Corpse Maiden

"Welcome Lil Sis, would you like a pint?" She held out a miniature goblet filled with a red liquid. Cereza frowned at it. "It"s artificial but da s.h.i.t"s pretty good."

Cereza accepted the gla.s.s and sipped. It didn"t taste at all bad but it couldn"t compare to Austin. It wasn"t nearly as fulfilling. She sat the mug on the table and took to a chair. " How do I beat Morinth?"

Bridget closed her laptop and pushed away from her desk, turning to face Cereza. " You can"t. You"re too young to beat her in seniority, too weak to defeat her physically, and as much as I adore Yuuko she has handicapped you in terms of birthright. It"s impossible."

" You wouldn"t take this gamble if you truly thought it was impossible dear sister."

"Of course "dats a given." Bridget smirked. " What I have planned is borderline - no, this is genius."

"What"s this plan entail?"

"A lil bit of covert political movement."

"Covert political movement?" Cereza questioned not liking the sound of her strategic wording.

" You know; bribery, blackmail, kidnapping. Of course we gotta keep dis on da low."

"I know I shouldn"t be surprised but, really against your own sisters?"

"At which point my response is, yes, yes I would. You"re da only fun one. Only Cereza would follow me down dis rabbit hole. At any rate let"s go Cereza long day ahead of us." Bridget rose to her feet and walk to the exit with Cereza on her heel.

" To where exactly?"

" To tackle our first of many conquest. She should be da easiest."

Cereza and Bridget entered what could only be described as the laboratory of a mad scientist. In the mist of another experiment was Roxas who was only a few decades older than Cereza.

"Hiya Roxas!" Bridget strode across the room and used Roxas" workstation as a chair. " Whatcha working on?"

" How about we don"t talk and say we did when the adults ask, ok?"

Bridget feigned a laugh. "Always so hostile. With dat att.i.tude it"s no wonder our lil sister ran away."

Roxas looked up from her work and over in Cereza"s direction. " Oh Cereza. I didn"t notice you there."

"Lord sister." Cereza bowed. Roxas nodded in response.

" Besides I am an adult." Bridget sighed. "At any rate, dis isn"t a social call Roxas." Bridget crossed her legs and smiled. " dis is potentially a beneficial business transaction."

" You have a problem with speaking plainly, or are you just trying to annoy me?"

"I"ll skip to da point. Lil Cereza here wants to become Queen..."

"...And you want me to help her, that it?"

"Somethin" like dat." Bridget"s smile grew wider as her eyes grew more narrow.

" Why would I do that? I still hold my inheritance to the crown." Roxas replied not bothering to look away from the concoction she was tinkering with. "Its potential value is enormous."

"True but "chu are going to will it to Cereza soon."

Roxas paused for a moment then resumed. " You seem confident."

" Oh yes. In fact I"m one hunnid percent sure. I have somethin you want more. Something da scientist in you demands."

Roxas stopped and stood. Positioning her large oval gla.s.ses up the bridge of her nose. "Interesting approach, you"re not one to make baseless claims. So what is it?"

***

Austin"s eyes slowly opened. He sat up woozily. His body felt like dead weight. He was in one of the beds inside the infirmary. He cuffed his neck that had a sting in it. That"s right he was bitten again and pa.s.sed out.

"You"re awake. Well that"s a relief. You"ve been sleep for almost the better part of the day." Professor Lange smiled. His dark hair was pulled back in a really messy ponytail and his facial hair, while not thick, was slightly unkempt.

"Professor? Where am I?"

" You lost a lot of blood. You are in my infirmary." He stood and walked over to the bed. " Schera explained everything, my apologies for what you went through. The young mistress tends to get too carried away."

Austin"s eyes widened. " On no. Is she okay!?"

"She"s doing fine. The imprint was a success."

" But...I thought it was impossible to share imprints." Austin mused mostly to himself.

" Yes, it should be. That"s what makes you very interesting. And that brings me to some not so good news for you."

Just then the door burst open both Eleanor and Schera walked in. They shared similar looks of displeasure.

"Deric is it true? Are you being ordered to hand Austin over to be experimented on?" Eleanor yelled out.

"I had to report this anomaly, the decision to further investigate was not my own."

"I will not allow that. This human belongs to house el Bernard, house el Cheshire hasn"t the authority!" Schera stepped in.

" He has an imprint with Lady Eleanor as well. You can argue it with the council later but for now we have the implied right."

" This won"t happen on my watch."

" It is already done. A retrieval team has already been dispatched."

"Deric he belongs to me, not my mother. He is mine!" Eleanor screamed with rage as hot as a furnace.

"I am sorry young misses, it is no longer in my hands."

"That"s not good enough Deric. You"re supposed to be my aid. You"re supposed to be on my side!"

" My alliance is to our house as a whole. Young misses please understand, this boy could catapult house Cheshire."

"I won"t give him up that easily Deric. Not even for you." Eleanor began to glow a pink hue.

"Lady Eleanor don"t be reckless."

Eleanor opened her eyes and pierced his, trapping him inside a mental prison. She looked to Schera. " Don"t just stand there grab him we have to go before they get here."

But it was too late they were already in he hallway. Eleanor quickly iced them down, gluing them in place at the same time Schera summoned her Roman sandals. Grabbing both Austin and Eleanor she broke through the sound barrier shattering the gla.s.s in the halls.

As quick as she was her pursuers were more mature and their human imprints had power behind it that was proving too difficult for her to to shake them . They were on her heels they would catch her soon. She accelerated again and stopped in a field.

"I"ll hold them off here for as long as I can. Can I trust you to protect him?"

Eleanor nodded. "Naturally he is mine to protect anyways."

"Then hurry get him some place they can"t get to him."

"Schera you can"t really believe you can take them. They will kill you!" Austin uttered a protest that went ignored.

" Here they come, go Lady Eleanor!"

Eleanor nodded again and grabbed Austin"s hand then they both vanished in a flash just as four bodies appeared in full tactical gear. Schera brandished her favorite weapon, a silver lance.

" Make this easier on yourself and hand the boy over." Schera summoned armor to go with the sandals and lance entering into a fighting stance. " You two follow the girl and retrieve the boy."

Two of the four bodies started after Austin and Eleanor, running right pa.s.s Schera. She rode the wind and cut them off and forced them back with a swipe from her lance. She managed to graze them in the chest enough to spill blood across the earth.

They retaliated with their own blades. Schera stayed in motion while she defended, this alone kept her alive through the onslaught. While she was busy the fourth raced pa.s.sed her. Somehow she managed to catch him and drive him back.

And the two blademasters were on her once again. She arched backwards just in time to avoid a thrust aimed at her jugular. Then blocked a horizontal slash, meant for her legs, with the base of her lance but couldn"t defend against the kick to her stomach that sent her ripping through the air.

She rolled left as the sword of her a.s.sailant sunk into the dirt she was just at. It was the perfect time for a counter strike, but before she could capitalize she brought her lance up just a huge mallet made contact with her sending her crashing hard into the great oak tree.

Her precious fluids seeped from the back of her head and nose. Her legs wobbled unsteadily. The armor and sandals she wore dissipated. She dropped to her knees unable to take another step.

A hand wrapped around her throat and lifted her off her feet to the sky, in his other hand was the mallet. " That wasn"t even entertaining." They all laughed, mocking the defeated Schera.

She opened her eyes that were br.i.m.m.i.n.g with a radiant orange. The sun behind her grew brighter and brighter blinding her attackers and causing intense pain. She dropped to the ground after she was released and fled like a wounded animal. He magick wouldn"t last long. Hopefully long enough for Austin to get away. She fell over nearing unconsciousness. She burned through nearly all of her blood reserves in just that short fight. This time she was probably going to die.

"Schera!" Austin"s voice vibrated in Schera"s head. She could make out a figure she only a.s.sumed was Austin. "Thank G.o.d we found you."

"Idiot. You are supposed to be far from here." Her voice was even weaker than she thought it would be. " If I die for no reason I will never forgive you, even in the afterlife."

"I"m not going to let you die!" Austin turned to Eleanor. " Can"t you do something?"

"They found us let"s go!" Eleanor pulled on Austin"s arm.

"I am not leaving without her!"

She sucked her teeth. " You don"t even understand the seriousness of this situation!"

"Then you can leave I"m staying." He began to carry Schera towards the clubhouse deeper into the woods.

"Dammit! How"d I get such an annoying imprint?" Eleanor turned Austin around and sunk her fangs into him. The s.e.xual rush she felt the first time was intense almost stealing her mind away from her dire situation. It took all of her will and restraint to let Austin go and slip to the ground.

A knife came within mere centimeter from the back of her neck before a gust of sharp blade-like winds sprung from her body smashing through trees and pushing the knife wielder back and shredding his entire knife hand in the process.

Eleanor faced them her eyes blazing pure white. The four looked from one another then attacked from different angles moving as a single unit. Eleanor"s wind blades held them at bay. She was successfully holding her own. Even causing damage. But the numbers game would soon catch up to her.

Austin turned his attention to Schera. He rolled up his sleeve and presented it to her. "Schera you have to drink. If you imprint with me you can help Eleanor save us."

In a foggy haze Schera obliged. "Forgive me princess." Her teeth borrowed into Austin"s wrist. His blood flooded her mouth washing over her like a typhoon.

Schera body jerk with the sharp pains surging through her. It was the worst pain of her life. Her first imprint was a hundred times easier than this. She wanted to die. Maybe she made a mistake by trying to imprint with Austin. She knew the consequences but did it anyways.

Austin crawled his way back to Schera who had rolled away in agony. With his veins melting he pleaded with Schera, " You have to finish it..."

Schera bit down again placing her stamp on his wrist. When the first drop of his new blood hit her tongue her eyes rolled and she came, twice, drowning her panties in l.u.s.t. Her mind broke. Her strength returned in an instance as she pulled Oliver into a deep and pa.s.sion filled kiss. She could feel another o.r.g.a.s.m rising. It"s natural to feel s.e.xual urges during live feedings but this was on an entirely different level.

The smell of Oliver"s blood hit Eleanor like a hard. It smelled different. Somehow it was more potent than ever before. She lost focus for several seconds until she realized she had let an enemy slip her defense. He charged right at Schera, sword aimed at her vitals, just as a bolt of lightening stuck her.

The bolt caused a small explosion knocking him backwards. As The smoke cleared, Schera could be seen in the middle. A scantily skin tight cat suit with wings of lightening protruding from the back now acted as her armor. In her hands were gauntlets in the form of giant hawkish claws. It was as if she had become a harpie.

They looked at one another then back to Schera who had already disappeared and was standing in front of the mallet user. His three companions split in half. One across the waist, another down the middle, and the last was sliced diagonally from the shoulder.

Schera was amazed by her new power, she had moved a little bit faster than light itself. She regain her composure. "Leave now and you may yet live. Never return or you shall have the entire el Bernard house to deal with."

He did the only smart option, retreat. Three invisible blades danced through the air tearing his limbs apart. Eleanor floated down to the gra.s.s and then fell to her knees mystified at what has transpired. " We are in some serious trouble. There is no going back."