BROCK
The Terdini village was gone. The imperials had burned it to the ground while we were away. As I stared at it, I was glad that they had. Seeing it empty when it would never be filled again would've probably broken me. More so than I was already broken, anyway. My feet had carried me here on muscle memory, and now they did not know where to take me. South? North? West was the Highlands, and East was the Lowlands, and I didn't want to see either ever again. South would take me past the Maples, into the Willows, the Palms, and the Tropics. I could probably make friends with the goblins there if they decided not to eat me. Though I'd heard there were spiders the size of cows down there, so... fuck that. North would take me back through the Tundra and to the Winged Mountains, where if I didn't die from the cold, the dragons would get me. Maybe a valkyrie would cut my head off. That would at least be a unique kind of death, and I'd get to see a nice pair of tits before the end.
"Well, that decides it then." I grumbled, and turned around. "North it is... what the fuck are you doing here?"
"What do you mean?" April asked.
"I told you to go back to camp!" I growled.
She cocked her head curiously. "But that's not where you are."
"THAT'S THE FUCKING POINT!" I roared. Her eyelids fluttered.
"Well, I can't leave you." She said simply, "You're my master."
"You're a fucking dog. Your master is whoever puts kibble in your bowl."
"I don't eat kibble!" She laughed, and produced a dead rat, holding it up proudly.
"For me?" I grumbled.
"Ah-ha." She nodded.
"Well... shit, I am hungry."
I roasted the rat on a spit while April watched me with her amber eyes. There was nothing but adoration in them, but it wasn't the kind of master-slave relationship Elena had had with her succubi. Though Yavara had turned the kitsune into a wanton slut, April was very-much of her own mind. I postulated that her canine instincts naturally bound her to one person, but then again, all my scientific musings were fucking stupid.
"You just gonna watch me eat it?" I asked her.
"I already ate one."
"I wasn't offering you any of mine. I just want you to look at something else."
"I'm not going to."
"Didn't I just fucking tell you to?!"
"You can tell me to get you food, you can tell me to find shelter, you can tell me to scout ahead for danger. You can tell me to get on my knees, you can tell me to bend over, and you can tell me to spread my legs. You cannot tell me where to look."
"Hmm." I grunted, "Stick your foot in your mouth."
"Why? Will it please you sexually?"
"Sure."
"OK." She grinned, her tail swishing excitedly behind her. In a feat of flexibility, she grabbed her foot, and stuck her toes in her mouth. She sucked them, watching me with those big amber eyes full of lust and love.
"Keep it there. It pleases me... sexually." I said, and enjoyed the rest of the morning in silence.
ADRIANNA
I knew a day had passed, because there was an enormous clock tower in the middle of the library. The great room was like a city of knowledge, the shelves looming overhead like skyscrapers, the rows wider than streets. We'd tried in vain to find a way out, but only accomplished getting more and more lost in the great library. There was one time when we thought Gloria was nowhere within a thousand yards of us, and Furia dared to begin transforming back. Then Gloria was suddenly at the far end of the row, watching us as her fangs grew from her upper lip. We would have no reprieve, and the craving was slowly gnawing at us.
The craving wasn't just a hunger. It roiled through my veins, burned like acid in my belly, cramped my muscles, and beat in my head. My mind was a slush of fevered thoughts and transient tangents that led me to stare blankly at nothing for hours on end. There were times when my tongue could not form the words I was thinking, and then there were worse times when I could not find the words at all. I was hyper-aware of the smell that wafted from Furia, the hybrid scent still fresh on her vampiric flesh. Oh god, not even in the depths of my worst carnal needs had I felt a desire so great. If she could change just for a moment, just for a little second... I only needed a little bite.
We were huddled together in a dark corner of the library, watching outward. Occasionally, we'd see Gloria way off in the distance, putting one tome away and selecting another. She didn't seem very interested in us, and was content with letting us have free range of her home. I was always taught to learn as much as I could about my enemy, but my enemy was not Gloria, and I didn't know how much longer I could fight myself.
*We need to rush her.* Furia wrote into the dust beside me.
*She'll tear us apart* I wrote back.
*It's our only chance.*
*If I'm going to do a suicidal charge, I'd rather do it after I've gone mad.* I wrote back, *While we still have our faculties, we need to use them.*