Corruption of the Rose Read online

  It was a beautiful place, and Rose could very well imagine the elves in their gossamer dress gathering around the altar to dance and sing in honor of the lady of the moon. As a place of gathered power, it also attracted almost everything to it—from mortals to the worst of infernal creatures that were a danger to allow on the mountain at all. Between the two, humans were the most frequent transgressors.

  Rose was surprised she hadn’t ended up there rather than a fair distance away to the west. She could see why it attracted men. She could feel the power pulsing from the altar in the midst of the grotto as she slid from Saris’s back. In the gentle light reflecting off the white stone of the altar, he looked like a living shadow with burning coal eyes. She had never noticed it before, since every other time he had kept to the edges of the grotto where he stood guard. Exposed beneath the light, he seemed more threatening rather than having his appearance softened.

  “You look like a demon here,” she observed wryly as she turned her gaze away so she could look more closely at her surroundings.

  Saris snorted mirthlessly. “Elven magic doesn’t agree with my kind. We are creatures of shadow by nature rather than the silvery light of the elven race. It makes the shadows clinging to us even stronger when we are exposed to their magic. It is a matter of protection. Not everything appreciates our guardianship, even if they recognize the necessity. The elves would have no place to perform their rites if the denizens of the netherworld tore this forest apart with their ravaging appetites. You, however, look like a dark and ethereal goddess, all pale moonlight swathed in the colors of the night.”

  Her lips twitched with the delight that warmed her. “That was rather sweet.”

  He grunted noncommittally as his head twisted, taking in their surroundings. That was about as much charm as she was going to get from him, but the honest words struck her far deeper than any of the flattering compliments of the men she’d enjoyed brief acquaintance with.

  Rose circled the altar, her fingertips trailing over the worn, ancient stone. A silver path lit up at the contact, revealing the intricate knotting of leaves and vines and an otherworldly script. The trees rustled above in the breeze, but unlike much of the forest, it didn’t sound threatening or ominous. Rather, the entire grotto felt peaceful and magical unlike anything she had ever imagined.

  Dropping her head back against her shoulders, she breathed deeply, allowing her eyes to slide half-shut as she absorbed the beauty around her. Through it all, Saris was a dark guardian at the fringe of her awareness as he crouched among the trees a short distance away.

  He shifted impatiently, and she dropped her hand, turning away from the altar.

  “It doesn’t look like anything has been disturbed here,” she murmured as she stepped out around the altar.

  The trees were thicker at that side of the altar, encroaching nearly up to the edge of the stone. She gave them only a passing glance as she navigated between the branches and the altar, making her way over to Saris. A movement within the trees made her stop and squint as she peered into the heavy brush.

  Saris’s gust breath was audible as he sniffed the air, and a low growl echoed through the grotto. “Rose, return to my side,” he demanded.

  Her brow puckered as she turned to look over at him. The longer fur on his back was raised aggressively, and his yellow eyes were fixed on the same brush near her. She didn’t sense anything threatening, but she stepped away just as the brush rattled from something moving through it. A dirty bearded face suddenly became visible among the branches, the man’s wild, dark eyes fixed on her.

  “Do not move, demoness,” his raspy voice commanded. “I command you to provide us with safe passage from this cursed forest.”

  The sour stench of sweat and aged brew blasted over her, and Rose gagged and retched, the foulness of it invading her nose. The lupi didn’t stink, and even the goblins tended to smell more like sweet wild blooms and aged wood. She had been with them so long beneath their mountain that she had forgotten the odors of men.

  But there was something else to their scent… something sickening.

  The man stumbled forward, the blade in his hand shaking as he dragged his left side through the bushes. That was when she saw exactly what he meant by “us.” Leaning against him was a young man who barely appeared to be twenty. His face was not only pale but had a grayish pallor to it, with inky veinlike streaks running through his clammy skin. She watched as beads of sweat ran off him even as he shivered. The putrid sweet smell wafted from him, making Rose backpedal, her eyes widening.

  Her eyes darted to Saris. His body was still mostly obscured in the shadows, his blazing stare fixed on the humans. He did not move toward them at all, though she noted the tension in his body as he turned his gaze to her.

  “They are infected.”

  She frowned as she turned to look at them again. She thought that he was wrong, that only one was ill, until she noted the faint dark streaks that appeared on the neck of the first one holding the blade. He wasn’t as far along, but there was something wrong with him. The sicker one appeared to be almost out of it, unaware of anything happening around him, but this one’s eyes flashed as he looked around, attempting to locate the source of Saris’s voice. His hand shook harder as his gaze locked on the lupo’s brilliant eyes.

  “Please,” he whispered. “We just want to go home. We know we shouldn’t be here, but after we found that body… we were certain that there was something here of value. We were right. The demon creature offered us treasures, more than we could ever spend in a lifetime… but something is wrong with us. You must help us. We will give you the treasure… whatever you want. My brother…” He swiped the back of his hand holding the blade across his brow. “We are not well.”

  “No,” she agreed softly. “You are not.”

  Saris stirred in the shadows, his weight shifting as he moved.

  “Nocturna bite. The infection will spread within them until their humanity disappears and their flesh falls away to birth the new Nocturna growing within them. You know what must be done,” he growled.

  She did. She shivered as she recalled the image of the creature from one of the books she’d read in the workroom. The Nocturna could appear as an attractive man or woman but was in truth a monstrous creature born in the underworld to torment murderers and those who commit terrible acts of violence against the innocent. Their true forms weren’t pretty. Enormous batlike wings stretched from long, lean bodies that appeared on the verge of starvation from their constant hunger. They tore the prey apart with claws that tipped long hooked fingers and with the monstrous maws on their malformed heads that resembled something like a lion.

  There was no saving them. She could feel the taint within their blood. It was flowing so thickly through them that there was no place within them that wasn’t infested with the Nocturna’s venom, warping and transforming their insides.

  She could ask Saris to do this.

  All she had to do was ask, and he would dispatch them. Or any of the lupi who were gathered deeper in the shadows, watching and waiting.

  No. This she had to do herself.

  She was happy that her hand didn’t tremble as she stretched it out, palm up.

  Tears streaked down the man’s face as he looked at her hand. “It hurts,” he whispered. “Like something burning inside of me. Never should have helped him cross. He promised that he would help us find the fortune. He left us, and the demon found us. Should have known,” he muttered as the tears slipped quicker down his cheeks and into his dirty beard.

  “A man?” she asked.

  He nodded in a jerky fashion. “Said he had lost something dear to him on the other side of the barrier… that he needed our help. He pulled us through, but he disappeared, chasing after something that we couldn’t rightly see, shouting out at it. We should have found a way out right then. We shouldn’t have stayed,” he rasped.

  She tilted her head, a sense of peace invading her as she stared at his pained fac
e. He was suddenly so dear to her in his suffering. Both of them were in that moment as she sent her power moving through their blood and curling around their hearts. Her power pulsed with a cool balm that made him sigh with relief, his arm dropping.

  “Shhh,” she whispered. “You have suffered enough for your folly. Thank you for providing me with what I need to know. You have earned your rest.”

  “I feel strange,” he mumbled. “But it doesn’t hurt so much. The fire isn’t burning inside of me anymore.”

  “No, there will be no more pain,” she assured him gently as she curled her fingers, slowing the rhythm of his heart.

  He dropped to the forest flower, his tear-filled eyes staring in wonder at her. “I was wrong… You are not a demon. Are you a blessed one?”

  Rose didn’t answer. His heart grew slower, and his eyelids fluttered before dropping against his cheekbones, his body sagging as his friend collapsed against his side, a pained moan drifting from the other in his delirium. He didn’t notice the sounds coming from his companion, however. His heart faltered as she constricted the blood flow further. It beat once more and then silenced.

  She stared down at him. Shouldn’t she be feeling some kind of horror or sadness over what she had done? She didn’t. Instead, she felt curiously calm as she watched his life flee from him. Perhaps she was a monster indeed.

  She lifted her head to look into the shadows. The lupi growled low, the whisper of their moving bodies audible as they pressed in closer, murmuring their approval. Their yellow eyes glowed in the dark gloom of the woods, and she felt something within her rise and entwine with them. She could feel their excitement at the destruction of the growing Nocturna.

  Closing her eyes, allowing their emotions and restless to slide over her, she opened her eyes again and faced the other human lying weakly in the dirt. He was too far gone to be an immediate danger to anyone, but it was better to act before the Nocturna took over and tore free of the human flesh. She circled closer, her hand stretching out once more.

  His blood rushed as the fire rose within him, burning through her attempt to control his blood. Rose’s eyes widened as he moaned, his body twisting. He raised one hand, his fingernails dropping away as long black claws pushed through his fingertips, leaving long tracks of blood dribbling down the back of his hand. Thrashing, he wailed, his claws tearing at him as his flesh began to split, and her heart jumped as the ravenous hunger of the lupi struck her hard.

  This was new. The lupi didn’t hunger for human flesh. It was the thing clawing itself free from the human body. It had thought to wait, sheltering inside the human flesh in hope of escaping the mountain where it could freely feed. With that option cut off, it rose with a blood-curdling shriek.

  Blood sprayed and human tissue peeled away, revealing the dark bluish-gray limbs and body. Wings unfolding, a slick fatty substance fell away from them as they beat, the sound of wet leathery wings unnatural in the grotto. The energy of the lupi pressed eagerly against her. Waiting…

  What were they waiting for?

  She stumbled back, her heart leaping as the human face slipped off to reveal leonine features. Its fangs were perpetually bared as if it were something like a skull.

  They were waiting… Waiting…? Waiting for her command!

  Snapping her hand up, she shouted out to them. “Destroy this pestilence!”

  The sounds from the lupi were savage as they burst forth from the woods. The Nocturna flapped its wings uselessly, unable yet to fly, as the pack descended upon it. The snap of jaws and the tearing of flesh were loud as she watched the lupi, pulling flesh from the bone with each strike of their bloody jaws. The Nocturna’s screams were deafening, echoing through the forest in layers of horrifying sound until they ceased altogether when Saris’s mouth closed around the neck and ripped the head free with one savage jerk.

  The decapitated, gaping head still hung from his mouth as he stood triumphantly over the body, towering over the other lupi who fed upon it. His mouth opened, allowing it to fall free onto the ground as he let out a thunderous roar that transformed into a long howl to which the lupi responded, their eerie song filling the air.

  Rose stood there before them, smiling as she embraced the victorious melody of their hunt.

  Chapter 21

  Saris stalked after his female. He had tracked her scent into the lower pool room, where the natural hot spring bubbled up into the baths that Darthar had expanded and shaped. He wasn’t surprised to find her there. Rose was naturally attracted to the spring and took pleasure in the warm waters. He understood that it was a place where she could escape the rowdy lupi in the upper halls of the castle. Although it rarely bothered him, he recalled Darthar often needing small respites.

  As expected, Rose stood thigh-deep in the water, her hair trailing down her back. She was murmuring softly to herself and Saris could see the gentle glow of water sprites playing along the surface of the pool, waves of pale light on the water banding across Rose’s bare skin. A nymph that was reclined against a nearby rock glanced over at him before disappearing once more beneath the water’s surface.

  Rose glanced over her shoulder at him, one dark eyebrow arching.

  “Saris? What is it?” she asked in a soft voice.

  He waded into the water, his eyes drifting around the room. The dark ceiling, hung with natural black rock formations, caught the light from the numerous torches erected around the room. Even the water of the pools appeared like sheets of black glass divided by a small rise on which the statue of a fair-faced nude goddess stood, smiling sweetly. The statue paled in comparison, however, to the female who stood before him.

  “I thought I might find you here,” he rumbled as he stepped up behind her, his arms enclosing her.

  A soft sigh drifted from her lips, and she tilted her head back to rest it against his shoulder. He dragged his hand down her arm, his claws lightly scraping her skin, sending a shiver running through her just as he knew it would.

  “You were searching for me?”

  “I am concerned,” he admitted. “You have spent much time wandering through the castle alone since we came across the humans.”

  She made a small sound of exasperation. “That was days ago, Saris.”

  “And still you are coming to terms with it,” he observed. “I admit that I didn’t wish for you to be faced with such a decision so soon. I wanted time for you to grow into your power here at the castle first. I wanted to spare you that pain.”

  Rose expelled a shaky breath and shook her head. “I wish that I felt pain or some horror over what I did. In truth I do not, though I wondered at first how much of my ambivalence is due to knowing that they were responsible for Roninbar crossing the barrier. But on reflection, I don’t even care about that, other than a sense of relief at knowing just how he accomplished it. I admit that part of me still analyzes my feelings over their death and wonders at whether they are normal. I feel sympathy for them, but when it comes to my decision, I feel satisfaction. I am happy that I ended their lives. I accept that this is in my nature… but it is still frightening, and I am accepting and trying to work past that too.”

  Saris lowered his muzzle to her shoulder, nipping at the skin with his sharp fangs. It broke easily, a small trickle of blood escaping from the nick as a yelp escaped from her. He watched the ruby trail with fascination. A warmth filled him at the perfectly trusting way she continued to lean against him as her life’s blood pearled over her pale flesh. It was a precious gift. She did not shy away nor attempt to fend him off after the initial stab of pain. Instead, she pushed deeper into his embrace, accepting his pain and adoration.

  “Blood, pain and death are a part of life,” he murmured. “You know that. They have no moral value assigned. They just are. The predator does not feel guilty for bringing down and consuming its prey. We do as our purpose demands. You were meant to be here, Rose. You would not be able to do what needs to be done if it went against your very being to carry out the duties necessary
to be the Master of the Urgal Mountains. This is a place of monsters, as I have told you before.”

  “And as a monster, I belong here,” she filled in. She hesitated as she turned to face him, her eyes searching his. “Does it make me evil that it no longer bothers me? That even as I say this, I don’t really care whether or not anyone would find me as such?”

  His muzzle brushed her cheek before dropping down once more to the crimson trail running down her neck. He pressed in closer, his breath leaving him in a contented sigh. “No. It makes you mine. It makes you of this mountain and Mistress of the lupi. It makes you the center of my adoration that you would lust for bloodshed in equal measure as I, and in doing so not only honor your true nature, but preserve the balance of the worlds.”

  Another shiver ran through her beneath his hands, and he stroked his tongue along the trail of blood, lapping her sweet essence into his mouth. As his tongue caressed the wound, a pulse of liquid light moved over the punctured flesh, sealing it. He grinned to himself and struck in another place, his teeth biting in deeper, her blood running into his throat as she jerked in his arms, his tongue making her moan softly as he clutched her tightly to him.

  “Your pain and pleasure are glorious,” he growled against her soft neck. His body strained with desire with every movement of her round ass against him, begging him to join with her in the most primal of ways. “You accept all of it and are remade even more beautiful in my eyes.”

  “Do you desire me?” she whispered, her sweet breath fanning his face.

  His cock surged from its sheath against her thigh in pure reaction to her pheromones brushing over his senses. “More than anything.”