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Desoul Bk. 01

By: DesoulTales



Chapter 01

The red lantern district was much the same as it was when it was first built. But the inns and dives and whore houses were much bigger and instead of lanterns there were neon lights that painted the paved streets in an eerie, pink glow. 

A slender leather-clad girl sped through the streets on a motorcycle that was louder than thunder, the crowds of wandering people did not deter her from racing through the streets at nearly full throttle towards her destination.

The red-gold painted bike came to a screeching halt in front of a building called Tsukino's. The pink letter T painted on the black window was a dead giveaway of this popular establishment's location. One heavy, steel plated boot at a time, the girl stepped from the bike: what her cat suit-like leather clothing didn't cover was protected by a pair of leather gloves with steel knuckles. And of course, her helmet that was topped off with a feather and bead headdress, everything was black, save the yellow stripe running up the side of her pants and jacket.

Suddenly there was a noise of commotion from within the tavern and through the pane of painted glass came flying a badly beaten man, his body skidding and stopping just a few feet from the annoyed biker. Three more large, drunk men filed out, this time from the door. The three men gathered near their fallen friend as a tall, slender man, also clad in black, stepped out from the broken window. The man stopped for a moment to pat down a patch of his slicked back, white-blonde hair as he surveyed his adversaries. 

Standing there in his black jeans and tight black tank top, he paused to light a cigarette from a pack he kept in his back pocket as the three men stood, visibly shaken with their fists up at the ready. If there was going to be a fight, obviously it was waiting on him. 

After a few puffs he let the cigarette fall from his mouth before he stamped it out with the heel his boot. By now the dancers, whores and patrons were clustered around the broken windows and open doorway that lead into the dark, run down looking structure.

The man looked up at the biker and gave a slight nod before he turned to the others. "Alright ladies, lets have it." With a grunt of a battle cry the men charged fists swinging as the agile bartender pivoted on his heel and kicked the middle man square in the throat, turning him into a fleshy pile of pain that collapsed twitching on the ground. 

Just as soon as the kick landed, he ducked down low and threw the left attacker over his shoulder, the man landing flat on his back with a cracking noise coming from his ribcage as he hit the pavement, stunned. 

The last man standing threw a wide punch, striking the bartender hard across the face. Slowly the bartender turned, relatively unfazed by the attack and smiled, lashing out with a straight punch that was thrown in the blink of an eye. The third and last man's head jerked back and the man collapsed, completely defeated by the bartender's counter attack. 

The whores cheered and the patrons raised their cups as one of the girls, a stacked beauty named Ginger, with hair to match her namesake, rushed over and lit the man a cigarette, planting a kiss on his cheek. She was very tall, her legs firm, toned and very long, her ample chest was barely covered by a short, satin dress that looked like it was a size too small as it ended well up her inner thigh. Smiling, the pale, milky-skinned girl looked up at the man with her crystal green eyes.

"Right, shows over, clear out!" He barked, and the others all returned to the tavern as if nothing had happened. The man stopped and deprived the four men of their wallets, emptying each of cash before discarding them into a pile between the unconscious bodies. "For the window." 

Turning, he looked up at the girl. "What brings you to my humble abode?" he asked as the girl pulled off her helmet and hung it on the handle bars before tossing her short black hair from side to side before tossing it a bit with her fingers. Luna was much the same, the hair was different though, but the maroon streaks were stunning in Spike's opinion.

"I just happened by. I found Blade." she said quietly, her tone flat, neutral. Spike gave her a dirty look and shrugged his shoulders.

"Teaching school girls all about biology I'm sure." Spike frowned. 

Luna perked up and gave a knowing grin "Something like that actually. He's the phantom that people have been talking about. You know, that masked vigilante that's been running around kicking the shit out of anyone who has balls enough to commit a misdemeanor or felony."

Spike discarded his cigarette and then spat. "Running around in a mask like some boogied-boo scaring decent folk... Sounds like him."

Nodding, Luna stretched, her leather making a squeaking kind of noise as she twisted around. "You should go see him-" she started.

But Spike cut her off with a cold, firm "No."

"Its not his fault that your mother-" She tried again. 

"No." Again, was the reply.

"I have a bar to run." He said and turned, heading back inside, already a repair truck was pulling up, the installers there to replace the broken glass. Luna followed him inside, despite the dark and damned near condemned state of the outside, the inside was lavishly decorated. As far as whore houses went, this was 5 stars, easily.

"He's your father." Luna stated simply as she followed him upstairs, Ginger shooting her the nastiest look you could receive without paying.

"If you're so interested in what he's doing, why don't you go join his caped crusade?" Asked Spike harshly as they made it to his room.

More or less it was a loft hollowed out of the top floor, everything was leather and steel, black and silver. Taking a seat in his favorite chair, Luna followed and plopped into a chair beside him as she smirked. "I tried, I finally traced him to his flat and just like that, he was gone again. I think he knows I am following him, but he doesn't know it's me..." 

She sighed in frustration and then turned to Spike, pulling her knees up to her chest as she rested her head on them and looked over at him.

The silence lasted well over a minute before Spike spoke "What?" he asked, sounding rather annoyed.

Luna flashed him a childish grin, despite being his elder by at least a 100 years, Luna still looked like a little teenaged girl from a dusty town called Mesa. "Money." was her answer.

Spike frowned, but stood all the same, walking across the flat to the large and very much unhidden safe. He spun the dial, frowning as he did. 

"Stop chasing ghosts moon girl, forget the past and try to move on." He said, opening the safe door with a loud click. He rummaged around and produced a wad of Imperial cash, all 15,000 of it folded in half and held together with a thick rubber band. He tossed it over his shoulder without looking and Luna easily caught it, tucking it down the front of her leather pants as Spike shut and locked the safe.

"Go buy a farm or something and stop looking for the others, they don't want to be found." Spike said, all the feelings he had about the past were largely painful ones. 

He hadn't seen Blade in over 200 years, not since his mother and sister vanished quite mysteriously during a battle. Blade held that they simply wanted to leave, so must have left. Spike on the other hand felt that they had done something to anger Blade and he had them killed, though he didn't actually know for sure.

Spike was half frozen as the flood of memories came in, everyone knew he wasn't an emotional one, but Luna walked up behind him, trying to give a comforting hug, but he promptly pushed her away. 

"Get out." Spike growled softly. 

Luna, hurt and defeated, knew better. He would simmer down after a while, but she was still hurt. On the way down the stairs she stopped for a minute before walking over to the bar, towards Ginger. No sooner had the girl turned; Luna struck her hard across the mouth with her especially evil steel and leather glove. 

The whore dropped to her knees and promptly spit out a generous amount of blood as she clutched her face, wailing in pain. Spike appeared at the top of the stairs as Luna grinned.

"Don't you ever look at me like that again, or I will do more than give you a little bruise." She said, happy now that she had taken out her anger at Spike on his favorite toy.

Ginger turned to Spike and spat angrily "Well?! Aren't you going to do something to her?!" She demanded as one of the other girls helped her up, they were accustomed to a great deal of pampering and protection.

"What? And get my ass kicked? No thank you." Was Spike's reply before he turned and vanished up the stairs. 

Ginger pitched an outrageous fit as she struggled against the girls holding her and trying to examine her wounds. Obviously she would have hit Spike, or tried to if given half a chance.

Outside the bar the sound of the bike firing up and peeling off could be heard just as the installers finished putting up the replacement glass. Spike watched from the second story window as Luna vanished off into the early evening glow that came from the sun setting over the ocean. 

Sighing, Spike lit another cigarette and watched the sunset. 

* * *

On the other side of town, in a district a little more 'upscale' there was a party. A charity fundraising event at the Angels Choir Musical School for Girls, hosted by headmaster Conrad Barak. The invitation only event was one of the biggest of the season, all the rich and powerful people from the eastern Imperial provinces would be in attendance. The chance to throw around status and cash was rarely something passed up by the richer classes of the Empire. 

A very loud, very expensive motor cycle pulled up and came to a screeching halt in front of the red carpet leading up to the front of the elite institution. It had the large, broad tires that were popular at the moment and was painted a very glossy black. Off stepped Blade, his hair was a dirty, sandy blonde and cut rather short, a pair of thin sideburns ran down maybe 2 inches on each side of his face. He was wearing a black tuxedo with the coat unbuttoned. And while everyone else was wearing a white shirt, his was made of red satin, a black bowtie hung untied around his neck. He palmed the keys and pink slip to the bike to the young valet that approached him.

"Merry Christmas kid, she's all yours." He said strolling up into school as if he owned the place, which to some extent he did... As the stunned valet hopped onto the bike, revving the engine up loudly before driving off. 

Blade flashed the invitation and strolled right in, the fancy school had its own grand hall, a ballroom used just for events such as this. Classical music was being played from the band stand by some of the most musically gifted girls in the Empire, they also had the richest mommies and daddies. 

He was only there to meet up with his son, Conrad. Having been the Lord, King, Emperor or whatever title you fancied for nearly 600 years, Blade had been very rich. But he wasn't a snob, not like these people. And he simply couldn't stand being around them and their bullshit and little games they liked to play. 

He was warrior, a predator. He preferred his games to have more of a serious edge to them, but he was sure no one in attendance this evening would be able to handle his adventurous definition of the word 'fun.'

He grabbed a glass of champagne off of a tray that a passing waiter was carrying, whoever the drink was meant for would just have to wait. After a few minutes Blade found Conrad, the tall man that had Blade's build but all of his mother's beautiful features and his fathers hair. 

He was entertaining a group of three ladies all clad in their expensive jewelry and black silk gowns. Blade approached and interrupted, slipping his arm around Conrad's shoulders as he rose his glass to the three women. One of them was a middle aged blonde, cosmetic surgery and the fact that she was a snobby bitch, both evident on her features. 

The other was a tanned, raven haired beauty who seemed like a ditz that won a rich husband with her body rather than brains, the third girl was a tipsy blonde with short, teased hair, she was very drunk.

"My my I didn't know this was an art show Conrad, who are these three lovely masterpieces of the female figure and beauty?!" Asked Blade, gesturing to the blushing trio of dimwitted gold diggers. 

Conrad swallowed nervously, these people funded the school and any mistake right now could upset a whole lot of the wrong people.

The three women giggled and rose their glasses, the tipsy blonde with the short hair and pouty lips that had an extra layer of dark red lipstick spoke first: "Mmm! My-my Headmaster Barak, wont you introduce us to this charmer?" She asked with a giggle. 

Conrad quickly tried to reply "He's my brother-." 

Blade was quicker "Why I'm this lad's father. Wesley Barak at your service." He said giving a polite bow.

The ladies all giggled again, rather amused by his antics. "And if that's true, how do you stay so young and handsome?" Purred the raven haired woman. 

"Simple.." started Blade. "You see we're vampires, we founded this Empire nearly a thousand years ago. But he isn't quite that old yet." 

The girls chuckled again and he rose his glass "Well ladies, if you will excuse me, I see the prime Minister of Vandar, and he simply wouldn't forgive me if I didn't say hello."

He nodded and walked off, Conrad quickly collected himself "Sorry about that, that's my brother, he has a bit of a drinking problem." He said as a cover, the tipsy blonde muttered something and excused herself, vanishing into the crowd.

A few minutes later, the tuxedo clad Conrad appeared beside Blade, pulling him out into a dark and empty hallway. "You cant walk around here like that! These people are patrons to this academy!"

Blade frowned "I bought you this place when you returned from school. I thought I backed it."

Conrad frowned, it was rare to see him this angry, but his tone remained civil and quiet "That's beside the point, these people can make or break my school and I don't need rumors started or patrons offended!"

Blade grinned as the tipsy blonde approached and cleared her throat. She extended a hand to Wesley "It was a pleasure meeting you, my name is Shea by the way." She said as she shook his hand, palming the key to her hotel room to Blade before she nodded to Conrad and headed for the door, stopping to look back at Wesley once before heading outside. 

Blade grinned and dangled the key in front of Conrad

"If sharing a joke with your 'patrons' pissed you off, I don't think you'll like what I'll be doing later." Said Blade with a broad grin as the fingers of his right hand ghosted over the nasty scar that ran the length between his right earlobe and the right corner of his mouth.

Conrad rubbed his forehead in frustration as Blade pocketed the key and then sipped his sparkling drink. "Don't ever send Marie to find me like that again. It was cheap and you know it, if you want to contact me, do it yourself."

Conrad narrowed his eyes, though not quite as intimidating as Blade could. "You never answer for me. Anyways, come to my office tonight after the party, I have something you need to see."

Blade smirked "I'll be Cumming in at least one way I am sure, though I don't know what time, or how many for that matter." He said with a chuckle before walking back into the crowd. 

"I'm serious." Mumbled Conrad, only to receive a "Yeah yeah!" from Blade who vanished out the door as Conrad quickly went back to making the rounds, making sure his guests were pleased with the night's events.

As Blade exited the building he could hear his old bike roaring somewhere in the distance followed by a second bike. He grinned. "Kid started a gang already? He has potential." Blade said before he swallowed the last of the drink and threw the crystal glass over his shoulder, shattering it on the wall behind before he turned. The little shards of blue crystal stealing his attention, a memory from long ago surfacing.

600 years ago, that is when the last bit of magic left in the world ceased to exist. With the birth of machines and other advanced technology along with the mass, industrial destruction of nature, the balance of nature and magic was upset. 

Soon mages could not cast spells, all but the strongest of magical creatures died and anything with an enchantment broke. He remembered it like it was yesterday; the pale blue walls and structures of the crystal palace collapsed all around them, the magical energy that held them together virtually gone.

Most magical creatures too had simply ceased to exist, gradual lying dying off until none remained. Blade was a magical creature by definition, even so, he wasn't nearly as invincible as he once was. He often wondered just how hard he would be to kill, but for the moment, he didn't want to find out. 

Shaking his head, Blade hailed a cab and climbed inside. "Take me to Carver Suites if you would." He said to the cab driver as his eyes wandered up to the distant view of the hill in the middle of the city where the palace once stood. 

There were a few ruins, and even though magic was not recognized as anything but a fairy tail, it was still a historical site as the history books recorded it as the location of the Blade of Desoul's Palace.

With no thought at all to what Conrad wanted, Blade overpaid the cabby and descended into the tower of the luxurious hotel, one of many properties owned by the elusive Nicholas Carver. The reclusive industrialist, who Blade speculated, could very well be richer than God. 

Soon he was at the hotel room door. Despite having the key he tapped lightly on the door and grinned as he heard the purr of a voice from within "Come inside." 

Blade grinned again as he stepped inside of the room, locking the door behind him. "Mmm I intend to."

The blonde was already undressed and sat on the edge of the bed, one black stocking covered leg crossed over the other. Aside from the leggings and heavy layer of lipstick, she was nude. Blade stopped and removed his coat, pouring a glass of amber colored, Imperial Whiskey from a bottle on the counter before he walked over and stood in front of the drunk woman. 

Her small breasts were perky and perfectly round and slightly pointed, not much larger than a handful. Her bright pink nipples stood erect as Blade began unbuttoning his shirt with his free hand, sipping his drink with the other. He wasn't even half finished with the shirt when the woman had his pants down around his knees, smearing an ample amount of lipstick across his hairless sack as she vigorously licked and lapped at his balls.

Blade gave a tickled chuckle as his hand rested on the back of her head, this whore of a woman sucking off a stranger just because he had called her pretty. Here in her hotel room despite that her husband could show up at any time to catch them. He groaned softly as the woman mouthed his cock, smearing lipstick there as well as she gave a loud, clumsy blowjob. 

His thick cock was perfectly hard and throbbing as she bounced her head back and forth on it sucking firmly with her mouth as she wrapped a gentle hand around the shaft and slowly stroked. Blade sighed and looked up and out of the 20th story window at the beautiful, sparkling city lights as the woman serviced him.

As soon as he finished his drink, he relieved the drunk, pushing her onto her back on the bed. She smiled and purred as she wiped the spit from her lips, her legs promptly spreading to present the Blade of Desoul with his entertainment for the evening. 

Her slit was very delicate looking, pink and glistening with excitement, her throbbing clit visible at the top of her perfectly hairless mound. Blade once again tossed the glass over his shoulder, though this time he did not look back as he crawled up the bed and hovered over the woman, kissing her red stained lips rather firmly as she sloppily inserted her tongue into his mouth. 


Desoul Bk. 01



His hands found and roughly gripped her breasts, causing her to moan in delight as he rolled them around in his hands, her silk covered legs slipping around his waist and pulling him down into her as he flicked his thumbs back and forth over her stiff little nipples.

Even being very wet, she was still very, very tight and he struggled to thrust his cock into her, but eventually he guided his throbbing, meaty dick inside of her and sunk it in the entire length with one hard thrust. They continued to kiss and Blade showed her no mercy, using her like nothing other than a fuck toy. 

His hard cock pounding into her slick, tight pussy like a jackhammer as she moaned for more, her legs pulling him down harder inside of her each time he thrust forward. This lasted nearly 4 hours as Blade fucked the woman to the edge of orgasm and then over it, again and again in various positions on nearly every surface of the suit. 

When it was over, he slipped out of bed and left the sleeping woman sprawled out on the bed. He dressed, but intentionally left his coat, knowing that it would bring up some interesting questions when her husband arrived later.

Conrad entered his dark office and walked over to the bar, loosening his tie as he poured two glasses of Imperial Whiskey, turning to hand one to Blade who was sitting in an arm chair in the dark corner, more or less invisible to all those without night vision. Conrad sat at his desk, rummaging around for a carbon shipping receipt, handing it over to Blade as soon as he found it. 

Looking it over, Blade snorted and sipped his drink. "What about it?" 

Conrad looked from his chair out at the sparkling city lights. "It seems that Nicholas Carver has been spending vast amounts of money on tomes about magic and artifacts believed to be magical." 

Blade set the receipt on the table beside him. "There is no magic, not anymore. I cant even produce a telekinetic force. I'm still fast, I'm still strong. But, I have a feeling if I fell off one of these buildings I would become street pizza." 

Sighing, Blade continued "I don't see a point to this, it's a waste of time, you and I both know magic doesn't work anymore." Said Blade firmly as he stood and headed for the door. 

"Mother would disagree." Answered Conrad and Blade stopped, turning on his heel to face his seated son at the mention of Elise. 

"Is that so? And I suppose you knew where she was this whole time and only just now decided to mention it?" He asked, perking a brow suspiciously. 

"She said that she had a vision of a magical beast. She said it was a vision of the future." Answered Conrad, ignoring Blade's inquiry. 

Blade frowned. "Your mother always had visions, they were unstable and shaky at best and even she said they cant be reliable or interpreted."

Conrad sighed. "She is in a cottage in the woods, out in the wildlife preserve we set up and sealed off so many years ago." Conrad looked down at his papers and produced a small map, but when he looked up, Blade was already gone. 

Conrad hissed a sigh of frustration and sunk back in his chair, a moment later he looked up to see Luna. She was standing in the doorway with one of her bare feet tracing a little pattern on the floor. "I'm here for my lesson teacher." She said softly as she licked her lips and stepped inside the room, closing the door behind her. 

Chapter 02

Luna wore only a thin pair of white bikini briefs that were perfectly seamless and left nothing to the imagination with its thin cotton material. She swayed her hips ever so playfully as she approached the headmaster, pulling the equally thin white tank over her head and tossing it behind her as stood in front of the speechless Conrad, her small, smooth hand reaching out to touch his cheek as she gazed down at him with her bright green eyes. 

Conrad bit his lip as Luna giggled "What, you use to fuck me every single day when you were my tutor. Why so shy now?" Luna asked as she slowly slid to her knees under the desk, her skilled hands reached out as one pinched softly at his balls through the fabric of his dress pants, the quick little fingers of the other hand slowly tracing up and down the outline of the bulge of his cock.

Slowly, Conrad gripped the edges of his chair as Luna fixed her gaze on his, never once breaking it as she slowly lashed out at his cock with her hot, pink little tongue, leaving a nice long trail of saliva over the front of his pants where she had licked. Conrad blushed and moaned in approval, after all these years, still so shy. He took after his mother in those regards. Luna was a great deal older than Conrad and took a bit of pride in picking on him when he was a young boy in the big, scary palace of Crystal. Little Connie she use to call him, and he detested it, but if anything, her actions proved there was no bad blood between them.

Conrad let out a long hiss as Luna unzipped the front of his pants, exposing his hot, hard cock to the cool night air pouring in from a nearby window as she slowly licked it from the base to the tip. Conrad groaned and then bit his lip as he watched Luna grin around his cock, planting a teasing kiss on it's head as she stroked the tip with her tongue, treating his purple, swollen meat like a lollipop. It was a game to her, she would tease him as long as she could, should he break and beg her for pleasure, she would spit his cock out and leave him to attend to it himself. No one ever accused her of not being a teasing bitch.

Luna smiled, content that the withering and wiggling man had earned his treat as he stayed quiet like a good boy. She promptly leaned forward and swallowed his thick cock with a single, swift movement. Her nose buried in the flesh of his stomach and her soft, dark lips resting against his balls as the tip of her hot little tongue crept out from the hold her lips had around his cock to tickle his sack. Conrad moaned out loudly, looking down at the girl as she bobbed her head slightly, the inner muscles of her throat gripping at his cock as the movement twisted it around inside of her, gifting him with an almost unbearable level of pleasure as every gland and ridge of his cock was stroked with her slippery flesh.

He groaned louder and louder with each passing moment, sweat soon forming on his forehead as Luna slurped and sucked quite loudly on his cock. Her black and red hair fell over her head, hiding her face as she hid Conrad's cock in the back of her throat. He enjoyed the next best thing; the view of her toned, tanned little ass lifted off the ground as she throated his cock continuously, the little white band of material in the back vanishing between her smooth cheeks and highlighting her tan complexion in comparison to the white material.

Luna could feel his throbbing cock pulsate a little bit more strongly in her mouth as she flicked her tongue rapidly back and forth against the underside of his shaft. With a loud moan of encouragement, Luna arched her back and slammed her head against his stomach over and over again as she rapidly pulled the head of his aching cock back and forth in the back of her throat, allowing him to use her mouth like a pussy as he howled out in pleasure and came. His hot, heavy balls releasing hot sticky rope after rope of cum loose into the back of her throat, giving her so much that she almost choked, but managed to swallow every last drop of it. 

As Conrad slumped back in his chair, his body hot and twitching slightly from the force of his orgasm, Luna slowly licked every inch of his cock clean before letting it slide out of her mouth, every last drop of his hot sperm now resting inside her stomach as she hugged her little Connie's waist, her head nuzzling his thighs as she cuddled him. "Thank you Miss Luna." He muttered breathlessly as she smiled cutely up at him.

* * *

Some distance outside of the city, Blade was flying through the forest at top speed, for 50 square miles there was not one other person, save for a certain elf. If this wasn't a goose chase. His heavy duty bike could no doubt be heard by anything for miles but he traveled at top speed, stopping only when he reached the foot of a particularly rocky hill. He would have to hike for about 15 minutes to reach the top, the opposite side being a cliff face with a beautiful view of the surrounding green valleys and canyons. 

No sooner than he had powered down the bike, a steel arrow with an explosive head came hissing out of the sky and struck the fuel tank that sat between his legs. He barely had time to utter "Aww shit-" before the explosive device triggered, an explosion destroying the bike and sending him flying into the woods, his limp and unconscious body hitting and skidding through the mud before it came to a stop some distance away from where he had just been.

Several hours later, blade blinked his eyes open, his body sore from the shower of shrapnel and side of fireball. As far as he could tell, nothing was missing. He struggled to sit up, rubbing his eyes firmly as they were not yet focused enough to see. 

He was lying on top of a table, it was hard but at least he was alive, in the background he could hear a pot of something coming to a loud boil. Hopefully he wasn't on the menu, but he didn't plan on sticking around to find out. 

As he rolled off the table and stumbled through the dark room, he heard that all too familiar voice, though its usual beauty was tainted by a cynical monotone "Your bike was an affront to nature, I destroyed it." Came a voice from outside. 

Blade stumbled forward and leaned in the door way of the cottage, his eyes adjusting to see the glorious view of the sparkling night sky, a view you wouldn't see in even the highest tower of the city. He lingered for a moment, his gaze fixed on the purple haze above him, each star sparkled like a diamond, the sky was simply beautiful; the cool night air smelled of moisture coming from the thin mist that was covering the woods, no wonder she chose this place.

"And to think little lioness, you use to be so subtle. Though the shot was still gracefully executed." His senses now fully awake, he could sense her, feel the beating of her heart, smell the lavender perfume she was wearing. "Elise." He said nodding into the darkness, the elf emerging from the garden adjacent to the house wearing a thick traveling cloak wrapped around her small frame to ward off the cold. 

"What do you want?!" Was the hiss of a reply to his greeting. 

Blade frowned and folded his arms in front of him. "Information." He said looking her over from head to toe, eliciting a scarlet blush on her pale cheeks. The frail-looking, pale little elf was still the most beautiful creature he had ever laid eyes on, her dark brown hair still ran down to the middle of her back, smooth as silk and perfectly straight. Her pale grey eyes narrowed at Blade before she walked off.

Elise walked in the house, brushing past Blade as she went to check on the pot of soup. "I had a vision. There is someone hunting for magical objects. He will find one and summon a great beast.' Elise said quietly as she brought a small spoonful of the soup up to her lips to taste. 

Blade rolled his eyes "Right well, there is no magic and there will be no beast. Even if there were, and I'm not saying there is, let it come! I could use a good fight with monster as scary as myself." He said beating his chest as Elise rolled her eyes. 

Blade sighed and all was quiet save for the choir of crickets out in the garden.

"Why are you still mad?" he asked softly before Elise jerked her head to look at him, her petite hand squeezing the spoon so tightly that she disfigured the steel handle with her powerful grip 

"You left us." Was her acid-laced reply. 

Blade growled. "You lived, you all lived." 

Elise shrieked and threw the spoon at Blade, but he ducked just in time, the spoon stuck into the doorway where his head just was. The attack leaving it deeply imbedded in the wooden frame of the door where Blade had just been. Closing the distance between them, Blade reached out and grabbed the elf's shoulders, shaking her roughly for a moment 

"You lived!" He repeated "I thought that if anything... As your Master I taught you to be strong, slave or no, you know how to think for yourself, how to survive. You are a Goddess of a warrior, you can stand on your own two feet!!" Blade gripped the soft flesh of her upper arms very tightly, Elise emitting a whine of painful pleasure. 

"S-stop." she muttered as she closed her eyes. 

"I got tired of everyone dying or leaving. I had to leave. Obviously you are fine. You have Conrad, he's a good boy and obviously he did a good job of taking care of you."

Blade released her and turned away heading for the door once more as heard Elise sob. 

"But you're my Master." She said, brushing away the tears streaming down her cheeks as Blade turned back to face her.

"I want you to be your own Master little lioness, I couldn't stay and you know it." Was his gentle reply.

Elise looked over at him "Don't you remember how you found me all those years ago? I had run away from home and I was whoring myself to survive..." Blade swallowed and closed his eyes but said nothing as she continued "I serviced a group of men and they decided to club me in the back of the head as payment. You saved me. I am forever yours." Blade remembered it like it was yesterday...

A very, very long time ago Elise had run away from her home and her family. She was gifted or rather cursed with magical visions and premonitions of the future. They came at random and caused her a great deal of pain, and later on in life they came less and less painful though no less vague as she learned to control her disturbing powers. 

The young Elven girl had no money and risked having her gift discovered by others if she lingered in one place for too long. So she wandered, and having no particular skills she used her body to pay for food and lodging. 

One particular day she found herself in the seaside city of Rilo just a mile from the fortress known as Desoul Castle. Her dark green traveling cloak was worn and tattered, thankfully the port was hot and humid. With the sun high in the sky overhead the elf stepped off of the transport ship. 

She wore a simple green tunic secured to her body by a brown leather belt. Her enormous tits pushed against the thin fabric of the tunic and she wore absolutely nothing under it. She carried a simple leather pack with her very few belongings and maps and wore a simple pair of brown leather boots that were falling apart.

Hunger and confusion consumed Elise's thoughts as she wandered around the port, she wasn't sure why, but as of late she had felt the need to move more quickly, hardly staying in a single city for more than 24 hours before leaving on foot or booking passage to the next place. 

She was broke and half starved but still determined to push forward, even if she didn't know which way forward was. She wandered for only a few minutes before she a found a long bench on the docks facing the sparkling blue sea. Taking a seat, she sighed heavily and watched the gentle ebb and flow of the clean water rolling up onto the white sandy beaches. 

Having been sitting alone for only a few minutes, she soon heard the laughing and loud conversation of a group of four men that were slowly approaching. They all wore uniforms of the crimson pirates which consisted of a pair of black boots and maroon pants with matching sleeveless shirts and a black sash around the waist. They were all middle aged, ugly and scarred, the rough pirates were no doubt veterans of many battles and were in the city while their leader met with the local Lord, one Wesley Barak of the Order of Desoul.

The men promptly stopped and turned to face the tall, beautiful elf as she sat alone, the men practically surrounding her in a semi circle as one of them whistled, all obviously aware of her supple figure. Blushing brightly, Elise slowly pushed her chest out, her rapidly hardening nipples pushing against the fabric for all to see as the rough veterans looked her over. 

"Oi! Aren't you a pretty piece?" Spoke the first man who was obviously the tallest of the three and wore a badge on his belt signifying he was the leader of the particular squad of men. 

"Yes sir." was her soft reply as she fiddled with the edge of her tunic, her cheeks still flushed as she looked down at the wooden planks of the boardwalk.

"Mmm you all alone pretty?" Asked the leader as they all fixed their gaze on the girl, she could feel them looking at her body, it made her skin crawl but at the same time she couldn't deny the dull throb her moist cunt was beginning to feel. 

"How 'bout you come with us for a little while, we can have a party?" The man asked firmly as Elise nodded in reply before she was helped to her feet by the man. 

"Could you spare a coin or two... I'll do anything you want." She muttered softly as her body trembled softly from the mix of fear and anticipation. 

The men laughed and the leader slung his arm around her small shoulders "We'll give you plenty if you treat us right." Was the leader's reply. 

Elise nodded in agreement as she was lead away by the group of men to a nearby storage area that was out of use. Little more than a large shed with a wooden table in the middle of the room that once served as a workbench, the place would serve their purpose.

One of the men left to get a couple bottles of brandy from a nearby shop as the others started their little party. By the time the man returned from his errand, the others were all undressed, including Elise. 

She sat on her knees before the leader of the pirates, both of his hands firmly laced into her silky hair as he held her head in place, his hips pushing back and forth roughly as he brutally face fucked the little elven whore. 

She gagged over and over again, the sound filling the room as a seemingly endless trail of saliva dripped out of her mouth and rolled down her neck, causing her large, luscious tits to glisten.

A second man sat on his knees behind her, his hands groping her spit covered tits rather roughly as he pinched and pulled on her hard, pink nipples. His long, thin cock throbbing eagerly as it brushed back and forth over her pale ass as the girl kept her palms flat on the floor before her. 

Suddenly the leader increased his thrusting, hammering Elise's poor throat harder and harder before he came, her grey eyes widening as she choked on the massive torrent of seamen being spraying into her throat. The pirate leader merely pulled his cock out and roughly pushed her head down as he let go of her head and went to pick up one of the bottles of brandy.

Elise choked and spit a large mouthful of the sperm mixed with a generous amount of her own saliva onto the dusty wooden floor as she struggled to catch her breath. The man behind her gave her breasts a rough squeeze as he grinned sickly.

"What kind of whore are you? Be grateful and lick it up!" He said, grabbing a hold on the back of her head as he pushed her face into the mess she had made. Bent over and exposed to all, Elise licked and slurped the sperm off of the floor as the man holding her head roughly pushed the tip of his cock between her glistening, pink cunt lips and pushed it all the way inside with a single powerful thrust.

Elise instantly howled out in pleasure as she slurped the rest of the sperm off of the dirty floor the man's hairy chest pushing against her back as his body slid back and forth against hers, his cock driving hard and deep inside of her surprisingly tight cunt which she squeezed around the cock like a vice. 

Her mouth hung open as she moaned almost non-stop, she loved pain and she loved being hurt, but she wouldn't ever tell these people about that. Slowly the man moved up to his knees once more as she bent forward and stuck her ass high in the air, her palms once again supporting her weight as the hairy, sweaty pirate gripped her hips, his cock pounding her tight little elven pussy even harder than before as he grunted and cursed happily.




Desoul Bk. 01



"Wash it down." Said the now nude pirate that had went for the brandy as he pushed the tip of his bottle against her lips and tipped it, filling her mouth with a large amount of the fiery liquid before he covered her mouth, forcing her to swallow gulp after gulp of the brandy before he removed his hand and let her gasp for air. 

Her head swam dizzily and he eyes watered up as the liquid raced through her body, causing her insides to burn. But before she could adjust the man gulped some of the brandy before he turned around and presented her with his muscular ass "Lick it!" he ordered. 

Elise nodded slowly and leaned up, burying her mouth in the man's hairless ass as she licked rapidly at his puckered little asshole, causing the man to groaned out happily as she leaned back into the cock pounding her cunt for support as her both of her hands reached around and gripped his cock. 

Her hands feverishly gliding up and down his shaft as she pumped away, her tongue pushing inside of his ass now as she sucked firmly. The pirate growled and wiggled under her touch "Fuck yes! Urgghgh uhh!" Was his sound of approval as the elf expertly milked his cock.

She could sense the man behind her weakening, and before she knew it she could feel his cock spasm as he came deep inside of her slippery cunt, pumping the little elf full as he spayed burst after burst inside of her. Finally spent, then man pulled out of her and laid back on the dirty floor as he panted to catch his breath. 

Elise's cunt was throbbing as it dripped a generous amount of cum down onto her pale thighs, giving her skin a slutty sheen. She licked harder and harder, her mouth still pressed firmly to the drunk man's ass as her dainty hands gave his cock a firm pumping. Soon enough he moaned louder than before as his cock exploded a large jet of sperm onto the floor, but she only continued to suck and lick and stroke, the man ejaculating again and again until he could no longer bear it and pulled away from her.

Without being told, she bowed her head down low and began licking the fresh load off of the floor, no sooner had she finished cleaning the mess, the very last pirate snapped his fingers. "Come here, bend over the table whore." He said as he pointed to where he wanted her to stand. 

She stood on her weak, shaky legs before moving over to the table, but before she bent over she muttered something quietly. The man who would use her now perked a brow "What was that?" He asked as he gave his stiff cock a slow stroke to insure he was hard enough to fuck. 

"Will you please choke me..." She repeated very softly, just above a whisper as the man laughed and reached for his sash. 

Elise gasped as the man balled either end of his sash around his fists and then promptly wrapped it around her slender neck before pulling tightly. Her vision blurred as she reached between her legs and grasped the man's cock, angling it up at her sopping wet, cum filled cunt before she pushed herself down onto it. 

The man choked her firmly as the leader sat on the edge of the table, he spit onto her large, round breasts before pushing them together around his cock, pinching at her pink nipples as he grinned wickedly "My cock isn't going to fuck itself!" he barked before Elise's hands immediately went up, squeezing her tits together around the man's cock as he pushed slowly back and forth between the mounds of her soft flesh.

Elise's eyes rolled back and her whole body shook as she was rocked with multiple orgasms, her head spinning wildly as she was overloaded with pleasure again and again, her body now merely a slab of hot meat to be used by the men. The man continued to choke her, while he thought he was doing it as tightly as he could, she could in fact still breath, but barely.

She was barely aware of anything in her hazed, orgasmic state, only that she needed to keep her breasts firmly pushed together and her back arched if she was to receive more pleasure. Soon enough the other two men joined in, groping and fondling what parts of her they could as they rapidly stroked their cocks; one of the men leaning over as he sloppily licked and sucked at the left side of her neck and long, pointed ear.

After several minutes the man riding her from behind grunted loudly and squeezed her throat tightly with the sash, cutting her airflow off entirely and giving her cunt another electric orgasm as he filled her already soiled cunt with a second load. Almost at the same time the leader groaned out as he came as well, spraying several ropes of his thick sperm all over the whore's neck and the upper edges of her tits as she continued to stroke him until he pushed her off. 

Her chest was glazed with a shiny coat of semen as she dropped to her knees and grabbed the other two men by the cocks, pulling them closer to her until both were right in front of her. 

She leaned forward and rapidly bobbed her head up and down one while she stroked the other, giving a nice deep throat to each before switching off. She did this for several minutes, taking turns with the men before one she was stroking came, his cock blasting her across the cheek with it's load as he made her glisten with even more filth, the last man finally coming inside of her mouth, giving her a heavy load which she skillfully swallowed. 

She promptly fell to the floor, chest heaving and thoroughly exhausted as the other men got dressed. After several minutes, Elise slowly pushed herself up onto her knees as she reached for her tunic, no sooner had she pulled it over head, the leader of the squad of pirates reached for one of the brandy bottles and promptly shattered it against the base of the poor little elf's skull, knocking her out cold and leaving her lying limp on the floor. 

She awoke several hours later, lying in a pit of mud on the outskirts of town with her belongings littering the side of the road. She had a nasty wound to the back of her head and the world was spinning as she crawled nauseously forward and collapsed again.

She was vaguely aware of the sound of horses, the sound of their hooves like thunder as they flew down the dirt road and then promptly stopped. She couldn't even open her eyes as she was pulled from the mud, but she heard the deep voice of a man say "Take her to Kirah at the Castle right away! She's still alive, but barely." Elise didn't know why, but the voice at the moment sounded like the most beautiful thing she had ever heard. Wesley Barak was the famous Blade from the Order of Desoul, most people just called him 'Blade.'

He watched as one of his soldiers bolted off with the badly beaten girl back towards the castle where she could hopefully be saved. He looked back for a moment at his horse and jerked his head slightly, Blade's black mount turned and galloped back towards the castle leaving the warrior of Desoul standing alone just outside the city. Blade was clad in the traditional Desoul uniform. 

It consisted of a pair of heavy, knee-high black boots and very loose fitting pants (better movement for a swordsman) and a dress jacket with a high, stiff collar. The uniform was durable and all black, save for the eloquent white embroidery that served as trim. The only other adornment was a pale sliver of crystal attached to a leather cord strung around his neck, it was a magical stone that could be used to communicate with others across large distances.

He didn't have his sword with him, he didn't need it, using his predatory senses, Blade sniffed the air, even soaked in mud, the scent of her attackers was dominant on the girl's body and he was certain they were nearby. No one would get away with this terrible crime, no one and he was the law in this land. Blade strolled casually the 500 feet or so into the walls of the city, the two spearmen guarding the gate snapped to attention and gave a salute to Blade as he passed which was returned with a nod. 

Mere minutes later he was inside of tavern near the water front, in the back at a booth sat the men he was looking for. "Only 4? Too bad they didn't bring their friends." thought Blade as he approached the table, grabbing a free chair from one of the other tables before setting it down in front of him and staring at the four men. They were very drunk by now and the leader turned his attention to Blade along with the others before he slurred. "The fuck...do you want?!" He asked slowly, his voice filled with impatience and aggression. 

"I just wanted to buy you fellows another round, and as soon as you've finished, I am going to kill you all." Blade said matter-of-factly as he waved his hand "Barkeep, a bottle of your cheapest, if you don't have anything cheap then piss in a glass and send it over, these people deserve no better."

Despite being drunk the four men were weighing their options, who was this fucker, was he just crazy or was he fooling around? The bartender himself walked across the tavern with bottle of sweet tasting wine, it was more like juice and it was doubtful that consuming a single bottle would get you drunk. 

Blade poured each man a glass before he stood. "I'll be out front boys, if you leave out the back then I promise your entire crew will die with you and your ship will be reduced to ashes." With that Blade turned and headed for the door, but stopped briefly to pay for drink before heading outside.

The pirates were confused but quickly downed their drinks "He aint even gotta weapon!" The leader hissed confidently before standing, the four men each reached for a bottle and promptly broke one on the table before they charged out the door with their improvised knives. 

Outside Blade was waiting for them; leaning against the rails of the pier as the men filed out. "This is my city, what you did to that girl was unforgivable, make your peace." 

The drunken leader grunted a battle cry and stumbled forward as the other men cheered him on. 

Though drunk and uncoordinated, the man was still a big brute; he thrust forward with the broken sliver of glass as he tried to stab Blade, but in the blink of an eye it seemed, Blade rushed forward and in one swift fluid movement he grabbed the man's right wrist with his left hand and stepped into the man, grabbing his forehead as Blade used the momentum to knock the man back. He moved quick like a cat as he guided the man head over heels into the ground, crushing the drunk's skull between his powerful hand and the boardwalk. Immediately the pirate's body went limp as blood pooled out around the dead man's head, dripping between the boards and into the water below.

The three remaining men screamed out as they charged all at once with their weapons at the ready. Blade moved quickly to meet them and with the snap of a powerful kick, he hit the man in the middle square in the chest and sent him flying backwards as Blade rolled off the attack of the man on the left, delivering a paralyzing kick to the base of the man's skull as he passed. 

With one comrade dead and two moaning in agony, the remaining man was more than a little shaken but he attacked all the same. Rushing forward with fists balled up around the broken glass, Blade stood still, turning slightly to the side with his left leg out and left shoulder pointed to the attacker.

The man closed in, Blade side-stepped his wide swing of an attack and grasped the man's forearm before twisting it around behind his back and pinning his arm in place. He then delivered a powerful blow to the upper part of the man's shoulder, snapping the bone as the rest was dislocated, the ligaments torn. The man screamed loudly as he withered on the floor in agony. 

Blade narrowed his eyes sharply before he calmly walked forward and collected one of the broken pieces of glass, he then went to each man and one by one stabbed them through the throat as they laid defeated on the ground. When he was done the boardwalk was an absolute mess and a number of people from the shops had gathered around to find the source of the commotion. Blade narrowed his eyes sharply for a moment before sighing.

"These men raped and tried to murder a young woman right here in our fair city. Justice is done." He said before he wiped his hands clean on the shirt of the dead pirate leader, he then headed off to check on the girl. 

Back at the Castle, Elise slowly blinked her eyes open, she was lying in a very soft bed in the Castle's hospital, their Doctor, Kirah was something of an angel when it came to healing wounds, with or without magic. As her vision cleared up, she could see the red sun setting over the sea before she turned her head slowly to see the swordsman sitting in the chair beside the bed. 

"You were almost dead, doc says you'll be just fine." The man said as Elise reached back and felt the now healed wound that once marked the back of her head. 

"Do you have someplace to go, somewhere you want us to take you?' The man asked. 

Elise shook her head slowly 'no' and the man nodded "You can stay here as long as you want then, get some sleep. I'll have some food brought in and in the morning we'll get you some clothes and a room."

With that the man stood and headed towards the door, Elise turned slowly before she weakly asked "W-who are you?"

The man turned and bowed slowly "I'm Wesley Barak, the Blade of Desoul."

Chapter 03

Blade returned home later that evening, his body bloodied and dirty from the explosion and mud, his clothes were shredded and charred. The only thing he wanted right now was a glass of cold water and a hot bath. 

Entering the door of his flat, Blade looked around the dark room before frowning into the darkness. "What do you want?" he asked as he flipped the light switch, the overhead lights coming on to reveal Conrad sitting in Blade's favorite, deep leather armchair. 

"How was your visit?" Conrad asked flatly, though from Blade's appearance it was obvious how well his visit went.

Blade narrowed his eyes at his youngest son, his cheek twitching slightly as he moved into the kitchen where he poured some cold water from a jug into a small brandy glass. 

"You should steal the object so we can inspect it." Conrad began as Blade swallowed the contents of his glass in a single gulp before setting the glass down once more. 

"You call the shots now huh schoolboy?" Blade asked coldly as he began stripping off what remained of his clothing as he discarded it into the trash. 

"Someone has to lead us." Conrad replied firmly, Blade only smiled.

"There is no such thing as magic for the last fucking time!" Blade growled as he looked back at Conrad. 

Conrad stood to speak, but in an instant Blade was across the flat, grasping the handsome Headmaster by his throat as Blade effortlessly lifted him off of his feet, his free hand reaching over to a nearby shelf that had several pieces of armor and black-bladed katana on display. 

Blade ripped the katana from it's sheath and pushed the flat of the sword blade against Conrad's cheek. "If there were magic you would be wither in agony! If there was magic then this enchanted sword would be killing you just because you touched it!" Blade spat before he roughly tossed Conrad out of his grasp, dropping him onto his back. 

Blade let out a sound that was half mumble and half growl as he gently sheathed his sword with a hiss-click and then gently set it back onto its stand.

The swords of Desoul were very special weapons given to monks during the ceremony where they were invested as a Blade of Desoul. The sword was very well made in the first place and then of course was the magical enchantment that was a secret to all but Blade and his now dead son Lucius. 

A demon would be summoned into a magical circle and then promptly killed, it's heart extracted and used as a component in a spell that would turn the blade of the sword black. Just touching the blade of the sword could damage one's very soul, wounds inflicted by it would be hard to heal and being ran through with one would be fatal to even the most powerful of monsters or men.

But now, with the magical energies gone from the world, it was little more than a relic now, a flashlight without batteries. Conrad rubbed his throat slowly and took his original seat once more before Blade sat down on the dark red couch opposite the chair. In between them sat a square coffee table covered with books and maps and notebooks and other tomes of knowledge. 

"I've seen it before, this guy is obsessed with all thing magical and mysterious, he doesn't understand things and that is why he spends so much time pursuing these hobbies. Nicholas Carver is just a rich guy with too much time and money on his hands." Blade said slowly as he slumped into the deep, soft couch.

"What about the visions mother had?" Conrad asked as he perked a brow. 

Blade frowned and looked back over at his son. "Who knows, she lives out in the middle of nowhere, maybe she made some bad mushroom soup or something. Son of a bitch, what will it take for you to drop this and leave me to rot in peace little Connie?" Blade added the nickname to assure his son of his great annoyance about the subject. 

Conrad sighed and produced a long envelop from the inside pocket of his coat and dropped it in the pile of paperwork on the table. "That's everything you need, Carver didn't win this particular auction, I think he may try to steal the object, if so that could give us some kind of clue to his intentions.

Blade leaned down and picked up the envelop before he turned to speak. "What about-" 

Conrad was nowhere to be seen. Blade narrowed his eyes sharply before he grinned like a jackal. "That's my boy." He said softly before heading towards the bathroom, stepping inside the stall he slowly twisted the hot water knob, not bothering with any cold at all. He sighed happily as the three shower heads, one on each wall, unleashed a torrent of scalding hot water onto his body. Soon enough the bathroom was filled with steam so thick that one couldn't see 3 inches in front of themselves. 

Blade lingered for nearly an hour, every surface of his body squeaky clean before he stepped out again, slowly drying himself off in the steamy maze that was the bathroom, once finished he put on his loose-fitting black sleep pants and swiped the envelop Conrad had left.

Two nights later in the middle of a rather vicious downpour of rain; Blade found himself perched on the ledge of a 16 story building that sat adjacent to the docks, he had decided to investigate the so-called magical device, though he did not know why for the life of him that he was bothering. 

He watched the activity below through the little slits in his mask in his steel mask, the rain rolling off his cloak that left him more or less dry as he watched for an opening. 

Some blocks away he could hear that cycle, that loud, loud cycle again, but he merely shrugged it off and continued to watch. Satisfied that he had the patterns of the workers below memorized, he picked up his grappling gun, firing it towards the rooftop across the street before he secured the end of it, using it as a zip line to glide over to the other building.

He landed hard on his feet in the graveled rooftop and looked around before stalking from skylight to skylight, trying so hard to locate this magical device, though in truth he had to rely on his exceptional sight for all he had was the crate number off of the shipping receipt to locate the crate. 

The inside of the warehouse was mostly deserted and unlit, he couldn't see any security systems attached to the windows so he decided to break and enter. Hitting the glass with his elbow, he quickly rolled inside, dropping some 30 feet and landing crouched quietly on the concrete below in the midst of a shower of fragments of glass glittering in the moonlight. 

Brushing some of the glass off of his cloak, Blade looked around and then stood stalking quietly through the aisles of shelves that contained thousands of boxes. It was nearly half an hour before he found what he was looking for, a small box that was maybe 6"x"6 nothing more than a very small wooden box. Without examining the contents, he picked up the box and promptly headed for the roof only to find that his zip line was gone. 




Desoul Bk. 01



He looked quickly to the left and right and seen no one "Maybe it just snapped..?" He wondered as he looked over the edge of the building, he then heard the crunching of gravel and spun quickly around, but saw no one at all. He then growled as something struck his chest, causing him to drop the box onto the ground before rolling off the top of the building, his fall below broken by a fire escape ramp a floor down. 

The sound of his heavy body crashing into the steel must have alerted the guards cause he could hear the alarm sounding loud and clear. Groaning, Blade pulled himself up to his feet and then scowled before he crouched and suddenly hurled himself up into the air, landing back on the roof to see a crouched figure clad in leather, its face hidden by a steel mask not unlike Blade's, rummaging through the box. 

He growled and shook his head "Tsk, tsk, tsk. Its not nice to hit people when they aren't looking." The figure clutched the box tightly and rolled off to the side, landing crouched as it drew a pistol, firing a single round into Blade's forehead, the bullet sliding along the surface of the mask as it was deflected. 

Grinning, Blade looked down at the stunned, leather clad assassin and grinned. "That tickled." With that, Blade rushed forward again, the person firing numerous rounds into his chest as they backed away, but Blade pounced on the figure and planted a particularly powerful blow into their stomach, dropping them to their knees before he ripped the mask off. "I have no idea who this is." Blade muttered rather disappointedly as he looked down at the thief.

The female thief was no doubt sent by Carver, and Blade couldn't help but admire how the skin tight leather looked on her small frame. Her face was soft and pale, her short dark hair packed into a tight bun under her hood.

She clutched her stomach and spit a small amount of blood before wiping her mouth clean. Blade was about to speak when a number of armed guards burst through the door to the roof, the thief slowly stood to face Blade as numerous guns were cocked , all trained on him. 

The thief picked up the wet box and brushed some of the water from the top of it before she tried to speak "It's over Wes-" Before she could finish the sentence however, Blade lashed out with a firm snap kick to the girl's stomach, snatching the box from her as she fell through the glass skylight to the hard floor below. Her scream was cut short as she hit the cold concrete below. 

The guards all opened fire, unleashing a barrage of bullets into Blade who merely stood there until all their guns were empty, for nothing more than a bit of theatrical fun as the bullets shredded through his torso and arms. The guards stood there stunned, several hundred rounds had been expelled from the smoking barrels of their guns, their target stood there. 

"I am the Phantom." Blade declared, his voice flat, the tone as cold as the shapeless steel mask he wore. Slowly the guards backed away as Blade debated attacking them for the fun of it, but the lesson was learned, none of these men would forget this night. 

Turning quickly, Blade bolted away for the stunned men, his tattered black cape billowing behind him as he reached the edge of the building and leapt off of it, vanishing in the foggy haze below.

He only made it a few blocks however before his progress was slowed, the loss of blood beginning to make him dizzy. He just couldn't heal as fast as he use to and the numerous holes were bleeding quite profusely. Leaning against a cold brick wall in a damp alley, Blade breathed heavily, his vision beginning to blur as sirens were heard off in the distance. 

Suddenly he heard the bike again, the loud, loud bike that seemed to be haunting him like a bad memory. The shiny red and gold colored bike sped into the alley and screeched to a halt in front of Blade.

He was now mask-to-face with Luna and couldn't help but grin as she shot off her sass mouth "Well get your old ass on the bike! I don't think you'll survive in prison, you have any idea what they do to pretty boys like you in there?!"

Blade smirked under his mask and jumped on behind her "Yes ma'am." he said reaching up to squeeze her soft, round breasts through the armored jacket. 

"Or you could hold my waist." Said Luna as she gripped the throttle and punched it, peeling off at top speed as a police helicopter appeared overhead, its large spotlight trained on the two as they raced away. Blade's cape was billowing hard in the wind, almost deafeningly so as Luna cut through every alley and tunnel she knew, trying so very hard to loose their pursuers. 

Blade growled as not one or two but three police cruisers appeared behind them, chasing them down the main, and most busiest road in the city. Blade cringed as he could see lights far behind them, soon they would have every cop in the city down their throats. 

Luna muttered something and Blade drew his dagger from it's booth sheath, but before he could react; Luna toggled a switch next to the break, releasing a torrent of oil from near the tail pipe that was reserved for such an event. The bike bolted off as the three cop cars all spun out of control, two of them crashing into a line of cars parked on the side of the street while the third skidded off the road and through the wall of a nearby shop.

Blade tapped Luna and shouted. "Head for the freeway, take the next ramp and meet me at the ruins!" Luna nodded and as they reached the overpass, Blade leaped off the bike and onto the bridge. The chopper had been flying low during it's pursuit- and after a second, well-timed leap, Blade jumped up and grabbed one of the landing legs, pulling himself up as he threw open the door to the chopper and climbed in. 

The distraught and frightened pilot reached for the radio as Blade slammed his boot into the control console, the helicopter engine squealing before the chopper began spinning out of control. Grinning, Blade grabbed the pilot and jumped from the vehicle as it spun into a nearby building that was under construction. 

A massive explosion rocked the steel skeleton of the building as the chopper broke apart and exploded. Blade landed safely with the pilot before dropping him gently on the ground. The pilot blinked, his mouth slung open in disbelief as he looked up at Blade. Blade merely smiled and patted the stunned man on the back before he bolted off into the gathering crowd and vanished once again.

An hour later as the rain changed from downpour to drizzle, Blade hiked up the hill where the greatest fortress the world had ever seen once stood. Luna was sitting on her bike in a ruined building with most of the roof torn off, she still had the box which Blade had secured to the back of the bike before his departure. 

Luna sighed, her leather jacket was hanging from the handle bars, her chest clad in a white gauze tank top that was soaked and transparent, her stiff brown nipples showing through as she ran her fingers through her hair, letting the rain clean her sweaty body. 

Blade reached into his cloak and produced a flask, slowly sipping its contents before he pulled off the mask and cloak off, setting them on the back of the bike. Maybe it was the excitement from the chase, or the fact that she was just so gorgeous there all soaked and shiny, but Blade just had to have her. It had been nearly a century since he had the flavor of Luna on his lips.

Blade reached out and grabbed her by the hips, pulling her into him as she reached up and laced her arms around his neck, pulling him into a fierce kiss as his hands pawed at her tight little ass, kneading her rather roughly with his powerful fingers as she grinded her hips into him. A moan of pleasure escaping his lips as Luna moved downwards, finding the sweet spot on Blade's neck as she nibbled and gnawed at it, causing his cock to become impossibly hard under his armored pants. 

He pinched Luna's nipples very firmly and twisted slowly, as she gave a soft scream of pleasure. "Harder!" She gasped but Blade was busy with his hands trying to free Luna of her pants as she did the same. 

After a minute of unsuccessful blundering they both frowned. "Bend over!" Ordered Blade as he unfastened his pants and Luna did the same with her armored attire. 

She peeled the wet leather down over her tan little butt and bent over the bike as Blade gripped the thick shaft of his long cock, pushing the thick tip into Luna's dripping little cunt as he leaned over her, fucking her hard and deep as her fingers gripped one of the cycle's tailpipes for support. 

She groaned as her eyes lolled back and forth in pleasure, her tight, tanned cunt gripping his shaft like a wet slippery vice as he grunted and fucked his little assassin. Biting her lip, she managed to speak "HARDER!" Was what she growled, in all these years, he had never seemed to be able to fuck her hard enough, even when he popped her hip out that one Christmas...

He slammed his hips back and forth as hard as he could, Luna rocking back and forth roughly from the power of his thrusts as the bike wiggled under her, her cunt dripping its wonderful juice all down her thighs and onto his cock as he cried out in pleasure. 

Luna wiggled her ass slightly for good measure as he reached up and grabbed her hair with both hands, pulling hard as he fucked her deep and fast, her wet, perky tits bouncing back and forth as she squealed, her tight cunt contracting in pleasure as she came around his cock. Giving it a nice, sticky coating of her hot juices.

Blade panted with pleasure as he roughly fucked the tanned little Goddess, his cock swelling as it ached for release as Luna continued to wither beneath his pounding hips. After several minutes of repetitive pounding, Luna reached down between her smooth thighs and gripped her Master's balls, giving them a powerful squeeze which caused Blade to growl out in pleasure as the contents of his hot, heavy balls emptied deep inside Luna. 

She let out another exhausted moan as she felt his thick, creamy cum coat the inner walls of her slippery cunt, the warm feeling of his cock milk causing her orgasm once more before clinging tightly to the bike.

Slowly Blade pulled out of Luna, a torrent of their combine juices dripped down her toned thighs and made her body glisten in the darkness. Leaning against a wall as he tried to catch his breath, Blade moaned once again as Luna sunk to her knees in the mud and began licking every inch of Blades cock, her pink, hot little tongue not ceasing until she had cleaned every part of her Master's cock. 

Sighing, Blade laced his fingers into Luna's hair and gripped her tightly as he leaned down and gave her a firm kiss on the lips.

Chapter 04

Spent from their battle as well as the intense session of love making that followed, Blade and Luna had spent the night in the ruins of their former home. They slept in the hollow shell of a once grand fortress, an icon of the power they once wielded, but despite this, they were perfectly content. They had each other. 

Blade was the first to wake, it was still lightly raining all around them, but at least they had some cover from what was left of the roof. They sat in the corner; Blade with his back to the wall and Luna's warm body curled snugly against his. Blade's thick, tattered cloak wrapped around them both. 

He looked around slowly, pleasantly aware of the warmth the girl in his lap was radiating, despite the mud and freezing rain, he was warmer and more comfortable than he would ever be in his own bed. Blade smiled fondly as he touched Luna's tanned cheek and he admired her peaceful, angelic features. 

He leaned his head slowly back and began to close his eyes before he suddenly snapped them open again. Before he could say a word however, Luna had opened her eyes as well, her head nodding slowly as she slipped out of the protection of her Master's arms and crouched low to the ground, her eyes darting around.

'There are 17 of them out there.' Blade thought to himself as he produced a long, curved knife from each of his boots, gripping one in each of his hands, the grip reversed so that the blades of the knives sticking out they ran up the length of his forearm to his elbows. Before he could speak, Luna reached down and toggled a switch on her belt, her armored leather bodysuit turned completely invisible, and her with it. 

Slowly, Blade crept along the ruined wall to his right, crouched low as he looked out into the courtyard, he saw nothing but rubble. Suddenly his eyes grew wide again and Blade stood, immediately throwing out a powerful roundhouse kick with his left leg which led to his boot landing a devastating blow to the head of a cloaked soldier. The man's electronic cloaking field fizzed as he fell to the ground dead. Clad in black, high tech armor and armed with an assault rifle, these weren't police, these were corporate mercenaries. 

"Kill squad Luna!" He shouted to his companion wherever she happened to be. Suddenly from the left and the right of him, a dozen men uncloaked, he was flanked on each side by 6 men who all began firing their weapons with deadly accuracy. Two men for each part of his body, left leg, right leg, torso, left arm, right arm and of course, head. It wouldn't kill him, just incapacitate him for time, but that didn't make it hurt any less. The armor-piercing rounds from their rifles quickly riddled his body, the blood loss was catastrophic and Blade quickly collapsed into an unconscious, incapacitated state.

Later he awoke, his eyes struggling to focus for a moment before his sharp senses kicked in. He could hear the roaring, crackling fire from somewhere in the background before he slowly pulled himself up to his knees. Blade wasn't the least bit amused with his accommodations. 

He sat in the middle of a large study, floor to ceiling bookcases filled with thick tomes lined the walls with the occasional display case or pedestal supporting an artifact being the only thing to break up the flow of the room. He looked down at the tacky maroon carpet and frowned before he turned to the fireplace to his left, on his right were two fancy leather sofas facing one another with a glass coffee table between them. As he tried to stand, Blade was quickly pulled back to the floor and he realized that he was chained to the floor of the study. 

A thick, ungodly heavy set of chains were bound around his neck and wrists, the links being nearly 4" around in their thickness, all three were secured with a large bolt to a metal plate built into the floor. Only a minor setback. Blade lifted himself as high as he could before grasping the thick chains, pulling with all his might for as long as he could before he slowly released his grip, he wasn't anywhere near full strength, escape would have to wait. 

"Good evening your Majesty." Came a voice from across the room. Blade blinked slowly as he rolled his head and his gaze towards the door, a man in a black suit of the finest silk entered the room, he was as tall as Blade, if not a little taller. He had a stout frame and handsome face, his hair and eyes both were dark, his jaw line hairless and prominent. 

"Nicholas Carver at your service." Rang the man's voice like a musical instrument as he gave a polite bow and moved across the room, very careful to stay out of the immediate area of the chained vampire before he sat at his desk, his eyes never once leaving the battered and chained creature. 

"I know who you are. You're the kid who likes magic tricks. Why don't you untie me and I'll show you one. I have a really good bit where I pull your heart out of your ass and make you eat it." Said Blade matter-of-factly as he gazed at the carpet.

"Just the threat I would expect from a savage." Replied Carver with his snobbish flair. 

Blade merely smirked. "Tell me everything you know about magic." Carver began as he leaned back in his chair, his hands folded in his lap in front of him as if he were sincere about the question. 

Blade rolled his eyes. "There is a magical energy field that provides power that can be channeled through people and objects like a sort of conduit. Thus allowing for the manipulation and control of beings and objects. Some people are better conduits than others and some can not use magic at all. A rare few were immune to any attack from magic and none of this matters because the advent of technology upset some kind of balance and now magic no longer exists." Blade answered flatly before he sighed, his gaze still fixed at the floor.

"Is a car any different than a suit of armor? Sections of steel connected together methodically, all parts of a suit like components of a machine working towards a single function. Why did magic not vanish when armor was invented Mr. Barak?" Asked Carver as if he were addressing a child. 

Blade smirked again, his eyes blinking at the red blur before him before he answered, like a child: "Gee you know, I think there was no magic and then one day someone made armor and THEN there was magic and then someone made a car and then there wasn't magic and THEN-" Blade was cut off as Carver slammed his fist into the surface of his desk 

"THIS IS NOT A JOKE!" Carver shouted rather heatedly before he adjusted the front of his coat and sat leaned back against his chair once more.

"You are the only joke. I usually take pity on people too stupid to understand the error of their ways, but I think you knew better. I'm going to kill you and then I am going to kill every single person in this mansion who tries to stop me on my way out." Blade stated flatly, his gaze shifting to the slightly shaken man at the desk. Carver felt his spine shiver with an unnatural chill as his eyes gazed into Blade's. 

After a few moments carver broke eye contact and stood, walking slowly around the desk before he leaned back against the front of it. "You were wrong. There was a mage by the name of Talus who created a device which, over the period of 100 years drew in all the magical energy in the earth. This device was meant to power a suit of magical armor, one that would grant the mage immortality!" Exclaimed Carver, a sort of feverish expression taking over his otherwise neutral features.

"You're fucking insane. No one lives forever and there is no infinite power." Said Blade as Carver titled his head and slowly laughed. 

"No, no there is Mr. Barak and now I have the final piece. You see..." Carver said as he pushed off the desk and headed to one of displays. "...the mage died before all the magical energy was collected into this vessel." Carver produced a long, golden colored cylinder and held it up for Blade to see, the light of the fire reflecting off of it's gold surface, giving it the illusion of glowing. This must have been what was inside of the box...

Carver very gently ran his hand over the surface of the vessel, looking like a fool seduced before he placed it back inside of its case. "I believe I have all the pieces I need. And two days from now I shall have the suit assembled, I will become the ruler of this world and command it as I see fit. The people will worship my power!" Caver spat as he turned and faced Blade, the mad gleam apparent in his dark eyes. 

"Carver, it's a bedtime story told to kids. If you wanted a suit of armor, go a fucking art auction. Now you've gone through all this trouble and annoyed me, I will grant you immortality when I banish your soul to it's resting place." No sooner than Blade had spoken, Carver lashed out with a single strike and kicked Blade across the face who was forced to jerk his head to the side. "I'm going to take your right arm off and watch you squirm." Started Blade who was quickly kicked again, this time much harder as the easily manipulated man became enraged. "I'm going to put a hole in your knee and watch you squirm around in circles like a one winged insect."




Desoul Bk. 01



This time however, he was not kicked. Carver merely smiled as he walked back towards his desk. "When I am the God of this world, I shall destroy you for all to see. I've already spread the word that the King of the Crystal Palace is still alive. After I kill you the people will turn to me, their savior." 

Blade perked up a brow and shook his head. "I'm going to kill you Carver. Get a good night's sleep and visit your favorite whore, I will kill you." 

Carver narrowed his eyes as Blade spoke before he reached under the desk and toggled a small switch. A massive currant of electricity was released into the steel plate which ran through the chains and into Blade's body. He was electrocuted rather severely, the currant increasing until he collapsed into a burnt, slightly smoking heap on the floor.

The next time Blade woke was in the middle the following day, his hands and feet bolted into steel walls inside some kind of dark, cramped cell. No sooner had he awoken before he heard the voice his oldest son, Spike. "Well you sure pissed someone off something fierce this time. Stuck your cock in his prized poodle did you?" Asked Spike bitterly as Blade regained his senses and looked up, his son bolted to the wall across from him. 

"Don't bitch to me, maybe you pimped his daughter in your little gin joint and now he's pissed at both of us." Replied Blade with a slight smile. 

Spike scowled at him. "They fired gas into my club and then took me down with stunners, what's your excuse?"

Blade perked a brow and then answered "I fucked Luna and then passed out, when I woke up they shot me... I guess I was more of a threat." Blade narrowed his eyes slightly, his son was still bitter, but this was not the time nor the place. 

"Yeah well, who wouldn't be afraid of you Captain Syphilis?" Spiked asked as he returned his father's glare. 

"As I last recall, your sister became the mighty warrior and you the filthy whore. I mean, it was just tradition that the males would become Blades and the women our slaves. I guess you preferred the more womanly path." Was Blade's icy reply, a reply that made Spike growl and thrash about in his shackles. 

"I'll fucking kill you!" Spike spat as he glared at his father.

"Wait in line boy." Blade answered as he looked about the cell. "Who else have they got?" Blade asked before slowly closing his eyes. 

Spike took in a deep breath before speaking. "Elise, and Luna. I was in a cell with both of them before they moved me here. He really thinks he has the Talus device doesn't he?" 

Blade nodded slowly before answering "Strange they didn't bring Conrad. Rest, we'll need the energy." Blade said as he squirmed in his bondage, hoping to get as close to comfortable as one could while being pinned to the wall.

"What the bloody hell for?" Demanded Spike.

"Luna will rescue us any time now." Answered Blade as he closed his eyes and began to meditate, his body more or less shutting down in a more controlled manner as he gathered his energy for the coming fight.

* * *

In a cell on the end of the prison wing, was Elise, her slender forearms bound together brutally tight behind her back, her pale, slender body whipped into a collage of pink and red pain. The thick golden rings of her pierced, light brown nipples were pushed into the surface of the cold, steel table as a dozen guards used her. 

Her smooth, flawless thighs were already glistening with sweat and semen, the guards had been fucking her for hours, and despite being raped, Elise made sure she used every trick at her disposal. Even the most proficient of the men came in a manner of minutes, regardless of how hard they tried, her body was trained and conditioned to give maximum sexual gratification. That was her function.

Half of the men sat exhausted and spent, each in various stages of undress, a few fully nude as the remaining half a dozen took her in pairs. One man gripped her silky, dark hair as he brutally fucked the poor elf's face, though she made sure to suck as firmly and as noisily as possible. The man behind her held her down against the metal table, his face glazed with pleasure as he watched his cock glide in and out of her easily fucked, but still extremely tight little pink asshole. 

Elise merely gagged and moaned on the cock in front of her, saliva dripping down her chin in an almost constant stream as she sucked for all she was worth. Her pink hole clamping around the cock pounding away in her ass, urging it to shoot the fourth load of the evening into her willing body.

Several moments later the man behind Elise grunted as he roughly squeezed her pert little ass, his balls unloading a massive amount of sperm into her tight little body before he sighed and pulled out, another man taking his place before beginning to fuck the bound elf. When it came to sexual skill, Elise was a Goddess. These men weren't even ants in comparison. 

The wet, pink walls of her throat contacted again and again around the thick tip of the cock fucking her throat, the man holding twin handfuls of the elf's dark hair grunted again and again as he receive what had to be the best blowjob he had ever and would ever receive. Suddenly the guard face fucking the little elf pulled back and began stroking his cock urgently, very quickly spraying his thick load of cum all over Elise's lips and chin as the elf flicked her pink tongue out, catching as much of his hot cock milk as she could.

Elise moaned ever so slightly, not receiving very much pleasure from the unskilled men, but savoring the feeling of filthy sheen of sweat and semen that was covering her body. Slowly she rolled her head to the side to look at the men waiting for their turn, her bright, emerald green eyes flashing at them playfully as she spoke in the most sensual tone she could muster.

"What's wrong boys? Never heard of double penetration? All this hot sperm in my ass and none of it in my pussy..." She said as she licked some of the stray beads of sperm from the corner of her mouth. Elise knew these men were dead, any time now her Master or one of the others would smash the door in and these men would be no more. 

"Might as well give them a slice of heaven before they are sent to hell." Thought the elf as she rolled onto the top of one man, his cock immediately finding and thrusting into her perfectly hairless little cunt as another man mounted her asshole from behind. Elise groaned as she flipped her hair to the side, her small lips pressing against the neck of the man under her as she licked and sucked and firmly, both men moaning as the man on the top reached under and squeezed her large, pierced tits. 

The man fucking her cunt reached back and squeezed her small ass, spreading it nice and wide as the third and final man began stroking his cock, given a flawless view of both of the girl's holes being filled as their moans echoed through the large cell.

On the other side of the dungeon... 

Luna found herself stripped down to just her white little bikini briefs, her arms shackled above her as she hung from the ceiling, the tips of her bare toes barely touching the cold, concrete floor. A man stood in the corner with his back to her, the chief of security as he slowly undressed and folded his things neatly in pile on the little corner stool. 

While he was distracted, Luna sighed and blew her black bangs from her hair before the gripped the chain above her and pulled, lifting her body upwards before she flipped over and pressed her feet to the ceiling, tugging on the chain as she pulled with all her might, snapping the chain and flipping back onto her feet as the chief turned just in time to have the chain strike him across the face.

The man spun in a full circle and hit the ground, dazed and in pain. Slowly, Luna perked a brow as she looked him over and slipped her hands out of the shackles. Before the man could react however, Luna had wrapped the chain tightly around his arms and torso, swinging him roughly into the wall as she clasped the shackles together, locking the man in place. "You like to rape people huh?" Luna asked before nipping the man's earlobe. 

"Well I guess you're fucked." She said with an evil grin as her hand dipped down between her thighs, her thumb and finger pinching and pulling on her moist clit. 

Using one of the oldest tricks her Master had taught her, Luna manipulated her clit until it expanded into a massive, long, magical cock. When you have a massive harem, sometimes it was easier to give a few a little 'gift' like that so-to-say, to keep everyone pleased in his absence. But tonight, Luna would use it to fill another end.

The man screamed out in pain as Luna grabbed his hips and sunk the entire ten inches of her glistening, throbbing cock into his ass. Immediately Luna moaned out, her small hands reaching up to tug at the man's hair as she pressed her tits against his back, her small, tanned body grinding against his as she raped his virgin asshole. 

"Ahh yes! Take it you little bitch!" Luna spat happily, her more Mistressly qualities emerging as she slid her hands down the man's chest before dipping between his legs, finding his balls and giving them a brutal squeeze. 

The man had small tears of pain leaking from the corner of his eyes, tears which Luna promptly licked up. Almost as soon as she had started though, Luna let out a happy growl, her fingernails dragging down and ripping open the flesh of his back as she came. Her small body shaking as she emptied a massive load into her would be attacker.

The man trembled in pain as Luna pulled out of him, her clit returning to normal as she leaned up and kissed the man's cheek. Luckily for him, the futa spell made her special cock extra sensitive. Luna sighed and collected her panties and belongings before vanishing from the room. 

Half an hour later, her and Elise opened the cell that housed Blade and Spike. Blade moved his eyes over to the two and perked a brow. Both of the girls were fully dressed, but their flushed faces and messy, frilly hair told their own story. "Did you girls have fun?" Blade asked as Elise freed him, immediately wrapping his arms around the small elf, Blade hugged her tightly. 

Luna chuckled as she uncuffed Spike "I raped a guard!" She chimed ecstatically. 

Rubbing his wrists, Blade looked over at Spike. "We leave tomorrow night, meet me at my cache at sundown." Blade said, Spike merely nodded as the four of them silently made their way back up to the study, Carver, and the device were gone. But Blade knew that before they got there. 

As they turned to leave, they were greeted with the sight of a very tall, middle-aged man with black, slicked back thinning hair and a small moustache. His slender body was hidden by a long, maroon colored robe, a large gold amulet hung from his veiny neck. 

"Ah you must be Mrs. Carver! Wesley Barak, pleasure to meet you ma'am." Blade said as the two girls chuckled, Spike however stared blankly at the man.

"I know who you are vampire!" The man hissed slowly, his head tilting slightly forward as his eyes narrowed. The man stood up tall, proud as he spoke again "I am Tal'Ma, the advisor and court wizard for Mr. Carver, and tonight, I will end you with my mighty magic!" 

Blade sighed as he took a step forward, Spike extending his arm to the side to stop him. "No. I think I'll handle this. See you tomorrow night." 

Blade shrugged and turned, looking around for a moment before leaning down and picking up Carver's massive, intricately carved wooden desk, lifting it high above his head before he threw it forward, the hefty desk shattering one of the massive windows which allowed Blade, Luna and Elise to stroll right out of the mansion.

Slowly, Spike began moving in a circle around the man, a grim smirk on his thin lips as the so-called wizard held his ground. Finally, Spike stopped and moved a good 10 feet in front of the unflinching man before speaking. "Tell you what Mr. Wizard, I'll let you fire off a free shot of your boogidee-boo before I attack and kill you. How's that sound?" 

The Wizard glared back at Spike and quickly rose both of his hands, palms facing out as he aimed them at Spike and began frantically chanting some kind of gibberish. After several moments of this, the Wizard growled and jerked his arms forward. Nothing happened. A bead of sweat began rolling down the side of the man's face as Spike snapped forward the instant the spell failed, his fist connecting with the red robed man's skull and fracturing it, killing him before the bead of sweat could finish its descent.

Spike sighed and turned away, looking up at the night sky as he stepped from what was once an elegant floor to ceiling window, speaking quietly under his breath to himself. "I have a feeling Carver wont be as easy to beat."

Chapter 05

As Blade batted his eye open, he was greeted with the warm sensation of the light from the afternoon sun caressing his smooth chest. On his right was Elise, nude save the sheet that covered her, sleeping soundly as she was tucked up against Blade's side. To his left was Luna, her small, tanned body wrapped up with the entire comforter, her small legs draped over Blade's legs with the rest of her body angled away from him. 

Blade smiled slowly as he dropped his hand down to softly stroke Elise's dark hair, his eyes wandering to the open door of the balcony as his mind wandered in circles around what the next few hours could bring.

Blade sighed as his free hand traveled up, his fingertips gently ghosting over the long scar that traveled his cheek to the corner of his mouth. Many centuries ago, the invaders from the Empire of Vandar tried to carry out a very sudden and almost successful genocide of Desoul Castle. During the violent siege that lasted for nearly 40 years, Blade was wounded by a very deadly magical weapon, one that ripped open and scared his face. 

Bullets, fire, knives, magical energy, all wounds that Blade could heal without flinching, but the magic the Vandarians brought from across the sea was dark and terrible. Blade wondered what would happen now, should all the magical energy be restored, or should he capture and hide the device? Magic was always a burden, the power it offered was not easily gained, even still, the lazy denizens of this world could wreak havoc with any small measure of power. Were they ready? Could they accept it?

Sighing once more, Blade slipped carefully out of the bed, tucking the sheet around Elise as he leaned down and kissed her cheek, a bleak look on his features as he headed into the kitchen to prepare some breakfast. For the next half hour he was silent, letting the others sleep as he whipped up some eggs and meat and few kinds of cheeses which he lightly cooked in an iron skillet on the stovetop before sticking the pan in the oven. 

He showered and dressed, his heart twisting in pain as he mulled over what to do. "For once.." He thought. "For once me might not make it through." Once dressed in a pair of expensive, black dress boots with black slacks and a wine red shirt that was buttoned up all the way for a change. Blade threw on his silver mirrored shades and headed out into the city, trusting the alarm on the oven to wake the girls and the small note he had left on the counter to give his excuse.

"I haven't been here in ages. I wonder if she knew, if she would forgive me. If she knew..." Blade thought to himself as he wandered through the stacks of the newly rebuilt historical site. Many, many years ago it housed a large bookstore that doubled as a front for jewel smugglers, a place that Blade had taken over and given control of to Elise. 

Now it was a library, a center for learning and the pursuit of knowledge. In the back corner of the room sat a slender woman with bright green eyes in her mid twenties. She was rather tall and wearing a conservative black skirt with a white blouse. Her dark hair was tied up in a bun, and she wore the warmest of smiles as she sat on a stool with some children around her. Her voice was soft and patient as she went over the alphabet, letter by letter, the children repeating each letter as she recited them for the children.

Blade couldn't help but feel his insides jerk as he leaned against the stacks, his eyes trained on the young woman as she tended to the dozen or so children. Her name was Talia Thorne, she was 26 years old and attended one of the finest colleges in the nation with the help of a scholarship awarded by a very generous, very anonymous benefactor. 

With her education and ambition, she could easily obtain any post she wanted in any educational body. But rather than taking a high paying job at a fancy private school, she elected to come here to teach disadvantaged children and adults how to read. The job paid next to nothing, but the help she was giving these people and the feeling it gave more than made up for the lack of money. 

She was Blade's youngest daughter.

Nearly 27 years ago, Blade had been involved with a mortal woman named Susan. For the first time in his centuries of solitude, Blade had made a connection with someone, found love with her. Susan died while giving birth to the child, the lack of a magical field of energy meant that the girl did not inherit any of his vampiric traits or abilities. 

He often wondered how things may have been if he had kept the child. But Blade was torn, he couldn't have raised the girl, provided for her emotionally, the death of Susan was one of the few remaining straws that set him off back onto a path of darkness. He gave the girl up for adoption, though being as controlling as ever, he made sure she went to a family that could love her as one of their own and has secretly watched over the girl ever since. 

He couldn't help but feel like this would be the last time he seen her, for whatever reason. The girl was strong, and very smart, he had no doubt she would succeed without his help, he could finally back out of the girl's life just as silently as he had watched it. 

"Goodbye my Princess." Blade mouthed the farewell quietly under his breath so that only he could hear. 

That being taken care of, Blade walked out of the library and strolled through the middle of town, taking the rather long, scenic route on his way to the warehouses by the docks. Blade was surprised at the strange emotions welling up inside of him, strangely he felt guilty. Guilty that he would leave the others behind, though he knew they would be just fine without him. No reflection, nothing to trigger an odd memory long forgotten, just the scar on his face and the reminder of how dangerous magic could be. 

It was mid day when he reached the small, but private warehouse on the ocean front that housed what was left of Blade's collection of weapons and gadgets and other toys. Spike was out in front, the large double doors already opened and his eldest son leaning against the wall as he smoked. Blade passed him without a word as he walked into the treasure trove of technology. Blade undressed and slipped on a lightly armored pair of bulky black pants and then a long-sleeved modular jacket that was armored in some parts, heavily reinforced in others. 

After that came the heavy boots with the steel plated fronts before Blade pulled on his long, tattered tunic and cloak before he looked over the stock of his armaments. Spike in the meantime began strapping on his gear, loading various weapons and setting them aside as he rummaged for the right gear. 

Blade in the meantime slipped on pieces of a metal exoskeleton that went just below the elbow on each arm down to the wrist before he began attaching the plates of armor over modular units of wires and electrical components, not to mention power cells before he attached the two mechanical gloves. In the palm of each glove was a large, red focusing disc. A bolt of energy could be fired from the lenses, or a concentrated beam that could be adjusted to be as small as a pinpoint or as large as a baseball.




Desoul Bk. 02



--------- 

Christmas Eve 

--------- 

"Then the brave Knight walked cautiously into the dark cave, deeper and deeper looking for the monster. Through the little spores of glowing fungus and sharp rocks and puddles he crept, hoping to surprise the beast that slumbered deep inside the cave. He went on and on until suddenly he heard it! The sound of the beast's heavy breathing! Cautious as ever, the Knight removed his helmet to get a better view. The beast was sitting over a pile of bones in the middle of its cave, blood running down its back from where the Knight had injured it! The Knight crept forward along the wall, his magical sword in his hand as he tried to sneak up on the great beast, but suddenly his foot bumped into a rock! The noise was enough to alert the monster, and the beast turned, charging at the Knight snarling! But the Knight was strong and brave, he wasn't a afraid of anything at all and he quickly dropped to one knee, thrusting his sword into the monster's chest, killing it! After that, there were no more monsters left, and the Knight married his lady and they all lived happily ever after, until the end of their days." 

Blade was lying on his stomach on the bed of the cabin's master bedroom, only the flames of the fire in the hearth lighting the room. Elise was lying on her back, wearing her green satin gown, her hands resting on the mound of her pregnant stomach which Blade had been telling the story to. Her smiling face was glowing, and it had nothing to do with the flickering light of the fireplace. Slowly Elise began to close her eyes as Blade leaned up and planted a kiss on her tummy before moving up to catch her lips. "I am going downstairs to make sure everything is ready for tomorrow." He said as he stood and pulled the covers over her. 

"Hurry back." Elise said with a smile as she closed her eyes, very quickly drifting off into a deep, peaceful slumber. Blade smiled as he moved out the door, picking up the wine red dress shirt that had once belonged to Lucius before he pulled it on with his black pants. 

The cabin they were in once belonged to Lucius, so many, many years ago. Originally Lucius had built it as a sort of retreat where he could collect his thoughts. Even now, hundreds of years later it still served its purpose. The cabin was settled deep in the woods along what use to be the main trade route between Seavale and the Empire, now little more than a dirt road. Hot springs and streams cut through the area, the large lake a few hundred feet from the cabin that was frozen with a thick layer of ice was still an impressive sight. 

Sighing, Blade walked along the hallway of the cabin, looking at the numerous pictures framed in the wall, he passed them one by one, Lucius, Brianna holding Karyn and Spike while the two infants fought, Karyn having the upper hand and an actual handful of Spike's hair before their mother broke up the fight. 

Further down was a picture of Luna, sitting on her motorcycle like it was the most natural thing in the world to her, a contented smirk on her lips. Further down, there was a portrait of Spike with his back to the wall, a beaming Tsukino in his arms as they attended the festival of lights, the colorful lanterns lit up all around them. It was one of the few pictures of Spike as an adult where he was actually smiling, and meaning it. 

Blade paused for a moment, a broad smile on his lips, a warm sense of pride washing over him as he picked up a photo of he and Brianna, with Karyn standing in the middle in full armor. It was the day she became a full fledged Blade of Desoul, even though she was still a young teenager, almost a child. She stood in the middle, Brianna's hands on her daughter's shoulders, Blade with his arm draped around Brianna, his fingers fiddling with her collar. 

Near the end of the row was a picture of Spike and Conrad and Luna. Luna was in the middle with a hand on each of their heads as if bashing them together, smiles all around with each wearing filthy jumpsuits, grease staining their clothes and hands and faces as they posed in front of the airship they had painstakingly assembled from scratch. 

There was another series of paintings and photos and magically captured images that made him pause. The first was of Blade and Lucius hunched over a chart on a table, Lucius had his hands on the table, sleeves rolled up as he leaned over, watching as Blade pointed to something, blood and grime streaking his hand and exposed forearm. At the end of the table stood Karyn, her hands resting behind her back, uniform pristine as she listened to the briefing, it was much more of a candid photo as were some of the others of the three. The next one was of the three of them, the three Blades sitting in a tavern together, Karyn in the middle, smiling as Lucius and Blade looked over their shoulders, all three of their mugs crashed together in a toast. 

Blade rounded the corner and smiled fondly, a portrait of most his children while they were alive. It was made right before Conrad was born and had Lucius, and Emily standing side by side. Spike and Karyn, about age 10 sitting on a stool together in front of their older siblings. Then were the pictures of Emily, one of her and her vast collection of slaves all lined up on their knees, the dozen leashes for them all balled up around her tiny fist. 

There were several of her and Lucius, they were always together... Then there was another intimate portrait, Blade standing with Brianna wearing a low cut red gown, Emily sitting her lap a young child. It was the last time they were together before Blade and her Mother had sent her away, with the war they feared what would happen, so sent her away until it was safe once more. It was the hardest decision the two of them ever made as parents. 

Further down, Blade smiled. Like it was just yesterday, there stood Mustang in the corner of Lea's workshop, hoping she would just talk to him, to forgive him as she worked on some acid arrows. Then there was a picture of Lea smirking, her leather apron covered with soot and gunk, her slender arms folded over her chest a she posed for the picture. The next one down was Lucius and Mustang sitting in the Castle's tavern, both of them smiling, piss drunk with a smirking Kirahlan sitting between them, eyeing Mustang as they laughed about something. The next picture down was of Mustang's grave, Lea planting flowers on it. 

There was one photo that reminded him of happier, simpler times. There was a long banquet table laid out in the courtyard of the castle, piled high with food and drinks, lit by candles and lanterns. On both sides of it sat the highest point of the order. Seere, Lucius, Emily, Elise, Mustang, Lea, Brianna, Kirah and then Blade. They were all gathered around the table, smiling as naturally as one breathed. 

Blade couldn't help but chuckle as he passed a picture, Seere in full battle attire, her eyes and face singing of bloodlust though she wore a smile. She held a large magical war hammer in her hand, all behind her were a dozen soldiers lying in the mud, their armor devastated and crumpled. It was just a practice session...Well, what she called practice anyways. 

Next was a series of pictures of Kirah, the assassin and healer who was once referred to as the right hand of Desoul. She was kneeling beside a wounded soldier, her uniform bloodied and a few strands of her dark beautiful hair hanging down in front of her face as she stitched up the wounded man with a field dressing. She was bloody, dirty, absolutely beautiful. 

Blade stopped for a moment once again and looked at a picture from the throne room oh so long ago. Three thrones in a row, the third slightly smaller than the rest. In them sat Blade and Brianna and Emily. Sitting between the thrones was Elise, a chain on her neck with two leashes, one fastened to Blade's throne, the other to Brianna's. Down the line at the bottom of the staircase were pictures of Blade and Elise. One of them on the boardwalk near where they had first met, rather where he had found her half dead. Further up was one of the pair on the beach, the sun setting in the background as he held the smiling elf girl in his arms. Then finally a photo of Elise, looking thoroughly exhausted yet glowing with pride as she held the newborn Conrad in her arms. Then he chuckled, a photo of Elise with her arms around a teenage Spike's chest from behind, his cheeks flushed scarlet. 

The next few photos were of the Queen carrying out her duties. One of her in her regal, yet barely there attire handing out service medals to her soldiers, one was of her and her dearest, closest slave Kjrri. Kjrri was on one knee, a look of love and awe on her features as she was awarded a magical spear from her Mistress. The next photo was of Kjrri and Blade, both bloodied and tattered on a battlefield as Kjrri reported on the outcome on her end. 

Despite being bitter rivals at times for the Queen's affections, they respected each other as warriors. The next photo made Blade pause once again for reflection. Kjrri and Karyn stood side by side in full armor, spears in their gauntlet covered hands. It made Blade think about how Karyn was groomed for battle, and it made him wonder what would have happened if he had the same upbringing, the same warriors that were the stuff of legend guiding his progress. 

Blade stopped and picked up a pair of photos and chuckled, the first was of he and the assassin they called Grote, crashing a pair of bottles together. In the center of the picture was Luna, her hair pooled around her face as she slumped piss drink and passed out on her face on the table. Blade shook his head and headed down the stairs. The pictures always invoked so many memories and sensations, tonight he was happy that they were all positive. 

He headed into the living room, another fire roaring in the fireplace there too, happy the house was warm for a change. The house was mostly dark, only a few nightlights switched on and the lights in the study of course. The house was old, but technologically updated every few years. Blade walked over to the fire and placed another large log on it, one that would last well into the next day before he went to the window. It was near eleven o'clock, but the snow covered forest had that dim glow, bright as day, but not as harsh as snow rained down onto the already smothered forest. 

Blade turned to look at the large Christmas tree, covered in different colored, faintly glowing magical orbs and decorations. Smiling that everything was set, Blade walked into the kitchen, there was a pig slow roasting in the oven, it would be done the following day. He paused and applied some of the pig's own juices to the glazed meat and headed into his study to gather the presents. He checked and doubled checked, making sure everything was labeled correctly, it was chaotic enough with everyone together without having a battle erupt over presents. 

There was a special pair of leather stockings for Emily with weapon holsters stitched into the thighs for her various toys and well...he didn't want to think about it. There was a very, very old bottle of Imperial wine for Spike, wrapped in paper with a simple note To: My dear son. Merry Christmas. Smiling, Blade set the items on the desk and then reached for the next two; One was a large, heavy box. It was a leather suit of techno-armor crafted for Luna, it held many, many surprises despite looking like a simple leather biker's ensemble. For Brianna was a complete set of magically crafted cutlery, a set of exquisite knives crafted to the Queen of Desoul's precise needs and tastes. They would never grow dull, ever. 

For Conrad was a rather impressive stack of 12, very old, leather bound books, the complete philosophical works of some ancient mage, there were practically none of these volumes left in existence anymore. Blade had once had an open discussion with Grote about precision vs. power. Elise always needed only a single bullet to down her target, in most cases anyways. If given the chance and presence of zero pedestrians, a barrel clip and auto fire was the best, argued Grote. Blade had asked simply 'What's better than a barrel clip?' 

Grote answered very simply 'Two barrel clips.' 

In simple wooden case with the words Excess is Waste carved into the top was a prototype magical machine pistol. It was very bulky and had a long barrel, attached was a magical drum that would continually generate ammo and never run out. In the case with the weapon was a small note to Grote that read: The only thing that can replace precision, infinite ammo -Blade 

Blade moved the first batch of the presents out to the living room and spaced them out under the tree before he went for the next batch. There was a set of formal robes and a very fancy tea set he had gone through great lengths to obtain for Kirah from her homeland. Next was Karyn's gift. She was as easy to shop for as she was to best in combat, in other words, impossible. What do you get for the woman who has everything? It was a question he had pondered many times. For Karyn was a very special gift. It was a thick, leather bound journal that Blade had written in before and after every battle that he had fought for the last dozen centuries. His thoughts, predictions and then their outcome. It was a bible on strategy and warfare, all his experience was stained on the hand written pages. 

He then pulled out a small keepsake box, it was intricately carved with elven designs, Blade had spent an entire year making it for Elise. Inside was a crystal pendant that was as functional as it was lavish. The stones were magical and could aid in transmutations, turning one thing into another. He collected the things carefully and once again headed to the tree, placing everything with care before returning to the study and carefully sliding into his chair. There was a dusty, wrapped bottle of wine, this one as rare as anything on the planet, the product of Kjrri's people at the height of their prosperity, he didn't bother taking it off the shelf, she never came to these events and would rather give it to her himself than have Brianna do it. 

Sighing, Blade pulled out another journal and dipped his quill into his inkwell before he began slowly, but steadily writing, it was a book about Knights battling evil monsters and they always saved the people they set out to protect and the good always conquered the evil. He was writing it for the child in Elise's stomach that was due in just weeks, his son, their son. There were no more Knights, no more monsters, so Blade didn't feel like he was lying by writing the tale for his son, despite that good hardly ever won, and it was always hardest to protect those closest to you. They just didn't live in that world, not anymore. Blade was content that this child would grow up in an era of serenity, none of the violence or war or monsters would taint his children ever again. The world was at peace. 

Slowly he reached for a bottle of Imperial scotch and filled a triple shot glass with the golden liquid before quirking the bottle. Slowly he slumped back in his chair, propping his bare feet up on the table as he cradled the glass, swirling the liquid around as he watched the fire through it. As he rose the glass to his lips, his hand suddenly clenched the glass, the hairs on his neck standing on end as a shiver of an icy chill ripped through his body. Slowly Blade set the glass down on the desk and turned, looking out the window and squinting out into the woods. He seen nothing against the backdrop of ice and mounds of snow and towering pine trees. 

Blade's left hand trembled slightly as he walked briskly over to the fire mantle, ripping his black bladed katana from its display before he unsheathed it and stepped out the back door of the cabin, closing the door softly behind him. He bolted off into the woods barefooted, the snow crunching loudly between his toes as his yellow eyes darted around cautiously. 

----------- 

Christmas Day. 

----------- 

It was bright and early as the guests arrived, virtually in pairs or groups. First was Luna and Grote, arriving on their motorcycles, Grote's had a sidecar filled with gifts for the others from he and Luna. Next to arrive was Brianna, she brought with her the children, Spike, Karyn and Emily. The only two to arrive alone were Kirah, followed lastly by Conrad who was uncharacteristically tardy. Though despite his usual formality, he was actually nothing of a morning person, so maybe it wasn't that unusual. 

Elise awoke to the smell of something delicious coming from the kitchen. Pan roasted potatoes, bacon and freshly baked bread with honey filled her senses as she sat up and stretched. She perked a brow and then smirked however as she looked at the untouched bed beside her. It was obvious Blade hadn't slept there and she shook her head. "Probably stayed up all night fussing over the decorations." Elise sighed and pulled her robe on before heading downstairs. The couches and chairs in the living room around the roaring fire were filled with friends...no, family. Kirah sat in an arm chair across from Conrad, they were sipping coffee and having some sort of intellectual discussion. 

Luna sat on the couch beside Grote as Grote and Spike talked about something, Luna's feet resting in Spike's lap across from her as he gently massaged them. Emily sat on her knees in front of the tree, one by one she was picking up the presents, squeezing, sniffing and shaking them by her ear as she tried to decipher their contents like some sort of puzzle. Brianna was in front of the stove in the kitchen, tossing potatoes in the pan as Karyn set the table rather intricately, her attention to detail was razor sharp. 

"Think we have enough potatoes??" Karyn inquired. There was a plate of bacon, a plate of eggs and a platter of fruit and bread, but two large plates of potatoes. 

"Your father is as fixated on potatoes as he is on breast meat and milk." Brianna answered with a chuckle. 

By then Elise stepped down the stairs and yawned, Emily bouncing over immediately to press her ear against Elise's stomach. Elise smiled softly and Luna looked up "Heya, why didn't you bring the big sleepy troll with you?! We're starved damnit!" Luna declared playfully as Conrad turned to smile at his mother. 

"Blade didn't come to bed last night, he's not down here?" Elise asked, wiping the sleep from her eyes as the others looked to one another. 

Conrad immediately stood "Dad?!" He called loudly as he looked around. But when he received no answer, Conrad blinked and then walked into the hallway, going into the study before he bolted out down the hallway in a fast run and out the front door. The others were puzzled and followed suit, except for Karyn who went to the study. She gasped softly as she seen the stand and scabbard lying on the floor, the sword missing with her father. 

It was rare that the usually shy and quiet Conrad took charge, he was on top of things today. "Fan out! I have a bad feeling, Karyn, try to find any tracks, you too Mrs. Barak." he said to Brianna, indeed, the mother and daughter were as good as any blood hound. Luna shrugged and most of them looked confused as they fanned out around the cabin and began pacing off into the woods, the snow was thick and deep, but the current snow fall was forgivingly weak. 

"Careful." Luna said looking over to Emily. "I bet he's hiding in a snowman and he'll jump out and rape one of us, some kind of weird Christmas game." she said with a chuckle. 

Emily beamed brightly as she grinned like a wolf "He actually did that to me once!" She declared cheerfully as Luna raised a brow, though wasn't all that surprised at the revelation. 

Karyn picked up the scent and then the impressions left by her father before she followed the trail into the forest. The agile little daughter of Desoul stepped heavier and slower as she approached the end of the trail, though she didn't need to reach the end to know what awaited her there. Slowly she reached for the crystal hanging from the leather on her neck and spoke into it. "Mom. Come here." her voice was as cold and quiet as the winter forest. Minutes later Brianna was coming up behind her youngest daughter, the others off in the distance coming through the forest as they made their way over. 




Desoul Bk. 02



Karyn stood in her black winter grab, arms folded over her plump chest as she leaned against a frozen tree, her eyes were quiet orbs of blue ice as she surveyed the scene. Brianna stepped passed her silent daughter, her own brilliant blue eyes widening in shock as she fell to her knees in the snow. 

For a hundred feet around, the trees were charred and shattered like slivers of glass, the area snowless and decimated. In a shallow crater in the center of the carnage was Blade's lifeless body. The shirt on his back blasted into tatters, the blade of his magical sword shattered to dust. The whole area was strangely warm, and Karyn rubbed her chin as she looked around "Its safe." she said softly. 

Blade was sprawled out, but his features were quiet, serene. It seemed as if he had just laid there and went to sleep, but the devastation told a different story. Karyn turned and walked silently along the diameter of the battlefield, but she couldn't find any sign of tracks or life. She refused to believe that her father simply went for a late night stroll and magically exploded. She could hear the shouting of the others. Her mother had moved to the center of the crater and sat on her knees, cradling the upper part of her lifeless Master's body as Spike, Grote and Conrad stopped at the edge, hanging their heads in silence. 

Luna showed up next "Ya big dummy. Breakfast is getting cold!" she said with a smirk, her features turning serious as she looked to the three men "He's okay isn't he..." her words trailed off as Spike silently shook his head. Luna began to tremble, tears immediately bursting from her eyes as Spike pulled her body to his, hiding her face in his chest. 

"Don't look Lunari, don't look." Spike whispered sadly. As Luna sobbed loudly into his chest. Grote turned and began circling the imposed clearing as well, soon joining Kirah and Karyn on the opposite side of the others. 

"Not a fucking thing." Grote said softly to the other two, confirming what Karyn had already seen for herself. Kirah merely nodded in agreement, about that time, they could hear Elise, a single shriek pierced the quiet morning as Conrad tried desperately to hold his mother back, the last to discover the body. 

Karyn frowned slowly, taking the other's displays as weakness as she remained focused throughout "Kirah. You are the best scout I have ever known. Find me something. Anything." Kirah nodded and walked off into the forest, Karyn's eyes shifting to Grote. "You wont find any conspiracies here, Grote. See if you can find anything in these trees, a sliver, some shrapnel, anything that will help us." Karyn spoke with a cold edge that mirrored her father's calm and cool, even when the heat was on. Karyn went back towards the house, Conrad gently trying to pull his mother away, but she broke free and joined Brianna, sitting in the dirt as she cried over the body. 

Brianna reached out, her expression still neutral as she gently squeeze Elise's shoulder "Don't worry, we can bring him back." She looked up to Spike and Conrad and jerked her head, they moved over and very carefully picked up the body, the hilt of the bladeless sword sliding out of Blade's hand and falling onto the warm dirt below. The two brothers carried their father through the forest, not saying a word as Brianna pulled Elise to her feet, holding her close as she led her through the forest "Don't worry, its going be okay." She whispered softly though Elise couldn't stop trembling. 

Brianna and Elise returned to the house with Luna and Spike and Conrad to prepare their spell, Emily had simply vanished into the woods after summoning her wolf as Karyn, Kirah and Grote continued to painstakingly comb the area for clues. Karyn had removed her heavy winter coat and scarf, and now lay in the middle of the crater her father had been found, wearing nothing save her black leather pants, boots and snug fitting muscle shirt, also black. She lay sprawled out, her golden locks pooled all around her head as her bright blue eyes gazed unblinkingly towards the sky. She was in a trance, reading the energy of the area, communicating with the forest. 

Kirah was standing across from Grote, both of them examining a badly splintered tree trunk. While it was obvious that something had damaged the trunk, they simply couldn't figure out what or how for that matter. No traces of magic, no shrapnel, nothing of a clue to what caused the trauma, it was if the trees just decided to burst on their own and rot into dry husks. 

Back at the cabin, Spike and his mother had carried Blade down into the basement, lying him down on a table in the workshop as Conrad tried to reassure his mother that everything would be fine. "Go upstairs and get the bottle of scotch from the study." Brianna said softly to Spike as she held and examined what was left of the sword. 

"Drinking to his memory already? Wont even try the spell?" Spike asked with a brow cocked up, god how he resembled his mother. 

Brianna smirked and shook her head "You know how grumpy your father can get after a resurrection, just something to tame the beast." 

That being said, Spike walked briskly upstairs to the study and fetched the bottle before lingering in the doorway to the living room, checking in on Elise before returning to his mother with the bottle. Brianna was humming thoughtfully as she walked in a circle around the table, breaking up dry herbs with her hands and scattering them on the ground as she walked before stopping and grabbing another set of herbs. 

This time she walked a circle while dropping them onto the table. When at last she had finished, the busy little Queen Bree reached for a dagger and promptly slit the tip of her right index finger before slowly, and very carefully, drawing a magical symbol on Blade's cold forehead and then shoulders. 

Spike had moved to the corner of the workshop and seated himself on his father's favorite padded stool, pulling a cigarette from his sleeve before he lit it and slowly leaned back to watch the ritual, an impatient smirk on his lips. Brianna closed her eyes, entering a trance as it were as she swayed her body gracefully, soaking up the currents of magical energy as she lolled her head from side to side, her golden locks draping over her face like a yellow curtain. Brianna chanted and chanted over the body several moments "What happened to you silly Master??" She asked, returning to her normal posture as she reached for the bottle of alcohol, but as she turned to face the body, she quickly realized he was in fact, lying still, very much dead. 

"Well what the... What?" She asked herself, smirking as she set the bottle on the counter, her hands moving up to the robe she had been wearing. She promptly removed it, letting it cascade down her tanned shoulders into a pool at her small feet before she repeated the ritual, in the nude. Nothing. "Maybe the energy is blocked?" Brianna blinked, still keeping her focus. "I've done this dozens of times without a hitch..." She said, licking the palm of her hand before she began rubbing the bloody symbols off the corpse of her Master, only to redraw them and repeat the ritual. Nothing. 

Karyn opened her eyes slowly, tears welling up and spilling down her cheeks as she as she stood, wiping them quickly from her eyes as she headed off the trail to the cabin, leaving her jacket and scarf behind as Grote and Kirahlan exchanged a puzzled look. Karyn did her best to control her emotions as she approached the woodpile, pulling the large wood cutting axe from the chopping block her father had used. She looked around once out of the corner of her eyes before heading into the woods towards the banks of the lake. 

Hours had passed, Brianna was downstairs the entire time, alternating every little variable she thought might change the outcome of the ritual, the strain from the repetitive, ceaseless spell casting taking a toll on her strength, and as Spike would question, her sanity. Elise had curled up into a ball on the couch, ignoring her son, he never left her side, his arms draped protectively around her as he whispered that everything would be fine. Kirah and Grote had returned close to nightfall, holding up in Blade's study as they poured through his occult library for possible answers. 

Spike finally emerged, from the basement putting a pot of soup on the stove before he sliced some of the bread from that morning and began making everyone a bowl to eat. Emily was barefoot, but didn't seem to mind the ice under her tiny feet as she approached her younger sister in the woods. Karyn had flailed and split many dozens of trees, stacking a massive pile of the timber beside the lake as Emily ghosted over, her purple-hazed eyes glancing over the wood. "Daddy isn't coming back. Is he?" Emily asked very simply, turning and heading towards the cabin before her sister could even answer. 

It was nearing midnight, Kirah and Grote had shoveled their food down as quickly as possible, a tray in the center of the study was overfilled with cigarette butts as Grote obsessively chain-smoked his way through volume after volume, Kirah's eyes hardly leaving any of the three books that lie open on the table before her. Elise hadn't moved nor spoke, her grey eyes fixed on the fire in the hearth, Conrad still at her side. Luna stood beside Spike on the porch, each holding a weapon at their side as Spike smoked a cigarette, his eyes constantly scanning the well lit forest around them. 

"She needs to rest. Get her out of the basement and I will run her a hot bath. She is going to kill herself if she keeps casting the same spell over and over again. Hopefully she is subdued enough that she wont kill you." Luna said to Spike as her tiny hand darted out, snatching the cigarette from Spike's mouth before she took a puff and flicked it into the woods. "Good luck." She said and winked heading back inside the cabin. 

Spike headed down the stairs into the basement, Brianna looked ragged and tired, as if she had been up for weeks without a wink of sleep. Her voice was hoarse and raspy as she repeated the spell over and over again, alternating slow and fast each time she started over. Sitting on her knees before the body, she swayed, not because of the magical currents, but because she was fighting to stay awake, the strain taking a great deal of her strength from her. 

Carefully, Spike put a hand on his mother's shoulder, one that was quickly slapped away. "You're coming upstairs." he said flatly. "You're going to have a bath and some soup and you are going to rest, he'll still be here in the morning." Spike leaned down and wrapped his arms around his mother who pulled against his grip, weakly trying to fight her way from his grasp. 

Any other day, she would have moped the basement floor with her son with one hand while flipping through her copy of 101 ways to spit a piggy, with the other. She mumbled and chanted and she was pulled from the room, finally giving in as Spike helped her into the bath where Luna attended to her. For the next hour, the only sounds in the house were that of a clock in the study ticking away the seconds and the crackling of the fire in the hearth. Elise had eventually fell asleep in her state of shock, her body draped with a blanket and resting in the arms of Conrad who sat with one hand on his gun, his senses on the alert for anything that might happen. 

Brianna seemed to be mildly recharged, pleading that she would only try one more time before going to sleep. Had she not been weakened from the day of spell casting she would have marched down there unhindered, the Queen was a sweet creature, but one that was also very dark and strict. She was loved as much as she was feared, which was a lot. The only reason Spike dared to plead with her was due to her weakened state. "One more time." She insisted, Spike nodded and sighed, his mother passing him and going down to the basement. 

Spike turned and rubbed his head, Brianna suddenly bursting through the door leading to the basement, the noise causing Conrad and Luna to pounce from opposite ends of the hallway, pistols drawn. Elise was wide awake, but dizzy and confused, Kirah and Grote in the center of the hall, each looking in different directions. "He's gone!! And so are the sword fragments!" Brianna declared. 

Spike had rushed down the stairs, returning moments later to helplessly shrug his shoulders. "Where the bloody hell is the body?!" He demanded as the others looked about. 

"Nothing could have got past me! I was right here the whole time!' Conrad exclaimed, glancing around nervously, as if the events of the day hadn't been strange enough, they certainly didn't need to add vanishing corpses to the list. 

"Daddy is going to heaven." Came Emily's angelic voice from the living room. She was lying on her stomach, nuzzled against her wolf as she watched the fire. "Karyn is taking him there, she is sending him to heaven by the lake." 

Brianna's eyes widened in terror as she burst past the others and out of the back door of the cabin, all of the others following behind her with weapons drawn as they ran to the lake. There, at the embankment was Karyn, Blade's body on top of the mountain of wood she had chopped for a funeral pyre. As the others entered the clearing, Karyn looked back, and then set the broken sword in her father's lifeless right hand before climbing down off the pile. 

To their horror, Karyn summoned a large ball of fire into her hand, tossing it over her shoulder into the pile of wood, causing it to immediately erupt into a roaring ball of crackling flames and intense heat. Brianna screeched as she rushed passed the others who watched from the edge of the woods, stunned at what was taking place. 

Karyn intercepted her mother, as she approached the pyre, knocking her onto her back on the frozen grass. Brianna moved forward tackling her daughter to the ground before slapping her across the face. "What have you done?! What did you do you stupid girl!?" Brianna was furious, the others, even Spike, were too afraid to interfere with an exchange of two of the most powerful members of the Order. 

Brianna gripped Karyn's throat, squeezing it roughly, but Karyn just lie there on her back, the intense heat of the fire melting the snow under her as she looked up her mother. "He's dead mother!" She said, Brianna squeezing tighter as her daughter looked up into her mother's eyes, something of Blade showing in her features. Her words serious with an edge of finality to it. "He's dead." Slowly Brianna let go of Karyn's neck, rolling off into the snow where she sat on her knees, face in her hands as she cried out loudly, sobbing inconsolably as one by one the others came to the fire side. 

Karyn rose to her feet slowly, her legs wobbly as she looked up at the fire and then her stunned and saddened family behind her. "He was a Blade of Desoul. Anything less wouldn't be dignified. He was a King, a God, he was one of the heroes of our people." She said softly, her tone quickly taking a more stern, scornful edge "He will not be experimented on, he wont have the same spell cast on him again and again until his corpse is bloated and rotted! He is dead, he is our King and he deserves to be treated like one!" Karyn's words were filled with emotion, emotions something she generally kept bottled up, the tears streaming out of her eyes were as rare as a desert rose. 

There was a terrible roar from the fire as an explosion came from the pyre, blowing cinder and burning debris across the shores of the lake, as well as knocking the others backwards from the sheer power of the resulting shockwave. The pyre was replaced by a deep crater filled with smoldering embers. In the middle of it was Blade's body, unscathed save for his clothing which was burned off, the remains of his sword glowing a blinding shade of white from being heated by the funeral pyre. 

Much to the horror of those watching, a syrupy black liquid began pouring from Blade's very pores, the liquid pooled all around the fallen hero and then amassed into a black blob shaped like the figure of a human. Its body was featureless, just a mass of black who's skin seemed to swirl and move like the currents of an ocean. There was another growl, the face of the blob revealing a mass of black, needle like teeth as it hissed and charged towards the family that had gathered for a funeral. 

Brianna charged into the front of the attack, her fists glowing with blue energy as she stretched out her arms, screaming as she bombarded the black mass with numerous shards of ice in what could be described as an ice storm emerging from her small, delicate hands. The black mass didn't even break stride, its gooey body swallowing each of the shards as it charged up to Brianna, striking her with a backhand that sent her flying backwards onto the lake, her unconscious body skidding to a slow halt on it's icy surface. 

Conrad and Karyn were next, jumping in the path of the monster as it went after the downed Queen on the ice. Conrad rushed forward in a feint, pulling back at the last moment as Karyn took the signal to rush in, her agile figure closing the distance between herself and the monster as she landed a flawless spin kick to the monster's throat. But her heel merely passed through the black gob, not slowing it's charge as it turned its attention to Conrad. 

Snarling, the monster rose it's hands, blasting twin gobs of what looked like black tar at both Karyn and Conrad, the black substance burning into their skin as both fell the ground paralyzed, their blue veins slowly turning black as they were infected by the agent the monster had hit them with. Spike turned and barked something, it was hard to hear. Kirah suddenly grabbed Elise and pulled her backwards towards the cover of the trees as Spike circled around the edge of the clearing, trying to stay out of the monster's range. 

Emily whistled sharply for her wolf, charging at the beast as, from the cover of the trees, Kirah and Grote opened fire. Their automatics blazing, each shot cracking like thunder as they unleashed dual volleys into the creature's back, actually slowing it down a bit. Emily stood off to the side of the others, crouched and ready to rush in after the wounded, Luna spaced out some ways and was ready to go as well. 

Spike had just reached his mother as the beast spun around, knocking the wolf from it's back, giving him the moment he needed to grab his mother. The creature was well past Conrad and Karyn, and at once Luna and Emily charged in, grabbing the limp, lifeless pair before dragging them back towards the woods, the cover fire from Grote and Kirah seemingly ceaseless. 

Spike turned to find the creature hovering over him, its large hand taking the shape of a thick spike as it suddenly lunged forward. Almost like a blur, a thin shaft of light appeared, striking the monster in the head as it howled in pain stumbling backwards just as Blade's naked, charred figure burst into the battle. He had thrown the hilt of the sword and now followed in it's wake, Spike watching in shock as his father dove into the body of the snarling beast, the two of them crashing through the thick surface of ice and vanishing in the freezing water below. 

Shaking his head, Spike rushed towards the shore, his lifeless mother in his hands as the ice cracked behind him. He hit the shore and sighed a breath of relief, just missing the last bit of ice as it had cracked up to the shoreline in his wake. 

They gathered around the three wounded, Kirah and Elise trying their strongest spells to purge the poison, but no good. Spike, Emily, Luna and Grote lined up at the shore watching the quiet lake. 

There was no sound, no movement. Suddenly, some 100 feet from where they stood, the surface of the lake exploded into a shower of ice and water, Blade landing on his back near the shore as the monster began to slowly materialize from the black depths. Grote stood stationary and opened fire, Luna running to Blade's side as Spike and Emily closed the gap between them and the monster, Grote ceasing fire at the last possible moment. 




Desoul Bk. 02



The first thing Luna did was haul off and smack Blade in the face, her green eyes filled with tears "You! You big! You! GRRR! I thought you were dead!" She exclaimed hugging her Master's freezing cold body very tightly as the creature fired another burst of its magic, downing Emily and her brother. 

"I am dead." Blade whispered in a daze. "GROTE! Lead him away! FIRE!" 

"Hey! I'm not one of your slaves 'Master'!" Grote said with a grin as he opened fire, letting the creature have it as he stepped carefully onto the ice, the space between the two covered by an endless rain of bullets. 

"You're too mouthy to be a slave. I wouldn't want you!" Blade said with a grin, pulling himself up to his feet. "Luna, it's a parasite. You have to kill the host." 

"The host...?" Luna began to ask as Blade rushed forward again, his fists curled into balls. 

"That's good Grote! Get my kids off the ice!" Blade screamed as he tackled the black mass, lashing out at it with blinding speed as he struck it again and again, the black blob coiling around Blade as Grote grabbed Spike and Emily by the ankles, dragging them to the shore. 

Luna's eyes widened in horror as she screamed out, realizing what she would have to do as the black mass consumed her Master, Blade and the monster merging into one form. The black mass became contorted, as if it were having trouble even moving, the blackness giving way in places to reveal parts of Blade's body, the parasite was taking over his body. "Now Luna! Now!" Blade ordered, his voice echoing with the beast inside of him, his face emerging from the blob as it slowly stalked towards Luna. 

Luna sobbed as she stood, gripping her scythe as she shook her head more and more, Blade losing more of himself to the monster as she walked backwards, the shape of the two following her up to the shore. 

"Kill...me!" Blade managed to say, his voice filled with pain, any minute now he would slip, he was trying to keep the beast at bay for as long as possible. 

Luna shook her head every step, her small arms shaking as she held her scythe. Finally the creature came to a halt, a shrill growl of pain spraying from Blade's lips "Do-do it! If you don't we'll DIE! The others will die!" 

"If I do it, it will destroy your soul! You cant come back!" Luna screamed through the tears, her chest burning with pain, her heart aching. 

"I know." was the answer that came from Blade as the last of the beast poured into his body, fully consuming her Master. 

Luna watched the figure that was once her Master, seeing no trace of the man she had spent dozens of lifetimes with, her companion, her friend "G-goodbye, daddy." Luna said, as she rose the scythe blade, closing her eyes as she swiped the weapon downwards, cleaving the shell of her Master in two. 

She opened her eyes slowly a massive pillar of blinding white light blasted out of the body towards the sky, lighting up the forest as bright as day as the blackness melted away from the others who had been wounded. The creature was dead, its essence no long potent would now leave their bodies unscathed by its magic. Spike, Emily, Karyn, Conrad and Brianna all rose at the same time gasping for air, the strange pillar dampened in intensity, the light mellow, not as harsh. There was a strange warmth emitted by it, the path of dirt around it blooming to life with thick patches of grass and flowers before the light lifted. There was no sign of the creature or even Blade's remains, just a patch of flowers, and Blade's reformed sword stuck into the ground, a few white particles of magical energy swaying around the sword. 

Everyone moved slowly to the patch of flowers, the events of the last day hard enough to process without the events of the last half hour to mull over in their heads. Brianna's eyes widened as she looked at the sword, Karyn's voice coming from beside her. "Its his blessing." She mouthed, a strange, almost lustful smile creeping over her lips. 

She looked back to her mother who nodded slowly for her to go ahead. Slowly Karyn walked forward, her hand out in front of her as she walked cautiously towards the sword. However, just before she could grasp it's grip, it was grabbed by someone else, snatched out of reach of the other Blade of Desoul. 

Karyn snapped her head angrily to the side to see Elise holding her father's sword, the magic still swirling around it. "Elise! What are you doing?! Give it to me!" She ordered firmly, holding her hand out. 

Slowly, Elise shook her head. "Princess, I mean no disrespect. You are a fine Blade of Desoul, but you are not the Blade of Desoul. This sword belongs to my son." Karyn snapped her head as all eyes turned to Conrad, whom looked as white as a ghost. Shaking her head slowly Elise moved her hand to her stomach. "Not Conrad. But him." Elise said sadly, the particles glowing intensely before they drifted downwards into Elise, vanishing into her stomach. 

The Heir of Master Blade's power had been chosen... 

-------------------- 

20 Years Later 

Christmas Eve, Morgan's Spire 

-------------------- 

The snow was falling in the windless night like a soft trickle of feathers from the sky. Ice covered the bricks lining the rooftops of the older buildings, and all was quiet for a change, except for the Phantom of course. The lightly armored figured clad in tight black garments with a tattered black cape ran through the snow capped rooftops, leaping from building to building, light sometimes reflecting from the polished side of the two-toned steel mask that was surrounded by a hood. 

For hours the Phantom had scoured the city, from the highest roof to the darkest alley with no sign of its opportunistic prey. Indeed, since the forming of the Imperial Magic Academy and the resurrection and eventual integration of the Order of Desoul into the governmental structure, the crime rate had dropped considerably. The Phantom rested on its heels at the last point on it's circuit, the balcony of a church currently being rebuilt. The Phantom crouched low on the skeleton of the ancient building, bright blue eyes scanning the waterfront below. Not so much as a foghorn to catch it's attention. The black figure's shoulders slumped as it sighed, hot breath being expelled from the edges of the mask as steam. 

"Mmp! Maybe the Blades are doing too good of a job as peacekeepers! Sorry father, I'll try to find you some criminals to play with next year..." The Phantom sighed and turned, eyes going wide as it suddenly spun back around and looked down to the docks. "What in the name of Light and Shadows?!" The figured growled under it's mask, eyes wide with shock and disbelief. Down at the end of pier 37 was a large oval ring of blue flames, not unlike a large demonic eyeball hovering just above the water. The Phantom crouched, gathering all its energy into its legs before it uncoiled, launching itself into the air, the stones of the balcony shattering from the sudden release of kinetic energy. 

Landing several hundred yards away the Phantom broke into a flat run, jerking like a kite from side to side before stopping at the edge of the pier. The portal swirled and burped out a crimson burst of flames onto the concrete before the flame vanished, leaving the portal. The Phantom trembled for a moment then stumbled back. 'Y-You died! You aren't real!" 

A figure was crouched on the smoldering concrete and slowly rose to its full height, its toothy smile was like a jackal's. "And yet here I am, Karyn." With lightening speed the black mass moved forward, its fingers on its left hand stiffening as it lashed out, sweeping it's hand across the Phantom's chest, ripping apart armor, clothing and flesh as blood splashed steaming onto the ground between them. The Phantom lashed out with a growl more of anger than pain as the figure towered over it, eyes narrowing as he lashed out, fingers connecting with the Phantom's head, leaving it a limp, bloodied heap on the concrete. 

"One down..." The figure grinned and then bolted off into the darkness, leaving the cities' first line of defense a crumpled, bloody heap on the frozen ground behind him. 

A few hours later a tall, slender, but well toned man with white blonde hair ran full speed through the corridors of the medical ward, sending healers and Blades alike crashing into the walls as he passed, his heavy, black boots finally skidding to a stop in front of a well guarded set of doors. 

One of the Blades stationed at the door advanced forward with his hand out "Please Master Barak, you have to wait outside, Doctor Owens said..." The man was cut short as Spike lashed out, collecting the soldier by the front of his uniform before hurling him into his counterparts stationed nearby. 

Spike rushed into the room where his sister was being treated and stopped dead in his tracks at the sight of the girl thrashing around under the doctors trying to restrain her. Her tanned, toned, warrior's body was caked with sticky red blood, hers from the smell of it, though her wounds were closed she thrashed madly, her eyes clouded over as she screamed nonstop. Obviously, she wasn't herself 

"What in the nine hells happened?!?" Spike growled as he rushed forward pushing his sister's shoulders to the exam table as the vampire thrashed, sending a doctor flying before the injured troops outside rushed inside to help. 

"Spike you need to wait outside." Hissed Doctor Owens as she leaned over Karyn, trying in vain to keep the girl strapped down as she thrashed, breaking the leather straps on the table almost as soon as they were put on. "It wont do you any good to see her like this, now go wait in my office!" The pale, middle aged doctor snapped the order, her green eyes bolting up for only a moment as Spike pulled back and reluctantly walked out of the room, vanishing into the halls. 

The Doctor was passed a large hypodermic syringe along with a small bottle of sedatives. "This wont be enough, bring me as many bottles as you find! Her metabolism will just burn right through this. We might as well be throwing water balloons, there is no point in knocking her down if we cant keep her that way!" Two of the other doctors bolted from the room as the soldiers struggled to hold Karyn still, the Doctor plunging the syringe into the bottle of medicine before extracting it, she then plunged the syringe, undiluted into Karyn, her thumb depressing the plunger immediately as she shot the drug into the vampire's chest. 

Karyn struggled then slowly passed out. Her chest still rose and fell rapidly, her muscles tight coils under the soldiers that held her. "Strap her down, there is no telling how she will react when she comes to..." With that the doctor produced another vial of sedative and promptly emptied it into the still figure on the table. She then turned, letting out a sigh of relief as the other doctors returned with the extra supplies "Get a drip going with that sedative, I want 4 men stationed on the inside and outside of that door at all times. And someone get a fucking mage down here!" The doctor had barely barked the orders as her subordinates rushed to carry them out. 

Slowly the doctor leaned down, her hand brushing over Karyn's brow as she whispered. "I've done all I can for her now." With that, the Doctor slipped out of the room and headed off down the hallway, her heels clicking as she passed the 8 soldiers filing in to guard their commander. She reached her office and glanced around once before closing the door behind her, sighing heavily as she reached back and locked the door, her back resting against it. "Spike..." She started, her tone much softer, but just as passionate as it had been moments before. 

"What happened to her?!" The Vampire growled his muscular arms folded over her chest, the shape of which was well defined by its tight, black t-shirt, he sat on the corner of the woman's desk. 

"I-I don't know Spike. We found her down at the docks an hour ago, covered in blood on the ground screaming hysterically like that. Her wound, whatever it is, healed before we found her. I think... I think it has something to do with magic. I am having a Mage Knight brought over on the double." The Doctor sighed and slowly stepped forward, her hands in front of her as she cautiously reached out and slipped her warm hands over his chest. "Its going to be okay, she's alive...she's mostly unharmed." 

Spike stared ahead, the vein on the side of his head twitching angrily as he clenched his jaw and let out a hiss of a breath. Slowly the Doctor reached up, her hands sliding over Spike's cheeks as she leaned in to kiss him. Quickly though, Spike reached up, grasping the woman's wrists as he yanked her forward, his lips meeting hers in a brief, but very intense kiss that left her cheeks flushed. Slowly he let go and slipped off the desk. "Call me as soon as something changes." With that he turned and headed out into the hallway. 

"But where are you going??" She called. 

Without breaking pace he answered "To kill whoever did this. Frost! Mason! On me!" with that said he snapped his fingers, the soldiers whom he had thrown aside earlier now falling in line behind him, all of them vanishing around the corner. 

"Oh Spike..." The woman sighed as she blew a strand of red hair from her eyes, her body relaxing for a moment before she took a deep breath and left her office, heading back into the unfolding mess that awaited her. 

--------------------- 

Christmas Morning, Angel Island 

--------------------- 

High in the forested mountains of Angel Island sat a small manor. It was perched near a cliff on a hillside, one that overlooked the green valleys and deep blue sea to the south. On a clear day, one could almost make out the shape of the Royal Palace and its ivory towers, gleaming like pearls in the sea in the city of Rogue Port. The manor was spacious and fully staffed, maids, cooks, tutors and soldiers. Despite the staff of 20 or so people, plus guards, the house always seemed quiet, private in many ways. That is, unless Lord Barak was up to his usual mischief... 

Conrad slowly blinked his eyes open, the warm light cascading through the window framed with a crust of frost slowly coaxed him from his sleep. The half elf slowly blinked his eyes open and shut before they wandered over the room, for a moment he had forgotten where he was. He swung his legs out from under the warm covers and grumbled, running his fingers back through his short, sandy blonde hair as he crossed the floor to the fireplace. It was obvious the staff had kept the fire going through the night, though royalty, he was never really accustomed to the idea of people serving his needs like that. 

Sighing, he threw on a black house coat that was trimmed with silver and collected a large book from the mantle of the fireplace before slipping out into the halls. He gave a gentle look to the left and the right, the corridor was empty save the numerous displays, paintings, tapestries and other relics that seemed to litter the manor. He hummed a quiet tune as he strolled up the hall, his eyes drifting out to the snowy forest that surrounded them. Finally, he rounded the corner before pausing and stepping back. 

Conrad watched with a smirk and a knowing shake of his head as a young maid walked out of one of the rooms, her cheeks and chest flushed as she fumbled to pull up her panties and stockings, once she smoothed out her uniform she walked briskly down the hall, fixing her hair as she vanished from sight. Conrad chuckled as he pushed on the partially open door to his brother's room and stepped inside. "Its what, 6am? How many of the young girls working here have you violated already?" Conrad asked. 

Nathan was sprawled out on the foot of the bed, his arms folded behind his head as he watched the fire. "Two, depending how you look at it. The young maid just now and then an older attendant who came in here to stoke my fire. I was happy to return the favor." The boy grinned and reached down to tighten the string on his black sleep pants before he turned his attention to his brother. "Merry Christmas and all that." He said through a heavy yawn. 

"Merry Christmas Nathan." Conrad said with a nod before he tossed the book at the boy. 

Nathan rolled to the side softly and dodged the bulky missile with a frown. "A book? You got me a book for Christmas? God I hate you." The boy blew a few strands of his stringy blonde hair from his murky grey eyes before he went back to watching the fire burn. 

"Well they say knowledge is power... Don't let mother catch you with it, this never happened." With that Conrad turned and headed down the hall towards the kitchen. Nathan rose a brow and quickly rolled over, eyeing the book for a moment before he opened it, his grey eyes instantly widening. 

"What have we here?" he asked himself when greeted with the sight of a small black device that looked like it was carved out of obsidian. The center of it housed a polished stone that looked like topaz, the rim of the device was grooved to accommodate fingers. Slowly Nathan looked around before hurrying to the door, he stole a glance in each direction down the hallway before he closed his door and pulled the disc from the book. He slowly slipped it into his right hand, his fingers sliding into the grooves so that the yellow gem faced outwards. 

His eyes darted around for a moment before he extended his hand and squeezed. With a loud flat THUMP the device emitted a swirling yellow ball of kinetic energy that raced out and struck the outer edge of the fireplace, chipping off a large portion of the stone that bordered it. 

"Good show Conrad, good show." Nathan said as he slipped the device off and placed it in the book before kicking it under his bed 

No sooner had the book glided out of sight, there was a knock on the door, which quickly swung open to reveal Nathan's mother, Elise. The brunette elf narrowed her murky grey eyes as she looked around, her arms folding over the black robe that was tied tightly to her athletic figure. "What was that noise Nate?" She asked, her inquisitive eyes wandering around the room, finally stopping on the missing chunk of stone. 

"Oh I uh..." The boy stammered, stealing a glance at the stone behind him, thankful for a moment to conjure an excuse. "I uh... Got mad and punched it." Well he tried. 

"Any particular reason you decided to bash apart an ancient set of carved stone, or did you do it just for amusement?" Elise asked, the corner of her mouth perking in an irritated smirk. 

"N-no ma'am. I'm sorry..." Nathan bit his lip and lowered his gaze, but he could feel her eyes burning into him, any minute they would pierce him and find the truth. 

"Very well. I trust it wont happen again." Elise sighed as her right hand dropped down to rest on her hip. "Well you should get dressed. We're having breakfast with the Queen and spending the rest of the day in the city." 

Elise turned, leaving the door open behind her as she strode into the hallway, stopping as Nathan immediately began to protest. "No mom not the Palace!" His voice was like an annoyed whine. 

Shaking her head, Elise turned to face her youngest son. "And why, pray tell, would you reject the invitation of our hostess? The Queen has very generously provided us with all we need, a home, guards, all the tutors for you education." 

"I-I know I just... She freaks me out sometimes that's all. She's the Queen but she's like, she's different. Always attacking people for fun, and drinking, then always teasing me talking about how dad use to fuck-" 

Nathan stammered before his mom snapped her fingers, he immediately fell silent. 

"Language young man. Now get dressed. You know very well that even if you were to say no she'd make a game of it and come find you. Like last time." With that Elise turned and headed to the kitchen, leaving a red faced Nathan behind to sulk in the memory of his last encounter with the Queen. 




Desoul Bk. 03 Vol. 01



All characters are 18 years or older.

Note from the author:

My Desoul Girls were Brianna, Elise, Emily, Kirah and Luna. There were more, and each and every one of them was just as special and unique as the last. 

But they're all gone now, some of them forever. I know how this story ends, and I feel Blade & Co really deserve their happy ending, but I am afraid the pain I feel when reading these pages is simply too much. I may never finish this story on paper, but at least I will share it with you all. 

I'm sorry it is only half complete.

The original Desoul stories are almost 10 years old now. In that 10 years I lost everything, and I am left with the bitter memories of what happened, and the void of friends lost and gone forever. 

I miss Elise. I worry about Emily and Kirah, and I hope Brianna is doing well. 

Luna is right here with her head up my ass, so I guess some things will never change. 

I guess this is dedicated to the Desoul Girls, I hope you all find the happy ending which you all richly deserve.

-Blade

*****

Synopsis:

Sniper's Lament

Nathan is crowned King and takes control over most of the Empire. Blade assists his original homeland, the Western Empire, in an uprising against government forces. A move that puts Karyn and the Order of Desoul directly at odds with Nathan and the Crown. 

Amidst the chaos of the fighting, Spike and Luna finally decide to tie the knot. But their joy is quickly overshadowed as one of their own is gravely wounded in battle and a stranger from Elise's past appears.

A tale of friendship, betrayal and of course, love...

====

Prologue

The massive turbines inside of the equally massive engines of the huge cargo carrier, rumbled deafeningly loud and vibrated the bulkheads of the high ceiling engine room as the ship began to move.

"Goddamnit!" Frost growled to himself.

Isaac Frost, dubbed by Princess Karyn as the 'Blade of Ice' was making his way through the unlit lower decks of the merchant cargo ship Brutus. He was hoping to complete his mission and be overboard before the crew began unload the freighter's extensive cargo in the port of the Western Imperial capital city, but that wasn't due to happen for a few more hours.

There was no reason the ship should be moving, something was wrong. The suspicion that something was completely out of place tugged at the Blade's gut as he stalked through the cramped corridors of the lower decks, moving from shadow to shadow to avoid encountering any of the few crew members that would be on duty this late at night.

Just a few months earlier in that same year, Morgan's Spire in the Eastern Empire had fought off an invasion from a different plane of existence, one occupied with vicious, black parasitic demons that would assimilate the bodies of their hosts.

In all the chaos, Wesley Barak, the Blade of Desoul or simply known as 'Blade', thought dead for over 20 years had reappeared, apparently leading the invasion against his own Kingdom. Though it was quickly discovered that it was not Blade, but the creature occupying his body.

Due to a lucky strike on the host body by Blade's own son, Nathan, the invasion was thwarted, but just barely. Portals began cropping up all over the city, only a trickle of the demonic creatures entered this plane. And even then, those few were easily mopped up, the massive, organized invasion was unable to commence due to the massive injuries and eventual death of the creature organizing it.

If Nathan had never encountered Blade on that transport, things might have been different, very, very different. Frost noted with a shiver.

However, the happiness of the reunion was quickly overshadowed. Blade promptly vanished as reappeared, apparently on the brink of madness and confused by where he was and for that matter who he was. Blade had simply vanished, and a few days after Elise had too vanished, presumably to find her forlorn husband.

The thought of her left a cold pit in Frost's stomach. Blade had been like the father Frost never had, and Elise had always been there too, encouraging, uplifting and flirtatious towards him.

The pair had been alive a lot long than he had been, by leaps and bounds, so he tried not to comprehend their strange relationship that seemed to be a mixture of intense love, loyalty, yet ambiguity and openness. Blade had numerous lovers, as did Elise, yet they were always together and seemed to take the roles of husband and wife seriously.

Frost had just assumed it had something to do with being from literally another time and place. Not to mention their long life spans. Karyn had once mentioned something similar about incest, and how it just wasn't the same taboo when you were a quasi immortal being who watched people live and die as one would watch the sun rise and set.

He had even lost his virginity to the Elf as a teenager, shortly before becoming a Blade of Desoul along with his best friend, practically his brother, Charles Mason. The entire matter confused him and he put it from his mind. He had taken the woman as a lover, and he didn't doubt that she loved him too, just not in the same sense.

She still abruptly left him when Blade reemerged, yet he didn't have any bad feelings about that. He certainly didn't hate Blade or Elise for that matter. What the two had was something magical, the memory to be cherished, not painful.

What was even more confusing was where Blade and Elise went and why. Queen Brianna of the Amazons had pursued Blade after he returned, but came back empty handed and tight lipped about where he could have gone.

Frost had heard a rumor, as had most of the Order that Blade had returned far to the west, to the lands where he had been born generations earlier, here in the Western Empire.

An army from the north had swept down into the lands of the Empire during a brief conflict and locked the small nation down under martial law with an iron, military fist. As the Empire had time to catch it's breath, the citizens became restless, and unrest quickly turned to a revolt and an outright rebellion by the Imperial citizens.

No one knew for sure, or if they did they sure as hell didn't mention it to anyone, but everyone speculated that Blade had masterminded the uprising. Citizens were armed with weapons they previously didn't have access too, not to mention trained enough to use them. Officers of the occupying force were being killed in the streets daily. And handfuls of Imperial bystanders were put to the wall and shot in the streets as retaliation.

What was even more disturbing were the weapons used by the invaders, they were using what appeared to be ordinance crafted by and for Eastern Empire. Only they didn't export their armaments to anyone under any circumstances.

And that is what Frost was here to investigate.

He reached a large door leading from the engine room up into the cargo hold and carefully crept through the opening. The noise of the engine was still enough to dampen any noise he made, though he made none at all as he moved through the next corridor and into the main cargo compartment of the freighter.

He had memorized the layout of hold and where the various lots were suppose to be laid out prior to boarding the ship, and the various sections were color coded with paint and section numbers on the steel floor and bulkhead walls, making the process of finding what he was there for all the easier.

After 15 minutes of searching, he found lot 37. When the ship had set out from a brief stop in another port it had taken on a container, though there were no reports of the transfer in the vessel's logs or left at the other port. The only way the Order of Desoul had been tipped off was by watching the port carefully. They had long suspected that someone was supplying the forces of the North with Eastern weapons, but kept the information tightly under wraps. Only a few ranking members knew about the reports, which is why it taken so long to happen upon the shipment.

Frost was alone on this op. Lady Kirah of the Blood Talons, the Order's intelligence experts knew that he was there and what he was doing. Not to mention Karyn herself, but no one else was aware of his activities. He was alone, and thus had to sneak aboard to verify things himself. It could have been a simple clerical error, or some mixed up paper work somewhere. But the situation and the ship's destination made it suspicious enough to dig deeper.

Lot 37 was reported to be empty, yet here was a massive, walk-in cargo container occupying its space. Frost reached into the dark black folds of his combat jacket and produced a simple lock pick. He looked around quickly and then set to work on the massive, probably bulletproof padlock on the container and had it off in under a minute.

He packed the little tool away and then pushed open the doors to the container, slipping inside and pulling them shut behind him as he produced a small flashlight and clicked it on. He recognized the smell of the wooden crates and their black painted serial numbers, the smells of gun oil and munitions grease.

Frost frowned grimly as he approached a crate, recognizing immediately by the serial number if not the emblazoned logo of his country's military. 75ATEX500. He knew the crate contained 500 75 millimeter Explosive-tipped artillery rounds just from the number. The first part was caliber or size of the shell, the next part the weapon type, followed by the function and then finally the actual unit count inside the box.

He reached out and flipped up the locking latch on the crate before pulling the lid off, scowling as he seen the rows upon rows of gleaming, oiled explosive shells. One well placed shot with one of these rounds could blow a building in half, or sink a small ship. Or what Luna, the Order's weapon smith had described as 'giving a dragon a big dose of ass whoopin' .

He smiled at the last one and replaced the lid on the crate, flipping the safety latch back into place. No sooner had he done that than the room was suddenly illuminated by flashlights from behind. Frost whirled to see two armed men with flashlights standing in the open doorway of the container, cornering him.

The two men immediately went for the pistols at their sides as Frost wasted no time bolting forward, lunging into the first man shoulder-first and knocking him onto his back before he gracefully whirled around and snapped a devastating kick to the side of the other man's head.

The second guard dropped, blood gushing from nose and a gash on the side of his head as the first man recovered for a moment snatching his radio from his belt. "Intruder alert in the cargo-" The man's frantic transmission was cut as Frost snapped out his leg, kicking the wounded guard across the temple, silencing him.

"Aww fuck. Lady Kirah is going to be pissed." Frost growled as he bolted loudly out of the cargo container, making his way back toward the engine room.

The speakers of the ship's shoddy but still very functional PA system crackled into life, announcing to all hands that there was an intruder on board. Frost was more than a little pissed as he reached the stairwell and bolted up the steps, taking them three at a time for nearly 3 stories before he emerged on the top deck.

The cold predawn air brushed over his sweat-slick body as he looked out over the railing, seeing that they were still inside of the bay of the Western Imperial port but now half a mile or more from shore.

"Damnit!" Frost growled.

Oh well, he was young and a half mile swim through freezing cold water in pitch darkness against the tide never killed anyone. Well anyone that he knew anyways.

"I really wish you hadn't of seen that Isaac." A voice very familiar to Frost came from behind.

The man whirled, staring back at a compact, but large caliber pistol, it's barrel leveled at him as its wielder glared over it.

Frost hesitated and blinked in confusion, the man holding the gun was a fellow Blade of Desoul, and in fact his dear friend, Charles Mason.

"Charlie?" Frost couldn't shake off the shock of what he was seeing, if it was in fact what it appeared to be.

"Just the way it is." Mason said as he squeezed the trigger. He fired again and again, the bullets ripping into Frost's shoulders and chest as he stumbled backwards, a round grazing him across the side of the head and ripping a deep furrow into his flesh as he slammed against the decks' railing and tumbled over it; falling into the darkness of the sea 4 stories below.

* * *

Sniper's Lament

* * *

The torrent of freezing rain earlier in the day had given way to a light drizzle on the bitterly cold coastal winds.

A black sedan bearing the flags of the Eastern Empire on one side, and the standard of the Order of Desoul pulled up under the covered entrance of the Imperial Palace. And almost immediately an attendant clad in a dress uniform rushed over and pulled open the back passenger door, bowing politely and remaining bent slightly forward as he held the door open.

One mirror polished black uniform boot after the other swung out of the vehicle and settled down onto the bright red carpet leading up the marble steps into the Palace and a figure clad in black rose into view from the back of the vehicle.

Clad in the black dress uniform of the Order of Desoul, her long black overcoat hung from her shoulders covering her embroidered uniform jacket, her matching slacks tucked down into her rough leathered knee high boots.

Her arms weren't tucked into the large uniform coat as it swayed due to the weight in her pockets, bearing only the crest of her position as a Blade of Desoul. Any other typical military officer would have had every last service medal and ribbon and award pinned to the breast of their jacket, reducing it to little more than a trophy case. But no, this woman was not a typical soldier or even officer. She was Princess Karyn Barak, the leader of the Order of Desoul and the military forces it commanded.

She didn't mind rewarding her soldiers, not one bit in fact and made a point of honoring her men in person with ribbons and medals whenever they were to be presented. She respected what the awards and ribbons symbolized and the pride they instilled in her soldiers, but when it came to her own wardrobe she favored function over of fancy.

The long coat happened to be warm and comfortable, and also gave her presence a dramatic flare with the way the tails of the coat fluttered behind her and the way it gracefully remained on her shoulders without slipping. At her left hip was an ornate gold saber, which served no more purpose than to mark her as nobility.

Sure the sword was well made and though not her weapon of choice could kill a man all the same, but she scoffed at the thought. If she really wanted someone dead she would make use of her dexterous hands alongside any momentum, and there wasn't a damn thing anyone could do to deter her will. So, the sword was practically useless to her in that sense, but she carried it around because she savored the familiar weight at her hip, one that constantly reminded her that she was a warrior first, a Princess and politician second.

She brushed her fingers through her short cropped blonde hair, her dark, ocean-blue eyes glinting with a predatory fire as she gracefully strode up the steps to the doors which opened automatically. She nodded politely at each attendant as she entered the main hall of the Palace and headed for the Royal conference room located adjacent to the Throne Room.

She dreaded the meeting that was already in session, not from angst or avoidance, just a dread born from sheer annoyance. Here she was on a nice quiet evening with a chilly wind, and she was dressed up to play Princess with the ruling party rather than sitting curled up warm and cozy in bed with her lover by the warm fire. Technically a criminal offense, to cause the deviation of royalty, but her usual affairs made the Princess want to lock the doors behind her and issue the grandest ass kicking the Empire had ever seen on the gathering, to awaken the sullen clods and reemphasize her dominance.

Just imagining the men cowering in fear and rambling of others' guilt, at her mere presence was more than enough to make her crack a smile, so she pushed the thought from her mind. It wasn't arrogance, she knew they would piss themselves in the presence of her raw, untamed power, should she display it. The men were politicians, able to line the pockets and square the minds of commoners. So of course they had their place; Karyn could lead a battle, a war, hell a nation, but she couldn't lay down the best instructions on how to build a road or advanced city planning. The men had their cunning moments and she respected that, however she didn't appreciate the imagined authority born from self importance that the pencil jockeys tried to Lord over her.

Hell back in her day if an honorable man had pulled half the shit these scheming politicians did, he'd of been killed publicly on the spot. She missed the old days and the old ways. Life was a little bit more challenging, but it was so much more simple and gratifying than it was in the current age. She sighed, grateful that she had the Temple to tend to, it kept the spark of fiery passion alive in her, it made her happy.

Karyn made her way to the sitting room outside of the conference hall and paused at a small table of refreshments. On it was a box of expensive and more than a little bit extravagant imported Vandarian cigars. She picked one of the black wrapped cigars and brought it up to her nose, inhaling its scent as she ran it's length under her nose. She shrugged and put the cigar in her mouth, producing a small silver lighter as she brought the flame up, puffing the cigar to life.

The vibrant, almost neon blue smoke curled out of the end of it and she smiled. Satisfied as she closed the small box and tucked it into her coat pocket that the small fortune in cigars would make an excellent gift for Grote. They were expensive, and she truly believed that Nathan, who wasn't a smoker, only laid them out for pure one-upmanship.

All the more reason to swipe them, she thought as she moved over to the conference room doors and pulled them wide open, stepping inside as the dozen or so men inside fell silent and turned to face her.

"Good evening, Gentlemen." Karyn declared as yet another attendant offered to take her coat, she firmly, but politely refused and made her way to one end of the long table, the unoccupied end which she promptly sat down at.

Two dozen seats away at the other head of the table was King Nathan Barak, her younger brother. A dozen seats on either side of the table closest to Nathan were occupied, leaving the dozen on either side of Karyn empty and a sizable gap between herself and the gathering.

She casually puffed at the cigar, letting the coils of blue smoke roll from pink, parted lips as if she were completely unconcerned with whatever 'urgent' business they were there to discuss.

"Where is Blade?" One of the men asked bluntly from his seat as all eyes shifted over to Karyn.

Nathan was sitting passively in his Throne, his face blank though his brow furrowed as if deep in thought. He seemed to be letting the proceedings play out as they may while he simply observed.

"Blade?" Karyn repeated, crinkling her face as if trying to recall something but drawing a blank. "Blade whom? I do have many hundreds of Blades in my Order so I am afraid you will have to be more specific, Sir." Karyn replied, taking a slow, deliberate pull from the thin, black cigar.

"Don't you get coy with me young lady. You know damn well to whom I am referring to." Then man barked back.

Karyn tilted her head slightly. The older man had thinning grey hair streaked with pure white in places. A sour, pissed off look seemed to be forever pinched onto his features and he sat, his cold eyes glaring over at the Princess. He was the minister of foreign affairs if she recalled correctly. She made a mental note to visit some kind of horrible revenge on the man for his lack of manners and filed it away in her mind, to be recalled and carried out later at her leisure.




Desoul Bk. 03 Vol. 01



"Well then, allow me to be more blunt you degenerate warthog. I have no idea what the fuck you are talking about." Karyn replied flatly.

This pulled a gasp or two from some of the men and really seemed to piss off more than a few of them, that tickled Karyn.

"I believe, Your Highness, that the good Minister was referring to Wesley Barak." Another one of the men added, his tone was curt but still a sight more polite than the Minster's.

"I haven't seen him in 20 years." Karyn answered.

"Didn't you fight him just a year ago at an Imperial supply depot?" A third man asked.

"I engaged in glorious battle with a demon that looked like him. If I had drawn my sword against the man himself I am sure I would not be here discussing the matter with you in person today, gentlemen." Karyn wasn't so sure about that, she was confident in her abilities, but never in her wildest dreams would she have the balls to draw on either her father Wesley, or her mother, Brianna while either was in their right mind.

It was a fair bet that Karyn might be able to best either one of them in single combat after a prolonged battle, but it wouldn't be easy or even predicable. Battles were constantly changing situations and statistics so speculation was a bitch sometimes. Besides which, her parents were fierce, dangerous warriors.

And even with the quick adaptability granted to her by her power of the Dragon's Eye, an ability that let her instantly and photographically absorb and recall any technique or tactic used by anyone she was watching, her parents would still have numerous tricks hidden up their sleeves. Any of which could probably kill her outright.

"Semantics, but it was still him was it not?" The second man asked.

"He reappeared later yes, I seen him for about 30 seconds and then he poofed. Vanished, disappeared. Haven't seen him since. And for that matter the last time I SPOKE to him was well over 22 years ago." Karyn locked her gaze on the man, saying nothing but staring at him with dark, piercing eyes that seemed to bore into his very soul. This caused the man to shift uncomfortably and then turn away.

"There is a revolt in the west. Thus far we have remained neutral to both sides but our diplomatic stance is threatened by the reports that Wesley Barak is the cause of the organized rebellion. This threatens to pull us into hostilities with the northern nation of Angara. They are threatening to cut trade with the east and are willing to go so far as instituting a blockade of the Western Empire's ports. Strangling the economy and flow of commerce would only lead to more suffering in the west." The minister growled as he spoke.

"Or just make her people fight more fiercely." Karyn mused aloud, provoking stern glances from some of the other men in attendance.

"This is not a joke young lady!" The Minster shot back suddenly.

Karyn finally let out an irritated sigh and pulled the cigar from her lips before pushing the still smoldering tip into the polished surface of the table. "I am your Senior by CENTURIES. That goes for all of you in fact. I am terribly sorry that you haven't aged nearly as gracefully as me, but I don't spend all my free time wearing a sour expression and meddling in affairs that are none of my fucking concern." Karyn licked her lips, her eyes narrowing at the gathered politicians.

"How dare you?!" The Minister growled.

Karyn glared passively at the man. "How dare YOU sir?! I am a the Princess of this Kingdom, and you are my subject. You should show more composure and respect if you have any aspirations of keeping your position."

"My power is a symbol of the public's trust and is given to me by the citizens of this nation! Lets not forget-"

"Yes lets not forget that just two decades ago my father purged the house of all its treacherous dogs, leaving a slew of corpses in his wake. I'm thinking another culling might be prudent." Karyn had had enough of the Minster, and the whole gathering for that matter.

The pinched, angry face of the Minster turned dark red with anger and as he opened his mouth to speak again, Karyn stood suddenly, her chair falling over loudly behind her as her hand dropped to the grip of the saber at her side, her eyes fixed coolly on the man.

A palpable silence filled the room and Karyn held the grip of the sword, her eyes fixed unblinkingly at the collection of men.

"Well gentlemen you were all adamant about questioning The Blade of Desoul and you have done so. I trust your curiosity is sated?" Nathan spoke, rising up from the Throne at the opposite end of the room. There was nothing but an awkward shuffling of people fidgeting in their seats and of course and the heavy air of silence.

When no one replied Nathan smiled. "Well then, lets adjourn until tomorrow and we will come to a summary conclusion then. Good evening." Nathan stepped down and all the men rose, bowing respectfully as Nathan headed through the room to the doors leading into the Throne room. "Princess, wont you join me?" Nathan asked, holding out a hand.

Karyn narrowed her eyes at being calling Princess but she nodded politely and moved over to Nathan, letting him take her hand and escort her from the room. If anything, it was a display of unity rather than manners.

Nathan was wearing a pair of black dress slacks and a white dress shirt with the left sleeved rolled up over his mechanical left forearm. A souvenir from his battle with Luna one year ago.

Karyn watched her younger brother as he moved over to elevated platform where the thrones were and settled down onto the carpeted steps leading up the platform. He let out a tired sigh and moved the mechanical fingers of his left hand back through his hair as he gazed out over the empty hall.

The missing arm wasn't the only wound he carried around like a badge. Most of the skin across his back had been badly scorched by a potent acid, some of which had splashed a pattern up across the right side of his neck, making a scarred web that looked like he had been hit by shrapnel.

"Do you think its true?" Nathan asked suddenly, looking up to his sister who stood just a foot or so down from him at the base of the steps.

"Is Blade leading the rebellion? Who knows. Its more than possible. But what I find infinitely amusing is the notion circulating that he would actually need help organizing and leading such a revolt." Karyn paused to chuckle. "He's more than capable of organizing and leading a revolution with nothing but his fists, wits and the clothes on his back. The speculation that he is drawing on outside forces is utter bullshit."

"He's like the boogey man to these people I swear. They are all shitting bricks over the situation in the West, as if its some kind of practice run for the demise of the East." Nathan snorted, shaking his head.

"They aren't warriors Nate. We understand things like action and consequences, while they hold on to things like theory and speculation. They like to talk and bluff and seem more capable than they actually are. We don't have to play their convoluted game because our actions ring louder than any hollow words."

Nathan grinned. "Well sorry about the witch hunt. They have a fire under their asses and want to watch someone else burn. I figured you could convince them to stop sniffing around far better than I could. Seems I was right."

Karyn watched the boy, marveling at how much he had matured in just one year. He had come from his sheltered home on Angel Island to the mainland and quickly proved himself a capable fighter who could hold his own in most situations. In the ensuing weeks he had wounded the Alpha parasite, an act that had more or less saved them all, not to mention surviving an all out toe to toe tiff with an enthralled Luna.

Though the battle had left deep physical scars across Nathan's body, she knew that the emotional trauma that Luna had suffered at mangling and nearly killing the boy was far greater.

"Something has to give. I don't want to contemplate the cluster fuck that would be a war with a nation on the other end of the continent, not to mention the impact it would have on the smaller nations in between. We have an army, we have all the commodities needed for a stand up, prolonged fight. But I think even a single loss of life on our side would be unacceptable. There's no reason we should be drawn into this conflict beyond providing relief and aid for those in need." Nathan sighed, brushing his hair back out of his eyes as he turned to look up at Karyn.

Nathan started at her for several long moments before finally speaking again. "I don't know what is going on, but I intend to find out. If this continues though, it may force my hand. And none of us want that."

Karyn narrowed her eyes at the statement, fully understanding that Nathan would mobilize his military and attack the Western Empire in order to prove that the East had nothing to do with the troubles in the region. It didn't bode well, not in the least bit, and it was obvious that the house believed she was involved, which was absolute rubbish.

But Karyn didn't mind, if they believed her to be some kind of scheming fiend that was brilliant enough to be the puppet master behind an organized uprising half a world away, well so be it. More prestige for her.

A door opened in the wall behind, and just off to the side of the platform. A slender young elven woman clad in a simple black dress with long sleeves stepped out into the open. Her white blonde hair flowing down to her shoulders in long strands of curls that bounced ever so slightly as she approached.

"Good evening Lady Karyn." Tanya said, bowing politely before Karyn.

"Tanya, nice to see you." Karyn nodded as Nathan held up a hand for Tanya, who took it and then sat down beside Nathan on the steps of the platform.

"So what schemes could the two of you be plotting here, alone in the middle of night?" Tanya asked innocently, sitting hip to hip with Nathan who let his left hand fall to rest on the woman's knee.

Watching them gave Karyn pause for a moment, but she smiled down at the young elf. "Oh the usual things, boys, popular music, that new fruity tea that just tastes so darn delicious."

Tanya smiled at that and nodded. "Well that sure beats what I hear all day. Its politics politics politics all day long around here. I cant stand it sometimes."

"Well if you ever get a headache you are always welcome at the Temple. You of all people should know we are more into actions than words over there." Karyn winked and Nathan looked up, narrowing his eyes slightly.

"Well then." Karyn cleared her throat. "I have an early day tomorrow, I really should get back to my office."

Nathan nodded once and Tanya smiled up Karyn, wishing her a good night before Karyn turned and left the Throne room.

Tanya turned and lifted her head up slightly and Nathan moved in, giving her a soft kiss on her lips.

"So what were you two talking about?" Tanya asked, letting her head rest on Nathan's shoulder.

Nathan sighed. "Politics."

* * *

The rain had shifted from light drizzle to freezing downpour by the time Karyn arrived back to the temple. Wearily, she made her way up the steps and into the main entrance, grumbling as she peeled off her long coat and began to shake out the copious amounts of rainwater that had hitchhiked on the garment.

She tossed the coat onto the rack and made her way down a pair of corridors, making her way to a private elevator that went straight up to her office on the 5th floor. She leaned back against the railing, sighing as the doors shut and the lift began its journey upward into the temple.

Her eyes shut and she let out a heavy sigh, her fingers moving up to brush through the short strands of her soaked, matted hair. In a few moments the doors to the lift slid open and she stepped into her office, heading into the adjacent living quarters.

Karyn sighed, kicking off her boots as she made her way into a side room, finding an almost unhealthily skinny man with a pronounced skeleton that seemed to protrude in places, yet despite that, was very well toned and muscled. The figured was sitting back in a plush leather office chair, glowing blue wisps of smoke from Vandarian tobacco swirling around his head that was topped with a long mane of black hair that reached the middle of his back.

His feet were up on the desk, no fewer than 6 monitors that constantly flicked back and forth over different data feeds were in front of him.

"I brought you something, Monster." Karyn said, pulling the box of cigars out of her uniform jacket and dropping them into Grote's lap as she stood behind the chair and draped her arms over his shoulders and leaned forward. Kissing him firmly on the lips as her soft, warm hands pushed into the front of his partially unbuttoned shirt.

Grote returned the kiss and without a word picked up the small, fancily carved box before opening it. He grinned and nodded once. "Ah where did you happen to find these?"

"I liberated them from the Palace." Karyn grinned, her fingers twisting open the buttons of his shirt one after the other.

"They always taste better when they are stolen." Grote grinned and snapped the box shut, setting down on a small table beside his chair.

"You can taste them tomorrow. Time for bed, NOW." Karyn grinned, giving his left nipple a firm pinch before she pecked his cheek and stepped back away from the chair.

Grote rose slowly and stretched, his eyes fixed on the screens as he peeled the shirt off and tossed it onto the floor. With a flick of his wrist, he motioned with his hand and all 6 sets of monitors switched off, their screens going black.

He turned just in time to see Karyn peeling off the last of her uniform, her back to him and he was greeted with the sight of her thin, tight black bikini panties hugging the soft curves of her round ass. She turned slowly, her breasts spilling out around her hands that she had moved up to cover her round, pink nipples.

She winked once at him and let her arms fall down, her hands on her hips as she winked over at him and turned, crawling up onto the bed and under the covers, curling her finger for him to join her.

Grinning broadly, Grote moved over to the bed, reaching down as he unbuckled his pants and slipped them off, joining Karyn under the covers as she rose to meet him.

Immediately his cool skin was enveloped by the heat of her warm, soft breasts pressed to his chest. Their lips met in an intense kiss as Grote ran his fingers back through her short hair, his hand bunching up a handful at the back of her head as he pulled it tight and gently jerked her head back. Karyn's already unbearably warm cunt twitched at that move and she cooed happily as the man broke the kiss and began to trail gentle kisses up and down her neck.

She bit her lip, her hands questing under the covers as she found and gripped his rapidly stiffening cock with both of her hands, gently stroking it as it quickly swelled to full hardness. She licked her lips, moaning as she lightly stroked his smooth, hairless cock. Grote's lips tasting her neck, one hand keeping a firm grip on her hair as the other hand moved up, two fingers pinching at the studded piercing in her nipple and twisting it firmly back and forth.

"Fuck.." Karyn groaned, her hands skillfully pumping her lover's stiff, throbbing cock as she wormed around under his skilled touch. She withered around under the covers, her cunt practically radiating the heat of a glowing ember of coal as she wiggled around, biting her lip.

"Mmm why don't you lie back and I will let you fuck my mouth for a little bit?" Karyn offered, slowly licking her lips as Grote pulled back and looked at her.

He nodded and slowly laid back on the cool pillows as Karyn mounted him, her warm breasts pressing against his chest as she kissed him and slowly slid down his body. Trailing kisses down his chest and across his stomach before finally reaching his cock.

Without using her hands, she grinned and kissed the tip before sucking it into her mouth, sliding her lips down his shaft as she swirled her tongue around the stiff cock, making it nice and slippery.

Grote's fingers snaked into her already messy blond hair and she relaxed as he took control, gripping the back of her head as he began pushing her face up and down in his lap. He groaned loudly as she continued to suck and slurp, her saliva trickling down the length of his shaft and onto his balls as he guided her head up and down.

Karyn gave great head, and she really enjoyed making her lovers squirm under the sheets. But she enjoyed letting Grote use her mouth as a fuck toy like this. Giving him complete control over just how fast or deep he wanted his cock to go as she milked him with her tongue and the suction of her cheeks.

"Ahhh fuck!" Grote tensed, squirming around as Karyn smiled around his cock. He began moving her head quickly up and down his shaft, the thick head of his meaty cock swelling up with excitement as he fucked the back of her throat, her slippery muscles gripping him like a fist.

Karyn moved her hands up, one settling on Grote's full, heavy balls as she began to lightly pinch and massage them with thumb and finger, her other hand moving up as she found one of his nipples and playfully flicked her finger back and forth over it.

Grote thrust his hips up, fucking her skilled mouth as he continued to push it up and down his cock. His hips moving quickly up to meet each down movement as he practically jerked his cock off with her mouth, guiding her up and down it like she was a masturbation toy.

Karyn's cheeks were practically sucked in, the soft meat there gripping Grote's cock as its moisture slathered length slid rapidly back and forth. He could feel Karyn's tongue whip at the sensitive head of his cock and then slide back down his shaft, only to repeat the action again and again as her throat accepted the thrusting tip of his dick.

"Mmmm this feels incredible, but I think your soft little pussy needs some attention." Grote grinned, slowly relaxing and then releasing his grip on her hair, Karyn still moving her mouth up and down regardless as she peered up at him.

Slowly she pulled his spit-slicked cock from her lips with an audible plop and leaned up, kissing her lover on the mouth before she rolled onto her back.

His fingers reached out for the pink string ribbons on the sides of the tight black panties that tied them together. He tugged one little bow loose with a playfully slowness before tugging free the second bow and then snatching the little pair of panties off of her. Her bald cunt was bright pink and flushed with color that glistened with her excitement as she parted her legs for him.

Grinning, Grote dipped two fingers inside of her, causing her to gasp as he curled them sharply upwards and began to grate back and forth, rubbing firmly against her g-spot as he dipped his head down and caught one of her stiff nipples in his mouth.

He slowly sucked at the stiff, pink flesh as Karyn wiggled her hips, thrusting them up into his questing fingers as she moaned out.

"I'm already so wet, just stick your cock in and finish me!" Karyn pleaded, biting her lip as she cradled his head, pushing his face into her breasts.

Grote grinned and slid his two fingers out, pulling out a thin stand of sticky excitement on them which he grinned at before slowly moving between her legs. He gripped the base of his cock, gently brushing the pulsating tip of his cock up and down her wet and more that ready slit. Teasing her with it a few times before he sunk it in suddenly, sliding it down to the base which caused them both to moan.

Karyn's toned, powerful legs wrapped firmly around her lover's waist, pulling him urgently downwards as he began rapidly moving his hips back and forth, slamming his cock into her.




Desoul Bk. 03 Vol. 01



The two kissed, albeit a little bit sloppily as their bodies were rocked with the force of their combine movements. Grote's hands moved up, firmly squeezing the pale mounds of Karyn's full, supple breasts. His thumbs flicked at her piercings, causing her toes to curl with pleasure as her hands moved down and gripped his muscular ass.

Grote moaned into the kiss, feeling the Princess' wetness drip down between them, making both of their bodies slick in the middle as he went deeper and deeper into her warmth. Fucking her gave him that rare, intense pleasure that was so overwhelming to the nerves that he almost seen little white spots in his vision as he thrust into her.

Karyn gripped his ass, her nails digging into the flesh and drawing out small droplets of blood as she rapidly pulled him down over and over again, using his cock as her toy just as he had used her mouth minutes ago. Her warm cunt coiled around his shaft like a very slippery python about to devour its prey.

The tighter she made herself the better it felt, the more of her flesh he was stimulating. Her nipples stayed little diamond hard peaks of stiffness as he rubbed and kneaded her tits, pulling almost continuous moans from her pursed lips.

"Almost..." Karyn hissed, her cunt flexing wildly on his cock as she bucked her hips up feverishly. "More! Give me more! Fuck me!"

Despite the almost blinding pace that already been set, Grote added much, much power to his movements. Slapping his hips into hers as he drove his cock deep inside of her, the swelled tip prodding at the opening of her womb at the end of each push.

This caused Karyn's toes to curl as she shrieked, a powerful, mind clouding orgasm slamming into her body with the force of a meteor strike. Her red hot little cunt gushed with fluid as her body shook with delight, her lover's cock not breaking pace for a single moment. If anything it spurred him on.

"Fill me! Fill my cunt with your cum!" Karyn growled, her cunt throbbing madly as she hissed for breath, her face and chest flushed as she pushed him on towards orgasm.

Grote suddenly cried out through gritted teeth as he bottomed out inside of Karyn's cunt. His cock violently erupting inside of her as he pumped his thick, stick hot seed into her quivering hole. Karyn held him tightly, wiggling her hips around until she felt every last drop roll out of the end of his cock before finally releasing him, the two collapsing into each others arms.

Karyn, completely satisfied, smiled and slowly shut her eyes, drifting off into a deep, peaceful sleep. 

Luna pushed the thick, green welding goggles up over the black bandana that safely held her hair back as she rose one hand and mopped the sweat and grime from her forehead. She sighed and pushed her lower lip out, blowing cool air across her warm, glistening forehead, grateful for the temporary relief from the blistering heat of the blow torch which she gripped in her right hand.

She resisted the urge to look at the clock just above the worktable behind her. She figured it was around 3:30am, in fact she was almost certain about the hour. But seeing the clock and confirming the ungodly hour would only galvanize her fatigue, and she couldn't stand leaving a job half done.

Moping the sweat from her head again, she pulled down her goggles and adjusted them before fanning one of the lapels of her half-unzipped, grey jumpsuit. Fanning a cool rush of air over her bare, sweat slick chest as she sighed, knowing the respite from the scorching heat would be over as soon as she began work again.

Reluctantly, she twisted the valve on her torch, the scorching blue flame jutting out nearly half a foot long as she hunched over the table and resumed welding. Amidst the showers of sparks and the shimmering waves of heat coming from the heated metal and the flame of the torch was a large, oval-shaped hunk of steel the size of a man's torso.

Even partially complete, the steel panels of the strange armored eggshell gleamed with polish from the first layer of finishing detail work that Luna had put into the machine. She was a craftsman in every sense of the word and cherished every opportunity to turn raw material into...well anything.

Spike entered the workshop quietly, a heavy duty .50 caliber pistol tucked under one arm as he tilted his head at the armored, oval shaped device. On the side facing him was a large, round red circle of solid crystal set in the center of the body.

He tilted his head. "What are you building pet?"

"A walking eye." Luna replied, not looking up from her work as she slowly moved the torch, sealing up the seams of two plates of armor.

"What's it do?" Spike furrowed his brow, he had never seen or heard of anything quite like the machine that sat before him.

"It's a walking eye Spike! They're all the same!" Luna explained, irritated as she continued to weld.

"I need you to fix this." Spike said, pulling out the huge pistol he had tucked under his arm and wiggling it in his grip for her to see.

"Later, put it on the table." Luna growled.

"No, not later. More like, now. Right now in fact." Spike replied coolly.

Luna turned, bearing her teeth at Spike, teeth which seemed unnaturally shiny and bright in contrast to the black, grimy smears on her forehead and cheeks.

Time goes on, wounds heal, but Luna's wounds were deep and they still felt fresh and festered with doubt and worry, constantly pulling down on her.

It had been a while since her body was inhabited by a magical, symbiotic creature, and as if the violation hadn't been enough, every time the girl tried to sleep she relieved her battle against Nathan.

She loved the boy dearly, in some strange way almost like he were her own son. But the horrific memory of mangling Nathan in combat before taking his arm, and then trying to finish by taking the boy's head left a deep feeling of helplessness in the girl.

Nathan of course bore zero ill will against her, nor did any of the others, save Elise who Luna couldn't bear to look the eye after what had happened. Losing control of her body and the near death of her Master's youngest had taken an emotional toll on Luna, and nothing she could do would distract her long enough to pull her out of the cycle of guilt and heartache.

Luna dialed down the output on the torch, leaving a small flame on it as she slammed it down on the table. "Fine let me see it!"

She sighed, irritated, though she felt bad for barking at him when he wasn't doing anything in particular to upset her. Spike handed over the gun and Luna strode across her workshop to one of the workbenches and flicked on a bright desk lamp with magnifier built in.

"What's the problem? Did you run out of bullets and throw it at someone again?" Luna scowled turning the large pistol over as she inspected it.

"Hey I killed that guy didn't I? Something wrong with it, I don't know. Shells wont eject properly..." Spike explained, hovering just behind her.

He was mere millimeters from her, his warm flesh causing Luna's skin to prickle pleasantly from the near contact as she jacked the slide of the pistol.

"Mmm must be internal." She mumbled to herself, pulling the slide back before thumbing a switch on the left side of the gun, locking it into place. She squinted into the ejection port, seeing something golden and metallic.

"Looks like a round is still stuck in there. Man you really fucked up this gun Spike." Luna frowned, rummaging around the bench for a special pair of very slender pliers that she could use to extract a stubborn piece of brass without damaging the inner components of the pistol.

She held the gun with one hand, the pliers in the other as she reached in and carefully plucked out the object with practiced ease.

"There we go all better- Huh?" Luna blinked in confusion as she held the pliers up and gazed at the shiny, golden object she had just extracted. It wasn't a brass casing at all but a golden ring!

Luna turned the small band over in her hand, there was a small ruby set into the band in the shape of a heart and she quickly turned to face Spike, his face hovering mere inches from hers before he moved in, kissing her firmly on the lips.

She let out a soft whimper of surprise, eagerly returning the kiss as Spike folded his arms across her back, holding her close as she leaned against him, giving herself over to the warmth of his touch.

"What's this for?" Luna finally asked, pulling back slightly to look at the little ring resting in the palm of his hand.

"Cant properly ask you to marry me without a ring, now can I?" Spike grinned smoothly as he took the ring with one hand, using the other to gently grip her wrist as he slid the little ring on to her finger.

Tears welled up in Luna's eyes, her right hand moving up to cover her mouth as she nearly gasped, watching as he slid the little gold band on over her finger.

The tears overflowed and she jumped up on her tip toes, aggressively kissing Spike over and over again as she gasped and sniffled, peppering his lips and cheeks with fast, wet kisses before she threw her arms tightly around his waist.

Spike grinned. "Is that a yes?"

"Yes damnit, yes!" Luna sniffled as she nuzzled her face into his chest, wiping the tears off onto his tight, black t-shirt.

Spike smiled fondly down at her, his arms firmly hugging her into his body.

"I love you." He whispered.

"I know." She replied.

Again she kissed him, her hands moving up to cup his face as she passionately kissed his lips. Spike returned the kiss with the same intense heat which she was radiating, his hands moving up as he slowly unzipped her jumpsuit pants, pulling them open.

Luna gasped as Spike gripped her thighs, pulling her up onto the edge of the workbench as he pushed his face between her legs. Luna sucked in a breath, her delicate fingers lacing tightly into Spike's hair as she felt his warm, wet tongue flick over the hot mound of her bald little cunt.

"Oh Spike!" She hissed as Spike pushed his tongue out as far as it would go, moving his head slowly up and down as he lapped and licked at her bald, glistening slit. His tongue flicked in and out of his mouth, firmly lashing her as the girl cried out in delight, squirming around the workbench as she was orally serviced.

"Fuck!" Luna gasped, her toes curling tightly as she felt two fingers slide knuckle deep inside of her. Spike moved his mouth up, clamping it down over her soft mound as he began to erratically suck at her throbbing little clit, his tongue rapidly brushing back and forth against it as his fingers twisted and curled, firmly rubbing her g-spot from the inside.

"FUCK!" Luna repeated, this time with a shriek of delight as she tossed her head back, withering around under Spike's touch, his hot little tongue slithering around her most sensitive areas.

Spike only grinned and began to twist his wrist around, pumping his fingers in and out of her tasty brown pussy as he happily lapped up her sweet, delicious, juices. "Mmmmm!!" He hummed, the vibrations tickling Luna's cunt, threatening to push her over the edge as she gasped again. She arched her back, her toes curling as she gripped the edges of the workbench, her eyes shut tight, face contorted in a twisted mask of pleasure.

Suddenly her body jerked, stiffening as a powerful wave of sheer pleasure washed over her from head to toe, causing her body to shudder as she cried out. Her cunt gushing warm, clear fluid as Spike worked her up into a powerful, convulsing orgasm.

Gradually, Spike slowed the movements of his fingers and tongue, pulling his hand back, practically soaked to the wrist as he licked his lips and looked at the sprawled Luna. She was lying on the workbench, heaving for breath, the grim on her face mixing with the sweat and running down her cheeks in muddy rivulets.

"Was it good for you?" Spike chuckled, leaning over as he gently brushed warm, soft kisses across her left thigh.

"Divine." Luna sighed.

There was a sharp hiss and then a crackle and series of loud pops as the two quickly turned around to see a shower of sparks flying from the crystal core of the walking eye as it ruptured. The torch that had been idling burned into the lens, causing it to fracture and then explode in a magnificent shower of dark red sparks.

Spike looked down at Luna, scratching the back of his head. "Err sorry, I guess we got carried away."

Luna sighed, blowing the hair from her eyes. "Its alright. Between you and me, the damn thing barely worked anyway."

* * *

The deafening pops and cracks of machine gun and rifle fire echoed in the streets around the capital building. After the Angaran troops had secured the city, they had set up roadblocks and fortified positions throughout the city to police the rebellious citizens. Around the government district were fences of tightly packed razor wire surrounding sandbag bunkers and sniper's nests.

Every approach to the government center was covered by the fortifications, squads of occupation troops bunkered down and keeping watch. To say that quelling the unrest was difficult would be a gross understatement. Since practically the eve of the initial invasion, the average civilian citizens had formed packs of tenacious guerilla fighters. Using their weapons and their knowledge of their homeland, the guerillas had thus far landed blow, after devastating blow to the soldiers from Angara.

Blowing up supply caches, sniping officers and any incalculable number of acts of sabotage and mayhem.

The patrols had been returning to the makeshift base at he government house when the truck was boldly hit by a rocket attack from a nearby building. The truck and the soldiers were obliterated and the machine gun nests opened fire. Peppering the streets and nearby building fronts as resistance fighters fired into the barricade, keeping the soldiers pinned down.

"What the fuck was that?!" One of the soldiers gasped, raking a line of automatic fire across the mouth of a nearby alleyway as he frantically looked around.

"What? Where?!" Another asked, peering over the pile of sandbags as he tried to find a target.

"I seen something! Something is out there!" The jump machine gunner replied, swiveling the sights of his gun around as he watched for the blur of movement to appear again.

"There are a lot of things out there, take your pick and fire you fucking idiot!" The rifleman barked back.

The rifleman shook his head and turned, bringing the barrel of his weapon up over the barricade as he seen a shimmering black movement out in the dark patches of the street that the spotlights hadn't covered.

Suddenly a black shape darted out of the cover of darkness, the men in the nest opening fire into the black mass of flowing fabric as it bolted forward and leapt high up in air. Seemingly unfazed by the hail of high caliber gun fire, the figure leapt effortlessly over the razor wire and sandbags, landing in the middle of the nest between the half a dozen men.

Before the first one could even spin around to open fire, the black clag figure swiped out with a gleaming black blade of curved steel. The arc swept out, opening the throats of all the men from left to right, even decapitating a man in the center who hadn't been hugging the wall of the sandbag bunker.

They fell into gurgling, convulsing heaps as a copious sea of blood spread out across the floor of the emplacement and began to drip down the steps leading down. The figure jerked his wrist, the blade flicking a splatter of blood off onto the black and tan uniforms of the soldiers.

"These Angarans fight like little girls. Er no offense." Came a voice from behind the black, shapeless steel mask at the face of the black-cloaked and armored Phantom.

"None taken, I am a Lady. Or need I remind you of that fact later, Master?" A voice that only the Phantom could hear via magical crystal replied.

"Tell them its safe to move up, the southern nest is clear. I am going to finish the secondary objectives and then mosey on out of here." With that the Phantom turned and bolted into a nearby building, a barracks that housed occupation troops as small squads of the guerillas advanced and began placing explosive charges inside of the barricades and fortifications.

Bright yellow eyes darted beneath the mask as the Phantom walked down the rows of bunks, watching for any sign of a trap or hidden danger. He could only sense one other person inside the room and that was in the locked room at the back of the building.

The Phantom strolled up to the armored, bulletproof steel door and effortless kicked it off of its hinges. The massive door falling to the floor with a loud crash and leaving the frame a warped, twisted mess of bent steel and busted screws and hinges.

Lying in a bed, and hooked up to a number of life support machines and monitors was Nicholas Frost. His body was pale, almost as white as the crisp, clean sheets he was lying on, but for all intents and purposes, the tough son of a bitch was still alive. The Phantom rushed over to the bed and scowled beneath his mask.

"He's alive. And its worse than we heard. I don't think we can move him without killing him." The Phantom hissed, looking over the monitors and machines keeping the steel-nerved Blade of Ice perched on his mortal coil.

"The tuck is out front, let the medics handle it." The female voice replied.

Black clothed and masked men rushed into the room, the medic team surrounding the unconscious Blade of Ice as they surveyed the array of machines keeping him alive. They produced small bags containing the same machines, just smaller and intended for use by field medics. They collected the IV drip and then switched over the respirator and heart monitor before carefully, but quickly rolling the gurney out of the room.

Another group of men brought in a fresh corpse on a second gurney and hooked it up to the machines before placing charges along one wall of the room. The Phantom held up his fist and then men rushed out, the truck speeding off into the night as the guerillas faded back into the darkness just as quickly as they had appeared.

"Give it a minute-thirty and light this place up. Let it all look like a random, tragic bombing." The Phantom spoke into the crystal dashing over to the nearest building and leaping up to grip a high-set window seal, using it to vault himself up to the roof above the third story before he bolted off into the darkness of the night.

Another figure stood on the balcony of a large bell tower rising up off the rear of a centuries-old stone church several blocks away. "This unholy creature is a blight in the eyes of God." The man hissed, his square jaw tightening angrily as he watched the figure of the Phantom dashing across rooftops through his infrared scope.

Then man with the scope and another figure standing to his right both flinched suddenly, shielding their eyes as a series of concussive explosions erupted at the southern checkpoint, coils of smoke and flame rising high into the night sky and casting the nearby buildings in a hellish, orange glow.

"Brother Alistair has already dispatched someone from the church. Before the week is out we shall see the death of Wesley Barak and with him, the mobs of heathens he controls." The second man grinned a humorless smile, his perfect white teeth glinting in the moonlight.

"God's will shall be done, and this creature will die!" The man with the scope snarled, a fevered anticipation gleaming in his dark eyes as they reflected the coils of smoke and flame below.

* * *

The Phantom rolled in through the open skylight above the third floor of Molly's Tavern and landed silently in the dimly lit room, sighing as he yanked back his hood and armored mask. His face had a light sheen of sweat and his hair was matted with the salty moisture as he ran his hand back through it.




Desoul Bk. 03 Vol. 01



"Did they make it?" Blade asked, turning towards the only source of light in the room, save the skylight. A small, red candle burning on a table beside the bed. It gave off a warm, red glow and the sweet scent of cinnamon as the light flicked over the figure on the bed, keeping most of it in shadow.

"Kirah confirmed it. It's Frost and he's alive, though that's not saying much." Elise sighed, shifting around in the shadows on the bed. "Hypothermia from the freezing cold salt water and he had a number of bullet wounds, broken ribs and damaged organs. Kirah doesn't know when or even if he will wake up."

Blade scowled as he removed the light plates of armor and dropped them onto the floor, leaving him in a pair of ribbed, almost skin tight black pants as he scooped up the pile of clothing and armor and carried it to a nearby trunk.

He pulled off the sword and scabbard that was strapped across his back and moved over to a small shrine situated in one corner of the room. Reverently he placed the sheathed blade on a hand-carved wooden stand and then picked up a small wooden box, also hand carved, and produced a long stick of incense.

He lit the stick and stuck one end of it into a small basin filled with white sand, blowing out the flame to watch the rich, white smoke coil upwards over the weapons and armor arranged above it.

"Come to bed." Elise called softly, he could hear her patting the soft, plush blankets from across the room.

The night was freezing cold outside, and the thought of the warmth she offered under those thick blankets had him stirring. But, he had to resist for the moment..

"I'm dirty. I need a shower..." Blade turned, grinning across the room at her.

"I don't care... Come keep me warm." Elise said softly, shifting on the bed.

"Bullshit." He grinned broadly. "Some women would be set squirming and wiggling and groaning at the smell of sweat and leather and steel, but I know you. No love unless I wash all the man stink off." He chuckled as he walked towards the shower, hearing her huff in the shadows, no doubt pouting.

It was true though, she preferred him freshly bathed over smelling of blood, sweat and death in general. He didn't want to pounce on her now only to have her kick him out of bed to the shower afterwards when he'd rather go straight to sleep.

Blade sighed as the torrent of hot, soothing water washed over his naked form. Clouds of steam puffed up and rose around him as the grime and sweat was washed clean, the hot water breathing warm energy into his stiff, cold muscles. He was actually surprised when several minutes at passed and she hadn't snuck in to join him. He figured she was upset over his initial refusal to join her and stepped out of the stall, toweling the strands of his dirty blonde hair dry before pulling on a pair of loose-fitting sleep pants.

He was still toweling of his hair when he exited the bathroom, seeing Elise perched on the edge of their bed, a small comm crystal cupped in her hands. The pale light from the crystal practically flashed like a strobe light as whoever was sending the communication talked up a storm.

"Wait what? What?! Slow down Luna! You are talking way too fast sweetheart." Elise blinked, almost feeling dizzy as the little crystal flashed, her attention divided between the distraction and her attempt to pick words out of frantic stream of gibberish. 

"What's wrong?" Blade asked, worry evident in his voice as he tossed the towel back into the bathroom and quickly walked over to the bed to join her.

"OHMYGODIMGETTINGMARRIEDFUCKINGMARRIEDHEPROPOSEDOHMYGODICANTBLIEVEIT!!" The crystal hummed and threatened to jump from Elise's grasp as Blade sat down beside her, scowling and almost flinching as the onslaught of words assaulted his ears.

"You're getting hairy?" Elise furrowed her brow, confused.

"Spike got some cheese so he can eat it?" Blade blinked rapidly.

"Must be some good cheese..." Elise scowled, again trying to pick out a single coherent word, and struggling with the effort.

There was a pause and they could hear Luna panting for breath before the crystal suddenly shrieked, Blade and Elise flinching at the sudden high-pitched scream.

"WE'RE GETTING MARRIED!"

Elise and Blade both turned to look at one another before the words sunk in, both replying in unison. "MARRIED?!"

"YES! MARRIED! DO I STUTTER?!" Luna screamed happily.

The crystal dampened a lot of the pitch, but they were both grateful they weren't there to experience the ear-piercing shriek first hand.

"Who the hell proposes at 4 in the bloody morning?" Blade scowled, watching the small sliver of crystal resting in the palm of Elise's hand.

"MY HUSBAND YOU BIG STUPID HEAD!" Luna replied, still talking rapidly, but managing to be somewhat coherent. "HE GOT ME A RING WITH A RUBY! A HEART RUBY! AND AND AND..."

"Alright that's enough, you need to sleep." Came Spike's voice over the comm.

"You broke Luna didn't you? Do you have any idea how scare spare parts are?" Blade grinned.

"She's been doing this for half an hour now. Woke up half the bloody Kingdom." Spike sighed.

"So you're getting married?!" Elise exclaimed excitedly.

"FUCKING MARRIED!" Luna's voice came back, and Elise let out an involuntary yelp of delight as she wiggled around excitedly. Blade was sure that if Luna were here now in person that the two would jumping up and down.

Blade perked a brow. "Great now you got my wife screaming."

"Its time for bed damnit!" Spike growled.

"Hey fuck you pal! You don't own me! This ring is a symbol of how I own your ass, I make the rules now!" Luna cackled with obvious delight.

"It's true Spike, you should-" Elise began but Blade cut her off before she could finish.

"Alright, enough of this bloody insurrection! Spike call us tomorrow, and if Luna doesn't go to sleep just whack her on the top of the head. That seems to work." Blade frowned, plucking the crystal from a protesting Elise's hand.

"Hey you aren't my-" Luna began but Blade chucked the crystal across the room, the shard and braided leather thong landing in a pile of neatly folded laundry.

"Outright mutinous." Blade scowled, shifting his gaze over to Elise.

She batted her eyes, looking genuinely innocent. "M-me?"

"Yes you!" Blade smiled and leaned over, kissing her firmly on the cheek, Elise responding by leaning into the contact.

There was a silence between them for several long moments as the two poured over what had just happened. Slowly, they looked to one another before Elise spoke. "He's getting married huh...?"

"It was bound to happen sooner or later..." Blade let a smile stretch across his lips and he wrapped an arm around Elise's waist, the little elf scooting a few inches closer to sit hip-to-hip with her Master and Husband.

"Why does that suddenly make me feel old? Seems like just yesterday he was following me all around the Castle..." Elise leaned her head on Blade's shoulder, smiling fondly at very old memories that were, for change, pleasant.

"You? My oldest daughter is the Princess of the Underworld factions, my other daughter leads the Order I founded centuries ago and not to mention the three boys... My God we ARE old." Blade sighed heavily at the realization.

Elise held out her left hand, palm facing outward as she gently twisted the gold band around her ring finger. "How come my ring doesn't have a ruby?" She asked playfully with a mock pout on her lips.

Blade leaned in close, putting his mouth beside her ear, his warm breath causing her skin to pleasantly prickle as he spoke. "Because your ring is attached to something far more precious than any stone."

Elise flushed red at that and squirmed around like a young maiden who was about to be kissed for the very first time. "Oh Master..." She sighed quietly, her hands clutching the hem of her green satin nightgown.

Smiling warmly, Blade reached up and gently lifted the small elf's chin, tilting her head up as he leaned in and softly kissed her on the lips.

Their lips brushed together and Elise opened her mouth slightly, letting her tongue swipe over her Master's lips as she leaned into him, softly closing her eyes.

Her firm, satin covered breasts pushed against Blade's bare flesh, causing him to let out of a soft sigh of delight as they continued to kiss. Slowly Elise ran her hand over the flat of Blade's stomach before dipping it under the band of his pants, grasping the hard, aching flesh she found there.

Without prompting, Elise licked her lips and leaned down, pulling her Master's stiff cock free from the cloth confines of it's pants as she wrapped her silky soft lips around the tip. Slowly she moved her head up and down, her tongue swirling around the tip before she began to audibly suck.

Letting out a soft gasp, Blade let his hand slide across her back, savoring the feeling of her warm, satin-covered flesh as he moved a hand up to cup a large, firm breast. Elise continued to move her head up and down, moaning around a mouthful of her Master's cock as his fingers flicked roughly over the gold barbell pierced into the dark flesh of her nipple.

She skillfully swallowed his throbbing cock down to the base, her hot, slippery tongue flicking out to taste his smooth shaven balls, causing him to gasp out loud.

"Ahh!" Blade licked his lips, and withered around on the bed, his thumb and index finger pinching the golden bar in her nipple as he playfully twisted it back and forth.

This pulled a soft moan from Elise's lips and spurred her on, the little elf rapidly bobbing her head up and down. Her soft, pink lips wrapped tightly around her Master's sensitive shaft, giving it a firm, wet massage as he tongue frantically lapped at every inch of exposed, sensitive flesh.

One soft hand moved down, her fingers impossibly warm as she cupped his balls and lightly stroked them, giving the tight, warm sack a firm squeeze as she continued noisily sucking him off.

"Fuck!" Blade hissed, one hand clutching her firm, rough breast through the satin nightgown, the other moving up to grip a handful of her dark brown curls as he began rapidly pushing her head up and down on his lap. His toes curled slightly, a series of moans and gasps escaping his lips as the little elf skillfully sucked, her hot little hand still pawing urgently at his heavy balls as he felt his orgasm mounting.

Suddenly he came, letting out a soft growl as his cock spurt several, thick, hot jets of creamy cum into her waiting mouth. Elise continued to suck, moaning as the hot cum flooded her mouth, his her hands still working at his balls as they tightened, spraying load after load into her willing, eager mouth.

Once he had finished, Blade sighed and fell back onto the bed, his hands moving up to cover his face as he sucked in a breath. Elise swished the sperm around in her mouth, savoring the taste for several moments before she swallowed it.

Smiling contentedly, Elise crawled up on the bed beside her Master, nuzzling her body against his as he draped a warm arm over her, the two quickly falling asleep.

"Don't sugar coat it for me Lady K, how is he?" Karyn asked Kirah via the crystal draped around her neck. The Blade of Desoul was sitting with her legs folded underneath her in the bay window at the rear of her office. She was looking out over the training grounds below as the various Blades and Initiates went about their morning drills. 

"He must have found something worthwhile to have gotten shot as many times as he did. The strange thing is, I don't see any sign of a struggle or any kind of a hand-to-hand fight. I just don't see anyone getting the drop on Nicholas like that." Kirah's voice came back over the link. 

"Shot nearly a dozen times, several broken ribs from the impacts. Major blood loss, hypothermia from floating around in the goddamned Imperial Sea..." 

"I'm short on time Kirah." Karyn sighed. 

She knew Kirah was drawing it out to make a point, Frost after all had been a labor of love on her part with the years and years of attention Kirah had personally put into the man's training. Besides, it was Frost. He was family to them in all but name.

"To put it bluntly: Its nothing short of a fucking miracle that he is alive, considering the Angarans used conventional, scientific medicine on him. We have a magical healer that will be here by the end of the day, with luck, Frost will wake up and tell us what happened. And hopefully, he'll be tear-assing around again in a few weeks." Kirah summarized as Karyn sighed gratefully. 

"Well that's relatively good news at least." Karyn said, her gaze sweeping the training grounds below. 

"Something the matter? Well, more so than usual?" Kirah asked. 

"Between you and me Kirah, I have a damned bad feeling about all of this." Karyn replied, biting her lip for a moment quite involuntarily. 

"I'm sure Frost will be fine, once he wakes up and we find out who did this, I will handle it personally." Kirah added, putting a particularly venomous emphasis on the personally part.

"It's not that Kirah, its something deeper... Darker, lurking in the background somewhere. Something very, very bad is coming and I don't know if we'll be ready to handle it." Karyn clenched her jaw for a moment and then sighed. Trying to push the dark thoughts and feelings from her mind, her body gradually relaxed, but not quite all the way. 

"That's dire talk, coming from you. Elise is the one that is suppose to have a brief, vivid image of the future and then vomit and pass out, not you." 

"After what happened with those creatures... I've immersed myself in a deeper form of training that dad wrote about in his journals. I've been reading the scriptures, meditating, pushing myself harder and harder. I feel attuned to this power I've never quite felt before, I think it's the divinity in the bloodline manifesting itself. It's given this Blade a new edge if you forgive the horrible pun."

"It was horrible, leave the jokes to Spike, Gods know he nothing else to live for." Kirah sighed.

"I knew your father back then, the type of things he did, the entire settlements he wiped out. I mean lets not even mention the fact that he more or less exterminated the entire Order of Desoul only to rebuild it a few generations later. I was there, I seen the darkness that gripped him and controlled him. Then the patron God of Desoul Temple slaps him on the top of the head with a big glowing club of pure divine energy and makes your father his Avatar. Completely removes the taint of being an evil bastard and imbues him with all that power. Frankly I am surprised all of you weren't born with halos and massive, translucent wings." 

Karyn chuckled at that, Kirah as always was the best when it came to knowing what to say, and more importantly, when to say it. "Its there in all of us, I think you have to open yourself up the wellspring, learn to listen to it, accept it before you can start drinking up what it has to offer." 

There was a long pause and Kirah sighed softly before finally speaking again. "I'll contact you later to let you know what the healer says." 

"I'm sure he'll be fine... And Kirah? Thank you." Karyn smiled faintly as she released the crystal and looked down once more, leaning heavily against the window seal before closing her eyes, slipping deep into another trance. 

* * *

"Tell me again why you aren't keeping Nathan in the loop on any of this?" Kirah asked, turning on her stool away from Frost to stare at Blade who was standing on the small, vine-encrusted stone balcony that overlooked the distant seaport below. 

The cool breeze plucked at the loose folds of Blade's clothing as he watched the fleet a mile out from shore, sitting, waiting. Quite uncharacteristically, he was wearing a very dark pair of black pinstriped pants with black boots and a simple white button-up dress shirt that was of course partially unbuttoned. 

"I don't want to sound like a magnificent prick, but I don't know him." Blade said, turning from the view below to face her as he leaned back against the stone railing. 

"Well you are a magnificent prick. But I suppose you are right... I fought beside him though Master. He's more than capable of doing what needs to be done. We raised him, we all did the best we could without you here." 

"He's fine where he is, running the Empire is an important job and Conrad, Spike and Karyn have talents that are needed elsewhere. I need Nathan where he is, running the day to day business. He doesn't need to know every little detail of what we are doing out here." Blade frowned. 

"Have you even talked to him since you recovered?" Kirah asked, keeping her tone civil. She wasn't afraid about confronting her Master about, well, anything. In fact it was her job to point things out when she thought he was taking a less than prudent course of action, but even still, she was careful with her tone. 

Blade folded his arms across his chest, shaking his head ever so slightly as he spoke. "He's a grown man Kirah. He has a sword, he's spilt blood, fought in a war for fuck's sake. For all intents he even kicked my ass, albeit by proxy, that's still a crowning achievement right there. What words could I possibly offer him that would make any difference now?"

"You're his father and he deserves your trust. You didn't turn your back on Spike and that kid was an asshat. You just haven't had time to get to know him, or even speak to him outside of his coma." Kirah propped her elbows up on the black pant-covered knees, resting her chin on her hands as she watched her Master, her soft, mocha colored eyes not leaving his. 

"He's made it this long without me..." Blade said, closing his eyes as he sighed heavily. 

"That doesn't mean a damn thing and you know it. I will, as always, follow your lead. But please consider using the boy, he's more than capable, and I know he wont let you down." 

Blade opened his eyes and moved slowly over to Kirah, cupping her face gently in his hands as he leaned down to where she was seated and gave her a warm, firm kiss on the lips. "Everything in its due time."

Kirah smiled up at her Master and nodded as Blade pulled on a well-worn looking dark brown leather jacket over his white shirt. "I'll let you know when he wakes up." Kirah said, swiveling the stool around to face the bed in the corner where Frost lie motionless, still hooked up to life support. 

"I'm going to spend some time with Elise, and rest up for the patrol tonight." Blade said, heading for the door. 

"Hunting for anything special Master?" Kirah called after him. 

"I've found that when you break an officer's neck, it gives you the most satisfying crunch." Blade grinned darkly as he headed out. 

* * *

"Well if I would have known you'd be here pissing on my lawn, I would have stayed and fucked Kirah." Blade narrowed his eyes, entering the spacious loft two floors above Molly's Tavern near the city's center. 

Elise, her pale skin slick with sweat was clutching at twin handfuls of the bed sheets. Her tight, shapely ass up in the air, her face down in the pillows muffling her constant moans as a likewise nude and sweaty Luna viciously fucked her from behind. 

Luna's clit was magically augmented, via the spell helix tattooed around her navel. Her cock formed into a thick, shapely and fully functional cock, she was buried down to the hilt inside of Elise's pink, glistening little asshole. Luna's tanned cock slid effortlessly in and out, the small tanned girl roughly fucking the little elf, her hips grinding around at the bottom of every thrust. 

Slowly, Elise turned her head on the pillow to face Blade, her almost copper-colored brown hair matted with sweat and plastered across her face as Luna fucked her. Each rough thrust jolted Elise's body forward again and again, the soft flesh of her tight little ass rippling from the impacts as her large, pierced breasts swayed beneath her. 




Desoul Bk. 03 Vol. 01



The idea of being watched by her Master excited the little elf even more, and she deliberately moaned louder, suddenly wrapping her elastic little asshole tightly closed around Luna's cock. A pleasant jolt of near-orgasmic pleasure surged through Elise's tight, bald little cunt as she cried out, pushing her hips back to meet each thrust, causing Luna to grip the little elf's hips even tighter. 

"Take it bitch! Take it!" Luna grunted through clenched teeth as she leaned over Elise. Her slippery, sweaty breasts pressed against Elise's back as her hands darted under Elise's body, gripping the large, pierced mounds of flesh and squeezing them roughly. 

Their bodies ground into one another, both girls moaning out loudly as Luna threw her back into the effort, slamming her cock back and forth inside of Elise as fast and hard as she was capable of from that position. 

Elise let out a high-pitched whine of pleasure as she came, her cunt and ass clenching visibly as her body trembled with the pleasant, overpowering rush of her climax. 

Luna simply couldn't handle the sudden tightness and contractions and grunted loudly before crying out with a loud moan as she too came. The thick, magical cock spurted out load after load into Elise's well fucked and willing ass, the thick, white magical seed seeping out of the little elf's ass around Luna's cock. 

After several long, shuddering moments Luna sighed and rolled off the elf, sprawling out on the bed beside her as she shut her eyes tightly, panting for breath. 

"You're getting married right?" Blade asked suddenly from the large, very deep arm chair near the side of the bed. 

"Yessss." Luna hissed, staring dazed up at the ceiling. 

"To Spike?" Blade asked again. 

"Yessss." Was again, Luna's answer. 

"Yet you come by every day and help me fuck my wife?" Blade perked a brow. 

"What's your point?" Luna asked, rolling slightly to the side to face him. 

"Nothing, just don't expect me to return the favor." Blade shrugged, sinking comfortably back into his chair as he tightly closed his eyes. 

Blade felt a moist warmth pressing against his lap as Elise climbed up onto him, her slender arms snaking around her Master's shoulders as she leaned in and very deliberately began planting warm, feather-light kisses all up and down the side of his neck.  

He immediately groaned and began to squirm around as she exploited his most sensitive weakness, her pursed, pink lips brushing lightly over his flesh as she paused to softly blow in his ear. 

"You're bad..." Blade growled playfully, shifting beneath her but making no effort to get away. 

"Because you trained me that way." Was her whispered reply. She continued to kiss at his neck, pausing to lightly suckle just below his ear and further down at the joint where the shoulder met the neck. Slowly, her fingers deftly plucked open the buttons of his shirt one by one as she kissed him. Her hands pushing under the soft white fabric and moving across his chest, spreading a pleasant warmth across his torso as her thumbs playfully brushed over his nipples. 

"I'm already dripping Master..." She hissed in a hot, excited breath. "Where would you like to put it?" 

She was cut short as Blade's large, powerful hand darted up and gripped the little elf tightly by the throat, the sudden jolt of fear and mild pain causing her to shudder with delight, a trickle of fresh excitement dripping from her cunt and onto his lap. 

Blade merely gripped her throat, his thumb slowly putting pressure on the slender elf's windpipe, slowing, but not severing the airflow as he tilted his head to the side to look at Luna. Luna was sprawled out on the bed, her limbs out in all directions as if she had fallen onto the bed and was unable to move, save for the effort of lighting a cigarette which she frantically puffed on. Her chest still rising and falling quickly as she lay sprawled in the rippling pleasure of her magically enhanced orgasm. 

"Get off your lazy ass. If you want to learn how to really use a woman like she is nothing more than a piece of soft, supple fuck meat, then come learn at the feet of the Master." Blade said to Luna as he leaned up and pressed his lips hard to Elise's, the elf moaning loudly into the kiss as she began to wriggle around on her Master's lap. 

Already her delicate, pale skin was flushed a shade of dark red as he Master choked her. Elise rarely pondered the topic of why she enjoyed the asphyxiation play so much. Whether it was the delicate squeeze that her Master was applying now or outright being strangled half way to death and all the way to orgasm. She simply enjoyed the act, and that was enough. 

"Put your hands up behind your head whore." Blade instructed, that magical word, 'whore' sending another pleasant jolt through the elf's sensitive cunt. 

Blade reached down beside the chair and produced a very small length of plush, velvet cotton rope and used it to tightly bind Elise's wrists together where she held them just behind her head. Grinning, he reached down and unbuckled his belt, slowly sliding the length of braided black leather free of the belt loops before he draped it over her shoulders and looped it around her neck like a leash. 

Elise trembled with the anticipation, her chest rising and falling steadily, stray rivulets of sweat occasionally cascading down over her glistening breasts to drip onto her Master's bare stomach. She remained in that position on his lap, her back straight, chin held up proudly even as was she bound and leashed like an animal. 

From behind, Luna could see Elise's glistening pink holes throbbing and winking with anticipation, and despite herself, Luna dipped a hand between her own thighs and began to firmly rub herself, watching the proceedings for now, until it was her time to join in. 

Reaching up, Blade slowly cupped Elise's right breast, slowly squeezing the large, supple globe of her flesh. His fingers digging firmly into her soft flesh before he released her and lashed out; slapping her breast hard, his hand slapping her flesh with a loud clap and leaving behind a dark red handprint. 

"Thank you Sir!" Elise hissed at the impact, her body tensing slightly, though she didn't dare flinch. 

"See that Luna? She said thank you. Such a polite girl." Blade said, fingers lightly caressing the impossibly smooth flesh of her soft breast before lashing out again, slapping the breast even harder and leaving yet another bright handprint on pale canvas of her flesh. 

"Thank you Sir!" Elise cried out, biting her lip. Her cunt twitched with anticipation, her silky depths contracting eagerly as she yearned to be filled by her Master's cock.

"Come play with her tits Luna." Blade instructed as he dropped a hand down, his finger tips gently tracing up and down Elise's inner thigh as he grinned. "We're going to play with you now... Keep your back straight, head up and arms where they are. If you flinch or bend your body at all we'll take your reward away and punish you. Understand?"

"Yes Sir." Elise nodded, half closing her eyes and smiling as Blade leaned up, kissing her gently on the lips.

Luna reached around, her hands cupping Elise's breasts hard, her fingers pulling at the rings in the girl's dark brown nipples. She slowly rolled the soft flesh in her fingers, squeezing and kneading her supple breasts, pulling moans and coos from Elise's pursed lips. 

Pushing his hand down between her legs, Blade licked his lips as her cupped the silken smooth, hairless mound of Elise's cunt, grinding his palm firmly into her clit as two fingers slipped inside the dripping passage of her hot, pink little cunt. 

Elise gasped, her mouth half opened as she moaned, her pale cheeks flushing pink. Her brown nipples stiffening to diamond hard peaks under Luna's skilled hands. 

Blade's fingers curled around inside of Elise's slippery cunt, firmly brushing back and forth over her g-spot, the little elf letting out a squeal of delight. She shuddered but maintained her posture, resisting the urge to squirm around as she cried out over and over again, her breath quickening.

"I'm cumming Master! Ugh may I cum please?! Master can I cum?" Elise begged body trembling as Luna roughly pinched and tugged at the elf's dark brown nipples, Blade's fingers moving faster and faster in response. 

Elise squirmed around, her hips grinding into her Master's hand, Luna's rough, pawing hands leaving behind red marks on Elise's pale breasts as she bit her lip. Blade just grinned, his palm grinding around in a circular motion on her clit, the little elf's cheeks and neck flushing pink as she tried to hold her orgasm back. 

"Cum! Cum now you little whore!" Blade said suddenly, driving his fingertips hard into her g-spot putting a delightfully painful bit of pressure on the sensitive nerves.

Elise practically squealed as she came, her cunt gushing streams of warm, clear fluid as her Master fingered her, Luna's hand squeezing her soft breasts painfully hard. Panting for breath, Elise went slack, falling forward onto Blade's chest, her hands clutching at his shoulders as she struggled to catch her breath. 

Blade smiled and reached up, brushing the silken strands of her dark brown hair to one side as he leaned in and tenderly kissed her on the lips. 

"I'm sorry..." Elise muttered, pouting up at her Master. "It felt so good I almost fainted..." She said sheepishly. "W-will you punish me?"

Blade merely kissed her again, still smiling down at her. "Oh I think if you can take our cocks in your warm little pussy at the same time it will be punishment enough."

He gestured to Luna and let out a soft moan as she tugged and twisted on her clit, extending it into a stiff, glistening, cock. She slowly stroked herself, with one hand, the other reached up to tweak her left nipple as she watched Elise reach down and grip her Master's thick cock, guiding it to the glistening opening of her tight cunt. 

Elise sighed as she sunk down on his length, his cock filling her with its pulsating thickness as she idly ground her hips back and forth. Elise leaned forward, Blade reaching behind her to grip the soft, supple flesh of the little elf's ass, spreading her open and giving Luna an unobstructed view of his glistening cock plugging the elf's cunt. 

"Room for one more, come on in..." He grinned, holding her open on display like that, caused Elise to blush but, the heat in the tight, silken folds of her cunt felt even hotter. 

Luna bit her lip as she gripped the base of her cock, angling it up against Elise's spread cunt, struggling to push tip inside before she leaned forward, her cock slipping inside against her Master's. Her cock slid deep inside, not stopping until it rested head-to-head with Blade's cock, causing all three of them to moan. 

Tilting his head up, Blade caught one of Elise's dark, pierced nipples with his lips, his tongue flicking over the stiff flesh as he sucked her into his mouth. Elise's fingers moved up, curling through Blade's hair as she gripped his head, pushing her breasts against his face as she moaned and cooed. 

Groaning happily, Luna began moving her hips almost immediately, Elise's cunt was warm and tight as usual, but the added sensation of grinding against another cock was adding an even more intense feeling of pleasure. 

Blade followed suit, still gripping Elise's soft little ass as he began to thrust back and forth, his cock pushing deeper inside of her as Luna's cock slid back. The two cocks grinding together inside of the elf as they worked in unison, one thrusting in as the other thrust out.

"So tight!" Blade growled, pushing his hips roughly upwards, his mouth constantly assaulting the elf's breasts and nipples with nibbles, bites, licks and kisses. He was obviously enjoying himself. 

Elise cried out again and again, her cunt dripping liquid excitement over both of their cocks to show how much she was enjoying herself. "You're stretching me out! Ahh your cocks are so big!" She cooed happily, breathing hard as she was pinned under the dual assault of their cocks. 

"Ahh shit this feels pretty good..." Luna bit her lip, trying to steel herself against the intensity of the exquisite sensations. "I've done plenty of DP but this is first time in the same hole, so fucking good!" Luna moved her hips hard and harder, fucking the little slave elf deeper.

Blade reached out, slapping Elise hard across the ass, the soft flesh rippling under the impact as the little elf clenched her cunt tightly around the two cocks. "Ah fuck!" She cried out, Blade sucking hard at her left nipple, teeth playfully grinding against soft flesh. 

"Mmm do you like that little girl?" Blade grinned up at Elise, who nodded frantically. She leaned down, their lips meeting in a hard kiss. Blade's tongue snaking playfully into her mouth as he reached around, his middle finger slowly pushing into her pink little asshole. 

This caused Elise to shudder and groan loudly into her Master's mouth, his finger roughly twisting from side to side as the two cocks worked in unison to fuck her little cunt nice and hard. 

"Urgh I'm gonna cum!" Luna announced, rocking her hips forward quickly, groaning out with delight as she fucked the elf's tight, pink pussy harder and harder. 

Matching her enthusiasm, Blade sped up as well, breaking the kiss with Elise as he kissed roughly a down her neck to her shoulder, sinking his fangs lightly into her soft flesh. He growled loudly, Luna tossing her head back and crying out in pleasure as she came, her thick, magical cock spurting powerful burst after burst of thick, creamy cum into Elise's tight little cunt. 

Blade cried out as well, his cock swelling excitedly as it was coated with a copious amount of Luna's seed, his balls tightening suddenly as he came hard inside of her. His cock exploding with a powerful torrent of cum that splashed around the walls of the little elf's cunt, not to mention all over the other cock plugging her. 

The three of them collapsed into a sweaty, heaving pile of spent lust, nothing more than a tangle of limbs as they weakly snuggled against one another. Luna lie bent over Elise, her forehead resting against the elf's back as she heaved for breath, hugging the girl tightly from behind. Blade reached up and slowly stroked Elise's hair, kissing her head softly as she rested it against his muscular chest. 

* * *

Mason stood on the bridge of the cargo ship Brutus, his hands clasped behind his back as he stared out of the viewport towards the distant city. The sun was setting into the distant snow-capped mountains and casting a long shadow that stretched out over the city, slowly creeping towards the sea. 

"Ah do no dwell on what happened. Nicholas Frost was a heathen, against the teachings of our Lord. He swung his sword in service to an abomination that mocks all of God's creations. What you did was a service to the Lord young Charles, you should view it as such because you have done a great deed and our Lord God is pleased."

The voice came from behind the black-clad Mason who turned to see the figure of Father Dunkirk standing just a few feet away. A strange smile was pasted onto the lined features of his face much like he always wore, and his flowing robes were, as always, meticulously clean and spot-free. 

Politely, Mason gave a slow bow, holding that posture for a moment before rising his head once more. "I was just enjoying the view and collecting my thoughts, Your Grace." 

"Ah prayer and meditation go hand-in-hand. I am touched at your devotion." Dunkirk grinned again. His voice was soft, almost angelic, the wizened old man wearing a constant smile that would put anyone at ease. All of this of course was a gleaming, polished outside to hide the darkness beneath. 

"I just wish the fighting could end and we could begin taking back what is rightfully ours. But there are so many obstacles in our way. Blade and his cronies are still out there, undermining everything we do." Mason clenched his teeth angrily as he spoke. 

"Do not worry my child, have faith. The hand of the Lord is at work already, someone very special arrived in the city just this morning. I can guarantee you that the vile abomination and his ungodly minions will be dead by dawn. It's just a matter of time." Dunkirk's lips stretched into a thin, predatory grin, his dark eyes gleaming with an almost childish delight. 

"What do you mean?" Mason asked puzzled, his brow furrowing for a moment. 

"A priest who has proven his prowess in slaying many unholy abominations and godless heathens alike and survived many rituals of training and imbuement to rise to the rank of Paladin." Dunkirk's grin was an almost fevered expression now. 

Mason could barely contain his shock, his mouth silently hung half open for several moments before he finally stammered. "A P-paladin?!"

"Yes, Paladin Gregor is in the city hunting the Blade of Desoul. By the end of the night, only one of them shall remain."

Steam wafted around in thick, impenetrable clouds that filled the small, white-tiled bathroom. The hot water flowed from the showerhead and cascaded over Blade's nude figure as he leaned forward against the tiled wall, his head resting on his arm. The pleasant heat soothed his tense muscles, the psychological comfort helping to relax him and relieve his fatigue. 

He hadn't slept in at least two weeks, and even a creature that was as hard and as stubborn as he, needed his rest. Since his return to the world of the conscious living, Blade had taken up residence in the Western Empire. Things hadn't been particularly well in the West over the last century or so, but things finally came to a boil and an outright revolt was kicked up. 

Things got worse however, almost right away the nation of Angara to the north had swept down and occupied the Western Empire with an armed military force. The move baffled Blade. The Angarans were merely using the pretense of a police force for something more sinister, but just what, he couldn't imagine. The Western Empire had been in shambles, their economy driven into the ground and then under it, and then out the other side to top it off. 

It would take a decade or more to rebuild it, and in the end it would just cost too much for the Angarans to ever make a profit it from it. Another thing that stood out was the strategic position. Most of the Western Empire was surrounded by the sea, save the border with Angara at the north, so they weren't occupying the Empire to use it as a staging area against another nation. Just what the hell were they thinking from a strategic standpoint? 

Blade sighed, he had simply chalked it up to the Angarans being a bunch of dicks. The answer seemed to satisfy him for the moment, but he couldn't shake the nagging sensation somewhere off in the background that there was a different game being played, one whose pieces he couldn't see. 

He was so wrapped up in his brooding that didn't hear the sliding glass door leading into the shower stall slide open, nor the small, silent elven feet gently stepping inside behind him. 

"You've been in here for a while. I was almost worried I would come in and find you preening in front of the mirror, damned if I know what I would have done then." Elise smiled as she moved behind Blade, her slender arms hugging his waist as she nuzzled her bare chest against his back. 

"Some of us aren't blessed with natural beauty such as yours. I don't expect you to understand the laborious process of doing my hair, putting on makeup and..." Blade scratched his head. "I'm not feeling creative enough to be a successful smart ass this evening I am afraid." 

"Silly man." She whispered, rising to her tip-toes as she planted a kiss on his cheek. "You need to sleep, this isn't healthy my love, even for you."