Forbidden Love

A World of Womencraft Story

The bath water was so warm and soapy it almost seemed like syrup. Bea dipped the plush wash rag in the water then delicately took Asuka's arm. Bea was pale for a hume, consigned to a life indoors, so different from the deeply tanned humes who were forced to labor in the fields. Even so, Asuka was marble-white, even paler than Bea. Still, their skin tones made a lovely contrast. Even after years of being bathed by her handmaid, Asuka felt anxiety to be touched so intimately. Bea smiled and gently bathed her skin, lightly scrubbing her arms then shoulders, pausing a moment to place a feathery kiss on the tip of Asuka's ear. Bumps and shivers spread like sea foam over a wave of pleasure which cascaded down her shoulders and made Asuka's nipples hard. Bea was always so tender, but she was more than tender; she was brave.

Their clandestine relationship had started almost a year ago. Asuka had contemplated asking her father for another handmaid at the time. She had wanted to lighten the workload for Bea as well as save another hume from outdoor labor. Openly denouncing slavery was perilous and could lead to execution if your clan was in low social standing, but there were other ways to protect the humes. To Asuka's shock, Bea had refused the company of a second handmaid. The disagreement had turned heated before Bea lunged at her with a passionate kiss. The fear and courage Bea must have felt, kissing the daughter of her master. Such a thing could have led to a violent beating. But Asuka returned the kiss, and their relationship bloomed in secrecy.

Such relationships between a hume and vampire were more taboo than incest or bestiality. Nothing good could happen to Bea if their relationship was discovered. In the following months, Asuka learned the true meaning of bravery. It was not enough to plead for better treatment of humes, or bring more of them indoors to work in the palace. The only solution was to free them. Carefully, ever so carefully, Bea inquired among the humes about participating in such a dangerous activity. The notice went out. Ever so carefully, Asuka came into contact with the Golden River: a secret organization run by freed humes and abolitionist vampires with the express purpose of freeing as many slaves as possible.

Growing up, Asuka knew the horrors of slavery. The beatings, the forced labor, the family separations, the rapes. Being from a wealthy family with no real care, she was able to not think about it. That all changed when her father had given her Bea as a handmaid. Their relationship had started tentative, but an affection grew over the years. Bea was attentive and tireless. She never complained and never exhausted. They fostered a love of den games together, and Asuka even taught her to read in secret. She developed true affection for the hume who became her best friend. As their bond deepened, plantation life began to tear her heart in half. She loved her family but couldn't reconcile her love for them with the way humes were treated. In her younger years, her pleading on the behalf of humes was seen as humorous. The patriarchs lectured her on the need for slaves. Humes were needed for the economy. They were fed and sheltered with guaranteed jobs. Humes could not manage themselves as a race. They had no inclination towards technology or civilization. Humes that were not enslaved suffered in the wild where great beasts and elves hunted them as prey. When Asuka countered with the existence of the clockwork city of Gadgepalagio, the discussion grew quiet. She learned she was not like other vampires, and they could not be reasoned with when it came to humes. She also learned how dangerous it was to show humes compassion or empathy. Bea did not shield the truth from her.

At the beginning of their relationship, Asuka felt tremendous guilt. She told Bea she was unworthy to be her lover, and she should find a way to freedom. Though the same age, Bea had grown up quickly as a slave. She told Asuka she loved her, and they should work together to help the humes. Together with the Golden River, they freed thirty-three humes over eight months to the primal fury of her father and the taskmasters. The work was dangerous, illegal, and would certainly see them both killed if they were ever caught. But what was legal was not always right, she found out. Security was heightened around the palace. Ironically, Asuka's father feared the slaves would rise up, so he placed a bodyguard by her side, an Assassin simply named Oda. The presence of Oda strained the relationship between Asuka and Bea. Only in the privacy of the bath and bedroom did they have time for each other. Oda was quiet but vigilant, the perfect protector for the master's eldest daughter. He spoke seldom, but when he did, it was always with great wisdom.

Bea's fingers reached between Asuka's narrow thighs and slid inside her. Asuka cradled Bea's arm as she masturbated her. Right outside the washroom door, Oda stood guard. Asuka trembled a sigh as Bea's dexterous fingers found her little, gray nub and pleasured her. She had to be completely quiet. No one could ever know about them. Bea kissed her lips, and Asuka moaned her orgasm into her mouth. After the bath, Bea toweled her dry and pulled her naked body against her. Bea had lovely brown eyes like most humes. Asuka's were violet, a common vampire color. Bea cupped her flat butt and planted tender kisses on her neck, so careful as to not leave a mark. Asuka clung to her beloved, wishing they were anywhere else but here.

Bea dressed Asuka in her sheer gown, and the two secret lovers stepped into the hall where Oda sat at one of the benches with his arms crossed and his head down. Though he frequently appeared to be napping, Oda was a careful listener, and his lazy appearance disarmed people to be eavesdropped. He was a vampire like Asuka, in elaborate dark armor serrated at the edges. Oda showed nothing but professional indifference to Asuka during his tenure. Lusting after or even inconveniencing one of the daughters of the House of Rona could be disastrous for him and the Court of Assassins. He followed Asuka and Bea down the hall of the wooden palace and took his seat outside Asuka's bedroom where he was expected to wait throughout the night.

Asuka's bedroom was lavishly decorated with a four post bed hung with heavy violet curtains to match her eyes. Bea stripped down to her rough spun undergarments, and the two lovers slipped into bed. It was customary for a handmaid to join her ward in bed under the foolish belief the handmaid could be sexually sacrificed if a predator sought out a princess to rape. With the glowing crystals covered in their bowls, the room was cast into darkness. The two lovers groped nervously under the blanket until their warm naked bodies pressed against each other. Bea was thicker than most humes from a life indoors, and filled out beautifully with generous hips and breasts. Almost all vampires were thin and petite, and the contrast between their two bodies delighted Asuka. Bea's nipples were pink like coral while Asuka's nipples were dark like charcoal. Asuka knew she had the physical strength to hurt Bea, and was always careful with her.

In a time out of memory, vampires realized they were far stronger and faster than humes, and went on to punish them for being weaker. A child vampire was stronger than an adult male hume, and an adult vampire was easily stronger than five humes. Asuka knew her power and the relative weakness of Bea, but that just endeared her more to her gentle flower. But Bea was strong in ways most vampires wouldn't understand. She was courageous, and bold, and clever. Together they had freed nearly three dozen humes, and not a single vampire could figure out how it was done.

Under the covers, Bea pressed her plush body against Asuka's hard, petite frame. Asuka's breasts were so small, Bea's completely dwarfed them. One of the many things Bea had challenged her mind on was Asuka's notion of beauty. Of course there were beautiful vampires, but the idea no hume was sexually desirable was ridiculous. Their tanned skin was like copper in the sun. Bea's nipples were pink like fresh peaches, so different from her own. The contrasts were beautiful.

Asuka delighted herself as she nursed on Bea's large teet. Her pink nipple poked out like a small udder, and Asuka constantly fantasized about suckling her girlfriend's breast during the day. Just the thought of Bea as her girlfriend made her hips tingle and feel too tight. Bea caressed her hair as she suckled, smiling in the moonlight. Asuka kissed her soft stomach then inhaled the coarse dark hair of her mound. Vampire women were expected to take a razor to their mounds regularly, but Bea grew her bush out proudly. Her hair smelled maddening. Asuka's tongue found her pink nub and suckled. Bea used her hand to cover a groan and squirmed in bed. Asuka was voracious, sucking Bea's clit until she forced her to orgasm. She slid up in bed and kissed Bea open mouth to share the vinegary taste of her pussy.

Bea positioned Asuka face down and ass up in bed and kissed her asshole. It was an idea no vampire had ever entertained but apparently was not uncommon among humes. Bea's tongue found her knot and pushed in, making Asuka squeal into her pillow. The sensation was so intense and felt delightfully kinky. As Bea's tongue fucked her tight asshole, she pushed two fingers into her sopping pussy and fucked her as well. Asuka felt like two people were penetrating her as Bea fingered and tongue-fucked her. She could only squeal into her pillow, helpless to Bea's inquiries. Her wet orgasm splashed on the bed and into Bea's mouth.

Bea continued to take control. Asuka clung to the idea of letting Bea control her in bed. It felt so right. Not just because Bea was a slave, but because she loved Bea, and it felt right in her anima to put that much trust in her. Still in bed, Bea climbed on top of her and sat on her face like a throne. Bea's soaked pussy dribbled across Asuka's face and chin as she found her clit to suck. Bea moved her hips, making Asuka eat her asshole then focus attention back on her pussy. As Bea rode Asuka's face, she fingered her girlfriend to another orgasm, making her squeal her climax into her mound. Bea bit her lip as she came on Asuka's face, letting a little pee dribble out. The two lovers found each other under the sheets again, and clung to each other in their sweaty, musky mess. For several minutes they just cradled each others' bodies and slowly came down from their pink cloud.

Asuka thought about all the risk they put themselves through just to be together. Her father was cracking down on escapes. Every time they were together they risked their lives, especially Bea. If anything happened to Bea, Asuka couldn't go on. She knew her father would make her watch whatever punishment would be inflicted on her lover. Tears stung her eyes, and she concealed a sob. But Bea was too attentive.

"What's wrong?" Bea asked.

"We have to get out of here," Asuka gasped.

"What? Why?"

"We're not safe. We can't make a single mistake. If I lost you, I would kill myself. I can't bear to watch you suffer if we're caught." Asuka sniffled and clenched her jaw to quiet her sobbing.

"Awww, sweetie..." Bea pulled her in tight and shooshed in her ear to calm her down.

"I'm so scared. I'd rather you escape up the river then risk your life for me. I don't want to do this anymore."

"You don't want to be my girl?"

"No...I don't want to put you in danger anymore. We have to go..."

Bea paused a moment before she spoke. "But what about the other humes? We have to help them."

"We don't have to live here to help them. We're the only two on the river who even live in the palace. We don't have to be here to help."

Bea took a deep breath. "We'll go. But not right now. We have to make a plan. That's what we always tells humes on the river. You need a plan. You can't just run off the palace. Give me five days, and we'll escape. Together."

Asuka squeezed Bea as tight as she possibly could as if the Devs would come down right that moment and take her.

The next five days were agony for Asuka. The first two days she worried herself sick and spent the days in bed as Bea made contact with the other oarsmen on the Golden River. In secret, the two of them put together supplies for when they made their escape. Plans were in place, they had a "map": a network of oarsmen who could get them far enough away from the plantation and into a hume tribe which would take them in. A vampire had never rode the Golden River before, and allowances had to be made to find a place that would take Asuka in. Asuka offered to have Bea go alone, but Bea refused to leave her behind.

In those five days, life in the Vampyric Empire became nightmarish. Elves raided the palaces of vampires, not to free humes, but to capture them for food and burn the crops. The skirmishes between elves and vampires had raged for centuries, but the elves became increasingly bold and unpredictable as vampire palaces starved them of their food. There was still no word on High Princess Asuna's efforts to become a Revenant and rid the world of elves. All noble families were requested to travel to Imperium where the high, sandstone walls could protect them. Asuka's father scoffed at the notion of abandoning the palace which had been in his bloodline for eight generations and freeing his humes who were not allowed in the city. Disease spread among the vampires, a plague humes were immune to and many suspected was conjured by the elfen Druids.

On the fourth night, Asuka was sure they would never escape as the neighboring plantation was razed and pillaged by elf Warriors. The militia and taskmasters of the nearby plantations united their forces and drove the Warriors back, but dozens of humes had been captured as livestock for the cannibalistic elves. Asuka threw herself into a panic attack, imagining what would happen if Bea was captured by the elves. Bea was able to calm her down that night and promised the next night they would leave. Together they said a prayer to High Princess Asuna in hopes of her return. Though humes despised vampires, they feared and hated elves even more.

That morning, their plans were upended as the Royal Legion forced all vampires of noble blood to travel to Imperium. The entire force of the elven horde was on the move, and the only safe place would be the city guarded by sandstone walls twenty strides thick and eighty strides high. Certificates were issues by the royal court, insuring the value of all humes and land abandoned in the exodus. Asuka woke that morning to a sullen Bea as servants and extended family scrambled around the palace with last minute preparations. Bea explained Asuka's father had freed her, and the family was being taken to Imperium. There was not enough room or resources in the city to take care of any humes, and they would be left to the great beasts and elven horde.

"I'll go with you then. We'll leave right now." Asuka forced her words together as she rushed about the bedroom to dress herself.

"No."

"What?"

"You have to go to Imperium where it's safe. The epidemic is spreading. The elves are becoming more bold. The only place they say is safe is Imperium."

Asuka threw herself at Bea. "No! I can't go without you. I can't be safe in the city knowing you're out here unprotected. Please!"

"Mistress Asuka, we need to go." Oda stood in the door. Asuka's world seemed to tip sideways as Bea ushered her into Oda's arms.

"Nooooo!" screamed Asuka as she threw her arms around Bea and planted a deep kiss on her lips. Oda pulled her away with a fight.

"I'll come back for you, I promise! I'll look for you here!" Asuka screamed from the hall as she was dragged away.

All their most important belongings were piled on wagons, and Asuka's family joined a wagon line of other noble families traveling to Imperium—a city so tall and mighty it could be seen from miles away. Asuka wrapped herself in blankets and sulked as her palanquin creaked and rattled on. In the massive palanquin, Oda watched Asuka sulk. They had abandoned the only person she had left to care about. Nothing even mattered anymore. She didn't want the safety of Imperium. She'd rather risk her life with the elves and great beasts alongside Bea than live alone in the city.

"I would let you go, but your father would have me dragged to my death if you weren't on this palanquin," said Oda in his deep, scratchy voice. Asuka looked at him with surprise.

"I know you loved that girl. It was obvious. I never told your father what I saw or heard."

"I don't understand..." Asuka composed herself.

"Don't get it twisted. I have no love for humes, but I have a deep respect for the love between two people. Something I could only dream about as a killer. Assassins are forbidden from taking lovers."

Asuka could only stare as her silent guardian revealed damning knowledge about her.

"Why didn't you tell anyone about Bea? Because we were in love?"

"That, I guess. Plus, I would be out of a job. Your father pays me extraordinarily well to keep you safe. Why would I risk your safety just to spite humes?"

Asuka tasted a bitterness in the back of her throat as Oda spoke his cynicism.

"She was the only person I ever loved, and I'll never see her again if the elves have their way..."

"Sorry..." croaked Oda who stood up to walk alongside the wagon. It took days to travel to the Imperium by wagon. On the third night, the lights of the pyramids could be seen on the horizon. Nothing on all of Patriam could compare to the sight of Imperium. A sprawling, massive city inside four colossal pyramids which seemed to challenge the might and majesty of the Devs themselves. Each pyramid was lit with thousands of fires, each a home in the structure. Inside each pyramid was a network of homes, shops, and administrative offices which handled trade and taxes. Asuka's father owned a suite in the northwest pyramid but never used it. Imperium was notoriously crowded and prone to crime and corruption. Many argued the elves could have been destroyed if Imperium was even competently managed.

Just after midnight, they were less than an hour away. The pyramids grew and grew as they approached, blocking out the countless stars in the sky. Then a streak of red tore through the night sky like a gash on reality. Silence fell on the wagon train, no one sure of what they had seen. Then Imperium, the greatest city Patriam would ever know, was annihilated in a column of lava and flame that reached Ur Tra. The planet Ur would never know such devastation as every fire that existed in all of history seemed to consume the city in a column the size as wide as lordom and as tall as the sky. A shockwave of smoke and ash set the archons and wagons on fire. In the last moment, Oda dove in the wagon and covered Asuka with his large armored body. All screams were muffled by a primordial boom like Alexandria was roaring at the vampires and their hubris. The world was fire.

Asuka awoke an unknown time later in a pile of ash and dark armor. The sun was a white disc in a sky which was only dust and ash. She couldn't see more than ten feet in front of her. Everything was ash. The only signs of life were bits of wagon, archon hooves, and pieces of Oda's armor. Everything was gone like a desert breeze carrying sand away. Heat radiated from Ur like it was ready to explode. Asuka was covered in burns and lacerations. On instinct, she followed the bits of ashy remains back the way they had come, to the place she had promised to meet Bea.

The canals and rivers that had once fed into Imperium had been vaporized. There were no trees, only barren, ashy ground and the perpetual haze of dust which must have been trees, crops, vampires, and livestock. She stumbled slowly, a daze in her own mind. Everything was gone. Whatever that red streak was must have destroyed Imperium. Had it destroyed all of Ur? All she could do was walk and hope for her beloved. At night the dust caught star and moonlight, sending her through a fluorescent haze. In the haze she felt like she was ascending to Ur Tra where the Devs resided. Had the vampires angered the Devs so? Was this their punishment for the treatment of humes? All Asuka could do was sleep when she was tired and walk when she could. There was no food or water. She couldn't even be sure she was walking in the correct direction. The world was only dust now. On the second day she found a scorched and jagged stump of a tree that had survived the blast if only slightly. On the third day, she found a canal flowing slowly with mud. Asuka's thirst was maddening, and she drank the bitter mud for moisture.