Cyberella: Preyfinders Universe (14 page)

That would be scary.

She squeezed her hands onto the stone until the hard bits stuck into her palm.
Do it.
If not him, someone here in this vast zoo of people must be able to help her.

Torgeir returned with more plans, a picnic hamper, of all things, and a grin.

“We go up!” He pointed then added in a melodramatic voice, “Come. Follow your master.” Then he stuck out his hand and beckoned.

“I have this weird urge to wear a red cape and hood,” she said, mouth awry, as she took his hand.

“That, I could do. Is it needed?”

“Only if you’re a wolf. That’s an Earth predator,” she hurried to add.

“Oh I am that. I’m going to eat you all up, with sauce.”

The look in his eyes scared her for a second and she halted.

“I was joking.”

“I know. I was too really.” She shook her head. “It was just like, I don’t know. There’s a saying on Earth, about someone walking over your grave. You use it when something scares you unexpectedly.”

“Not me? Surely.” For the first time she could recall, Torgeir had worry lines showing on his forehead.

She went up on her toes, took his shoulders in her hands and gently pulled him down to her, then she kissed his forehead. “No. Never.”

“Ah-huh. Good. I don’t ever want to do that.” He clasped her hand and kissed her knuckles. “Let’s go. It’s a long walk and I don’t want the champagne getting too warm.”

“Champagne? That’s an Earth brand.”

“Yes. I found a bottle of something called Moet. Cost me so much I needed my heart restarted but for you, today, anything.”

She mock bowed. “Let us be off, sir.”

He took her hand and they headed for the staircase. Apparently, another hundred and eight stories awaited them. Elevators and stairs were the only method of climbing. They came across one flight of narrow stairs that led past an open space. Shafts of sunlight shone upon a waterfall that fell many stories to some unknown place below. The roar of the water vibrated the cool metal rail beneath her palm. Where the water came from seemed a mystery.

A single, blue moth-like creature fluttered and dipped in the light.

“Broken pipe above?”

“I don’t think so.” He pointed. “There’s stone being eroded away and moss. It’s been there centuries. The rainfall here is high. My guess is there’s a lake of stored water trapped somewhere above.”

“Wow. Fucking wow.”

“Yes.”

They continued onward, upward, and reached the top of the last flight of stone stairs two hours after beginning.

There was single red door.

“I think the champagne will be warm.”

“Maybe.” Torgeir unlocked the faux-timber door with a large antique key and they stepped out. It was cooler, pleasantly so after the long climb, and cloud misted the surrounding stone. The light from above hurt her eyes. Her blue-speckled dress swirled at her ankles, tangling with the catch on her ballet-style flats.

There was wind, sun, she peered upward. The head of the bird was above them. “We’re on the shoulders?”

“Yes.” Torgeir hugged her to him, then turned her. “Look. We go there.”

There
was where the neck below the head attached to the immense shoulders of Horuk. Some of the structure was stained, ancient metal, some the familiar stone. She shaded her eyes. A row of doors, six of them, punctured the base of the neck but between her and the doors was a dark lake, wide enough that it would take someone in a rowboat ten to fifteen oar-strokes to go from side to side.

Torgeir drew her forward and they walked around the edge toward the doors.

“Is this where the waterfall begins?”

“Perhaps.” He squeezed her hand. “We will only swim in the shallows.”

On all sides of the lake, an underwater terrace of wide steps sank into the water, disappearing from sight in the depths. The leaves and vines of some large aquatic plant swayed at the edge of the deeper middle.

“They say there are sea monsters that lurk.”

“Ohmigod!” She put her hand to her chest. “I am so not swimming.”

He chuckled. “It was a joke! I think.”

Her dirty look only made him laugh for longer.

“I swear I will guard you with my life.”

“What? You’ll hit the monster over the head with a champagne bottle?”

“No.” He released her hand and rummaged in the basket. “With this. I never assume anywhere is safe.” In his hand was a chunky, twin-barreled weapon. A red beast like that on his chest was engraved along the side.

It brought this day into perspective. This was but a spot of brightness in an otherwise dark and nasty universe.

He waggled the gun. “A family heirloom. It works well. Ella, we have the room here, at this end, for the whole day. This is what cost me the most. The champagne, strangely, was undervalued. It was in a bulk lot.”

As he unlocked the wide, steel door, she hesitated. “Are there others here? In the other rooms?”

“Perhaps. It doesn’t matter. I have you, that is what is important.” Then he bent and swept her into his arms, walked in, and kicked the door shut, before lowering her to her feet.

Whatever this place had been in the past, it was now a large room decorated in a style reminiscent of an Arabian nights harem crossed with alien. Most of the floor was cushion bestrewn, except for a low, square table which was covered with platters and glasses, candles, and weirdly twisted, but pretty, ornamental jugs. Bright-colored fabrics in purples, blues, and reds hung from the ceiling and walls. The only other furnishings were a low sofa and two well-padded chairs with huge curled armrests. Across the room from the door was a wide, glassed-in opening. Shreds of mist or cloud rolled past. Nothing else outside seemed on a level with Horuk, except a far-away skyscraper that shone like spear in the sky.

“It falls away past the window. These rooms are on the very rim of Horuk’s shoulders. There is a bathroom too, hidden behind the red drapes.”

Wonder of wonders, there was a sunken tub surrounded by luscious green, potted plants. She squealed and ran to it. The tap worked when she twisted it.

“Only cold?” The blued-metal tap seemed modeled after a mermaid with large breasts.

“Yes.” He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her back into his body. “But once I have you in there, I think the water will turn hot.”

“You goof.” She guffawed, shaking her head.

He squeezed her ass. “You have a long future ahead of you full of goofy jokes.”

“I’m good with that.” Ella leaned against him, squirming and content. “Mmm. Definitely good with it.”

He stuck his nose on her neck and inhaled. “I also sniff necks. Forget all the bad things, all your worries, Ella. Today is for us.”

Incoming. Henchman 1

From limited surveillance of the subject, sir, it appears she’s progressed rapidly with the bondmating. I’ve had no time to find her weaknesses or do covert body mapping.

Use the Black App immediately. Terminate the bondmating link.

Without detailed mapping of her body, it could severely affect her brain. This is also illegal, even here, sir.

We know from the scans when she passed through spaceport customs that she’s almost cyborg. Riptide law will class it as cyborg-on-cyborg crime, and illegal is on every street corner on that planet. She’s just genetics to me. A body to study or use as arm decoration. You’re my one trusted man. Do this but take care you’re not caught.

Yes, sir.

If she’s damaged and he discards her, be prepared to store her somewhere for me until I arrive.

With his hands propped on the balcony railing, he surveyed the breadth of landscape below his castle, the crops and the roads, then he looked above following the curve of the strip of land as it climbed to the heavens. Small villages clung to the rising ringland.

Directly above was not sky, it was the artificial fire of his little sun and past that, the opposite side of his world. The magic of a megastructure in space. Outside, to the left and right above the mighty walls that held in the atmosphere, by the grace of his divine centrifugal force, was the blackness of space and the twinkling lights of the tens of thousands of his followers in their spaceships.

His meek crusade. The disinherited, the poor, the disabled. Many of them were cyborgs or near to it.

He smiled.

He had almost everything he’d dreamed of – a kingdom of followers, this castle, and an artificial world of his own. All he needed now was a princess by his side and the Earth herself. The prophecy foretold that the meek would inherit the Earth.

“We are coming, dear Earth, we are coming.”

Even without a functioning brain, this Ella was an Earth girl. Once he forced the bondmating, she would be his perfect princess.

*****

On unpacking the hamper with Torgeir helping, Ella found fresh berries, citrus-like fruits, smoked meats and cold pies, a magnum of champagne, some other alcoholic beverage, and some sweets that she couldn’t identify. One clear container held what appeared to be chocolate-coated cocks.

She popped the lid and picked one up, twirling it before her nose. “Hmmm. These are?”

“Dessert. After you swallow my real one.”

“You think? Ambitious man.” She put the little cock in her mouth and sucked its length, while winking at Torgeir.

“Bad girl. We’re eating first. Eat that one and then no more. If you keep that up I will fuck you on top of the food then make you eat it after.”

“Dirty!”

“Exactly.”

She gulped it down. Definitely chocolaty. “I’ll be good. Can we use the platters?”

“Yes.”

They laid out the food on the plates and platters, then shifted it all closer to the viewing window. Watching clouds go past while sitting between Torgeir’s legs and feeding each other tidbits was the dreamiest and most romantic meal ever. He was warm and big, and the bondmating gave them an emotional connection she imagined few ever achieved in any ordinary marriage.

To her astonishment, the champagne, like everything that day, was delicious and faultless. Even lightyears of space travel had not marred the taste.

When they had finished eating and cleaned up, he shifted her around to face him and made love to her in the most gentle and loving manner she’d yet experienced with him. Her blue dress spilling about them, with his pants undone enough for his cock to arise, he’d penetrated her by letting her slowly sink down his shaft. Face to face with her bondmate, she’d come, gloriously.

She strived to keep her gaze on him to the very last moment and nearly succeeded. Only in the last few seconds did she cry out and arch back her neck, her body convulsing, as she experienced that pinnacle of sensation that all humankind reveled in – the orgasm.

“Oh. Oh.” She relaxed her fingers from where she’d sunk them into his biceps, shakily raised her head, and met his eyes. After a moment, she managed to say between gasps, “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome, my love.”

Ella nestled into the angle of his neck and shoulder. Tempted, she licked him there while he stroked her back where it was bared by the dress. His sweat tasted of salt.

“You’re still inside me.” She looked inwardly, rapt in how that felt and in knowing he’d come inside her. “I wish we could stay like this forever, joined together.”

“That could be awkward.” She could hear the smile in his voice.

“Mmm. But still nice.”

He kissed her hair a few times and she hummed in pleasure. “When will you tell me your secret? About your worries.”

Was this a time for discussing that? She was so comfortable, so at peace. Perhaps he was right and it was best to say more. “It’s about me. About who I am or was.” She frowned. “When I find out more, I’ll tell you too.”

“Good. I’m happy with that. Just, if you need my support, my thoughts, say.”

“And you?” She wriggled, clamping down deliberately. His cock was diminishing in size and it was too soon to lose him from inside her.

“Me? What about me?”

She hugged him, her arms around him while she peered, blinking slowly, at the small curls of blond hair on his neck. “I felt as if you needed, wanted, something more from our loving.” Ella straightened and found him regarding her curiously. “Am I right? Tell me. I want to make you happy too.”

“You are perceptive.” His sigh was long and she thought, troubled. “I want to tie you up.”

“You’ve done that.”

“Oh no.” A feralness came into his eyes, though his lips were still curved in a smile. “More than that. Much more.”

“Then do it.” She leaned in and nipped his lower lip, released it. “I want it too.”

“You don’t know that. You don’t know what I intend. Besides, I’m afraid I might go too far, that inside me is some sort of primitive monster.” He shook his head, as if disbelieving his words.

Ella took his head in her hands. “Torgeir, I trust you to the end of the ’verse, to the ends of time and space. I know you won’t hurt me.”

He nodded slowly and she felt his cock thicken again and twitch. “Very well. I will think on this.”

“Good. I don’t care if you’re a monster because you’re my damn monster.”

He laughed. “Ahhh, Ella. Not today though. Today I can make do with fucking you on every surface, every cushion, against that window maybe.

“Good.” She nodded. “A wise decision.”

“Well, I might tie your hands with your dress later, and feed you berries in between making you come until you beg me to stop.”

“Oh!” Her eyebrows rose.

“You make me crazy, girl. It’s your own fault.”

“Pfft. Never.”

The day played out much as he predicted. By the end she was sore, exhausted, and blissful and, for once, Torgeir looked tired. The swim in the outside pool with the sea monster was reneged on in favor of a bath filled with sweet-smelling bath salts. The journey back down the stairs was simpler, since they left the hamper behind. When she could finally touch the quilt of their own bed in their rooms, she toppled in and so did Torgeir. Somehow, tangled warmly together, they fell asleep. The outside roars of machinery and traffic, murmurs, and shouts that always accompanied a night on Horuk became as comforting as the surge of the waves of the sea.