Chapter 49
She wore one of those camouflage uniforms and it looked good on her. Holding my hand, she pulled me away from the stall door into an empty tack room and tried to nuzzle me. I remained stiff and turned my face away.
“Toby?” She asked, puzzled. “Aren’t you glad to see me?”
“Yes.”
“What’s the problem? You haven’t found someone else?”
I snorted. “When have I had time to court? I’m a…blood drinker, Arianell. A wanted man, cursed and deadly. I don’t trust myself around anyone, let alone in the throes of passion. I’m afraid to hurt you. Or worse.”
“I think, I know you can handle it, Tobias,” she smiled softly. Leaned forward and kissed me. I resisted for a second until she pulled me down into the sweet smelling bedding. It was a race to tear off our clothes and the zippers and Velcro closures confounded me until I ripped them apart in my frustration.
My hands and my tongue were everywhere and the minute I found myself reaching for the vein in her neck, I froze until she nipped me. With a deep growl, I pushed her deep into the hay and fastened my mouth on the pulse in her throat. Pulled at the skin until my fangs barely punctured her and tasted blood.
Her hand wrapped around my dick and it felt as hard as iron in her hands. She guided me and screamed but I was too far gone to stop as I pumped with the force of a charging bull. She encased me and her muscles clampdown on me as we both exploded with the suddenness of a lightning bugs spark. It was fiery and short yet I did not soften and her grip on me sucked us both into another spiral that lasted for hours. I tasted every part of her with a tongue as sensitive as a serpent tasting the air and not once did I crave more than the exquisite taste of her juices and not her blood.
She cried enough come morning as she slipped into a deep sleep, sated beyond belief and too sore to continue. She told me that she had never heard of a human able to wear out an Elassai maid. I was too in awe of my self-control and too full of energy to sleep. I left her there to climb up on Diomed and take him out for a midnight run.
We loped through the streets and I screamed out my joy and exhilaration infecting Diomed with my brand of crazy so that he bucked in sheer exuberance. I laughed and gigged him on, running the perimeter of the city; knowing exactly where were the boundaries of the force field. We tested it and if I approached closer than 5 feet, an electric charge went through me, first as a warning tingle and then when I pushed it, pain almost as bad as the collar.
I wondered if magic could penetrate the shield and sent a small bolt of Wyche fire at the shimmering haze that marked the boundary and was very surprised when it bounced back and nearly hit me in the face.
“Whoa. Guess we won’t be using magic inside the city. Unless---.” I paused and spoke out. “Laioli, can you hear me?”
His hologram shimmered into existence. “Perfectly, Sir Tobias. Anywhere within the city, I am capable of conversing with and obeying your orders.”
“Lower the shield, let us out and then raise it on my command.”
“Very well, sir.” He followed my instructions and I rode out on the main road and felt it when the shield dropped.
“Raise it.” The shield went up in a second with no delay and was seen as a solid wall of transparent material that distorted the images behind it. As soon as my magic met the force screen, all hell broke loose and it was a good thing that I had thought to erect a personal one around Diomed and me, leaving just a hole where both my hands could escape.
The magic hit the shield and exploded up and down for miles, blasting holes in the rocks, road and knocking over full-grown trees setting them on fire.
“Looks like the first time the wizard lets loose his magic, he’s screwed,” I said to the stallion. “Still, I don’t want to bring the war to our doorsteps. Laioli suggested a hit and run campaign—using the transport to retreat when we need to escape. The best place to attack would be Ehrenburg itself although I’m not sure if we have enough men to take on the whole Imperial army.”
I found myself talking to Diomed more and more, using him as a sounding board and then taking my ideas to either Laioli or Arianell. In my absence, both had organized the entire mass of men into squads and regiments so that they now resembled an army. Had kitted them out in uniforms, gear, and assigned them homes and schedules. In short, made them into a fighting force the equal of any this world had known.
I sent teams out to bring in more recruits and establish two more centers in lost cities that between Laioli and me had running again. The power of the central computer that ran each system was simple enough to use once the hologram explained its function and any idiot could hit the reboot button to follow systematic instructions when the teacher was at your elbow. Anyway, we now had four redoubts, four running, protected pre-cataclysm cities under my control. It was time to take this war to the wizard.