. 07

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Part Three picks up where Part Two left off. Be advised that if you haven't read Part One and Part Two, the story may be quite difficult to follow.

This is primarily an incest story, but it is also sci-fi/fantasy, and supernatural elements are not incidental to the plot. Additionally, most chapters will feature elements of other categories, particularly group sex and anal.

All characters are over eighteen. All acts are consensual.

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We arrived back in Autumn, and I was getting ready for the next jump, when Brianna yanked her hand free of mine.

"So that's it?" she asked. "We're going to charge into one of the oldest courts in the Homelands, storm a castle, and demand that a lord who's far more powerful than either one of us release your niece and nephew? Just like that?"

I sighed. "When you put it like that, it sounds hasty."

My cousin rolled her eyes at me.

"You heard my mother."

"I did, yes."

I looked away. She didn't need to say it.

Could I be more of a mama's boy? My mother laid a guilt trip on me, and all of a sudden I was willing to do something profoundly stupid? To risk life and limb, just to avoid disappointing her?

No, not just for that reason. At least, I really wanted to think it wasn't. It was about Mel and Sean too. It was about doing what was right, for a change. Putting my family's needs before mine, instead of always ruining their lives, like I usually did.

"I guess we need a plan. But, yeah, we're going."

"Oh, I didn't meant to suggest we shouldn't," Brianna said, holding her hands up in protest. "But that plan thing sure sounds good."

I laughed, hugged her tight against my chest, and kissed the top of her head.

"So," she said, dragging the word out. "What's the plan then?"

"Um. I don't know. Hope we take him by surprise?"

"Some plan."

"That's pretty much all I've got. We go invisible, wait until we catch him with his pants down, literally, and then jump him. I don't care how powerful you are, if someone puts a gun to your head while your as vulnerable as vulnerable gets, you're going to pretty open to making concessions."

"Say it like that and it actually

does

sound like a plan," Brianna replied.

So that's what we did. No trains. No skeletal figures in hooded robes. No Supplicants' Hall. None of that bullshit. We teleported directly from the Fourth Autumnal Court into to Lord Furcas' throne room.

The room was empty. Which I suppose made sense, since Lord Furcas presumably wouldn't have had any reason to expect any visitors.

Holding hands to keep from losing each other, my cousin and I made our way through the dark halls of his monstrous castle. We walked slowly, careful not to let the sound of our footsteps give us away. Resisting the urge to race down the halls wasn't easy though. I'd just as soon not spend a second more in that place than I absolutely had to.

The tapestries depicted brutal scenes of rape, torture, cannibalism, necrophilia, and worse. There were grotesque statues everywhere, some of which had blood flowing out of their mouths or eyes or other orifices, pooling in broad basins beneath.

And there were a few paintings that was I pretty sure weren't made from canvas.

"This guy's got style," Brianna said dryly.

I wanted to laugh at that. Only Brianna. But instead I whispered for her to be quiet. No use going to the bother of making ourselves invisible if we were going to announce our presence in some other way.

As luck would have it, we hadn't been searching for but ten minutes when we rounded a corner and found Lord Furcas lounging on a stone bench. Two of his daughters were on their knees before him, pleasuring him. At the moment, neither has any extra arms or demon parts or anything. Aside from their blue skin, they could have been any other preternaturally beautiful denizen of the Homelands.

"You again?" Lord Furcas said, looking me dead in the eyes.

Well,

shit

.

So much for the invisibility.

Perhaps my plan wasn't much of a plan after all.

How could I have assumed that he'd be fooled by the simple little cloaks we'd conjured up? Lord Furcas might not have been the most powerful lord in the Shadowed Glade of the Moon, but even the weaker among them made the strongest of our kind look feeble.

Granted, I'd never heard of anyone seeing through that trick. But still. With beings as old and powerful as him, it was best not to take anything for granted.

What a damned fool I was.

"No, don't stop, baby," he whispered, putting his hand on the top of his daughter's head.

Then, to me once more, he said, "What do you want? You can see I'm busy, can't you?"

After a moment's hesitation, I transformed into a mythical beast, the way his daughter had taught me. A beast standing nearly nine feet tall, with sharp claws that were more than six inches long. I could crush a car with my fist, and snap a man in half with my jaws.

Lord Furcas laughed.

Nonetheless, I held a claw to his throat.

His daughters slipped away and pressed up against the wall. Out of the corners of my eyes, I noticed one getting ready to make a move.

Before she could, Brianna pressed the sword that just a moment ago had been her forearm against the girl's chest. Her other forearm, which had also turned into a blade, lined itself up with the other girl's navel, poised to disembowel her.

If Brianna had any practice using her powers for such a purpose, it was news to me. But, then, even though we spent most our time using our powers to pleasure one another, it wasn't really any more difficult to put them to a different use like this.

"Let my niece and nephew go," I said. It wasn't entirely intelligible, even to my ears, but I think he got the gist.

Lord Furcas stood up. My claws started to follow him, but he batted my arm away. He moved faster than I could have imagined. All I saw was a momentary blur.

"First of all, they aren't prisoners. They're free to come and go as they please. My understanding is that they intend to visit your lands next week."

Oh.

As if I didn't feel stupid enough to begin with.

Assuming, that is, that he was telling the truth.

But, unfortunately, I thought he probably was. What incentive did he have to lie? To keep me from hurting him? He didn't exactly look scared. No, his body language and tone of voice both suggested that he saw me as a nuisance rather than a threat. A vaguely amusing nuisance, at that. Which wasn't the least bit insulting or patronizing or anything.

"Second, while I might have been inclined to overlook the insult if you'd merely threatened me, the fact that your companion's got blades pointed at my daughters is not so easy for me to overlook."

Before I had any idea what was happening, I found myself lying flat on my stomach, with two strong hands wrapped around my throat. With a neck as thick as I had in this beastly form, it shouldn't have been possible to cut off my airflow like that. Not even for someone his size. But all the same, there I was, suffocating.

"So here's what we're going to do," Lord Furcas said. "I've got a sunlit whelp in my dungeons that I've been holding hostage for some months now. You and your woman are going to battle him to the death, for my amusement. If you live, it'll almost be like this never happened. Though I strongly advise you not to return here a third time. Ever. For any reason. On the other hand, if you don't feel like dueling for your life again, you can let me rape your woman before having my daughters pull her entrails out through her eye sockets. Your choice. What's it going to be?"

His fingers eased up just enough for me to draw a few gasps of air.

"We'll fight your fucking duel," I snarled. Then, feeling small and ineffectual anyway, I turned back from nightmare beast to man.

"Good," Lord Furcas said, before climbing off my back. "Girls, go get your brothers and sisters, will you? And tell Sebastian to bring that golden shit up from the dungeons."

"Yes, father," they said in unison.

Then one of them spat on Brianna, and the other called her "an ugly pink cunt" before the two left. Under different circumstances, that might almost have been funny.

We were now alone with a man who did indeed make Silas look like a newborn pup.

"I should warn you," Lord Furcas said as he settled back down onto the stone bench, "I brought Alex in myself. He won't be as easily dispatched as my poor late son."

"Wonderful," I said.

Brianna pressed up against me, wrapping her arms around my waist. I sensed no fear in her Libido. At all. I wished I could say the same of myself, but, truthfully, I was pretty damn terrified. Brianna though? She apparently felt nothing but excitement, bordering on sexual arousal. "Bring it on," she said.

Lord Furcas laughed. "This one is a real improvement over the one you had with you last time. She was weak, and stank of fear." His purple eyes turned to Brianna. "What's your name, and what are you doing with this loser?"

"Brianna," she said. "He's my cousin."

"Ah. My apologies. But we can't choose our family, can we?"

"Fuck off, asshole," she spat back.

Lord Furcas shrugged. "I'd offer you a drink, but, well, I just don't feel like being particularly hospitable towards you. I'm sure you'll understand. You did, after all, come into my home uninvited and threaten my life and that of my children." He stood up. "Take a minute to compose yourselves. Or say goodbye to one another. Whatever."

With that, he left us alone.

"Don't suppose we could just leave?" I asked.

"Sounds like the kind of guy who might hold a grudge," Brianna said.

That he did. And though he might ordinarily consider us so far beneath him as to be unworthy of his contempt, if we skipped out now, I could see him making an exception. I'd rather face his hostage now, knowing that a fight was coming, than worry about when Lord Furcas himself might show up to do the dirty work himself.

"Brie, I just want you to know-"

She pressed a finger against my lips. "We're not going to die. Don't say anything that would make it sound like you think we are. Whatever it is, tell me when we get out of here."

I gathered her up in my arms and kissed her. Long and deep. In fact, our lips didn't part until Lord Furcas ducked his head back around the corner and told us it was time.

He was wearing his armor again, but of the wicked axe he'd held when last I visited his castle, there was no sign. Even without it, he cut an imposing figure. Of course, my impression might have been colored by the fact that I now knew just how fast he could move, how extremely deadly he could be even when unarmed.

I tried to echo my cousin's stoicism as we marched into the throne room. But it was no easy task, what with the memories of the last time I'd dueled here. I'd barely escaped with my life. In fact, I'd only survived because his son had been reckless.

The whole Furcas clan was assembled. Most of them in the same exact positions as before. A few of them had transformed too. There was the six armed woman, who I realized was the one who'd spit on Brianna earlier.

Sean and Mel were there too. Though both refused to meet my gaze.

Neither looked like they'd been harmed in either way. But of course they hadn't been. Lord Furcas didn't seem to think I was worth lying to. So when he said that my niece and nephew could come and go as they pleased, he'd naturally been telling the truth.

As Lord Furcas took his place on his throne, one of his sons, the three-headed one with goat legs, led our opponent in.

The sunlit man had bright gold skin that shimmered in the torchlight. Though his hands and feet were bound in chains, he was anything but broken. He held his head high, and his broad shoulders were swept back, his powerful chest puffed out.

If there'd ever been any doubt in my mind about whether the original immortals were the inspiration for human myths about angels and demons, it vanished in that moment. Lord Furcas and the other denizens of the Shadowed Glade of the moon fit the bill well enough. But not the way this man reminded me of every cheesy painting of an angel I'd ever seen. Even without feathery wings and a glowing halo, it wasn't hard to see mortals worshipping him. Heck, it was almost surprising that we didn't all take a knee ourselves. Lord Furcas included. There was just an air about him, even in chains.

"Any brilliant ideas?" I asked Brianna.

"That wolf-thing seemed pretty bad-ass."

I shrugged and changed form.

For her part, my cousin summoned a half dozen floating balls of fire. They hovered in a cluster near one of her hands. The other hand turned into a sword, the same as before.

At his father's command, Sebastian unfastened the angel's chains. The golden man stretched his arms out, looking like a man who'd just climbed out of bed. Then he took up a swordsman's position, and before the absurdly oversized flaming blade even appeared, I knew that was what was going to happen.

"Care to rethink your strategy?" I said to my cousin. Or tried to. Speaking with a wolf's maw wasn't exactly easy. I have no idea if she understood what I said.

But it wouldn't have mattered. She wouldn't have had any time to react anyway.

The sunlit man probably didn't move quite as fast as Lord Furcas. But he came pretty damn close. I was only barely able to see what he was doing.

I leapt out of the way, hoping that it worked out better for me this time.

Which I'm not sure it would have, if not for Brianna tossing one of her fireballs.

He flicked it away with his sword the same as he would have if it had been a volleyball, but at least it meant his sword was busy doing something other than cutting into me.

I immediately reversed course and charged right at the guy. Thankfully, Brianna did the same, coming in at an angle after tossing another fireball directly at him.

Our opponent hesitated for a moment.

I could see the indecision on his face. I was closing in on one flank, my cousin the other, and a fireball was rushing towards his chest. There weren't many options for him.

He chose to leap towards Brianna, swinging his sword around as he did in a slow arc that would allow it to deflect the fireball before descending on her.

Even with the opening his brief hesitation brought, things might have ended badly, if not for Brianna's fireball. Not only did he waste time before deciding how to respond to our three-pronged attack, but he had to waste time swinging the sword around to the side rather than going straight for my cousin.

Before his slice could reach her, I landed on his back. With one claw, I cut his hand clean off. His sword, whose flame was instantly extinguished, went clattering across to the stone floor, before turning to smoke. With my other claw, I reached underneath and eviscerated him. Meanwhile, I bit a chunk out of his neck so large I nearly decapitated him.

Though, if I hadn't, he'd have been no better off, since Brianna's sword went in his face and came out the back of his head a split second later.

A chorus of jeers filled the throne room. But Lord Furcas only let his brood heckle us for a few moments before silencing them.

"Would've been nice if you drew things out a bit more," he said. "Gave us a bit of a show. But congratu-fucking-lations anyway." He turned to Mel and Sean. "Your uncle apparently thinks now would be a good time for you to go back and visit your family."

"Cool," Sean said. "That okay with you, baby?" he asked the blue-skinned beauty on his arm. I realized that she was the other one who'd been with Lord Furcas earlier.

The one who'd called Brianna an ugly pink cunt.

I remembered the name of the daughter Lord Furcas had said Sean was to marry. Rose.

She shrugged. "If you'd like."

Mel winced, squeezing her eyes shut tight. Whether it was me or her brother who had her ready to die of shame, I wasn't sure. Maybe both. But she eventually nodded.

"Go, or don't. Doesn't make much difference to me. But make up your minds. I'm tired of looking at these two," Lord Furcas said.

#

Todd and Holly had built themselves a house that would not have looked out of place in a typical American suburb, yet, by the standards of the Homelands, was quite modest.

"Is this how your nobles live?" Rose asked as we walked across the front porch. She stared in awe at the potted flowers. "How, um, charming."

"I'll talk to Dad about getting a blood-spewing statue put in," Sean said to his wife. That earned him an amused snicker.

As I knocked on the front door, I told myself to just pretend I hadn't even heard her comment. Or the one she'd made about Brianna earlier. Sean seemed to have some real affection for his new wife, and that was what really mattered.

My brother answered the door, looking irritated. Then he saw who all was with me, and something very much like a smile spread across his face. "Hey, hun?" he called out. "You might want to come out now. We've got visitors. You'll never guess who."

"Come out

now

?" I asked.

Todd looked at me and shook his head. Then he hugged each of his children and introduced himself to his new daughter-in-law and son-in-law, Rose and Troy.

A minute later, Holly joined us. Though her makeup was perfect, as always, her eyes were red and her cheeks puffy. She shrieked with joy and nearly knocked me and Brianna off the porch as she rushed towards Sean and Mel.

"And that's why I'm never having kids," Brianna whispered to me.

I snickered. "Well, in her defense, she had to have been worried sick-"

"That's exactly what I'm talking about," Brie said, slapping my arm.

"Oh," I said.

Of course. Did I need it spelled out for me? Todd and Holly had been fighting. She'd locked herself in the bathroom, where she'd been crying.

Brianna might blame motherhood, but I blamed myself.

Nonetheless, Holly pulled herself away from her kids long enough to come plant a kiss on my cheek and tell me I was an angel for bringing them back safely.

As if they'd even been in danger in the first place. Or wouldn't have come to visit her on their own if I hadn't decided to wage a surprise raid on Castle Furcas.

We slowly moved inside. Holly offered to fix us drinks. Once she got into the kitchen, she apparently decided she also needed to put out some food, because she started pulling stuff out of the fridge and fetching pots and pans and cutting boards from the cabinets.

Sean announced that he was going to take Rose and Troy on a tour of the house. That struck me as strange, since he'd never seen it, but he explained that the house was an exact replica of the one he and Mel had grown up in.

I probably ought to have guessed Todd and Holly would do that.

When Sean asked if Mel was going to join them, she replied that he probably remembered where everything was well enough himself, and that she thought she should help their mother in the kitchen instead.

Then, to my surprise, Brianna said she was going to help out as well.

"You? Help cook? Won't you get an allergic reaction?" I asked.

"Very funny," she said, rolling her eyes.

As she started to head for the kitchen, I grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her back. She spun around to face me. I stared into her green eyes, sighing involuntarily.

Fuck, she was gorgeous.

How could I have been so wrong about her for so long? How could I have not noticed how amazing she was? How selfless she could be? How brave?

"Seriously though. I want thank you. You were great back there. And I-"

Brianna stuck her fingers her mouth and made a gagging sound.

My brother found that to be downright hilarious.

I was glad one of us did.

"It was nothing, Frank. No need to get all sentimental and shit." She turned to Todd. "He always does that." Then, back to me, "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to try and make myself useful." She kissed me lightly on the cheek and headed for the kitchen.