Moonslave (7 page)

Suddenly one of the front ranks charged forward with a yell of hatred.

‘Yanosh, no!’ bellowed Christos with alarm.

Thanos chuckled grimly as the impetuous youth launched at him, seeking access to assassinate the queen.

There was a blur of motion, Thanos’ tendons like steel cables, his empowered arcane form making him whirl with a celerity that far eclipsed the vampire’s, whose body was snatched from the air, there was a flash of fangs and his decapitated head struck the stairs and started to roll back down them, bouncing, depositing a smudge of red with each landing.

Without pause Thanos decided to give them a full display of his ferocity, and as a rabid harvester he gouged into the body, shredding it, his claws pouring through its anatomy as though it were warm butter. Body parts and chunks of the vampire rained down about him, pitter-pattering with soft squelches to the stone, a bloody drizzle staining the air, painting his fur a matted gore-soaked crimson. In the merest instant the body was an unrecognisable collection of tiny moist morsels and riven gristle.

The last portion fell at his feet, sliding down the steps, the meat clinging to the stone. Thanos threw out his arms, flicking his claws forth as he unleashed a bellowing roar of anger, strings of thick blood swinging from the deadly talons. The sanguinary song of the lupine made every vampire in the hall flinch and back up a step, filled with instinctive terror.

Levelling his stare back to the diplomatic party, Thanos 54

started to walk down the steps with threatening precision, blood dripping from him in clinging strands, not one piece of the vampire remaining larger than a pebble.

‘Your majesty, I apologise most humbly for the rash actions of my subordinate,’ Christos stated quickly. ‘I ask for your forgiveness and mercy, supreme queen.’

Dropping to one knee he bowed his head, offering himself as an easy target, trying to defuse the situation with such a display of relent else he be killed just as surely as if he could see the attack coming.

‘You take responsibility for your party, do you not, Lord Christos?’ she stated equably, and with her words Thanos continued his approach, an executioner approaching a block upon which all the visiting heads rested.

The residue of the vampire began to desiccate with soft crisping rustles, turning to ashen powder, falling from Thanos as he walked, the remains being assaulted by the stolen years of un-life, restored to their true appearance.

‘I do, your majesty, and I can only beseech your clemency in this matter,’ he said without inflexion, keeping his tone respectful, hiding his bitterness at having to grovel thus. ‘Your decree has been issued, I shall comply, I am deeply sorry for having dared offend you with my questioning of your will. I offer you my existence, your majesty.’

‘It was a simple error of judgement, Lord Christos, a mistake which your party has paid for with the blood of one of its members. His remains – such as they are –

shall be interred here until such a time as I see fit to release them to permit his resurrection, other than that, we shall call the matter to a close.’

‘Your generosity is boundless, your majesty,’ stated the ancient lord, bowing even more deeply as the rest of 55

his force similarly abased themselves.

‘You may leave my presence now,’ stated the queen, her voice regal and powerful, letting the vampire know he was lucky to be leaving the hall with his hide intact.

‘Avail yourselves of any hospitality you and your party wish before you depart, Lord Christos. And I hope our next meeting will be a more cordial affair.’

‘As you wish, your majesty,’ he replied, and withdrawing at a stoop, they removed themselves from the throne room, the group under escort from several of the queen’s guard. The lift doors boomed shut, sealing off the chamber and declaring that they had privacy once more.

‘Have that gathered up and placed in the vaults,’ she ordered, causing several maids to emerge with brooms and pans, brushing the powder together and placing it in urns for storage. It was imprisonment for a vampire, the taking of the remains and storing them, preventing anyone applying the required blood to restore them to activity.

In a few decades, providing Christos did not further agitate her, he would probably be sent the remains. If of course, he did not behave, the urns would be sealed, weighted and dumped in the deepest crevasses of the sea, or in a suitably active volcano for a far more lengthy sentence.

Thanos brushed his claws through his fur, shaking to fling the last clinging dust from his pelt. Turning, he regarded his queen with adoring eyes, and after a moment she looked down to her faithful servant.

‘Come here, slave,’ she commanded, and clicked to her assistants. The two men moved forward and relinquished their charges before removing her cloak.

Taking the leash and the large bullwhip she gathered in the woven black leather folds, the serpentine length being 56

formed into coils that thinned to a wicked tip. Clutching the thick handle with its silver skull pommel, she held the captured hoops and clipped the lead to Thanos’ collar.

His eyes were fixed to her form, aching with longing.

Her perfect body gleamed in the pale light of the living chandeliers. Her torso was naked, her breasts open and on display, the sight of them making Thanos ache to just touch them.

Her arms were sealed within gloss opera gloves, the polished material coating each digit. Gloss leggings hugged to her, a zip from the front hem dropping through her crotch and rising to the back hem. The midnight hose descended, following her contours until they entered ankle boots, the short zipped footwear fitted with spiked bootstraps.

‘Are there any more of these ridiculous grizzling idiots?’ she asked testily.

One of the advisors produced a ledger, scanning down the lists and reading from them. ‘Three petitions for aid from various indigenous houses. A meeting with the Glass-Nomads sect concerning residency in the city. Four individuals seeking employment in the palace. Two requests for—’

‘Enough!’ she interrupted ferociously, then sighed, calming her tones. With a flick of her head she tossed her cascade of white hair over her shoulders and looked to Thanos, regarding the towering beast that she had enslaved and trained. ‘Reschedule them all,’ she stated, a small smirk tickling the corners of her black painted lips, a wicked glee that Thanos was overjoyed to see because it was aimed at him.

‘But, your majesty, these are—’

‘You’ve just earned ten demerits for questioning me, slave,’ she huffed irritably, bringing the woman to 57

immediate silence. ‘Say another word and I’ll treble it…

‘Good. Now, I am the ruler of this realm, and I’ll not be a slave to the grovelling petitions of others. Affairs of state do not concern me, in fact, they have been grating on me all night. I require diversion. If these matters are so important, deal with them!’ she snapped, causing the trio to begin walking down the steps and heading out of the throne room.

‘Susan?’ she stated, calling the attention of the advisor that had angered her.

‘Yes, your majesty?’ she replied, turning to face her ruler.

‘I thought I said another word would treble your demerits? You’ve just aired three of them. I make that an amazing two hundred and seventy demerits to work off,’ she grinned with spiteful satisfaction.

The woman seemed to sag, almost fainting from discovering the level of strife she had just earned herself from being fooled by the queen’s malicious trick.

‘Advisors, take her to head slave Strafe for placement in level three bondage,’ the queen said cruelly, causing the other two of her operatives to fall in beside their doomed companion and escort her away.

Thanos looked concerned at how cruel the queen was being. The poor girl had just earned herself a staggering twenty-seven hours in the most strenuous bondage, with the eager cane or whip of Strafe regularly haunting her flesh. Thanos had done a spell under the care of this woman, and knew just how imaginative and vindictive her positions were. He had almost been driven insane by the one time he had chosen to work off his demerits via level three, and that had only been for two hours.

Taking his lead, the queen led him out of the throne room and to the upper levels, leaving her private domain 58

so she might move amongst her guests. There was no need for guards; with Thanos on a lead behind her, walking erect, towering up like a slaughterous monolith, she was completely safe from the factions about her.

It felt good to be protecting her, and it gave him an unequalled opportunity to stare at her gorgeous curves, wriggling against the vinyl skin with every sauntering step.

The slaves she came across bowed deeply until on their knees. The vampire guests gave her bows of respect, and all others merely acknowledged her with a curt nod, seeing no real cause to show obeisance beyond a token amount.

She stopped when she came across three lupine women, standing and talking, one of them resting a clawed foot on a hapless latex slave who licked and preened her fur with his tongue. The sight of the female werewolves pushed Thanos’ mind back to Corin. He had been making a concerted effort to forget about what he had done, but the vision of these brutal females brought his treachery back to plague him. He had betrayed her. He had let her be captured and now she was somewhere in the palace –

bound, abused, suffering, being trained, her will faltering against the terrible deeds of her oppressors. Had she even known it was him who had offered her to such a fate?

If the seneschal were using her, Corin’s screams would be pouring freely by now. She would of course come to enjoy her slavery soon enough, just as he had, but right now she would be resisting, defying them as all the indoctrination of the elders demanded. Would she be rendered subservient more quickly than he? After all, her long years of crusade in the city had clearly affected her. A release from it would speed her submissive cravings. But then again, perhaps such reviling of 59

vampires, of the Wyrm, perhaps such old ideology and devotion would make her fight to the very last ounce of her strength, and only then would she give herself over to her desire and become the willing property of the queen.

Would he even see her again? Would the queen replace him with her once she was trained, or would he find himself side by side with his sister, on their knees, collared and leashed, walking at the heels of the queen with eyes mesmerised by her salacious physique? Would the seneschal even permit this? Her jealousy had to be in a state of psychosis by now – two lupines and a brood vampire in her midst, vying for the queen’s fickle attention.

What would happen to Kira? Maybe the queen lost interest in her already, or perhaps she was merely patiently awaiting a time where she could make use of her new recruit in the fullest. Had the stalking and capture of Kira been the prime interest for the queen, and now that she had recruited and captured the sparkling jewel that was Kira, its radiance had dimmed significantly?

The thought of her made him start to grow erect once more, his length hungry to sink deep and fill her lithe form with his seed, watch her shriek in pleasure and pain as he took her.

‘Greetings esteemed members of the Shadow-Angels,’

the queen said, drawing their attention. ‘I trust my hospitality is to your liking?’

Thanos winced at the name, for he hadn’t recognised them as the beasts they were. The Shadow-Angels were a powerful splinter faction of the Dark Tribes – the lupines who had been corrupted or seduced into allegiance to the Wyrm.

The amazon tribe was brutal and merciless, remorseless 60

killers that even the other Dark Tribes feared. Due to a defect in their structure the females born from their tribe were stronger, faster and more agile than any other breed of lupine. But this had been gained by draining such characteristics from their menfolk. Shadow-Angel males were scrawny feeble specimens, kept as pets and servants to their females. The general inadequacies of their males made lesbianism a common trait, the women establishing relationships with each other in preference and using their male slaves only when the need to breed came to them.

The women were sadistic, despising their menfolk, but their inability to successfully breed with any other tribe forced them to copulate with such lowly specimens, further stoking their resentment. Thanos had heard tale of these women abducting lupine, raping them for weeks, even months without relent, then killing them after unsuccessfully trying to break their cursed vicious cycle.

Such dominance and an abiding thirst for cruelty had clearly been the lure that had brought them here.

Ordinarily they butchered any vampire they came across, but the queen was a creature such as they, one whose connections across the globe might even be able to help them with science or sorcery, powers they had no concept of, let alone access to.

‘Exquisite,’ commented one of the black furred creatures, panning a glowing stare up and down Thanos.

‘Some of your women slaves are exceedingly adept.

‘Tell me though, your majesty, where did you come by this handsome pet?’ she stated softly, licking a fang in expectation, her words distorted by a bestial throat and a maw designed for howls rather than words.

The other two women looked over her as well, the one resting on the male kicking him away and straightening up to her full height. Thanos felt his blood chill under 61

their cumulative incandescent gazes.

‘This is Thanos,’ she replied flippantly, as though he were something of little consequence. ‘I captured him awhile back. Trained him, and now he serves me.’

‘A lupine of Gaia?’ purred their leader, putting a hand on her hip and regarding Thanos with new intensity. ‘And you trained him? Congratulations, your majesty, we have never managed such a feat.’

‘Not for lack of trying, mind,’ added one of the other females with a vicious chuckle.

‘Yes, you’ll have to give us the secret,’ said the third.

‘It’s a matter of patience, judgement, and the right raw materials,’ she replied with a smile, drawing him in close, bringing Thanos down into a crouch beside her. The women seemed even more threatening now. Already taller than he when he was standing upright, they were also far more robust, and now they seemed to loom over him like the heavens, their eyes sanguine stars against a black furred vault.