Dark Passions: Dark Romance Boxed Set, page 75
With teeth ground together, her towering leader was letting loose a sound like a terrible animal growl. Strength against brawn, he kept the man pinned. Odir had recovered, but with his great sword and the proximity of the two fighters, he was unable to help directly. Finally the tides changed when Ara’bor head butted the other man, disorienting him long enough so that his hand grasped about his throat. It was an agonizingly slow thing as the guard was choked to death, vitality dripping from him until his sword fell with a clatter.
Elin shouted to her other two companions, “I need something for her wrists!” The woman was slowly regaining her ability to move, but it was jolting and painful to her, Elin knew.
The merchant was in line with the richer class from the towns, a human woman, buxom and soft from a life of wealth. She wore a rather impractical dress, pants on underneath it, and a heavy fur coat covering her shoulders, arms and chest. Her hood was up, but as it fell away, long, auburn locks spilled out around her.
The woman was beautiful, her lips pink and full, her lashes long and dark, the cold giving her cheeks a pleasant blush. For a moment, Elin envied her, until it quickly turned to pity.
Ara’bor was not finished with the guard, even with the life choked from him. He cut off the guards’ head in a gruesome display simply to ensure the job was done. Odir and Glis’n, however, had walked over to look at the new captive.
The elf, his typical animosity for Elin aside, offered over some cord to tie the woman up with. “She’s a looker.”
Odir simply nodded as Ara’bor slowly joined the group, breathing heavily.
Elin twisted and knotted the woman’s wrists as she slowly came to, a cry escaping her lips that sounded of excruciating pain. It developed into a scream as her vocal cords warmed again and the demoness’ hand clamped about her mouth angrily, her eyes wild. “Shut up,” Elin muttered lowly.
“Glis’n!” Ara’bor barked loudly, “Check that man by the horse. I don’t want ‘em poppin’ back up.”
The elf glumly took his gaze off the new captive and trudged over to the man by the horse. With a quick stab he plunged his dagger into the prone man’s chest, eliciting a groan before he finally died, having been clinging to life so desperately.
The woman responded by screaming into Elin’s hand more loudly, terror taking hold.
Elin warned, “Just calm the fuck down. Stop screaming. There’s bears and shit around and we don’t want them finding us,” and the woman’s eyes widened, the screams dying in her throat and replaced with panted breathing.
Elin lifted her own glove to her mouth, biting it off and replacing the hand on the captive’s mouth with the coarse material in a gag. She held it in for a few moments before she shifted around the woman, kneeling on her bound hands and leaning over her, looking over her clothes.
“Odir,” commanded their leader, “strip the guard of his goods. Seems ya got yourself a new suit a’ armour.” The young man was slow to tear his eyes away from the woman, but grinned all the same at the declaration before going about his work. Ara’bor wiped his scimitar clean and spoke calmly to Elin, “Strip ‘er of all the stuff you might want. Give ‘er the worst shit ya got ta wear. There’s probably more clothes in amongst the wagon too.”
“Going to be easier once we get her back and she calms down a bit,” Elin responded. Truthfully, to strip the woman, she’d have to be unbound, and in the unfamiliar terrain, Elin wasn’t interested in risking it.
“Oh, I’ll take care of strippin’ her boss,” came the creeping words of the grinning elf.
Ara’bor gave a hard look to the other man, “No you won’t. We’ll cart her back for now, and set up a forward camp here. I don’t want her all messed up. When we ransom ‘er, her folks’ll be more likely to come lookin’ for revenge if she’s beat an’ raped ta hell.”
Both men soured instantly, Glis’n snapping quickly, “Ain’t fair you got—”
“Just get your shit together.” He pointed to the woman’s prone body, “She’ll be a huge payoff for us, think of the future! Now get ta work.” Ara’bor turned, beginning to sort through the wagon itself, considering the issue concluded, and his words echoed in Elin’s mind.
In the dark, it was harder for the merchant to tell that the woman was part demon and she pleaded at Elin with her eyes as the conversation ended. Elin offered the smallest of smiles before leaning down. “It’ll be fine, just cooperate,” she mumbled into the woman’s ear, lifting her head and checking for compliance. The merchant barely nodded, and Elin stood off her arms, hoisting her up with more strength than the slender demoness looked to contain.
The angry leers from the other men betrayed the tension that still rankled the group, even in the midst of their victory. Ara’bor joined Elin for the trek back to the camp, taking the captive woman with them. The night was spent in large part organizing things. At least one of them would be kept at the traveler’s camp down the mountain on lookout for the time being.
“Once we have things set, we’ll send word of the hostage, an’ our demand for ransom.” The two men, still bitterly seething at their denial, simmered. “Now get your things. Elin will watch the captive tanight, while the rest a’ us camp down below,” he declared firmly. Ara’bor set off immediately, giving a brief smile to the demonic woman before leaving, without so much as waiting for the other two men to set in with him.
She looked around at the other two, looking only vaguely weary and tense. It was obvious she wasn’t comfortable left alone with them, and she shifted towards her captive as if for protection. “I’ll see you at breakfast.”
Odir turned to leave first, and before he was even out of sight Glis’n glared down to her. Hissing lowly he looked to Elin, “We ain’t finished yet, she-devil,” he sneered. “This don’t change a thing.”
“I know, Glis’n,” she stared at him, her eyes just as hard as his. The woman beside her, though, bristled at the she-devil comment, apparently putting enough of what she’d seen in the woman together with the comment to find it unsettling.
Chapter 9
The elf headed off at last, knowing it was futile to linger too long and risk their leader’s wrath. The two women left behind together, the human quaked in fear at the half-blood captor as she sat inside the tent, the flap kept open still.
Elin began to prepare some food for the captive, growing concerned about having a dead weight in case of trouble. Looking at the other woman, Elin held out the bowl so she could see it, “Hey, if I take the gag out for you to eat, you won’t scream, right? Rather them not head back.”
The human woman stared at her with wide, terror-filled eyes. She was slow to respond, locked in dread as she was by the visage of a half-blood demon that helped kill her companions. Finally, she managed a shaky nod.
Elin tentatively reached up with her free hand, removing the gag just enough to test for a scream before pulling it away entirely, offering a spoon full of chilled stew. “I’m Elin.” She didn’t know why she told the merchant her name, but with Glis’n and Odir behaving as they were, perhaps she simply wanted someone who would understand her terror.
The petrified woman, however, didn’t respond. She was too shocked after the vision of horror she just witnessed to do more than reluctantly accept the offered food.
Elin understood terror. Violence was a daily part of life. She continued to spoon the food into the woman’s mouth and then relaxed back, the woman’s arms and legs still bound, “You got more clothes with you?”
The other woman nodded slowly, finally conjuring up words. “Y-yes... on the wagon. T-take them,” she stammered out, hoping to appease her captor.
Elin smiled a bit broader, warming at the thought, “I’ll let you keep what you have on, then.” The captive bristled as Elin paused, looking aside, “For now anyways. How much longer was your route gonna take? Where were you goin’?”
Trembling as she was, the woman took time and effort to muster more of a response. “A-another... couple months,” she said, swallowing heavily. “We were... h-headin’ south. Way south.”
Elin winced, looking disappointed, her head drooping, “Ah.” She’d grown up hard, with rough treatment, but she still felt some compassion for the poor woman. Their vulnerability united them, she felt.
“Someone gonna pay a ransom for you?”
Her brows furrowed, sadness seeming to take her for a moment before common sense returned. “Y-yes. Yes! M-my brother... up in Whitereach,” she swallowed nervously.
Elin looked pleased at that, her spirit lifting, “How long would it take to get there, y’think?” Elin blurted out quickly, moving towards the woman again.
The human cringed away from her, not wanting the half-blood to be any closer. She stammered out faster, more anxiously, “A c-couple days. That’s it.”
Elin noted how the woman pulled away from her and sat back, looking a bit sullen. She was pleased with the news, but not with the reminder of what awaited her in any city or town she went to.
No, the ransom and supplies would have to be all that she’d get out of this venture. Ara’bor was an idiot to dream about finding a bed for the two of them. There’d be no comfort for her. She stared for a long time, stuck in her self-pity as she watched the other woman.
The night passed slowly. The terrorized woman made poor company as she trembled and avoided looking at the demonically tainted Elin.
Later, as dawn approached, a sound of approaching footsteps was heard. Elin startled, tensing before she saw Ara’bor’s face, her posture instantly softening for him. He returned with a satchel of goods under arm, lifted the tent flap with a wide and cheerful grin for Elin. “I’ve come to relieve you,” he announced, then, stepping inside, tossed the satchel at her feet. “An’ here. Gifts fit for a queen.”
Looking towards the bag, she grabbed at it eagerly, opening it up to reveal clothes and jewels like she’d never seen before. Certainly not anything she’d ever worn before. Without hesitation she moved behind her captive, out of sight, quickly stripping out of her grimy clothes.
The tent was big enough to fit the four of their party members comfortably, though not big enough that Elin could escape completely from their view. Sitting himself down on a fur mat, Ara’bor paid the hostage woman little note, simply reclining with a satisfied smile on his face as he watched Elin undress. Resting one arm over his knee he remarked, “The jewels are just for now though, a’ course. Once we’re able ta hit a town, we’ll trade ‘em in for somethin’ more useful, like coin.”
“Yea,” Elin nodded, pulling on a long robe that ended at her knees, a smooth pair of pants beneath that, a heavy fur coat draped around her torso and down below her bottom, “No need to sparkle out here anyways.” She glanced towards him, softening her expression, “‘cept for show.” Her tone was a bit more lighthearted as well. The night had been spent thinking bitter, lonely thoughts, and it took her a little while to slip out of it. Still, as she pulled a jeweled necklace around her neck, she felt pleased and relaxed.
Watching his half-breed companion dress up in the finery, Ara’bor’s smile never faded, but it did soften. Reaching out to her, he let his fingers graze along the jeweled necklace and her digits. “On second thought,” he said, “keep that one. Looks good on ya. An’ it’ll be somethin’ ta fall back on if trouble ever comes up.” Even trying to be kind, he couldn’t help but be practical.
Her attitude towards him had warmed over the past few weeks, the brutal rape pushed to the back of her mind in her own pragmatic sense. She placed a hand on top of his, “She says her brother will pay. In Whitereach. Says it’s a few days away north.”
Ara’bor slipped a thickly muscled arm about her, resting it upon her narrow hips and pulling her close. “I know th’place. Ain’t far,” he said lowly, leaning in, head bent as he nudged aside her hair to kiss at her neck. “Y’look good,” he muttered.
She wanted to believe in his sincerity and affections more than she allowed herself to, even though it felt genuine enough as he held and kissed her.
“How’re the others?” she asked meekly.
“Pissy,” he responded simply, kissing at her again. “Sour an’ uptight. But they’ll simmer down once they see the rewards, don’t worry.”
“Who’re you sending to collect?”
His lips and tongue worked across her neck, unbothered by the fact she was her same, dirty, half-blood self beneath the fresh new clothes. He muttered lowly, “I’ll think about it later.”
He had his mind on other things, despite the captive audience that watched them.
Her hand trailed up to his head, her fingertips running beneath his hair. She looked towards the captive and shifted uncomfortably, lowering her voice, “Now?” She closed her eyes for a second as the frightened merchant woman practically gagged, watching the two of them neck.
To Ara’bor the captive seemed a non-entity. Breaking the press of his lips to her neck, he looked at the tied up woman at last. “What? She botherin’ ya?” He asked, noting that the captive had her gag removed. “Why’s she got nothin’ in her mouth?”
“I asked her where we could get the ransom and stuff. She’s been quiet,” Elin offered, her own voice very low. Perhaps it was her own recent experience with being bound and gagged that made her a bit more empathetic. The merchant didn’t speak, as if trying to prove Elin’s point.
Ara’bor, after a moment’s thought, seemed to accept the answer. Then with a slow look over the lovely merchant woman they held, his hands groping along Elin’s side and thigh, he turned his attention back to the demon-born. “So what? Yer not in the mood with her here?” He asked without ceasing his groping of her body through the fresh new clothes.
His words actually startled her to the core.
Elin couldn’t recall another time where her mood had come into play with anything, let alone for sex. Having been given the option for opinion only seemed to charm her to the man and quickly her lips were pressed against his, passion boiling over once more.
Whether he meant it as such or not, it no longer mattered with her response. Their lips moved together heatedly, his hand groping over her body through the clean new clothes, mauling her breast and thigh as he groaned loudly. They were heedless of the woman across from them who stared in a mix of shock and revulsion, unable to look away.
Elin’s hands grabbed his head, pulling him into her as her tongue wound around his, hot and probing before retreating. Quickly she shrugged off her new coat, her hand then working up her robe and shimmying down her pants, revealing a sliver of that smooth, olive flesh to the pre-dawn air.
In their time together since the violation, they had grown more accustomed to one another, though never had she responded with such fire to his advances. His hand found her bare flesh immediately, rough fingers groping at it hungrily, squeezing and rubbing as their audience watched.
His eyes were on Elin the whole time, lips tugged into a wry smile, quite pleased with the change.
Elin worked her fingers in against his pants, struggling to free him. She was completely ignoring the onlooker, enwrapped in the man’s body and flesh.
His garments were a mix of fur lined armoured plates and mail, with an under layer beneath for insulation. The outsides took the undoing of various clasps and buckles, and once finished, she reached in and grasped his quite large, hard cock, still bearing a mix of his musk and her scent.
She held his stiffness smoothly in her hand before she shifted, her back pressing against his chest, her body slowly settling in against his. With his knees parted, he held Elin as she slipped onto his lap.
Lowering herself, she felt him press against her outer folds, then impale upwards, her body slicker than it had ever naturally been for him without the addition of his own seed. They were both facing the merchant woman who stared on with disgust, a small utterance coming out through her lips that sounded like a curse.
Ara’bor was too enraptured in the moment to pay the disgruntled captive any heed. He groaned lewdly as he felt his member absorbed into her slickened folds, and just as she embraced him tightly, his arm did so about her too. His mouth kissed along her neck as he throbbed within the half-breed woman.
There was little to see with her robe curled around them, locking in the heat and protecting the merchant from the whole unsightly scene, but that didn’t stop her from shivering and trying to shift away. From the fear in her eyes, it looked as though she were taking it as a threat rather than an unfortunate reality of outlaw bandit life.
Elin began bobbing up and down on that stiff member, taking a more dominant role than usual, and Ara’bor, the man ever in charge, did not resist her efforts to take control. To the contrary, he grinned, relishing the reciprocated passions. He kissed up her neck and held her waist, helping her but not taking command, just groaning deeply in pleasure as she rode his cock. After a while he seemed to remember the woman trapped with them, and spared her -- and her lovely appearance -- a once-over, grunting as he throbbed within his half-demon lover.
The merchant obviously wasn’t used to this type of treatment, and her pink lips parted in disgust. Elin clung to his arms and, as time wore on, she, too, started sparing more and more glances to the other woman, her face tight and dark.
The tanned Ara’bor often had more stamina than Elin cared for him to. Their trysts often lasted long past the point of comfort for the poor woman, leaving her sore. Something about the evening, his excitement, her returned affections—and perhaps the bound woman forced to watch—made him swell and pulse with more vigor than usual. He groaned loud and lewdly, filling the leather tent with sounds of his pleasure, and though he seemed to enjoy, on some level, watching the captive as Elin rode him, he gripped her hips and began to move that slender body atop him faster, harder, eyes shutting as he shuddered, nearing his end quite noticeably.
There was a strange, soft grin toying with Elin’s lips and reluctantly her eyes pulled away from the discriminatory woman, rolling up to the ceiling as she felt his force quicken, knowing the inevitable climax was on its way.
