Rust Flaked Sunset
Chapter 8: Rusted Introduction
“Overdue. You make it sound like a physical.” Sometimes witty heroine repartee is really easy. Sometimes you wonder why you keep saying incredibly stupid things. This is one of the second kind of moments. “Come on out, Rust!”
“I was already coming, Aurora. You’d think your persistence would have come with some patience.” The double doors open wider, and soon enough standing between them is Rust. It has to be her. Red hair falls over half of her face, obscuring her left eye entirely. Though red is visible all through her waist length hair, it’s mingled with shimmering silver strands. Her right eye is bright, unmarred silver.
Rust’s upper lip is dark red, while the lower is a dark chrome. Her skin is so pale it almost looks like its glowing. It might be – she is magic enough. Is she a LaSilvas and a Nesatealia?!
Miscolored lips curl into a smirk as she reaches into her flowing cloak and withdraws Zandra’s rod. It’s definitely hers, even if the gem capping it is now just as red as her hair. “Not what you expected, niece? There’s so much to say, isn’t there? So much to ask. That mystified expression intrigues me. I’ll humor your curiosity. For a short time, anyway.”
Impractical. Everything about her wardrobe is impractical. Her cloak looks like it would slow her movements and get in her way even with the hood down. Her elbow length gloves wrap only over the middle finger of each hand. While her white tunic clings to her chest to show off every curve way too well, the way the golden trim falls in tattered strips screams something to grasp to take her off her balance. As cute as a skirt can be, it really isn’t great for combat.
Some day I’ll convince Sylvia of that.
I step between Rust and the red barrier containing Sylvia. Even if she has more control over Sylvia’s imprisonment than I do, I don’t like her having a straight shot. “Does your red hair mean what I think it means?”
“Yes. And for free, so does the silver.” Rust slides red and silver painted nails through her hair, lifting the bangs covering her eye only long enough for me to see just how completely red the iris underneath is. “I did call you niece, didn’t I? And unlike your dear ‘auntie’ Yana, our bond is through blood. Though I suppose blood does tie me to my sister, so there you are. She is your aunt, if not so directly.”
Villains who know more about my family than I do is really starting to be pet peeve of mine.
Rust’s boots clear her mid thigh, easily. Those heels must be a huge pain to walk in. I have to assume she can fly, teleport, or do something else magicy. It doesn’t make the choice any less silly but it is something I need to keep in mind.
“I know being your aunt hardly removes the possibility of an encounter between us, but that doesn’t mean you should be staring at my legs.” Zandra’s rod pushes up under my chin, making me look up to Rust’s visible eye. Damn she’s tall. Why does everyone have to be so much taller than me? “I said I’d indulge your curiosity. My meaning? Was with words. I hardly think you of all women need to learn more about how those places work, mm? In that way you’re more like a LaSilvas than your mother. Learning love and lust at home . . .”
“Yana’s sister, huh? That means your mother . . . and . . . but . . . Lida and Yanuka?” It takes longer than I want it to before I can remember Yanuka’s name. She was the second Nesatealia that Sarah met. There’s probably some details she left out, but Yanuka always sounded like one of the most dangerous women she ever faced.
Lida really did lead an exciting life before she settled down with Susan!
Rust rolls her eye, stepping closer so I have to arch my neck even more to keep eye contact. “This is hardly sating curiosity, niece! I’m just confirming things I’ve already told you! Come now. You aren’t really that dim, are you? Yes, they are my mothers, just as Sarah and Olivia were yours. I suggest attempting to regain my interest. You’ve begun to bore me.”
So hard not to let my whole body tense. I know that sparkle in her eye. She’s the one responsible for all of this. Not just this moment right now, but everything. She’s the one who kidnapped Sarah. I need to distract her before pulling my trump card.
Otherwise I think my ace will count as a one.
“Why? Why do this? If you’re powerful enough to keep mom a prisoner for this long, why not corrupt The Wardens yourself?” I keep my eyes as focused on the one of hers I can see, and where the one I cant see must be, as much as possible. She isn’t startled when I close my hand around her rod, but she doesn’t pull it away before I can either.
Instead of pulling back, she moves closer. Her hips brush against my body. She feels . . . warmer than she should. Not like she has a fever, its more like she makes my body feel hot when hers brushes mine. Damn it. My breath quickens, and I try to hide it.
The pleased smirk that her lips curl into feels like she’s looking right into my mind. “I needed a LaSilvas, pure, and untainted. While your magic is hardly strong enough or practiced enough to perform the necessary ritual, Sylvia could never have opened the door. Leora hasn’t been without a Warden or two since Zandra began behaving erratically, so while it would so thrill me to use her for this . . . it was impractical. And I needed at least one of you in my grasp for the next phase of my plan regardless. Two birds, mm? And what lovely birds you are.”
My knees are shaking. I can feel my heart pumping in my ears, louder, each time she even barely brushes against me. She’s toying with me, and she knows it. Metal or not, my body is still getting that more-sensitive-than-it-should-be feeling. Closing my teeth around my bottom lip I add a faint spark of my own to the touch the next time I feel her body.
She doesn’t even gasp.
“Why . . . why would you need . . . You said you needed Sarah to cooperate, she . . . she’s still . . . You couldn’t break her, could you?” I shouldn’t be surprised, but it’s been hard not to worry that if someone bad got their hands on Sarah they’d find a way to break her special light. Somethings only invincible until it isn’t anymore.
All of the amusement drains from Rust’s smirk. Her lips fall flat. Her eyes narrow. “She’s the Light Bearer, dear niece. Of course I couldn’t break her. Oh, how I’ve made her wish I could.”
Crap. I’m losing the window where she’ll be more focused on me than on my body and what part of it might move first. If she isn’t reading my mind, I need to have the biggest advantage I can. “I just thought if anyone could . . . I mean, you did take a Warden from The Council, right . . .? How did you manage to do that? I think that makes you the first, right . . .?”
Too obvious. There was nothing not obvious about that. She doesn’t show it, but its clear that she knows it. She’d have to be slower than me not to pick up on it.
If I didn’t actually want to know the answer to it I’d make my move as soon as she parted her lips.
“Astute. Mm . . . Your current is lovely, if not strong as your mother’s.” Her eyes hood after the next spark races from my body to hers. I have to grit my teeth to avoid mewling as she stays pressed against me so much longer. I can feel sweat rolling down along the back of my neck and the back of my thigh. It’s impossible to stay standing without the occasional shake. “If anyone could, it would likely be me. But eventually, she’d be free again. It’s my dear sister’s gift, after all. But all the same? That’s my little secret. I’ll tell you when you’re older, niece.”
Sister. She’s Sarah’s sister. I’m her niece. How could she do this to us? Appealing to her morality is right out. Her ego is definitely a better option. “Your heat isn’t too bad, you know. But . . . I can’t hear you when you whisper that, could you bend a little closer?”
“Of course, dear niece. A short LaSilvas . . . You’d never see one without a mother from earth, you know. It makes your height all the more exotic.” Now. I start to shift my weight onto my left leg. Being able to fly makes that a little easier to hide. “One question for you, though . . .” She leans closer, and soon her lips are right beside my ear. I didn’t anticipate that her leaning over me would make her breasts squish against me like this, but I’m definitely aware of the heat now.
“Wh . . . Mmmm . . . W-what’s that. . . ?” I can’t fight the arousal from showing. My whole body feels slick. I’m panting. My heart is beating louder than she’s whispering.
Rust laughs. She squirms when I spark against her, but not enough to make me feel any better. Feeling her nipples pressing more against my body doesn’t really help anyway. “Did my dear sister ever tell you what happened when Yana’s gift came into contact with your mother’s metal . . .?”
“It . . . it receded .. .” My leg slams back against the ground. Damn it. I should have acted sooner. I was just trying to bide my time, not be impatient, not screw this all up. Sylvia moans from behind the red, and my leg kicks the floor again.
“That’s right. Yanuka might have worked some very special magic to make her end up the way she did . . . But you’ll find Olivia’s gift will do little to protect you from me.” Too slow. I try to pull back, but my hand on the rod only makes it take just long enough that she’s able to slam my jaw shut so hard that I fall down onto my ass. Sure enough my metal is gone during the hit, but its already reforming before I hit the ground. “Interesting. Stronger than your mother’s . . .”
No more hesitating. Even though the edges of my vision are humming with red I rise up to my feet and lunge right for her waist. Halfway to her she flicks her wrist, and a long red trail of energy courses out from the rod like a whip, lashing across my face.
Just like when the rod hit me, the metal where the red hits dissolves, but it’s more than that. Red slashes across my vision, making my knees threaten to buckle. I can feel each droplet of sweat so much more . . . intensely.
“Must be your mixed heritage, as it were. Shall we see how resilient you really are? Your mother could only take three or four of these without begging me to stop. I bet you can take five.” She talks just long enough for me to catch my breath. So much more of my vision is tunneling red, but I still can react fast enough to drop to my knees and roll out of the way as she flicks that whip at me another three times before letting it hang at her hip. “Oh my! Such fight in you! So much more fire than my sister! Hah! Perhaps I should take you after all!”
She didn’t say she wanted both of us. If I can amuse her enough, even if I can’t stop her from beating me, maybe she won’t take Sylvia too. Each time I roll out of the way of another flick it feels like my uniform is squeezing tighter. The room keeps getting hotter. It’s like a sauna in here.
I grit my teeth before lunging at her again, making it that much harder to roll out of the way of the next flick of her wrist. “Stop talking about my mother! Nnn . . . I’ll show you just how much fire I really have!”
“Oh, I’m hoping you will. She looks up with her silver eye. I could try rushing at her again, but if she wants to give me the moment to catch my breath again and try to ignore the heat between my legs I’m not going to say no. “Are you watching, dear sister? I told you this would happen. Still you insisted otherwise. Now I’m going to break your Olivia’s dawn.”
Somehow she must be letting mom watch! The thrill of Sarah watching me fighting like this should not be making my heart beat faster like this. I need to stay focused.
She raises the whip back again, and in the same motion I roll out of the way of her attack and slide my foot for a blow aimed at her shin. In a flash of silver-red light she vanishes. With nothing for my leg to connect with, I have to struggle to stop moving and slam into a bookshelf. Books drop onto my head making me that much more thankful for my metal surpassing Rust’s expectations.
Metal lined covers still make my head throb, but at least I’m not bleeding.
“You are so very good, Aurora! Oh the things that I could teach you . . . but you’re such a poor student, aren’t you?” Rust laughs, flicking the whip harmlessly to either side of me before her wicked grin intensifies. Even though the red doesn’t hit me, the hot energy in the air still makes me flinch and quiver. “And my patience is so fickle. We would make such a poor pair, you and I. I think I’ll take Sylvia after all. Sorry, Aurora. You’ll be waiting longer to see your dear Sarah again.”
“Th-that’s what you think!” Again she whips for my feet, and I roll easily to the side . . . and right into Zandra’s waiting arms. They wrap around mine, holding me arched infront of her. Even with my metal out I can’t shake her loose. “Zandra! Let go of me! You don’t want this, you know you d-nnNNnn!”
Red cuts across my vision as her whip slams again across my face. It doesn’t hurt, not really, it just feels like pure heat, pure lust, pure desire, pure . . . need. My thighs clench tight as my knees give out underneath me. It takes all of my self control to hold back the howl that wants to pour out of my throat. It’s not pleasure, its the need for it, the craving for it. I’ve never felt something that made me feel this desperate, this . . .
Red, red, red, tearing into me, tearing through me. The whip doesn’t stop against my body, it goes right through it, pushing that desire all the way through me and out the other side. Across my breasts, one, the other, and then both at once. I tighten as much as I can, try to focus on Zandra’s arms holding me, on trying to fly, but it feels like flecks of me burning away as everything turns more and more red.
Even the parts of my vision that can still see are seeing through a haze of her red. I don’t even know if I moan or not. “R-rust . . . Nnnn st-stop . . . Make her let go and . . . nnn see if you can take me, just me and . . . just me and you!”
“That’s five! Oh my! And you aren’t even asking for that so you can grind that sweet dripping body of yours against me! I’m certain with enough effort I could make you beg, Aurora . . . but I really do have things to do, and a sister to persuade. So at the behest of brevity . . .” She holds out her whip aimed right between my eyes, and then her wrist moves faster than I can watch.
Slash!
Red hot need cuts to my core, and I know I scream. Hot, blistering lust. Need, this is need like I’ve never ever felt it before. Slick, dripping need, my whole body dripping with the same slick need between my legs.
Slash! Slash!
Red cuts deeper, opening me wider. My legs want to spread wider, but they can’t without Zandra putting me down onto my back. Every inch of my body aches like Sylvia was dancing naked in front of me and I hadn’t even felt a hug in a year. Red blinding tears fill my eyes. “P-please! Please! I, I can’t t-take it, please, I . . . I . . . Something, please!”
“Mmm I think that means you lasted eight. The last three were more precise, but . . . My dear sister really is such a helpless thing you know? Maybe when I’m done with her, I’ll let her state your lusts. But you aren’t ready to break for me, not yet . . .” She raises the whip over her head, and brings it down, flicking her wrist as soon as it gets close to me.
It doesn’t just make its way through me, it moves inside of me, red feeling like, like . . .
Red!Red!Red!Red!Red!
I fall to my knees screaming louder than I’ve ever screamed before. Soaked. Dripping in sweat. Dripping with need. My hand dives under my shorts, fingers burying themselves in my shuddering pussy. Ass arched up in the air, face pressed into the cool floor, my body explodes with pleasure before my hips can even buck.
Red and silver flashes of light sparkle over my vision, urging me on. Not enough. Never enough. It could never be enough! Burying one, then three fingers deep inside I spark up my fingers and rock my hips as hard as I can. So much hot slick nectar flows down my hand, shorts already so ruined. My nipples feel like they’re going to tear out of my top. Rubbing my face down against the floor is the only thing that helps me feel cooler at all. Too hot. Too needy. Need more, more, more than I’ve ever needed before!
“Mmm I wonder if a metal woman can rub herself raw? I’ll need to follow up with you later to find out.” Rusty red words echo over me. Can’t respond. My mouth is too busy moaning, hanging half open. The world seems a little less red, but that might just be how far back my eyes are rolled into my head.
Bucking, grinding, fucking, needing, I can’t do anything else. Never felt need like this before! I’ve never wanted anything like this before! I scream again, body shaking harder as a flurry of red climaxes overcome my body, but don’t let go. They won’t let me stop. Red. Rubbing. Arching. Grinding.
Heels clicking on the floor. I can’t roll my eyes forward to see who, or where they’re going, all I can do is rub myself into the floor, pressing my aching tits down into the floor and into my other hand as I slam the other as deep inside of me as I can.
There’s a loud, loud metal sound of something slamming, and for once it isn’t me falling to the floor. I can’t fall yet. I need to fuck more!
Rust. I’ve never seen her before, but I can feel her inside of me. The invasive red filling me, pulsing through me, and the silver twined with mine that’s so familiar and yet so alien – they’re just too strong for me to do anything but surrender. Obey Rust. Obey . . .
The red surrounding me dims before dissolving and falling away in a cascade of tiny stars. I kneel, and await orders. Until I know what Rust wants from me I can’t obey.
“Rise, Sylvia. You did an excellent job. The Wardens are now more mine than they ever were The Council’s. And so are you.” My body feels weightless. Lifting from my knees feels less like standing and more like being a marionette pulled up by taut strings. Rust’s strings are silver dipped in such hungry red.
Even though I’ve never seen her before, not even in my mind, I know the woman standing beside Zandra is Rust. The hair over one eye, half of her lips visible in a pleased smirk, there’s no way it could be anyone else.
Her eye calls to me in ways few people ever have. Standing for her feels line kneeling. Even my “muse” is silent.
“My dear sister’s songbird spawn. Sing for me. No words. Just sing.” Her voice doesn’t match her expression. There’s so little pleasure in it. She’s going through the motions, and I can feel that as clearly as I can feel all of the revelations she didn’t feel the need to say with her words.
Just as she desires, I sing. The cords in my throat feel tugged by the same silver and red threads that pulled me to my feet. My song’s melody feels like the rhythm of her power inside of me, haunting, beautiful, and elegant.
Rust raises her hand and slashes it across her own throat. My voice quiets. “I’ve heard you sing, but always for someone else. For endless crowds, for your lover-sister, for yourself, and yet having you sing for me is sweeter still. But we’re done here. Come, let’s leave your stubborn sister to her task. Zandra, be a dear and get the door behind you?”
She twists on her feet, and leads the way out of the small chamber. Tugged along by her whims, I follow close behind. My singing for her did bring her pleasure. I could feel it through her. Her energy inside of me isn’t enough to taste her thoughts, but I can taste her feelings. It’s subtle, but I’m so used to these sorts of feelings. Something about the silver we share makes it easier, too.
The doors slam shut tightly behind us, and then the clicks of Zandra’s heels fall in line beside mine. I made her more Rust’s pet. I can’t feel her through Rust, but I know she must feel just like I do.
Unlike before the staircase passes in nearly no time at all. Watching her black and gold clothes move in front of me is more than enough to keep my attention. Her leash does the rest. Every step she takes is another tug, pulling and dragging me along. The door at the top is already open. The Wardens that had been chasing us are all here, kneeling around the hatch with enough room empty for us to emerge.
“Good little Wardens. Fall in line behind your once wayward sister. I want an entourage for my big reveal.” Rust doesn’t slow her stride even for a moment. She leads the way from the library, and the Wardens follow behind. There aren’t very many of them, maybe half a dozen, but their presence is still a strong one. Women of justice broken and brought to heel. I made it happen and I didn’t even know I was doing it. There’s something that feels so good about that. I was following her desires before I ever was following her orders.
Just like the staircase, the library disappears from around us before I have time to think twice. Large wooden double doors block the exit of The Council’s . . . headquarters. I don’t know nearly enough about this place to describe it any better than that.
Rust holds up a Warden rod, the ball at the end a deep dark red. Arcs of silver are still visible inside, just not as prominently. “This is just an unveiling. Unless someone attempts to stop us, we will merely be taking a very brief stroll. If anyone tries to interfere, merely neutralize them. This is not the time for action. I want to give time for rumor to spread. It is more important we be imposing.”
Thinking of her as anything but imposing almost aches to consider. Rust radiates power. She reminds me of my other aunt only less . . . frayed. The longer I’m in her presence the more I want to feel more. Her emotions taste so powerful. She’s so restrained compared to the fire I can taste inside of her.
“That goes for you too, my dear niece.” Her power tightens behind my eyes. My vision pulses red. “I expect you on your best behavior. It wouldn’t do for a daughter of the light bearer to appear otherwise. It also wouldn’t do for poor Aurora locked away down in the vault.”
I can feel my thighs tremble, but I can’t find it in myself to reply. None of the Wardens did. Its more important that I stand tall as I can and let my nebula flow around me just enough for anyone watching to see. Her red twists me tighter, pulling my thighs tight as it makes them slick. A surge of delight courses through her blazing colors, filling me with ever more need for more. How could anyone not need more of her?
“Exquisite. It’s time everyone discover the rumors are true.” Rust holds out her rod, and the space between the doors glow red and silver before bursting open dramatically. The sight beyond is like nothing I’ve ever seen.
Dotting the edges of the sidewalks are Victorian style lampposts without any bulbs, or glass. The sidewalks themselves look paved in gold. Grass grows in all shades of green, blue, purple, and colors that seem impossible. Similarly there seem to be flowers with silver stems and leaves, topped by green petals. The sun overhead is yellow, but even though it isn’t even noon the sky looks full of oranges and purples like an eternal sunset.
Some of the buildings have Greek or Roman pillars, while others are windows and steel – but very few. Others look like small wooden cottages. All of it is breathtaking, beautiful, and undeniably romantic. All around us, Rust leading us along the golden sidewalk, is a land removed from time. It all looks carefully matched, and yet all so pleasing.
Somehow it all works. It feels magical. I cant put to words the sensation in the air, but it feels different than the air in Midas, New York, Tokyo, or London. There’s energy in this air. I can feel it in each breath I take.
The women going about their business stop as we pass by. All of them freeze, speechless. Their hair and eyes are all so fascinating, every color of the rainbow and more. Their clothes range from magical looking robes, to slinky dresses, to blouses and slacks. Nothing looks quite like I’d see back home though. It all looks softer, smoother, the colors richer and more intense.
Maybe it’s the air, maybe it’s this place. It’s impossible for me to know. Rust leads. We follow. That’s what’s really important. All of this is just new details I need to lean to get used to in order to fulfill Rust’s orders.
“This should be far enough. Pull tight and hold up your rods, Warden Pets. It’s time we go home the quicker way.” I don’t know how long we’ve walked, but I know that the Wardens all obey quick as they can. Red light surrounds us, forming a dome of shimmering energy and then everything disappears in a flash of silver and blue.
Where we end up is inside, and dimly lit. The walls are all opalescent stone. The floor is hardwood. The ceiling is the first I’ve seen that’s actually been flat.
The wall sconces are all silver, appropriately covered with stylized veins of rust. Some are entirely rust and look about ready to collapse under their own weight. What I thought was candle light is instead flickering silver flame that seems to be flowing from the sconces themselves. Magic. It makes sense, but I would never have guessed.
“Now that we have that done with, it’s time for you to reunite with your mother, Sylvia. It’s been so long since you’ve seen each other, hasn’t it? Was it that time she saved you from Corvi? So irresponsible of her that such things went on for so long, you know. My dear sister could have been keeping a much closer eye on you.” Rust rolls her visible eye with the softest of distant sighs. “Would you like to see her again, Sylvia? She’d just love to see you. I’m counting on it.”
“Y-yes, Rust!” I have missed her, but right now I only want to see her because Rust wants me to. Or she wants Sarah to see me? Either way, its the same. “I would like to see her again!”
More of her red pleasure oozes through me. My toes curl so tight it hurts, but only for a moment. “Perfect. But let’s get you changed first. It would hardly do to have such a long awaited reunion be spoiled by me being a poor hostess.”