Danica: Epilogue

Danica shook her head and said – with a bright smile, "No, I've found it."

{*****~~o~~0~~o~~*****}

Camilla entered the room of scrying mirrors, finding it disconcerting to see the enigmatic Ebonar seated there instead of Zoraster. She bowed and said, "You summoned me, Master?" Calling the man Master was even more disquieting to Camilla, who had served Zoraster for so long.

"Summon artisans, men of skill – but expendable. Send them to the council chamber on the morrow at high sun."

Camilla bowed again. "Of course, Master."

"Bring our most accomplished earth wizards to my sitting room immediately, and when I have dismissed them to their duties, bring the Master of the thieves to me."

"It shall be so, Master," Camilla responded, curiosity obvious in her voice.

Ebonar turned to face his servant, smiling broadly. "I hear the question in your voice. The Master would be pleased that you continue to expand your horizons, casting aside the state of stagnant mediocrity in which you lingered during your previous life. I believe it is time for an old wrong to be righted. You will see as things proceed."

The man sounded so much like Zoraster that it caught Camilla off guard, although it did inspire confidence in her new Master. "I eagerly await the results of your designs, Master."

Ebonar laughed – a booming sound that echoed from the walls of the room. "Few will share your eagerness, once I have resurrected the Guild of Murder."

{*****~~o~~0~~o~~*****}

"Your command of magic amazes me. I have some skill, but it is nothing compared to..." Arilee broke off in mid-sentence and let out a little chuckle, looking over Danica's shoulder.

Danica turned to see Cheron leading Marlena out of the common room, Vladamir walking at their side.

"Vladamir and Cheron have made another conquest, I believe," Ari laughed quietly.

"I saw it coming earlier," Danica responded, "I know Cheron, and she's hard to resist."

"I've been tempted too, but we've just never found the time." Nodding toward Brandon and Devan, Ari said, "I think those two will be leaving our company soon, as well."

Danica chuckled. "They both were just shy of asking my permission to sleep together."

Arilee stroked Danica's arm. "They care about you, and they don't want to hurt you."

"It was strange coming from them, though, especially Devan." The touch of Arilee's hand sent a tingle up Danica's spine. The Baroness had an innocent beauty that time could never touch, and Danica's body was responding – strongly.

Ari shivered and whispered, "Oh my, I'm being tempted again," looking into Danica's eyes.

Danica smiled and said, "Sorry, it's the Awakening. There is just a lot of sexual energy in the room. Even the King and Queen look eager to get away to somewhere private. Once I'm even slightly aroused, the Awakening just stokes up everyone else's desires around me."

"I don't think it is that alone, you are a very sensual woman. You need to come to my keep or Blackhawk Hall sometime. Christi loves a woman with red hair, and so do I," Arilee whispered huskily, and then covered her mouth and blushed. "Well, perhaps the magic is affecting me. I don't usually talk like that. I do mean it though."

"It amazes me how many women feel like we do. I thought I was all alone in the world. I even thought terrible things about my sister until I discovered it was in me too," Danica mused.

"We are a unique group, but I think it is a desire all women have – to some small extent. We are, after all, quite a bit prettier than men, and tend to smell better."

The two women laughed, and then Danica noticed Celes and Andrea whispering together on a couch across the room. "I'll have to come visit, certainly," Danica said with mischief in her voice, adding a wink to emphasize it. "There's something that has been waiting too long that I need to attend to tonight, though."

Arilee glanced at Andrea and Celes, "They've never been together, then?"

Danica shook her head. "Celes always desired her, but she was cursed in that old body. As to Andrea, I don't see how anyone could resist Celes."

Arilee's face broke out into a crooked grin. "You should bring them when you visit."

Danica laughed, and then saw Darkniciad approaching from the doorway. He had left the gathering to examine the clones some time earlier, and he wore a pleased smile now as he approached.

"I have broken Zoraster's enchantments upon them. For now, I am leaving them slumbering, because lingering traces of the magic will persist for some days." Darkni sighed then, and looked back over his shoulder, "Would that Zoraster had resisted the temptation of evil. His skill in magic and his mind are nearly without parallel. I am amazed by the advances he made in cloning magic."

Danica asked, "Will they be... What will they be like, now?"

Darkniciad's brow furrowed. "My guess is that they will be much like children. I would assume that they will learn more quickly than the average child, however. Zoraster's manipulation of their minds and insertion of memories and feelings provide them with a development reference normal children do not possess."

"Will they be like us – the people they were copied from, I mean?"

"Only to some extent," Darkni replied, "The nature of one's upbringing has as much to do with who we become as what we are born with. I have little doubt that they all will possess some skill in magic, and the clones of you will likely have psionic powers as well. They will all need to be carefully nurtured, because their powers will develop far before their minds. The normal controls nature places upon such abilities has been broken by Zoraster's manipulation, and they could endanger themselves or others unless taught to control their abilities."

Danica asked, "Did I do the right thing, bringing them with me?"

Before the wizard could answer, Arilee interjected, "You followed your heart. There can never be wrong in doing that."

Darkni smiled and said, "I could not have said it any better. I believe there may be means to suppress their abilities until they are prepared to deal with them. It will be fascinating to see how they differ from you as they grow."

"I hope they aren't as much trouble as Devan and I were," Danica sighed.

"Every parent wishes that," Darkniciad noted with amusement.

"I gave up on having children years ago, and now I have a dozen," Danica remarked with equal amusement.

"I offer any aid I may provide. Now, I believe I will join my wife, as I can see irritation in her eyes," Darkniciad said, and then nodded before crossing the room toward the now-smiling woman.

"I will probably be going soon," Arilee said when Danica turned back to her, "Cerebus looks anxious to return to his wife, and I'm having a little difficulty thinking about anything else myself."

Danica asked the Baroness, "How does your husband feel about... You know?"

Arilee smiled. "We are not yet married. He has found some difficulty in asking the question. I'm in the process of pushing him gently in that direction now. Men are so silly and stubborn. As to your question, he understands my needs and shares them." She then added, in an amused tone, "Christi did much to persuade him in the benefits of sharing your love."

"I guess there is some hope, then."

Arilee raised Danica's hand to her lips and kissed it. "True love accepts us for what we are, and does not judge. I think your friends seek your company."

Danica turned and saw Andrea gesturing for her to come join them. She also saw Devan leading Brandon out of the room, as well as the King and Queen rising to leave.

Arilee asked, "If I thought about the teleportation patterns in my Keep and the Hall, could you see them in my mind?"

"Yes, I did that with Devan earlier."

Ari closed her eyes and visualized the pattern to her own keep, and when Danica indicated that she had it, the Baroness thought about the one in Blackhawk Hall. As soon as Danica said that she knew that one as well, Arilee opened her eyes and said, "You will try to come visit?"

Danica's mental connection to the Baroness was still partially there, and so she felt Arilee's desire acutely when the woman spoke. Shivering slightly from the feeling, Danica replied, "I think it will be hard not to."

Arilee smiled and walked to where Ashtar was speaking with Duke Cerebus. Danica went to join Andrea and Celes, feeling the desire from them both washing over her long before she reached them. Danica licked her lips in anticipation, and thought that they would be returning to the privacy of their rooms soon.

{*****~~o~~0~~o~~*****}

Ebonar smiled as he watched the Guildmaster of the thieves leave. Within a few days, the most stealthy and deadly of thieves within the country would arrive to take their place in the new Guild of Murder. As they bowed to pledge their allegiance to the altar of Blorcasir that Ebonar had ordered constructed, the dead god's power would grow. Soon, the deity would regain the power lost in the purge of his servants long before.

Only now, Godsbane enslaved the power of the god, to serve he who held it.

Ebonar's smile grew wider as the servant he had ordered to attend him immediately upon the Guildmaster's exit entered the room. With full pouting lips and a hefty bosom, the woman raised his ardor immediately.

Rising, the evidence of his arousal plainly visible, Ebonar instructed, "Close the door. I believe there is a special service you may perform for me, which you should find most pleasurable to undertake."

The woman seductively leaned against the door as she pushed it closed, raising her arms above her head to enhance the swell of her breasts. "How may I serve you, Master?" She asked suggestively.

Ebonar pulled his shirt off, seeing the woman strutting toward him and licking her lips. She unbuttoned her blouse as she approached, opening the buttons quickly to reveal her breasts.

"I believe you have anticipated my needs," Ebonar growled huskily, and then stepped forward to jerk the blouse from the woman's body, popping off the remaining buttons to clatter on the floor at his feet.

{*****~~o~~0~~o~~*****}

Danica closed the door, the sexual tension between her, Celes, and Andrea almost palatable in the air. Andrea and Celes turned to look at each other, deep desire in their eyes, and Danica moaned approvingly.

"She's so beautiful, isn't she Andrea?"

Andrea smiled and softly said, "I can see why you were both so tortured when she was under Zoraster's curse."

Danica moved in close and kissed Andrea's neck, whispering into her ear, "There's nothing making you wait, though."

"I've wanted to be with you as much as Danica," Celes said breathlessly, and then leaned in to kiss the blonde woman she had admired for so long.

Danica moaned again, her back arching slightly and her body tingling as she watched her friends kiss. She reached out and stroked their bottoms while their lips and tongues met in a carefully restrained dance of mutual need.

They broke from the kiss, their eyes still locked on each other, and their hands still gently roaming over each other's backs. Danica leaned in closer, and they both turned to kiss her in turn, first Andrea, and then Celes. Danica smiled and said, "We're a little overdressed, aren't we?"

Celes pulled her hands from Andrea's back, sliding them slowly around the woman's waist. She then inched her fingertips under Andrea's skirt, pulling up the tail of the blonde's blouse with soft tugs. When the bottom of the blouse hung free, Celes tugged it upward. Andrea raised her arms when the blouse reached the base of her breasts, and Celes sighed in contentment when the cloth slid away from Andrea's firm globes. She quickly pulled the garment away, tossing it negligently to the floor and drinking in the sight of Andrea's bared breasts, flushed rosy with desire.

Andrea hooked her thumbs under the material of her skirt and pulled it down off her hips, stepping out of the cloth when it pooled at her ankles. Watching with as much rapt attention as Celes, Danica could see the slightly darker spot of dampness on Andrea's panties.

Andrea reached out and grabbed the tie of Celes' robes at her waist, tugging the bowed knot undone with a slow pull. Celes unhooked the closures of her robe from the top, while Andrea worked from the bottom. Celes' robes soon fell to the floor in a whisper of cloth, leaving her nude save for her panties as well. The panties Celes wore had a spot of dampness matching the one between Andrea's legs.

Danica clenched her thighs tight, swearing that the heat rising from her loins was about to ignite her clothing. She pulled at the tie of her own robe, quickly pulling the closures undone and shedding the stifling garment as Andrea and Celes moved together to kiss once more.

Andrea glanced over when her lips parted from Celes', seeing Danica's robe fall to the floor. She smiled at Celes, and then turned to take a step toward Danica. Reaching around behind the redhead, Andrea unhooked the clasp of Danica's brassiere, freeing the heavy breasts it contained. Celes stepped around Danica, dragging her fingertips over the woman's waist as she moved, and then reached up to pull the straps of the brassiere down off Danica's shoulders. Andrea grasped the straps then, and pulled them down Danica's arms when she extended them forward.

Danica leaned her head back, closing her eyes when Celes kissed her neck from behind. She then twitched when Andrea's lips found the soft skin of her neck from the front a moment later.

Still shuddering from the touch of their lips, Danica turned sideways and took one of each of her friends' hands, tugging them toward the nearest bed. When they reached it, Celes glided in behind Andrea and tugged the woman's panties down off her hips. As the cloth fell to Andrea's ankles, Celes reached around and brushed her fingers over the downy-soft blonde curls adorning the woman's mound.

Andrea leaned back with a whimper of pleasure, feeling the hard tips of Celes' breasts pressing against her back. She turned then and pulled down Celes' panties, immediately pulling the dark-haired beauty close and kissing her. Andrea pushed her hips forward, her blonde curls mingling with Celes' dark triangle of hair and sending little tingles of pleasure through them both.

Danica let her panties fall to the floor and stepped out of them. Celes glanced at Danica as she broke from the kiss with Andrea, and then glanced at the blonde's breasts with a smile. Danica took the cue and moved in close, leaning down to swirl her tongue over Andrea's right nipple while Celes suckled the left between her lips.

Andrea moaned in contentment and let her hands glide over both women's backs as they tantalized the pebbled flesh with their lips. Danica put her hand on Andrea's thigh, pushing firmly to indicate that Andrea should sit on the bed. When the blonde moved to follow that instruction, Danica and Celes both released her nipples and guided Andrea to lie down on the bed.

Andrea sighed and whimpered as both Celes and Danica traced kisses all over her skin. Both came tantalizingly close to her nipples and sex, never quite touching them, building Andrea's flames of desire to a red-hot heat, causing her to writhe beneath their touch.

Danica pressed her lips to Andrea's, the younger woman kissing her back hard. Andrea was taking quick, deep breaths, her entire body aflame with need. Danica and Celes were no less impassioned, and the musky, intoxicating scent of their shared arousal hung thick around them.

Andrea groaned, "Oh, please, I feel like I'm going to burst!"

Danica kissed Andrea once more and whispered, "Celes is going to make you feel so good. She knows every little spot that will make you quiver, and exactly how to tease it until you nearly pass out from the pleasure." She then looked down at Celes, who was kissing the crease where Andrea's legs met her hips, "Taste her, Celes. She wants it so bad, and I know you want to feel her come for you."

Danica cupped her hands under Andrea's knees, pulling them up and back, parting the woman's legs to reveal her moist folds. Celes quivered in anticipation, and then slowly lowered her lips to Andrea's labia, looking up into the blonde's eyes the whole time. When her lips were scant inches from Andrea's sex, Celes pulled up Andrea's hood with her finger, and then darted forward to flick it with the tip of her tongue.

Andrea sang out in a quavering yelp of bliss, her back arching up off the bed. Danica's thighs clenched tight and she moaned, her pussy tingling with chilly points of pleasure as she watched Celes' expert tongue roam all over Andrea's nether lips.

Andrea gasped, "Oh, that... That feels so good!"

Celes moaned, her senses overwhelmed by the taste and scent of the quivering woman beneath her. She was so enraptured with tasting Andrea for the first time that her own aching need evaporated before the satisfaction of making the blonde tremble.

Danica's need was not so easy to ignore, and she reached down to rub her thick labia in circles, feeling her wetness coating her fingers as she did so. Seeing Andrea rubbing her nipples in her peripheral vision, Danica moved to engulf one of the pale pink tips in her lips, wetting one finger and rubbing it over the other bud. Her other hand immediately returned to her throbbing heat.

"You taste so good," Celes breathed huskily, immediately stabbing her tongue back between Andrea's folds to gather up the woman's bittersweet nectar.

Releasing Andrea's nipple with a wet pop, Danica said, "Come for her, Andrea," and moved across the woman's body to suckle the other nipple.

"I'm s-so close. Oh make me c–" A loud yelp of surprised pleasure cut off Andrea's words as Celes engulfed her engorged clit, and Danica nibbled sensually on her nipple at almost the same instant.

The air around them heated to an almost uncomfortable level as Andrea's muscles tightened in preparation for release. Her body trembled, perched on the edge of ecstasy for long moments. Even as her orgasm built toward release, so did her inborn power – the one triggered by the arousal. Understanding the feeling now that she knew about it, Andrea threw one hand off to the side, over the edge of the bed, and flames burst forth from it to flicker toward the ceiling even as she came.

The flash of light and heat startled Danica, but Celes was drowning in the taste of Andrea's nectar flowing over her tongue like a river and didn't even appear to notice. She lapped hungrily, keeping Andrea climaxing in rolling waves, the flame erupting from Andrea's hand surging with each spike of pleasure. Andrea screamed in release, her hips bucking upward rhythmically into Celes' lapping mouth.

At last, Andrea settled to the bed, the flames summoned by her power flickering one last time and dying out. Celes rose up, her lips and chin coated in Andrea's glistening wetness, just in time to see the fire in Andrea's palm dance for a final second.

Danica kissed the trembling woman's nipple and let out a little chuckle. "I've heard of being inflamed with passion, but that was a bit literal."

"I didn't... Didn't burn anything did I?" Andrea gasped, and then let out a long, satisfied moan.

Danica shook her head in the negative. "No, but you certainly surprised me."

"I don't know how I controlled it," Andrea said, and then threw her head back, cupping her sex in her hand as an aftershock surged through her body. "That was incredible, Celes. Thank you so much."

Drawing Andrea's wetness to her lips with a finger, Celes smiled and responded, "I loved it. I was lost in you. I didn't even notice the flames until they flickered out."

Danica leaned in and kissed Celes, moaning from the taste of Andrea's wetness on the woman's face. Andrea then tugged on Celes' arm and pulled her into a kiss, lapping up her juices from Celes' chin.