs tore into flesh, thick warm blood rushed into his mouth with each heartbeat and he listened with satisfaction as her breathing slowed. To some extent he didn't realize how hungry he was. Her body drained in moments. 

High on the adrenalin rush from blood saturated in fear, Rillan tossed her body aside. Rest. I need rest. Turning back to the bed he crawled across it. As the vampire retreated, Rillan could feel the guilt begin. He closed his eyes, letting his exhaustion take him, as he felt his body knitting itself together and images of terror filled eyes stared accusingly at him from the inside of his eyelids.



Mira Ch. 08



Hi everyone, I just wanted to thank all of the people who have sent me suggestions and comments. It lead to a major revision. Unfortunately if you've been following along from the beginning you'll find that the chapters posted prior to this one do not contain the revision. But that's the way it goes when I post the first drafts as I go along. I can tell you all that Mira is going to be published through excessica, the same way Leader of the Pack was. So all the revisions will be able to be purchased in the full version of the story, once I finish it. I'm due to have it completed by August. So it shouldn't be much longer. 

*********************

Chapter

8

Rillan woke to the distinct odor of rotting flesh. It wasn't quite strong enough that a human would catch it, but it was more than enough to turn his stomach. Scowling and holding his breath, he sat up on his bed. Did some animal fall down the shaft and die on my floor? 

His eyes took longer than usual to adjust to the pitch black around him. Where am I? Lifting his hands from the bug infested mattress he was sitting on, Rillan slowly took in his unfamiliar surroundings. I must be on assignment, he thought calmly. It wasn't the first time he had been wounded and lost some of his recent memory. It would all come back to him. That small reassurance wasn't must consolation to his conscience when he saw the crumpled form in the corner. Horror like nothing he'd ever felt before crept beneath his skin and crawled through his body as he stared at the form. 

"Mira?" The whisper sounded like a scream in his mind. In a flash, Rillan was next to the dead girl on the floor and lifting her to see her face. "Arial," Rillan breathed in relief, as he dropped the cold desiccated corpse to the filthy floor.

Memories flooded Rillan's mind, as he knew they would. Closing his eyes, Rillan slumped against the wall and let the torrent overcome him. He remembered assassinating his target, the boy in the woods, and killing Arial. "You should have listened to me girl," he said to the air.

It was taking more effort than usual for him to turn the guilt off. This is what I am. 

Rillan heard the shuffling footsteps coming before the heavy knock on the door echoed off the walls. It could have been the inn keeper looking for money or the girl. Rillan didn't stick around to find out. Before the door opened, he was out the window and vanishing into the darkness of an overcast moonless night. Whether it was the missing moon or his mood, the shadows seemed deeper than usual. 

With the sounds, smells, and lights of Noviodunum far behind him, Rillan slowed his pace. He took his time finding a shelter for the day. The events surrounding this assignment weighed on him more than he was willing to consciously think about. He found himself finding ways to delay his journey home. Rillan's dreams and thoughts were plagued by vision of a lifeless form lying in his arms, staring up at him with Mira's eyes. 

* * * *

Destructive crashing and the sound of splintering wood stopped Mira from opening the library door. Holding the lantern high in the air and staring off down the endless hallway, she called out weakly, "Hello?" 

Fear balled in the pit of her stomach. Logically Mira knew that no one else was in the catacomb of tunnels that had come to be her home. Somehow with Rillan gone, her mind ran wild with every odd sound. At least she had known what the monster in the shadows was with Rillan. Now that he was on his assignment the unknown was somehow more frightening than he ever was. Not to mention there was the possibility of his return and what that might bring.

I never realized how scary this place could be, she thought. An amused grin split her face, momentarily defeating her fears. I wouldn't have thought I'd come to be that comfortable here. Just then the scratching sounds returned and her grin faded. Maybe Rillan's back, she reassured herself, somehow knowing that he wasn't.

Mira tiptoed down the hall toward the noise. Just go see that it's nothing so that you'll be able to sleep tonight, she told herself. She wasn't positive where the sound had come from. Walking down the hall she shortly found herself at an unfamiliar t-section. I guess I didn't realize how much of the cavern there was beyond the small area that I tend to stay in. I suppose there have to be quite a few things going on in this place that I really don't know much about. It's not as if Rillan and I ever talk about anything important.

 Letting her mind wander a bit, so that she would stop thinking so hard about what could have made the sound Mira peered down one dark hallway and then the other, trying to decide which way she should go. Suddenly another crash from nearby and off to her right made her jump out of her skin.

Dropping the lantern Mira nearly ran back the way she had come. Light spilled across the floor and down the hallway. "Hello," she whispered into the black and was answered with another crash. Gathering all her courage Mira strode in mock determination toward the sound. 

When a gentle breeze lifted her hair, Mira stopped dead. The only way a breeze can get in here is through another shaft or maybe the cave entrance. That's back the other way, I think. Suddenly more curious than frightened, Mira followed the breeze. As she reached the perimeter of the fading lantern light another crashing sound assaulted her senses, and she fell back a couple steps.

She could barely make out the shape of a door along the cave wall. As she stood frozen in place and watching for any sign of movement soft yellow light began to peek around the edges of the door. Shifting and faltering as if someone was moving it, the light slowly became brighter. Mira unconsciously stepped back into the protective shadows, mesmerized by the prospect that someone was breaking in to a vampire's lair. Who could possibly be that foolish?

Slowly the door began to creak open and Mira stared wide eyed at the figure appearing, poking his head out into the hallway. All of Mira's fear and anxiety melted and was quickly replaced by pleased uncertainty. "Liam?"

The blonde man jumped as if he had been ambushed by a ghost and he drew a short blade from his belt, jerked the lantern up over his head, throwing light across the hall and brandished the weapon.

"Liam," Mira insisted accusingly. "What are you doing here?" Without another thought she rushed across the hall and threw her arms around the man's neck, hugging him warmly. "How did you get in?"

Breathing a long sigh of obvious relief Liam hugged her back, burying his head in her hair briefly, before pushing her away. "There really isn't time. I should have gotten here sooner. But it took too much work to arrange things, and then it was a lot harder to find a connecting tunnel than I thought I would be." Liam seemed to be talking more to himself than Mira and glancing nervously one way and then the other around the tunnels. "Come on, he could be back any time now." Liam grabbed Mira's hand and started to pull her into the room he had just emerged from. 

Shock and confusion allowed Liam to guide Mira into the room and up to the debris he had created, before she gripped his hand more tightly and stopped him. "Liam, what's going on?"

Mira gazed around the room in astonishment. It looked as though it was some kind of store room. The stone wall at the back of the room had a heavy wooden door. Carved symbols of the dead had been splintered and mutilated during Liam's forced entry. "Liam? What is this?"

He was staring at her face and neck with a grimace of concern. "I've come to take you out of here."

"You can't." Mira pulled her hand out of his and started to back away from Liam.

"Mira, they know. Tiberius found out about us, about what the elders have been doing, about the vampire. It shouldn't be coming back. If it does come back, do you really want to still be here?" Liam couldn't believe how pale she was, even in lantern light, or how thin. It certainly doesn't take him long to destroy them, he thought in disgust. "I'll take care of you Mira. Come with me." He held out his hand to her.

Mira shied away and shook her head. "Liam I can't. You know I can't. How did you get in here? Where does that lead?" She pointed to the hole in the wall. 

Liam looked back over his shoulder at the hole in the wall, a guilty and pained expression contorting his face. "The tombs," he almost whispered.

Mira's eyes opened wide in horror. "You disturb the dead. What will the elders think of that?"

"They don't need to know," he snapped. "No one ever ventures that deeply into the tombs." Liam stared fearfully into the darkness of a nearby shadow that seemed to be moving.

Then no one should ever discover your body, Rillan thought. He wasn't entirely sure why he hadn't attacked the fool already. Somewhere in the back of his mind, tearing him apart, a voice was saying, Just go with him Mira. Rillan held himself to the shadows, waiting to see how the situation would play out, indecision virtually splitting him in two. 

"Mira, please," Liam begged, never tearing his eyes from the darkness surrounding them. He half expected the black to come to life and swallow him whole. "If you could see how you look," he whispered.

A tear formed in Mira's eye. "I know how I look. I've buried enough of my predecessors. You don't need to remind me of it. Go home Liam. I have my duty here." Mira turned away from him and started to walk down the tunnel in the direction she had come from.

"I'm sorry," Liam called after her as he followed. "Mira I can't go without you. Please understand. This era is over. I—" Liam swallowed hard. "Please Mira I love you."

She stopped in the hall and turned to face him. "Liam, you never said."

"We always knew what you were destined for. There was never a point before now."

Mira shook her head. "You can't love me. It's impossible. This is how my life was meant to be."

"No," Liam insisted, "it isn't. No one has to die for this. We can resolve our wars with words. We don't need assassins. At least that's what the elders are considering."

There was a long moment as Mira considered everything she had just learned. "We'll see. I can't leave here. Not now. I'll wait for my orders from the elders. Go home Liam. I'm sorry you love me."

Liam felt as though his entire world was collapsing around his feet. Mira took a couple steps back from him and then turned to run down the hall and return to her rooms. Liam watched her go as long as he could still see her form moving in the darkness. Then she was gone. From somewhere in the moving black Liam could have sworn he heard raspy breathing, or maybe a growl.

Devastated, he turned away from the tunnels and walked out the hold in the wall he had created. He stared weakly at the destructive mess he and his brother had made of the tomb. Something in him didn't care any longer. 

Completely forgetting the original reason she left her rooms, Mira sat down on her bed. Tears rolled down her face. She couldn't decide if she was proud of herself for staying or if she thought that she was stupid. I couldn't do that to Rillan, she thought. I just couldn't. I'll keep my word. She lay down across her bed and cried. Why didn't I ever realize that about Liam before?

Rillan sneered. Visions ran through his mind of ripping the man's tongue out and using it to write a bloody warning on the wall for all other would be rescuers. Instead Rillan allowed the broken man to leave. More than anything he envied the life that the man was able to offer Mira. She should have gone with him.

Walking through the gloom of the tunnels toward his rooms, Rillan considered the things that Mira's would-be suitor said. I don't know whether I'm happy about becoming unnecessary or not. I can't believe she chose to stay.

Upon entering his rooms, he went straight to his bed and lie down. Rillan didn't bother removing clothing, he was too exhausted. Closing his eyes all he could see were visions of his past. But the worst of the visions were the ones involving Mira.

Standing over Mira's bed Rillan stared down at her withered naked body. He parted her legs and stepped up to her. Claws dug into her hips as he gripped her and thrust deeply into her. Drops of blood formed at his fingertip as he fucked her lifeless form. She barely managed to squeak out a soft protest. Her body was too far gone to handle much more. 

As Rillan plunged into her tiny frame he watched her body disintegrating in his hands, her pale skin graying and turning to dust. She lay there beneath him moaning softly with his movements, loving him through the pain and death.

A soft breeze filtered through the room from the shaft and slowly skimmed the layer of dust that was her skin. Horror sifted through Rillan's body as Mira's body eroded before his eyes and was gone, leaving a gray silt to cover everything in the room. 

Sitting bolt upright in bed Rillan took a moment to register the feelings that were surging through him. It had been at least a century since the last time he felt fear, dread, or guilt.

Rillan stood and began pacing, the cold sweat on his clammy skin drying with the movement. What am I supposed to do? I've spent the whole of my life as a martyr. Why the hell should I do it again? Haven't I earned some happiness after all I've done?

 A vision of Arial crumpled against the wall of that dirty room in Noviodunum propelled him to his desk. Spreading parchment out in front of him and putting pen to the paper he wrote out instructions for the elders, in detail, berating them for the poor preparation of the girls who had been sent to him over the years. 

I hope that this seems a viable reason to send her back to them. A teary glaze coated his eyes, but he blinked it away and sealed the letter in an envelope. Forcing himself to action before his resolve broke, he charged down the hall toward Mira's room. I knew it would end like this.

Mira woke to noisy shuffling about her room. Sudden fear shot through her. Either Rillan is home or Liam has returned. The fool is persistent enough.

"Get up," Rillan growled. "I know you're awake."

Relief flooded Mira's body, once she heard what sounded to be the normal abrasive Rillan "I'm sorry. I didn't realize you were home."

"Just get up," he responded and grabbed her arm, dragging her to a standing position. Then he shoved a bag into her hands.

"What's this?" Mira opened the large bag and looked in. 

"The things you can take with you," he said angrily.

"I don't understand." 

"You're leaving. Come with me."

"What do you mean?" By the fates, I hope he didn't find out about Liam.

 "I'm done with you. I have a letter for the elders. You're returning to the village. Deliver it," Rillan said shortly. He was afraid he may break down and cry. He didn't want her to attempt to stay behind. I had to fall in love with her…

Mira stared at him in shock and dismay. "Did I do something wrong?"

The pitiful tone in her voice almost broke his resolve. "Be glad that I'm not draining you dry and leaving you for dead. I need someone younger. You're more work than I care to deal with girl."

A knot began to form in her stomach. "What's wrong? Are you hungry?" Assuming that his strange behavior had to do with his assignment, Mira began to undress.

Knowing that he wouldn't be able to go through with forcing her out if he made love to her, or even touched her again, Rillan grabbed Mira by the arm and began to pull her bodily from the room, before she could get out of any of her clothes. "I told you that I'm done with you," he spat at her. "Have them send someone else. That's all"

"You're hurting," Mira whimpered as she tried to pry his hand off her arm. "You're not making sense."

He dragged her, amidst numerous protests to the cave mouth. "You have a new purpose Mira. Correct your elder's teachings. I expect the girls sent to me in future to be better prepared for what they will face at my hands. You return here, I'll kill you," was the last thing he said to her, before leaving her confused and bruised form on the ground at the cave mouth.

Letter in hand Mira watched Rillan disappear into the bleak darkness that was his home. Soft blue light kissed the sky above the trees. Dawn. Near awe, Mira watched the sky slowly lighten, no cave walls, no cave ceiling separating her from the sight. The tears in her eyes took on a new meaning as she felt the morning creep into the clearing around her. Creaking of the rusted iron gate drew her attention from the beauty of the coming morning.

Mira looked toward the gate to see a young girl staring at her, mouth agape, wide-eyed. When she saw Mira turn toward her, she flinched, dropped the armful of supplies she had been bringing to the cave, then turned and ran back out the gate. 

"I wonder how I would have reacted if I had found one of the sacrifices outside the cave when I was a novice," Mira asked herself. Standing, Mira brushed herself off as she watched the darkness in the cave. Tears started again, she felt as though her heart had been ripped out. I wonder what I did wrong. This can't be right. He'll come back. He needs me.

Clutching the letter in one hand Mira stood at the cave mouth waiting. She wasn't sure how long she had been there, when a hand on her shoulder drew her attention. Dazed, Mira turned to see an elderly woman's kind eyes bearing down on her. Nothing seemed to be making sense. Somewhere in the back of her mind Mira recognized the woman as Lilith. She was the oldest of the elders and a kind soul. 

First Liam breaks into the tombs and then Rillan throws me out. The sacrifices don't work like this. Mira was tired. She didn't know what to think about any of it. Slowly she lifted the paper up for Lilith to take. Rillan hadn't said who to give it to, but Lilith seemed to be an intelligent option. 

Taking the letter from Mira, Lilith ran concerned eyes over Mira. She had the look of all the sacrifices, withered and pale. Dark circles sharply contrasted her pallor, around sunken eyes that were far too bright with understanding things no one should ever have to know. 

Lilith unceremoniously broke the seal on the letter and unfolded the parchment. She read slowly and carefully, seeing more in Rillan's writing than he truly intended to be understood about his motivations for sending Mira back to them. 

Clearing her voice, Lilith refolded the paper and looked sympathetically to Mira. "So it seems you are to be our new teacher, in the wake of our inadequacies in dealing with our guardian."

"I guess," Mira responded meekly, a small quake in her voice. Tears still wet on her face, Mira looked back to the darkness of the cave, but Rillan was gone. Strange that the darkness should almost seem more welcoming than the light and the pitying stares, she thought bitterly.

Nodding Lilith turned to a couple of the young onlookers and gave instructions that didn't quite register in Mira's mind as she gazed longingly into the cave mouth, wishing Rillan would change his mind and come back for her. Finally she allowed herself to be guided away from the cave and taken to the village.

By the time they reached the round houses, people had gathered to see the living sacrifice. No one had ever walked out of that cave alive and there was concern that something was wrong. Wild speculation whispered from one ear to the next.

"Maybe she ran away."

"Well if she did, does that mean he'll come out here hunting her down?"

"Do you think we're in danger?"

"No one could run away from that. She must have done something to anger him and he got rid of her."




Mira Ch. 08



"No he would have just killed her."

"Well there's no way he would have let her leave."

"She doesn't even look happy to have survived."

"She looks like walking death."

"I wonder what it was like in there."

"Judging from her appearance, there's no way it could have been good."

"What do you think we're going to do now? Send another sacrifice?"

"Lilith will know."

"She always knows."

"I thought we were getting rid of him anyway."

"Don't believe all the rumors."

***************

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secretme



Mira Ch. 09



Hi guys:

Sorry this took so long. I know everyone's been waiting. I'm currently working on the next chapter and I promise it won't be nearly so long in coming. I'm going to remind everyone that the stuff happening in this chapter involved a previous revision that never made it to Lit. I changed some chapters around so you might get some repetition from the posted ch. 8 in this. It will all be coherent in the published version, so bear with me on this. Remember everything you see on Lit is a rough draft and the little and big things that need work will be ironed out in the published version available at excessica. But as always I welcome comments and feedback! I use more of your suggestions than you realize!

PS. Chapter 10 is finished and I'm uploading it at the same time. So check back tomorrow or so and you might see the next chapter up already… :p

*****************************

Rillan woke to the distinct odor of rotting flesh. It wasn't quite strong enough that a human would catch it, but it was more than enough to turn his stomach. Scowling and holding his breath, he sat up on his bed. Did some animal fall down the shaft and die on my floor? 

His eyes took longer than usual to adjust to the pitch black around him. Where am I?  Lifting his hands from the bug infested mattress he was sitting on, Rillan slowly took in his unfamiliar surroundings. I must be on assignment, he thought calmly. It wasn't the first time he had been wounded and lost some of his recent memory. It would all come back to him. That small reassurance wasn't must consolation to his conscience when he saw the crumpled form in the corner. Horror like nothing he'd ever felt before crept beneath his skin and crawled through his body as he stared at the form. 

"Mira?" The whisper sounded like a scream in his mind. In a flash, Rillan was next to the dead girl on the floor and lifting her to see her face. "Arial," Rillan breathed in relief, as he dropped the cold desiccated corpse to the filthy floor.

Memories flooded Rillan's mind, as he knew they would. Closing his eyes, Rillan slumped against the wall and let the torrent overcome him. He remembered assassinating his target, the boy in the woods, and killing Arial. "You should have listened to me girl," he said to the air.

It was taking more effort than usual for him to turn the guilt off. This is what I am. 

Rillan heard the shuffling footsteps coming before the heavy knock on the door echoed off the walls. It could have been the inn keeper looking for money or the girl. Rillan didn't stick around to find out. Before the door opened, he was out the window and vanishing into the darkness of an overcast moonless night. Whether it was the missing moon or his mood, the shadows seemed deeper than usual. 

With the sounds, smells, and lights of Noviodunum far behind him, Rillan slowed his pace. He took his time finding a shelter for the day. The events surrounding this assignment weighed on him more than he was willing to consciously think about. He found himself finding ways to delay his journey home. Rillan's dreams and thoughts were plagued by vision of a lifeless form lying in his arms, staring up at him with Mira's eyes. 

* * * *

Destructive crashing and the sound of splintering wood stopped Mira from opening the library door. Holding the lantern high in the air and staring off down the endless hallway, she called out weakly, "Hello?" 

Fear balled in the pit of her stomach. Logically Mira knew that no one else was in the catacomb of tunnels that had come to be her home. Somehow with Rillan gone, her mind ran wild with every odd sound. At least she had known what the monster in the shadows was with Rillan. Now that he was on his assignment the unknown was somehow more frightening than he ever was. Not to mention there was the possibility of his return and what that might bring.

I never realized how scary this place could be, she thought. An amused grin split her face, momentarily defeating her fears. I wouldn't have thought I'd come to be that comfortable here. Just then the scratching sounds returned and her grin faded. Maybe Rillan's back, she reassured herself, somehow knowing that he wasn't.

Mira tiptoed down the hall toward the noise. Just go see that it's nothing so that you'll be able to sleep tonight, she told herself. She wasn't positive where the sound had come from. Walking down the hall she shortly found herself at an unfamiliar t-section.  I guess I didn't realize how much of the cavern there was beyond the small area that I tend to stay in. I suppose there have to be quite a few things going on in this place that I really don't know much about. It's not as if Rillan and I ever talk about anything important.

Letting her mind wander a bit, so that she would stop thinking so hard about what could have made the sound Mira peered down one dark hallway and then the other, trying to decide which way she should go. Suddenly another crash from nearby and off to her right made her jump out of her skin.

Dropping the lantern Mira nearly ran back the way she had come. Light spilled across the floor and down the hallway. "Hello," she whispered into the black and was answered with another crash. Gathering all her courage Mira strode in mock determination toward the sound. 

When a gentle breeze lifted her hair, Mira stopped dead. The only way a breeze can get in here is through another shaft or maybe the cave entrance. That's back the other way, I think.  Suddenly more curious than frightened, Mira followed the breeze. As she reached the perimeter of the fading lantern light another crashing sound assaulted her senses, and she fell back a couple steps.

She could barely make out the shape of a door along the cave wall. As she stood frozen in place and watching for any sign of movement soft yellow light began to peek around the edges of the door. Shifting and faltering as if someone was moving it, the light slowly became brighter. Mira unconsciously stepped back into the protective shadows, mesmerized by the prospect that someone was breaking in to a vampire's lair. Who could possibly be that foolish?

Slowly the door began to creak open and Mira stared wide eyed at the figure appearing, poking his head out into the hallway. All of Mira's fear and anxiety melted and was quickly replaced by pleased uncertainty. "Liam?"

The blonde man jumped as if he had been ambushed by a ghost and he drew a short blade from his belt, jerked the lantern up over his head, throwing light across the hall and brandished the weapon.

"Liam," Mira insisted accusingly. "What are you doing here?" Without another thought she rushed across the hall and threw her arms around the man's neck, hugging him warmly. "How did you get in?"

Breathing a long sigh of obvious relief Liam hugged her back, burying his head in her hair briefly, before pushing her away. "There really isn't time. I should have gotten here sooner. But it took too much work to arrange things, and then it was a lot harder to find a connecting tunnel than I thought I would be." Liam seemed to be talking more to himself than Mira and glancing nervously one way and then the other around the tunnels. "Come on, he could be back any time now." Liam grabbed Mira's hand and started to pull her into the room he had just emerged from. 

Shock and confusion allowed Liam to guide Mira into the room and up to the debris he had created, before she gripped his hand more tightly and stopped him. "Liam, what's going on?"

Mira gazed around the room in astonishment. It looked as though it was some kind of store room. The stone wall at the back of the room had a heavy wooden door. Carved symbols of the dead had been splintered and mutilated during Liam's forced entry. "Liam? What is this?"

He was staring at her face and neck with a grimace of concern. "I've come to take you out of here."

"You can't." Mira pulled her hand out of his and started to back away from Liam.

"Mira, they know. Tiberius found out about us, about what the elders have been doing, about the vampire. It shouldn't be coming back. If it does come back, do you really want to still be here?" Liam couldn't believe how pale she was, even in lantern light, or how thin. It certainly doesn't take him long to destroy them, he thought in disgust. "I'll take care of you Mira. Come with me." He held out his hand to her.

Mira shied away and shook her head. "Liam I can't. You know I can't. How did you get in here? Where does that lead?" She pointed to the hole in the wall. 

Liam looked back over his shoulder at the hole in the wall, a guilty and pained expression contorting his face. "The tombs," he almost whispered.

Mira's eyes opened wide in horror. "You disturb the dead. What will the elders think of that?"
"They don't need to know," he snapped. "No one ever ventures that deeply into the tombs." Liam stared fearfully into the darkness of a nearby shadow that seemed to be moving.

Then no one should ever discover your body, Rillan thought. He wasn't entirely sure why he hadn't attacked the fool already. Somewhere in the back of his mind, tearing him apart, a voice was saying, Just go with him Mira. Rillan held himself to the shadows, waiting to see how the situation would play out, indecision virtually splitting him in two. 

"Mira, please," Liam begged, never tearing his eyes from the darkness surrounding them. He half expected the black to come to life and swallow him whole. "If you could see how you look," he whispered.

A tear formed in Mira's eye. "I know how I look. I've buried enough of my predecessors. You don't need to remind me of it. Go home Liam. I have my duty here." Mira turned away from him and started to walk down the tunnel in the direction she had come from.

"I'm sorry," Liam called after her as he followed. "Mira I can't go without you. Please understand. This era is over. I—" Liam swallowed hard. "Please Mira I love you."

She stopped in the hall and turned to face him. "Liam, you never said."

"We always knew what you were destined for. There was never a point before now."

Mira shook her head. "You can't love me. It's impossible. This is how my life was meant to be."

"No," Liam insisted, "it isn't. No one has to die for this. We can resolve our wars with words. We don't need assassins. At least that's what the elders are considering."

There was a long moment as Mira considered everything she had just learned. "We'll see. I can't leave here. Not now. I'll wait for my orders from the elders. Go home Liam. I'm sorry you love me."

Liam felt as though his entire world was collapsing around his feet. Mira took a couple steps back from him and then turned to run down the hall and return to her rooms. Liam watched her go as long as he could still see her form moving in the darkness. Then she was gone. From somewhere in the moving black Liam could have sworn he heard raspy breathing, or maybe a growl.

Devastated, he turned away from the tunnels and walked out the hold in the wall he had created. He stared weakly at the destructive mess he and his brother had made of the tomb. Something in him didn't care any longer. 

Completely forgetting the original reason she left her rooms, Mira sat down on her bed. Tears rolled down her face. She couldn't decide if she was proud of herself for staying or if she thought that she was stupid. I couldn't do that to Rillan, she thought. I just couldn't. I'll keep my word.  She lay down across her bed and cried. Why didn't I ever realize that about Liam before?

Rillan sneered. Visions ran through his mind of ripping the man's tongue out and using it to write a bloody warning on the wall for all other would be rescuers. Instead Rillan allowed the broken man to leave. More than anything he envied the life that the man was able to offer Mira. She should have gone with him.

Walking through the gloom of the tunnels toward his rooms, Rillan considered the things that Mira's would-be suitor said. I don't know whether I'm happy about becoming unnecessary or not. I can't believe she chose to stay.

Upon entering his rooms, he went straight to his bed and lie down. Rillan didn't bother removing clothing, he was too exhausted. Closing his eyes all he could see were visions of his past. But the worst of the visions were the ones involving Mira.

Standing over Mira's bed Rillan stared down at her withered naked body. He parted her legs and stepped up to her. Claws dug into her hips as he gripped her and thrust deeply into her. Drops of blood formed at his fingertip as he fucked her lifeless form. She barely managed to squeak out a soft protest. Her body was too far gone to handle much more. 

As Rillan plunged into her tiny frame he watched her body disintegrating in his hands, her pale skin graying and turning to dust. She lay there beneath him moaning softly with his movements, loving him through the pain and death.

A soft breeze filtered through the room from the shaft and slowly skimmed the layer of dust that was her skin. Horror sifted through Rillan's body as Mira's body eroded before his eyes and was gone, leaving a gray silt to cover everything in the room. 

Sitting bolt upright in bed Rillan took a moment to register the feelings that were surging through him. It had been at least a century since the last time he felt fear, dread, or guilt.

Rillan stood and began pacing, the cold sweat on his clammy skin drying with the movement. What am I supposed to do? I've spent the whole of my life as a martyr. Why the hell should I do it again? Haven't I earned some happiness after all I've done?

A vision of Arial crumpled against the wall of that dirty room in Noviodunum propelled him to his desk. Spreading parchment out in front of him and putting pen to the paper he wrote out instructions for the elders, in detail, berating them for the poor preparation of the girls who had been sent to him over the years. 

I hope that this seems a viable reason to send her back to them. A teary glaze coated his eyes, but he blinked it away and sealed the letter in an envelope. Forcing himself to action before his resolve broke, he charged down the hall toward Mira's room. I knew it would end like this.

Mira woke to noisy shuffling about her room. Sudden fear shot through her. Either Rillan is home or Liam has returned. The fool is persistent enough.

"Get up," Rillan growled. "I know you're awake."

Relief flooded Mira's body, once she heard what sounded to be the normal abrasive Rillan "I'm sorry. I didn't realize you were home."

"Just get up," he responded and grabbed her arm, dragging her to a standing position. Then he shoved a bag into her hands.

"What's this?" Mira opened the large bag and looked in. 

"The things you can take with you," he said angrily.

"I don't understand." 

"You're leaving. Come with me."

"What do you mean?" By the fates, I hope he didn't find out about Liam.

"I'm done with you. I have a letter for the elders. You're returning to the village. Deliver it," Rillan said shortly. He was afraid he may break down and cry. He didn't want her to attempt to stay behind. I had to fall in love with her…

Mira stared at him in shock and dismay. "Did I do something wrong?"

The pitiful tone in her voice almost broke his resolve. "Be glad that I'm not draining you dry and leaving you for dead. I need someone younger. You're more work than I care to deal with girl."

A knot began to form in her stomach. "What's wrong? Are you hungry?" Assuming that his strange behavior had to do with his assignment, Mira began to undress.

Knowing that he wouldn't be able to go through with forcing her out if he made love to her, or even touched her again, Rillan grabbed Mira by the arm and began to pull her bodily from the room, before she could get out of any of her clothes. "I told you that I'm done with you," he spat at her. "Have them send someone else. That's all"

"You're hurting," Mira whimpered as she tried to pry his hand off her arm. "You're not making sense."

He dragged her, amidst numerous protests to the cave mouth. "You have a new purpose Mira. Correct your elder's teachings. I expect the girls sent to me in future to be better prepared for what they will face at my hands. You return here, I'll kill you," was the last thing he said to her, before leaving her confused and bruised form on the ground at the cave mouth.

Letter in hand Mira watched Rillan disappear into the bleak darkness that was his home. Soft blue light kissed the sky above the trees. Dawn. Near awe, Mira watched the sky slowly lighten, no cave walls, no cave ceiling separating her from the sight. The tears in her eyes took on a new meaning as she felt the morning creep into the clearing around her. Creaking of the rusted iron gate drew her attention from the beauty of the coming morning.

Mira looked toward the gate to see a young girl staring at her, mouth agape, wide-eyed. When she saw Mira turn toward her, she flinched, dropped the armful of supplies she had been bringing to the cave, then turned and ran back out the gate. 

"I wonder how I would have reacted if I had found one of the sacrifices outside the cave when I was a novice," Mira asked herself. Standing, Mira brushed herself off as she watched the darkness in the cave. Tears started again, she felt as though her heart had been ripped out. I wonder what I did wrong. This can't be right. He'll come back. He needs me.

Clutching the letter in one hand Mira stood at the cave mouth waiting. She wasn't sure how long she had been there, when a hand on her shoulder drew her attention. Dazed, Mira turned to see an elderly woman's kind eyes bearing down on her. Nothing seemed to be making sense. Somewhere in the back of her mind Mira recognized the woman as Lilith. She was the oldest of the elders and a kind soul. 

First Liam breaks into the tombs and then Rillan throws me out. The sacrifices don't work like this. Mira was tired. She didn't know what to think about any of it. Slowly she lifted the paper up for Lilith to take. Rillan hadn't said who to give it to, but Lilith seemed to be an intelligent option. 

Taking the letter from Mira, Lilith ran concerned eyes over Mira. She had the look of all the sacrifices, withered and pale. Dark circles sharply contrasted her pallor, around sunken eyes that were far too bright with understanding things no one should ever have to know. 

Lilith unceremoniously broke the seal on the letter and unfolded the parchment. She read slowly and carefully, seeing more in Rillan's writing than he truly intended to be understood about his motivations for sending Mira back to them. 

Clearing her voice, Lilith refolded the paper and looked sympathetically to Mira. "So it seems you are to be our new teacher, in the wake of our inadequacies in dealing with our guardian."

"I guess," Mira responded meekly, a small quake in her voice. Tears still wet on her face, Mira looked back to the darkness of the cave, but Rillan was gone. Strange that the darkness should almost seem more welcoming than the light and the pitying stares, she thought bitterly.

Nodding Lilith turned to a couple of the young onlookers and gave instructions that didn't quite register in Mira's mind as she gazed longingly into the cave mouth, wishing Rillan would change his mind and come back for her. Finally she allowed herself to be guided away from the cave and taken to the village.

By the time they reached the round houses, people had gathered to see the living sacrifice. No one had ever walked out of that cave alive and there was concern that something was wrong. Wild speculation whispered from one ear to the next.




Mira Ch. 09



"Maybe she ran away."

"Well if she did, does that mean he'll come out here hunting her down?"

"Do you think we're in danger?"
"No one could run away from that. She must have done something to anger him and he got rid of her."

"No he would have just killed her."

"Well there's no way he would have let her leave."

"She doesn't even look happy to have survived."

"She looks like walking death."

"I wonder what it was like in there."

"Judging from her appearance, there's no way it could have been good."

"What do you think we're going to do now? Send another sacrifice?"

"Lilith will know."

"She always knows."
"I thought we were getting rid of him anyway."

"Don't believe all the rumors."



Mira Ch. 10



Chapter 10 as promised!

Pacing his room, Rillan simply couldn't put himself at ease. Each time he lay down and closed his eyes with the intent of sleep he heard the soft notes of Mira's silver whistle echoing down the hall. When he rose to see where the sound was coming from, there was nothing. It didn't surprise him that it was a dream. He had been adamantly clear about the druids sending a new girl and keeping Mira with them. They spent the last few centuries doing exactly as he told them. It would make no sense for them to go against his wishes now.

A sudden wave of frustration coursed through him and he grabbed the corner of the nearest piece of furniture and threw it across the room. The heavy wooden desk crashed into the wall as if it were a toy. Parchment, pens, a few books, and various other items that he had randomly left on it, scattered haphazardly across the floor. Charging out of the room, he went to the large main chamber at the end of the hall.

Rillan stripped to his breeches, tearing fabric in his rage. Grabbing his sword from the rack where he left it, he began pummeling his practice dummy into submission. At great length he found himself tired, but no less frustrated than when he had begun.

With slightly more control than he had as he undressed, Rillan began gathering his clothes together. I'll take a bath. Maybe I'm tired enough to fall asleep finally. Or at least I should start considering the possibility that my existence may be in danger. If Mira's would-be rescuer was right then I'm about to become obsolete, or at least a bargaining chip. The way the druids work, it's hard to guess which that will be. 

As Rillan gathered his tattered clothing and tried to force his brain to consider something other than Mira, a soft clatter followed by a rolling sound caught his attention. His eyes caught movement and he realized that the last time he had worn his now shredded tunic was when he assassinated Tiberius. The small black pearl he had found rolled to a stop in front of the fireplace. 

Thoughts turned toward Mira again and Rillan plucked the pearl up from the hearth. A rush of inspiration took hold of him. Dropping his clothes, he hurried back to his room. Rillan ignored the splintered wood that had been his desk and shuffled through the mess on the floor to get to a chest at the foot of his bed. 

It had been so long since he opened it that the latch was rusted shut. Even so, it didn't take much effort for him to force it open. Inside the chest, he sifted through treasures of a previous life: the tunic he wore when he was married, a dagger given to him by his father, a small wooden carving of a dog from his childhood, a pressed dry flower that his daughter had given him before she died… He had nearly forgotten what all he kept in the chest. Finally he found it. A small pewter rose pendant. His mother wore it on special occasions. 

Taking the pendant from the chest, he turned it over and over in his hands. Though heavily tarnished and needing a new chain, it would due. Smiling to himself he took it down the hall to the room he used when he needed to repair his armor. It wasn't a forge by any means, but it worked for small jobs. He had a few tools and an anvil. This would require more finesse however. He wanted to remove the small white pearl from the center and replace it with the black one he found.

White pearls can be found anywhere. It's far too ordinary. 

* * * *

"Mira?" Liam watched her squinting at the sky as if it bothered her that the sun was out. He tried for days to get her to leave her small room in the house the sacrifices were kept in. 

Looking a little dazed Mira turned to him. "Did you say something Liam?"

The expression on his face was more than a little hurt. "Yes," he said softly. "Did you really not hear me?"

Suddenly it sunk in. Mira stared at him for a long time before she spoke. "No, I heard you. Are you serious?"

His hurt expression worsened. "Mira, I guess maybe I thought… I don't know what I thought. Never mind." Liam turned away from her and began walking. He didn't care where he was going as long as it was away from her.

Mira was overwhelmed with guilt. Guilt over Rillan. Now this was too much. Marry Liam? What else is there for me now? I thought I knew my purpose. I've been wrong about so many things. "Liam," Mira called after him and ran to catch up. 

He didn't know if he should stop or not. The last thing he wanted to do was discuss being ignored during a marriage proposal. 

"Liam, I'll marry you," Mira announced to his back. "I'm sorry I was distracted. I never expected to ever marry anyone. I'll marry you."

Turning back around a small, uncertain smile touched his lips. "I'll bring you back to us, Mira. I promise. You spent too much time in the dark. It got into your head. He7 got into your head. You'll see. It'll be alright." Liam pulled her into his arms and held Mira's tiny frame carefully. "First we're going to get you something more to eat," he said gently.

Mira stared at the people passing by as Liam hugged her. She couldn't help feeling that this wasn't right. You just don't know what right is anymore, she told herself. Liam is a good man. He loves you. This will work.

* * * *

The senate chamber at Noviodunum rumbled with uncertainty and conspiracy. No one knew who would replace Tiberius Caelius Novanus. There were several men in the running. None of whom were from the Novanus family.

"It's about time," a voice whispered.

"How long have they controlled the senate?"

"Far too long."

"Perhaps the troops will be called home."

"I haven't seen my brother in over a decade."

"Who cares how it happened. Next time pay the druids to get rid of the tyrant sooner."

The hushed exchanges ended to the clacking of a ring on the arm of a large carved wooded chair at the head of the room. A short stout man in a long embroidered toga stood and called for order. "Enough, enough," he voice carried over the room. 

Once he was satisfied that all eyes were on his portly frame Senator Torum continued. "Arrangements for the funeral pyre are to be handled at the discretion of the Novanus family. Further information, to be announced as needed. Over the next few days we will hear from the various men who believe they would be fit to fill the deceased's place in our forum. Elections to be held at the completion of the debates." 

Senator Torum continued to drone on at length covering all the daily business. He started with a movement to lower the taxes on an area of the empire that had recently been devastated by a storm and rescue efforts to move food into that region. All the while a weasely looking man in a tunic that didn't fall quite right on his frame, stood by impatiently. Each time Senator Torum brought an end to a mundane affair of state the weasely guy stood hopefully taller in his place and then slumped back again when the new topic wasn't what he was waiting for.

"Last order of business," Torum announced with finality and in a tone that told all in attendance that he was not happy with the upcoming information. "We have with us a delegate from the druid settlements. I believe he has the backing of the Novanus representative?" Torum looked to a teary eyed woman who nodded emphatically. Several young men who had the distinct Novanus jaw line glared at Torum. Smiling at the young men the senator turned back to the assemblage. It was obvious by his placement of the situation in the lineup of the day's business what his opinion of the next announcement would be.

Senator Torum turned toward the eager man, "Your name sir?"

"Darius Jos. If it please the senate," he said with a bowed head. There was a soft rumble through the room as men shifted positions to get a look at the new speaker. "I have come to the senate with disturbing news at the bequest of the Novanus family. I was sent to Noviodunum as a representative of my people with good intent. Over time I have come to see Noviodunum as more of a home to me than my own lands. Here the Novanus family took me in and conducted business in good faith with my people for several years. It disturbed me to find that the assassination called down on the mighty head of their family be at the hands of the very people who sent me here to befriend him." 

With the announcement an amused murmur circulated amongst the crowd. "What's the fool up to?"

"Does he believe he brings us news?"

"What does he want?"

Darius cleared his throat to call attention again. He had expected his words to have more impact than it appeared. Tiberius' sons growled impatiently. At least I have the family behind me.  "I would ask that the Senate send me back to my people with the aid of the army. At that time I would bring to an end the Circle's satanic practices and bring the druidic peoples under empire protection."

A soft chuckled circulated as the Senate realized what exactly Darius was up to. A balding man in a richly embroidered toga stepped forward. He was one of the men vying for Tiberius' recently vacant position. His mere presence brought a hush to the bemused crowd. "Darius, is it? Did you not hear the list of concerns that were put forth by Senator Torum before you? The settlements you speak of have been a bane in our existence for over a century. The people there do not want empire rule and we are stretched to the limit of our resources to control what we have and contain the war that is coming from other borders. Why would we want to expend troops on attacking a border too far to be profitable and currently causing no trouble?"

One of the young Novanus charged forward. "What was my father to you, Gaius?"

The well dressed senator glared down at the young man. "Your father was a mighty general. He expanded our borders, as his father did before him. As, no doubt, you will too some day. If given the opportunity. However, even your father was aware of our current resources and our abilities." The senator turned away from the angry young man. "The vote," he shouted into the assembly.

Men all over the room echoed, "The vote!"

"Vote!"

"Cast the vote!"

"Send an army to follow the druid," Gaius called out.

Young men in plain white togas carrying richly embroidered red velvet bags circulated amongst the crowd. Men rooted in pockets producing chits that were dropped into the bags. Finally the bags were placed on a large table. Senator Torum approached each back and upended it with the tips of his fingers. Gold and purple chits spilled across the table. "No count needed. At least 10 to 1 against," he announced.

An approving rumble enveloped the room.

Darius Jos stepped forward, fuming with anger. "You'll let the Circle assassinate a senator and face no repercussion?"

"You're out of order druid," Gaius growled. "The floor has not recognized you to speak."

Darius knew the rules of the senate well enough that the tone in Gaius' voice caused him to back down.

The oldest of the Novanus boys stood forward. "If the senate will not send the army then our house sends what troops we have. I would hope that those loyal to my father may seek to send aid as well. My family retires to our estate. We have plans to make."

Darius followed the mourning family out of the senate chambers, his disappointment momentarily abated. Perhaps this will work out just as well. This way I won't owe any obligation to the senate. A child is easily manipulated.

"Fool child," someone said aloud.

"Let him send his house guard. His estates won't last long without adequate protection."

"Troops don't work for free."

"It will be a good lesson for the young Novanus to learn."

* * * *

Lilith sighed heavily. "And so it comes."

The runner who had brought the news waited patiently to be dismissed, as the Circle considered carefully the news he brought.

"A small army is still an army to a people who have none to speak of," added an old man who sat stroking his beard thoughtfully.

"Agreed," came another voice.

"But their number is relatively small. Send the vampire."

They had all been thinking it. Speaking the suggestion aloud was a different matter. 

"You can go," Lilith said gently to the now frightened young messenger. "Thank you. Speak to no one."

The messenger backed hurriedly from the room, nodding emphatically as he left. 

"This is not what he was meant for," someone said as the door closed, returning to the topic at hand.

"Can Tiernay take an army?"

"Is he really that strong?"
"When was the last anyone save the girl saw him or spoke to him?"
"From the looks of Mira, it's not a pleasant task."

"We have no choice."

"Darius brings an army. Small as it may be. We sit and allow him to take control of the Circle or we attempt to fight back."

"So we gather the men and arm ourselves."

"We're philosophers and farmers. They have armor and swords."

"Words don't shield from steel."

"We'll not know if Tiernay can handle it unless we ask him."

Lilith produced a small piece of parchment paper and began writing in her sweeping script. "The elders alone will reconvene tomorrow eve at the entrance to the vampire's cave." From nowhere a young woman appeared at Lilith's side. She took the paper from the old woman's hand and rushed from the room. Rillan would find it that evening when he checked the basin where his notes were left.



Mira Ch. 11



Liam insisted on a long walk. By the time he took Mira home, the sun was already setting. "Mira, with all the upheaval and distress that has been plaguing our people, a celebration of any kind would be well received."

"But so soon?" Mira tried not to sound upset, but knew that she was failing miserably.

"You'll see." Liam refused to be put off. She had agreed. Nothing could possibly break his good mood. "I'll speak with my sisters about helping you," he added, knowing she had no real family. "And I'm sure if you tell the other girls," he said, nodding to the curious faces who were watching as he left her on the doorstep of the round house the sacrifices shared, "you'll find plenty of other willing hands."

There was some giggling as the girls realized a secret was being kept. 

Liam kissed Mira sweetly on the cheek and disappeared into the night. Mira found it strange that she felt more awake as the sun set than she felt with it up. She couldn't seem to get her body to go back to living in the sunlight. All I wanted when I was in his caves was to see outside. Now I have it and it doesn't feel right any longer. I wonder how long it will take for me to adjust.

More girls gathered to see what was going on now that Mira had returned. She found that she was somewhat of a celebrity. Most of the girls in the current generation of sacrifices knew her before she went into his caves. No one ever expected to see her back alive. When it became clear that he sent her back to train the new generation properly, they all began following her around waiting for her to be ready to start teaching. The elders insisted that the girls leave her alone for the time being. But not being allowed to ask her questions didn't preclude watching and waiting. They were all curious about what they would face and excited that someone survived. Mira gave them hope.

"What was Liam talking about Mira?" They may not be able to ask about Rillan Tiernay, but no one said anything about Liam.

Mira hesitated. Something about actually saying it out loud made her stomach turn a bit. She cleared her throat. "I'm getting married."

A squeal went up through the room and the girls began murmuring excitedly. Mira felt as though she was in the middle of a bad dream. 

* * * *

Rillan read the note three times; then read it again. He had never been summoned to a meeting with the elders before. Whatever their problem is, it must be complex. There was no hint of the issue to be discussed. Rillan considered, with a grim kind of acceptance and relief that this could mean the end of this era of his life. This may be why a new girl hasn't been sent yet.

Rillan spent most of the next day considering the possibilities that the note and the meeting presented. For the first time in a long while he was at a loss for the right answer, and there was something very nice about that. 

Approaching the cave entrance Rillan could see the druids standing about nervously long before they could see him. Although he never met her, he easily picked out the one who must be Lilith. He had read enough of her notes to know that the woman must be ancient by now. Over the years her handwriting had grown in size and became more steady with each name she wrote. The white haired woman in the plain brown skirt and soft white chemise was the only one not fidgeting. 

Rillan walked into the lantern light without hesitation, causing all of the elders to take a step back. He knew that they weren't expecting what they saw. Perhaps I should have come to them as the demon, he thought sardonically. Rillan held out the note he had received. "My curiosity at this meeting is without bounds."

"Lord Tiernay," one of the men squeaked out. 

Grinning at the man, Rillan exposed his fangs, amused when the man flinched. "It's unlikely that I would be anyone else."

"Yes, I suppose—"

"Enough," Lilith said with the exasperation of a woman who obviously wanted to carry on with business. "Lord Tiernay, we currently are faced with a situation we are unsure of. It seems that one of our own has turned to the empire for assistance in removing the Circle from power. He approaches with an army. Our options are to turn you over and surrender or to find a way to fight them. Unfortunately you are our only line of defense. In order to make the decision as to what we should do next we need to know if you are capable of fighting a small army."

For a moment Rillan was taken aback. "Of all the reasons I considered which could cause you to call a meeting with me, I must say that I never expected this." He contemplated the situation. "I suppose that my ability to fight this army depends on how much time I have, how many there actually are, and how good they are."

"We have little information save that they are coming."

Rillan nodded. "I would prefer to die fighting, if given the option."

"Understandable. However we have lives to consider," Lilith said. Rillan was impressed with the way she held herself and the bravery with which she spoke to him. "Is there any possibility that you'll attack them and only succeed in angering them so that when they get here we have no protector, and they'll be interested in revenge?"

"I can't answer that with the little information I have been given. If I only knew numbers then I would be better able to give you a response."

"Well we can tell you that the Senate has refused to send the Empire troops. We know that house Novanus and a few loyalist created an army from their house guard. That is what's coming. But we have no numbers and no way of knowing their skill."

At that Rillan smiled wide enough to make the men all shift nervously. "That's it? The Novanus house guard?" Rillan scoffed. "I can handle the house guard. Leave it to me."

"I need certainty," Lilith said, leveling a hard look on Rillan that he found to be slightly intimidating. 

Either way I would gladly take orders from this woman, he thought. "I know the Novanus house guard and can't imagine a lesser family in Noviodunum to have better. If that is all they send then there is no army coming. Even so, I would be lying to promise you certainty. You should know that there is no such thing."

"Well said," Lilith nodded. "Do you need anything from us before you go?"
Rillan's eyes swept over the old men and women who were present. "I need to feed." As he spoke his eyes momentarily shifted, and the onlookers could almost feel the loathing in his words.

Lilith nodded. We'll send a girl come morning. With a wave of her hand the elders began backing away and leaving. Finally Lilith stood alone in front of Rillan. Waiting, Rillan couldn't help wonder what could possibly be left to discuss. 

"She is doing well," Lilith said, gently. She smiled as she saw realization flash in Rillan's eyes and discomfort shift his stance. He only nodded back, unsure why she felt the need to tell him anything about Mira. "Well," Lilith amended. "I guess she's doing as well as can be expected. She seems lonely and out of place. But she is trying."

Concern furrowed Rillan's brow. "Why should she be lonely. She's back where she belongs."

"Why did you return her to us?"

"I sent a note," he replied angrily.

Lilith smiled knowingly. She had suspected what his real motivations were, regardless of what he had written. But a woman doesn't live as long as she had without being capable of discerning when someone was lying. "I read your note. It just seems strange that you would cope with the girls you've been sent for so long and now change your tactics."

Rillan sneered. "I suppose it makes as much sense as the Circle calling a meeting with me for the first time in centuries."

Lilith chuckled and nodded. "I guess then it would be fairly safe to say that things are changing." She sighed. "I wonder that it took as long as it has. The fates are forever in flux. They almost seemed to have forgotten us."

"Change isn't always a good thing," Rillan replied softly.

"True. But it is a necessary thing." Lilith moved to leave as if she was done with the conversation. "And one last thing," she said over her shoulder as she was leaving. "A martyr is only counted as such if he saved someone through his sacrifice. I wonder what you call a man who makes the sacrifice when no one needs it to be made?"

Before Rillan could wrap his brain around what she had said in order to respond, Lilith had disappeared into the darkness. She had accomplished several feats at once. Rillan had to give her a great deal of credit. He hadn't talked to anyone in a very long time who could stand up to him, confuse him, and impress him all at once. Let alone do all three things simultaneously. "The woman must be related to Mira," he growled, but smiled as he returned to his cave. She had given him a great deal to think about. 

* * * *

Mira sat unhappily at the breakfast table. She hadn't even finished eating and her head was already swimming. Liam's sisters had arrived first thing and announced that Liam sent them to "help". Apparently that means take over, Mira thought. "Listen, Helen, I do appreciate the help," Mira said in between sips on her tea. "But it's not as if this has to happen tomorrow."

The girls all giggled. "Not tomorrow. No. But Liam wants to have the ceremony within the month. That's still not much time." Helen sat closer to Mira. Her proclamation had the rest of the girls in the room talking excitedly. "He's been in love with you for so long. You really don't know how much this means to him. He'll make you happy. You'll see."

"Everyone keeps saying that," Mira whispered despondently.

Helen was taken aback. Liam had told her to be prepared for what the vampire had done to Mira. Even so, she hadn't expected the girl to be this bad. It only strengthened her resolve to help. "Don't worry," she said, gently petting Mira's hair. "I'll take care of everything. Who knows? Perhaps the marriage could be within a couple weeks." She looked around at all the listeners encouragingly. "We certainly have plenty of volunteers," she suggested. With that a squeal of agreement filled the room.

Mira flinched. It was getting almost painful to be awake. Between the sun streaming in the window and the girls squealing she was developing a vicious headache. Mira reached up absently and started rubbing the join between her neck and shoulder. She didn't even realize that it was precisely where Rillan had bitten her so many times. She always studiously kept that portion of her neck covered. The scars were horrible. Not that she really minded.

The hush that fell over the room managed to break Mira from her internal monologue long enough to notice that Lilith had entered the room. Mira was glad and scared to see the woman. As grateful as she was for the calm in the ridiculousness that was the morning, Mira could guess what Lilith was here for. She left instructions for a new sacrifice to be chosen, prepared, and sent to Rillan over a week ago. Mira hadn't been able to bring herself to do it. Now that the rumors about a secret meeting between the elders and Rillan had been confirmed, Mira expected that he would have reminded them that he needed a new sacrifice. Mira stood up respectfully as Lilith approached. 

The old woman smiled sympathetically at Mira. "I rather fancy a walk in the morning air. Come with me Mira." Without waiting for any kind of response Lilith led the way out of the round house and away from town, toward the wooded trails. "There's some privacy this way," she responded to Mira's unspoken confusion.

"Can I do something to be of service," Mira asked.

"You have a strange strength and sadness to your tone, Mira. It's been a great deal of time since a girl as young as you was able to speak to me without a waver in her voice. But I suppose after facing a terror such as Lord Tiernay, your elders would no longer be as intimidating."

Mira felt as though she was being baited for some reason. "Rillan isn't nearly as frightening as we have all been led to believe. He's just lonely," she replied with conviction and annoyance. "Calling him a terror, does him a disservice." Realizing how she had spoken to Lilith, Mira cleared her throat and added, "With respect Milady."

Lilith smiled. "There are so many ways to see, Mira. Eyes are only one of those. I am surprised to find that one as young as you would develop the other visions so readily. There is a great destiny for you I think."

"Yes," Mira said with tears in her eyes. "Marriage to Liam."

"It is a strange woman who can talk about one many with such conviction and yet allow her voice to crack so distinctly in reference to her engagement." Mira looked away from Lilith. "I sometimes believe the fates only keep us around for their own amusement," Lilith said gently and brushed Mira's hair from her shoulders. "You need to send a new sacrifice Mira."

"I knew that was why you came."

Lilith sighed, "Choose a girl and begin preparing the next."

"I shouldn't worry too much for that. If I begin teaching the girls as they should be, then we should need fewer sacrifices."

"You truly believe that," Lilith said with the tone of a mother trying to teach a child a lesson. "Ah, well, I suppose he does too."

Mira turned toward Lilith in confusion. 

Lilith shook her head. "There have always been sacrifices. Even with the lessons were as thorough as you intend to make them now. The sacrifices tend to go in cycles. We've had a great many girls die recently in a relatively short period of time. There are a great many more variables that play into it than the type of lessons that the girls are given." Lilith stepped up close to Mira. Lifting her chin she forced Mira to look her directly in the eyes. "I find that in my vast experience over the years, the difference in the sacrifices was within the girls themselves, not what they were told before they met him." Lilith released Mira from her grip. "I think you'll see what I mean as you look amongst the sacrifices for who you will send. It needs to be done tonight. Come, we'll go back to the round house. I'll tell your friends that the planning for your wedding can continue on the 'morrow. You have work to do today."

"A day isn't enough time," Mira said, panicked. "I can't explain it all in one afternoon."

Lilith was already walking toward the round house. "You'll have to find a way. He needs to be fed before he leaves for his next assignment. You of all people should know how he goes about it. It may take some time. And we are drastically short on that."

It was an order, not a request. Mira knew from the tone that she had no choice in the matter. Reluctantly she followed Lilith to the round house and stood by as the announcement was made that wedding plans would need be continued on a different date. The fear that followed the announcement about the next sacrifice to be chose disgusted Mira. He deserves better than that. Tears in her eyes, she resolved to find someone who could handle it. Lilith is wrong. I can teach them. It will be better. They'll live longer. Maybe he'll be happy.



Mira started by asking if there were any volunteers. It made sense to her to think that the braver the girl might be, the better off she would be. Only three girls came forward. Well that makes things a little easier. I suppose it narrows the possibilities enough to make choosing a girl for this evening feasible. 

Taking the girls who had volunteered out to the garden so that they could all be alone, Mira found herself trying to come up with a way to pick amongst them. Her mind swam trying to think of all the things about herself that made the situation with Rillan bearable. But she honestly didn't understand what made her different from any of the others.

The girls stood watching her and waiting. It never occurred to Mira that she may be frightening them with her contemplative silence. The girls saw Mira mumbling to herself and pacing. In the morning sunlight, next to the beauty of the garden flowers, Mira's deterioration was all the more apparent. She was gaunt and pale, though still beautiful in a haunting way. None of the sacrifices wanted to know exactly what had changed the Mira they knew before into what they saw now. 

Finally Mira turned toward them, seeing bravery fading from her eyes she decided that the best way to go about it would be to allow them to choose themselves. "I think that the best thing to do will be to give you all the crash course and then make the final decision as to who will go, at the end of the day."

The girls all nodded and the lessons began. Mira started by explaining to them how they had to go about looking for Rillan and why. She somehow thought that if they knew why he behaved the way he did then they would be able to handle. As sunset approached, Mira's voice was hoarse and she had lost count of the number of times the emphatic nods of understanding had turned to horror as Mira related her experiences in the vampire's caves.

"Alright then, I'm sorry it has to be this way. There is no more time. I need to know if any of you have changed your minds."

The smallest of the three girls began trembling and crying, however she didn't ask to be dismissed. Mira looked into the eyes of the other two. All she saw was fear. They may not have been crying, but their bravery was gone as well as the other girl's. Mira felt a strange mix of disappointment and happiness. She was afraid for the girls. At the same time she was pleased to find that she wasn't as easily replaced as she had believed she would be. Angry at herself for even thinking that, glared at the three girls. 

"I'll be honest with you all. I don't really want to choose amongst you. I don't want to feel responsible personally for sending anyone to their death. I've tried to tell myself that we are all dying. Still, I'm not the fates and I don't relish that kind of power, to decide when. So if any of you believes you can handle it better than the others, I would like to know now." They didn't say anything. They merely stood together, staring doe-eyed at Mira and holding each other's hands.

"I'm sorry, but Lilith is waiting. I only hope that all I've told you today will aide you." Mira decided on the girl in the middle. She had consistently been reassuring the other two all day. When she was chosen the girl nodded understanding and the other two were dismissed to prepare for the ceremony. 

"What's your name," Mira asked. It was the first time she had really looked at the girl all day. She was tall and thin, very pretty. She wore her hair in long, dark brown, plates down the back of her head. She had dark blue eyes, similar to Rillan's and fair porcelain skin. A twinge of jealousy shot through Mira, and she quickly pushed it to the back of her mind. 

"Aris," her voice cracked. She cleared her throat as if to pretend that fear wasn't the cause for the tremor.

"Come, it's time to get dressed," Mira said and led the way back to the round house.

Trembling in the warm light of the setting sun, Aris stared into the icy darkness of the cave, her white shift blowing slightly in the breeze. Her mind raced endlessly, trying to remind her of why she chose this, attempting to dull the fear in the pit of her stomach, and reminding her of the importance of what she was about to do.

Mira watched from the gate as Aris took her first reluctant steps toward the darkness that Mira saw as so tempting and welcoming. She stared into the shadows for some hint of Rillan, knowing that even if he were there, watching, she wouldn't be able to see him.

"Rillan Tiernay," Lilith intoned over the crowd, "was created to protect and serve the circle. Our guardian. Each generation a group of girls is chosen as companions in his darkness. This is the price of his loyalty."




Mira Ch. 11



Mira didn't hear Lilith's speech. Not that it mattered. She knew the speech by heart. It was the same for each of the girls who entered the vampire's cave. Mira's mind was more concerned with the parts of the story that were left out of the flowery farewell and the fact that this time it was intended for Aris. Somehow she felt slighted that the speech was not for her.

Mira looked up from her thoughts to find that the high priestess had stopped speaking. Everyone was waiting for Aris to finish the ceremony. They were patient and stood quietly. Mira didn't know how long they waited for Aris to realize it was her turn. Now as she looked around, she was more afraid of what was to happen to the girl than she thought she would be. The lessons were all too short; so matter of fact. There wasn't enough time to train her properly. She's going to die like the others, only this time it will be my fault. It's my duty. I should be going. I belong to him, not her. Mira couldn't stop her mind from churning. Tears fogged her vision. She realized suddenly that she felt as if she was losing a lover. 

Mira stepped shakily forward, gripping the gate, praying that Aris would turn and run. The moon, high in the sky now, cast a blood red sheen over the clearing and an eerie light beyond the gate. Aris passed through the tall, rusted iron gateway, and it creaked, swinging shut behind her. The clanking gate lock sent a jolt though Mira. The last of her heart seemed to have been locked on the other side. She looked into the darkness beyond the mouth of the cave trying to see if he was watching, but she couldn't see anything. The little light that touched the hungry cave mouth was swallowed into the black, offering no hint of what lie within. 

Mira turned around to see if the others were still watching. No one was there. The gate had been locked and she was standing alone, watching Aris. All that was left for her was to enter the cave and find him. Mira's eyes traveled the twisted metal archway that she studied so many times in the past. Now as she stood facing the closed gate she realized that she was truly on the wrong side.



Mira Ch. 12



Darius wrapped his cloak around his shoulders and tried to ignore the unnatural cold. Strange weather, difficult terrain, and wild animals plagued the march from Noviodunum since they started the trek to the Circle. The men were becoming steadily uneasy and young Marcus Novanus was beginning to falter in his resolve.

Children. The fool boy will ruin this for me. It's been too long and too much hard work. Darius was in the middle of working out a plan for disposing of Novanus and managing to keep the footsoldiers for his own purposes, when an alarm cry went out. "What now," Darius snarled as he turned and stalked back into camp. He interrupted the urgent conversation between Marcus and a guard.

"How many?" Marcus only glanced at Darius, as he approached.

"Six, milord," the guard said, rubbing his head. There was a bloody gash along his forehead.

"Were we attacked," Darius asked with concern, looking around for further commotion or at least the person who had bloodied the guard.

Marcus turned on Darius with an authoritative tone that could only come from a child of Tiberius. "You were not spoken too, druid." After the reprimand, Marcus returned his attention to the guard. "Why," he growled angrily at the man.

"The men are uneasy milord," he replied nervously. "They say that the curses which have followed us from Noviodunum will only worsen if we continue. They say it's not worth the little pay they are given. There is fear of what we will face when we reach the Circle. I fear more will run if our luck does not appear to shift soon."

Marcus began pacing. He didn't know what to do. He was having a hard enough time controlling the troops in Noviodunum. Now men were deserting him. Father would never allow this. They wouldn't even consider running from Tiberius.  

Darius could see that Marcus was losing his self control, possibly his mind. Not only that but they boy was becoming obstinate and difficult to control. His brothers were too young to be of use and had been left at home. If things continued in this vein then he would have no army left when they reached the Circle. I wonder how much of the strange occurrences were arranged for us by the Circle. The things they are capable of and yet they force our people to live in squalor, contemplating nature and stars. When I control the Circle… Darius broke himself from his vengeful musings and managed to persuade Marcus to retire for the evening.

Once inside the large lavish tent Darius approached a heavy wooden table in the center of the main entrance. Pouring out wine for himself and Marcus, he waited patiently for the boy to ask his advice. He always did. Darius tapped his ring impatiently on the rim of Marcus' cup, watching the surface of the warm red liquid ripple and the brown dust disappear into the drink.

As Darius tipped his own cup to his lips, Marcus stepped up to the table and grabbed the other cup for himself. "So what do you suggest druid," the boy said snidely, tipping the cup up and downing half the wine in one swallow. "The men desert my cause and I admit that the circumstances of this march have been unnerving. The animals of the forest attack randomly and without warning. The night is unseasonably cold. Trees and brush seem to bar our path. Men grow ill with no cause." Marcus finished the rest of the wine in his cup and stepped to the table to pour himself another. "Even an unsuperstitious man would see this march as cursed. What do your fellows do to us and how do we stop it? Or are you as useless as my father used to say?"

Darius had been losing his patience steadily as Marcus had become increasingly insulting and demanding. "Firstly, milord," Darius answered, glaring at the boy, "your father never kept any man around who he did not see as worth something. Secondly, the animals may attack because of the cold, the cold may be because a local village paid no sacrifice as proper to the correct Gods, once a man believes he is haunted then all manner of things can be frightening, including plants overwhelming an unkempt path, and men in new places grow ill. Your father would have been able to offer such explanations to these men and control their fear before they allowed their imaginations to run them off." Darius sipped his wine, staring into the boy's eyes. "Unfortunately for both of us, you are too young and inexperienced to think of such things."

Marcus felt the wine seeping into his mind more quickly than usual. Darius' droning voice slipped to the back of his mind and he stumbled toward his large chair. The room was already spinning. Suddenly Darius' face was directly in front of his own.

"That is why you have forced me to take the situation in hand. One way or another I need to reach the Circle with enough troops to take control. You couldn't have been just a nice compliant young man could you?"

"Compliant young man," Marcus echoed hollowly.

Darius smiled. "That'll do. Go to bed, get some sleep. We have a speech for the morning march. Then I want to gain some ground. They have to know I'm coming by now."

Without a word of protest Marcus stumbled to his feet and followed Darius' command. "I should have done that to him months ago," Darius growled and then left the tent.

At the main entrance he stopped and leaned toward the guard. "He doesn't wish to be disturbed. Lord Novanus wants to sleep until morning. Summon me when he awakes." The guard nodded and Darius walked away from the large tent to go and find his. 





Mira Ch. 12



secret



Mira Ch. 13



Lilith stood in the shadow of a large elm with several elders watching the sacrifices scurry about planning the handfasting of Liam and Mira. The entire town was focused on preparations for the handfasting. Though it wasn't standard for everything to stand still for one random ceremony, it was the town's way of avoiding thinking about the danger coming.

An older man with a long gray beard and wrinkled leather skin sighed heavily. "The army is only a day or two off. We've no word from the vampire. Should we stop them and prepare for war?"

"What war?" Lilith harrumphed. "If the army attacks us, no matter how weak Rillan Tiernay says they may be, we will be slaughtered as livestock. We've no weapons, we no knowledge of weapon use. What do you propose? Pitchforks and pails as swords and shields?"

The old man shook his head and sighed again. "I don't like waiting for death, Lilith."

"Isn't that what we do every day? We all die."

"Leave it to you to get philosophical about the matter."

"No," Lilith said, turning toward him. "Not philosophical, merely practical. Fewer people will die if we surrender without fuss. You know that. We, long ago, became too used to used to our protected existence. Change isn't a bad or good thing. It simply is."

"And if the army arrives to 'change our existence'," he said sarcastically, "during a handfasting ceremony?"

Lilith leveled a small knowing smile on her friend. "Then we invite them to the festivities. That should certainly confuse them."

The old man growled, but gave in. "There is no point in arguing with you Lilith. When was the last time you didn't have the last word in a conversation."

"I often fail to have the last word."

"Okay, so when was the last time you didn't come out two or three points ahead?"

Lilith returned to watching the girls dart back and forth in a rush of excitement. She was happy that they had found something to smile about. The sacrifices of recent generations spent far too much time dwelling on what their end would be like and not nearly enough time enjoying what they had. 





Mira Ch. 14



HI guys,

I know you're all happy with the quick additions. But I have to warn you that I had to do another back edit. So there's some more stuff in this chapter that will be made more clear in the revised version. Unfortunately the revised version will not be on Lit. But it shouldn't be a big enough change that it should cause problems with continuity. 

Happy reading.

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A pleased sense of accomplishment filled Rillan as he walked down the long hall. His boots echoed dully off the walls. For the first time in centuries he started to think that it may be possible for him to accomplish his assignments without destroying everything he touched. As he passed the door leading to Aris' rooms the distinct tinge of copper on the air tugged at his beast.

Stopping in mid stride and swearing under his breath, Rillan threw open the heavy wooden door and streaked down the pitch black hall. Even in the abyssal darkness his demon eyes could see Aris lying in a puddle of her own blood on the hearth of her fireplace.

"No," Rillan growled fiercely. "Not this time. Not already." In a moment he was on his knees next to her body. Rillan forced himself to ignore the repulsion he felt, when he noticed that she had yet to clean herself. Leaning down to listen for her heartbeat, Rillan wrestled with his vampire. The metallic blood odor permeating the air was almost too much for him.

Picking up her dirty, cold, limp frame Rillan almost missed the soft thud in her chest when her hand reached up to touch his face. Flinching Rillan looked up at her face, a strange manic fear in her eyes held him captivated.

In a tiny, breathless voice Aris whispered to him, "Please, I don't want to die."

Almost dropping her to the stone floor he released her and paced away from her. "Stupid girl. You're past saving," Rillan continued under his breath, "unless you want to be like me." 

A soft, shallow whimper parted Aris' lips and tears seeped from her closed eyelids. "I—I—wasn't r—ready."

Staring down at her, Rillan's heart raced. In all the years he had dealt with the sacrifices, he had never been forced into a situation like this. They all died willingly. They all died because they wanted it. I didn't kill any of them. "Why, the hell, did you have to do this? Why tonight?" First time in centuries that things seemed—

Rillan didn't know what to think any longer. He felt as though he couldn't let Aris die this way, but the only answer wasn't something he would wish on his worst enemy. In one sudden movement he was on his knees next to her again. Propping Aris up against the hearth, Rillan forced her to face him in the dark. He knew that she couldn't see him, but he needed to know that she heard him.

"Girl," he hissed, "open your eyes."

Aris was too far gone to be frightened any longer. She knew she was dying. The room spun around her, the darkness swam, and his voice was muffled and echoed in her ears. She wasn't even sure if he was really there or if it was a nightmare. She opened her eyes and stared into the darkness with the precision of a servant following the most basic of orders, regardless of the consequences. 

Just do as he says, she told herself. Mira said that it would go easier on you that way. She laughed weakly. "You're almost dead anyway," she said to herself.

Rillan was confused. He didn't know if she was talking to him or herself. "Girl," he snapped. "Listen to me. The way for you to live is to end up like me. Choose. Death or worse?"

Aris laughed again. The hollow sound sent chills down the vampire's spine. "I don't want to die. Do you?" I don't know, Aris answered herself. I don't want to be a vampire.

Rillan thought about what she said for a long moment. A flash of Mira's face, her eyes temporarily clouded his vision. "No," he said finally. "I don't."

In one swift movement Rillan lifted his wrist to his mouth. Dozens of dagger sharp teeth lacerated his flesh. Thick, sticky blood oozed to the surface. He grabbed Aris, spinning her in his arms so that her back was to his chest and he could hold her down. Bracing her he forced his wrist to her mouth and held her there. 

At first Aris sputtered and fought back. She couldn't breathe and felt as though she was drowning. The nearly congealed blood smeared over her tongue, cold and foul. The choice was swallow to clear her mouth and airway or stop breathing. Choking on the rancid flavor, she felt a sudden burning, her stomach heaved, and every nerve in her body instantly came to life.

Shame flooded through Rillan, he couldn't believe what he had done. With full knowledge that Aris would survive, he got up and left her to find her way through the darkness of the transformation alone. 





Mira Ch. 15



Okay guys, it's been a fun ride, but this is it. Mira is over, sorta... Tee Hee... You'll find some hints in the epilogue. I've got a few ideas that I'm going to use. Don't take that wrong. I'm not doing a sequel to Mira. I'm going back to Leader of the Pack now. Yes you all heard me right. Keep an eye on my profile. You should be seeing more chapters of LOTP hitting Lit shortly. As for you Mira lovers, there is a revised version of Mira that will be available. And it is significantly different in some respects from what has been on Lit. Send me a feedback or check my bio info for more information on that...





Mira Ch. 15



"I wanted to be with you," she said, finding a strength in her voice that she didn't realize was there. "Now. Like this. I can always be with you. No more sacrifices. I'm the last."

Rillan stared at her horrified. "You don't know what you've done."

"I know better than you or any of the others think." 

"I know you fear me, Mira. I feel you tremble when I feed on you. You can't survive an eternity of that. No matter what they may have changed you into. No one could." Rillan sounded as if he was pleading with her to change her mind.

"Don't underestimate me. It's too late. I feel no remorse," she told him. "I did what must be done, because no one else can."

"What did you say?" How many times over the centuries have I told myself that? Maybe it takes the Fates centuries to create two people capable of this kind of life.

Mira didn't answer him. He didn't need her too. She heard and felt the sound of his clothing being pulled from his body. The rustle of fabric dropping to the floor sparked a warm pleasurable anticipation in her belly.

Shocking cold flesh against hers made Mira gasp.  I'll have to make sure he doesn't get this deprived of blood in the future, she thought with amusement. His arms wrapped around her and his lips peppered kisses along her neck. Mira let her head fall back, trusting him, as he pulled her down onto her bed. 

Rillan felt the heat of her body flood into him. She was so warm it almost burned to press against her. For the first time in the whole of his beastly existence, he didn't find himself wrestling with the vampire for control. 

Moving down along her body, Rillan gently urged her legs apart. Mira's breath came in short sharp gasps. Her hands reached out in the darkness to find him. She felt him lower himself between her legs.It was too long since the last time he tasted her, heard her whimper in excitement, or felt her needy touch. Her scent shot through him, driving him on. 

Mira flinched when his cold tongue drew a tentative circle around her clit. Try as she might, she couldn't help the moans of pleasure that erupted from her body. Rillan sucked her clit into his mouth, flicking it with his tongue as he gently sucked. His hands slid up her legs and cupped her butt, holding her tightly to him. Squirming in his intense grip, she couldn't escape, not that she truly wanted to. 

As Mira's reactions to his mouth calmed Rillan shifted his grip on her. Sliding one hand around her thigh he stroked up her leg and parted her wet lips with one finger. In a swift gentle movement he pressed his finger inside her, and began stroking the soft spot inside her. Within moments Mira convulsed, drew in a sharp breath and began trembling with the release.

As he felt the walls inside her grip his finger, Rillan intensified his sucking. She tried to pull away from him. The pleasure was near pain as he dragged her release out and caused a second peak in climax. Mira pushed at his head, trying to stop him. 

Finally, smile splitting his face, Rillan let her go, but only long enough for him to move back up her body and position himself to enter her. Mira felt as though the bed was spinning. Before she could get a grip on herself she felt Rillan's cock glide inside her. Mira gripped his arms and braced herself as he began moving against her, slowly at first and then with more force. The time he spent with his face between her legs had him ready before he even started. Rillan held back only as long as it took for her to reach her peak one more time. Her writhing beneath him was more than he could handle. Rillan released into her, letting his cold dead seed fill her body, feeling her warms wrap around him. 

He wasn't actually sure that he heard it. She was so quiet. In the intense aftermath, just as he was collapsing onto her body, trying to control his fall so as not to put too much weight on her, Rillan could have sworn she said, "I love you."