บท 11: The Fixer
[🎶 Not Afraid – Eminem.]
RAFEL SLEPT IN THE WOODS that night. And come morning, by the time the camp of wildlings were rousing from sweet night's slumber and the Fey Queen from recurring dreams of a particular redhaired lover, Rafel was just about making his way through the creaking gates of Emberfall and into the perpetual mist of his lordly estate.
Climbing out the splendid onyx carriage, Rafel figured it was a good enough punishment to let the women in his house sleep without him for one night. Let them entertain themselves for a change.
No sooner was he through the doors than Corazón, the one he least expected, flinging herself right into his arms. She hugged him hard.
"My Lord Grace, we missed you. I missed you, dearly! Please don't ever leave us like that again. Her Eminence would flay me alive and curse me into a Wailing Widow if I ever lost sight of you. I'm sorry for my actions, if it drove you to seek out quieter places. I should be the bigger person. Please forgive me." And then she pulled back. "You smell like fairy...did you–"
"I thought you just resolved to let me have peace." Rafel stopped patting her back and Cora's grip loosened around his shoulders.
He pulled away from her, walking in and she swiftly shut the high doors. Rafel was moving through the expansive foyer which had the red-gold theme of a dragon's lair—it was Aya Naamah who dictated themes for every week, when Cora accosted him again.
"It's either you had a fun woody experience with the Fey Queen or you puppy-rolled amongst dandelions, which is it?" Cora's blue eyes were starkly shining as she asked.
Rafel didn't reply immediately. He stopped by the spiral staircase leading up to his private wing of the Manor. And once Cora was within a feet of him, he dragged her to him with a force that wobbled her feet. One strong arm snaked itself about her tiny waist, and the other held firm on her long, swan neck so she couldn't speak.
Rafel's amber eyes drew flames of carnage as he commanded darkly,
"Lilith may have instructed you to keep tabs on me. But I am Lord of this Manor. The Bloodthirsty One. Remember that! While I favor your androgynous looks and high intelligence, I can easily compel you to be nothing more than a mindless bodybag. I give the orders around here. Not Lilith. I am Emberfall. I go wherever I want. I stay however long I desire. I FUCK whomever I want.
I don't want no more questions of where I've been or what I'd done upon my return. And don't try to place a location spell on me. I will find out. And you will be punished. You are my Chamberlain, Corazón Mortimer, and I feel your worship. But I can take care of myself. I ascended from Hel. Now, get Aya to my chambers! Walking barefoot in the Woods has left the soles of my feet chaffed."
Rafel smiled down to Cora. "No more questions, love, okay?"
She nodded humbly, and Rafel put a hand to her cheek, lifting her face to his. Her lips were parted. And when he dipped low, his kiss wasn't sorry or tame. He took her mouth forcefully, plunging his tongue in and tasting her lips fiercely.
Five seconds after, he pulled back. And Cora's lips were left raw and pinkened. She stood shivering in his arms. Rafel knew all his dominant talk had turned her on. He didn't need his System to tell him that. Cora never wore a corset, or the fancier brassiere, so Rafel's long fingers skirting her ribs could feel the sweet underboobs outlining her small shirt.
Girls with tomboy physicality like Cora needed a confident Alpha male to spark any type of sexual interest in them. Rafel knew all the sugar points to poke her.
It was working.
"Well, hop to it, Corazón." He released her, grinning at her flushed cheeks. And when she was two steps across, he sent a large palm to her ass. The force made her jerk on her tiptoes, but she continued walking, chewing her lip to a smile she couldn't hide.
Rafel watched her swanky gait, reveling in the cuteness she hid under all those boy pants. Cora was the kind of girl who threw high-fives with the soldier boys down at the harbor for the Queen's Navy. But take away all those clothes, and you'd find an angel, creamy, slender, and pink, waiting on you to just give her some good loving.
Smiling to himself, Rafel turned and started up the stairs.
He was sitting on a high chair in his Master bedroom, reading from a particular salacious script of gossip that frequented the Eldorian newspapers, when Aya appeared with a bowl of warm water and a clean white towel draped across her left arm.
She settled herself on her knees at his feet, greeting.
"Good morning, My Lord."
Rafel closed the paper as she picked up one of his legs. He stared down at her as she pushed his trousers up above his ankles and dipped his foot in the bowl. He rubbed her head, patting her and loving the feel of her midnight hair against his palm.
"Morning, slave." He greeted back. "When was your last feed?"
Aya, knowing her Lord Master wasn't talking about tangible food, replied in effect. "Frankly, it's been a while. I could request your permission to hit a tavern up in that village, Gūndlheim. But I suppose its going to take at least four of them to get me going. Perhaps, this evening, I could strip-dance for you and we'll see if I garner your favor for some good fucking.
I do not desire some pub fuck. Bond me. Mate me. I know you won't give me to anyone else. I'll be a good little waifu. Anyways, shit! I'll probably just have to kill those four farmers."
Rafel laughed out loud. Aya Naamah, always an impressive company.
He was about to say something when the sound of an explosion tore through the house.
VROOOM!
THWAAACK!
BANG!!!
It sounded like the strike of great thundering meeting with hard rock. It caused the whole Manor to shiver in its impact.
Rafel jerked off the chair to his feet, just as another hit again.
KABOOOOM!
The deep red curtains in his opulent suite flew so high they brushed the domed ceiling. Aya was also on her feet now, and had to clutch the nearest bedpost for support as the Manor rocked again in the crashing thunder. Rafel stood tall. When the seismic waves halted, he barreled out his room and down the Landing.
He met with Corazón and Ravenna in the foyer.
"What the shit is going on?" He called to Cora.
"It's the Wards, my Lord," she replied.
"What's wrong with the fucking wards?"
Corazón sighed, the impatient fury in Rafel's eyes spurring her on. "We have an enemy at the gates, Your Grace. A-rank, by the looks of it."
VROOO...TRAAA...BLAM!
The whistling fury of a descending air strike sounded a short second before the air was rent in another explosion. The ladies lunged for something to grasp onto as the Manor quaked. Rafel didn't bother. This wasn't his first rodeo. Many of his opponents in the arena used tectonic shifting to discomfit their enemies.
The house was doing its best to hold still. Expensive flower vases crashed to the floor. The mini bar keeled over, hundred of bottles shattering on impact and the fine wine running over. The aisles of books in his Library area was toppled and scripts lay upturned everywhere.
The house looked like a hurricane blew over.
Rafel gritted his teeth. "Do we know this bastard?"
"No, Your Grace. But I don't doubt it's one of the Princess's friends come to collect on her father's debt." Cora replied. "The wards won't hold for long, my Lord."
"No shit." Rafel strode out, kicking the doors open and pounding down the steps.
The women rushed out after his long strides, Aya yelling for him to be safe. Rafel stopped a good distance in front of the Manor's great rise, barefoot on the trimmed lawn that marked the estate's grounds. His large Rottweilers barked furiously in the west area. The air smelled like sulphur and ash, and up above, the skies were thick black with rolling fierce lightning clouds. The wind blowing in from the forest was sharp and cold. Rafel inhaled deeply. This was the first time Eldoria had come close to looking like Hel.
Whoever was behind the wards was no joke.
Rafel sent his eyes across the long grassy distance to the line where the invisible hex of sorcery kept back intruders. Just beyond it, he made out the grimy hairy forms of huge Minotaurs. About two hundred of these beasts stood behind the wards.
Rafel watched as they lifted up their horned bull heads as one, and then when a larger, shrouded figure in their midst lowered a raised hand, they all attacked the wards as one.
BOOOOOM!
[To be continued!]
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