Swann's Light Ch. 01

"The bitch is right brother. " the dark man finished.

"Hmm perhaps some alterations are in order." He cast an eye at Crow and Swann, winked and gave a solid clap of his hands. The girls melted immediately, the pools swirled, in a second a pack of dark skinned humanoids took their place. Their pitch black heads and bodies glistened like fresh meat and grew in thick knots around bone hard protrusions that stuck out from their flesh at various points. Their blank socket less eyes turned at once to Swann, seemingly uninterested in Lady Crow. He could see what looked like grey holes in the middle of their faces pulling and twitching as they scented the air, a low rumbling growl emanating from their hunched bodies.

"Go Crow. Now." Swann whispered, readying for a fight.

The creature at the front of the pack went still, a thick line forming into a crooked mouth. The smile on its face matched Darfin's, its mouth parting impossibly wide to show the jagged shards of street their maker had used for teeth. One three fingered hand pressed to the ground as it began moving towards him much like a gorilla or primitive would, its fingers flexing as arms like bundles of steel cable dragged back to leave great gouges in the thick blacktop.

"Come here little bitch." Riel roared, a pillar of flame shooting up at his left side to deliver his dreaded axe. The weapon had once belonged to a Demon king in ages past, a King who ruled by burning the world around him to ash. With everything in cinders there was no one left to dispute his rule. Riel claimed that it was an heirloom that had been passed from father to son since that long ago king's demise. Knowing how well he wielded the terrible weapon, Swann never saw cause to doubt that claim.

The pack behind them let slip a chilling mutual scream as Riel began his charge, bursts of flame shooting out around each booted foot as they slammed the earth. The strange creatures his brother had created tore at the earth in their mad rush to catch Swann, making him wonder which of the two would reach them first.

It was then that Crow turned to him and threw her arms around his body, nuzzling herself against his flesh as she whispered, "Remember that night in Kirilio?"

"What? Kirilio?" Swann managed to yell, his body trying to shift out of her arms as the thought that she wanted to die holding him slipped through his mind. A second later their bodies exploded into a murder of crows, each of the sleek back birds launching themselves skyward as the rushing beasts and the burning darkness powered into their final charge. The sudden collision of Riel's deadly axe against the leader of the creatures sent bursts of hot tar spraying around the alley. As the dizzying sensation of his body being separated into a dozen smaller birds then launching into flight passed Joshua finally remembered that night in Kirilio.

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Silver wisps of smoke lazily rose from Churchill's lips as he stood in the shadows on one the nearby roofs. A satisfied sigh blew the rest of the smoke from his lungs in a great cloud, the expensive cigarette falling to the rest at his feet and smoldering as he moved to the roofs edge and let his mind wander. He had heard Mister Kole damning the Maelstrom Brothers, and there were no stays of execution from his boss when it came to failure. Ms. Winters must have clued them in, hoping to get him out of the way in the bargain just by failing to do the job he had guaranteed he would finish. So wasn't it sweet that now he had the leverage he needed to gain the dominant hand in their relationship.

The added bonus of having a front row seat to the humiliation of the Brothers was no small prize either, he just wished he had been able to better track the murder of crows once they had passed the Council towers in the heart of downtown Bahl. He reasoned that Swann and his enigmatic friend Lady Crow could be going to any number of places, but he was willing to bet the boy was still arrogant enough to go to the one place everyone would look for him. Home.

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The view from Mister Kole's office was exquisite, granting one a sweeping view of the city and a clear line of sight to the Council Towers just a few miles away. It was not uncommon to find the dark man standing before those windows, open or not, his mind lost in thought while his power swept slowly over the city in search of just the right soul to draw into torment and corruption. It was however uncommon for him to do so in the company of others whose power matched his own.

The woman standing beside him was one such being, though her blood was as mortal as any human upon the streets. Tall and striking in beauty, her long dark hair and perfect features were beginning to show the hints and strains of power and age. She had lived a long life, longer then most, and the title she held came with powers that could easily throw back those years. Mistress Black Feather needed no such illusions. It was, perhaps, the reason Mister Kole respected her as an equal. It was also the reason he would one day crush her family and draw it into his own.

"The Brother Riel." She whispered, her voice a song of midnight.

"I would agree. He is, uncontrolled. " Mister Kole answered.

"He is an inferno, and one that will turn this city to ash unless he is extinguished." Mistress Black Feather said, or perhaps pronounced, turning her pure onyx gaze upon him as a slow smile curled her thin crimson shaded lips. "Shall I?"

He watched her then, his sharp steel eyes measuring the weight and worth of her soul. "They are in my employ, the matter will be dealt with internally." Then a slow smile brought the humor back to his features "Besides, are you not the one who often reminds me the Black Feather Family are not assassins. Anymore."

Mistress Black Feather nodded once, her noble gaze turning towards the richly detailed doors. "You have added another angel to your collection." She said chillingly, turning her gaze to him as it narrowed.

Mr, Kole shrugged absently and did not remark. "You understand my decision in this matter is final?"

Mistress Black Feather turned her eyes back the city before her, watching the rising smoke that would not be far from where Lady Crow had opened her tattoo parlor. A sad smile touched her features, something Mr. Kole did not miss nor comment upon, instead he turned away and moved into his office. Approaching a small locked cabinet, then opening it with a touch of one dark finger, he reached within to pull out a small box of polished white wood.

Small feathers carved into the wood drifted around the edges like they had been caught in some light playful wind. The illusion had always made him smile, and it touched his handsome if cold face now as he walked back towards the window. Mistress Black Feather turned as he approached again, her eyes showing no emotion but never leaving the box.

Like Mr. Kole she stared at the box's lid, and one of the subtlest pieces of enchantment either had ever seen. Crafted by the same master demon that had first created Mr. Kole's door, the surface of the lid was a beautifully detailed scene of a lone leafless tree in a vast meadow. In the upper branches could be seen a single raven, its wings rustling, its head shifting this way and that. Eternally watching. With a touch of Mr. Kole's dark fingertip the bird fluttered away into the distance and the box opened with a distant caw.

His fingers stirred the small pile of white feathers inside the box, his eyes catching details none but the most powerful would see or understand. He closed the box then, the raven returning to its perch before he lifted the box and gave the awe struck Mistress Black Feather a nod.

"Long ago this was 'given' into my care as part of a contract between your family and my....business." Given was a charitable word, neither he nor Mistress Black Feather needed to mention the months of torment and suffering the box's owner had suffered through before conceding it to him.

Mistress Black Feather reached out, her fingers stroking the silken wood as she drew it close. "Is this compensation for what you will be taking from me?"

Mister Kole froze and sighed softly "It is the time for it to be passed back to the Black Feather family,." He seemed to fight the urge to speak for a moment then finished "and it was not my decision."

Her head tilted in an oddly birdlike fashion before her lips curled "The Three."

His eyes narrowed, his anger surging through him like a dark tide. Mr. Kole could feel his power rising, could feel the desire, no the need, to take her now. Of all those in the city of Bahl, the Demon Lords in their high and lofty Council Towers and the corrupt angels 'protecting' the streets he could think of no one to fear beside Mistress Black Feather. Especially since he had given her the box.

Her laughter rose slowly, her onyx eyes alight with power as she dropped away. Mr. Kole closed the window and quietly applauded Mistress Black Feather for once more not being foolish enough to set foot in his office.

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Ms. Winters could feel Churchill's power buzzing around her mind like an insect before she finally granted him contact, trying to shiver at the cold warmth his mind radiated. She could feel his concealed excitement, and his hidden desires.

"What can I do for you Mr. Churchill?" Ms. Winters didn't bother to physically speak, or even stop working. Few of the things Mr. Churchill had to say required her full attention.

"Your boys failed," he whispered into her mind.

"My boys?" Ms. Winters responded mentally, her pen slowing as she worked over the implication.

"The Maelstrom Brothers just hit Bleeding Art studios." Came his boastful whisper "Some fire crews are there with the oath sworn now."

Ms. Winters showed no emotion, she had stopped working. "I see. Thank you for informing me Mr. Churchill, I will make Mr. Kole aware of the situation immediately."

She blocked him from her mind and rose slowly, the buzz of his power still trying to get at her finally thrown away by a blast of her own. Wondering how long it would truly take Churchill to see beyond his own lust Ms. Winters made her way towards the office with slow graceful steps.

Knocking once then slipping inside she found Mr. Kole standing at the open window, watching the smoke staining the sky. "Can you explain this Ms. Winters?"

"The Maelstrom Brothers learned of Swann's survival and have made an attack on Bleeding Art Studios, presumably in attempt to make up for their failure to kill him previously." Ms. Winters edged. When her boss turned and stared hard at her, Ms Winters knew that he already knew the truth.

He moved with slow elegance of a hunting cat, his finely tailored suit drifting away like smoke to leave him nude before her eyes. Well mostly nude. A loincloth of some dark wispy material hung from just below his pelvis to the middle of his inner thighs. Ms. Winters did not need to look to know that his tight ass was bare. Various macabre talismans and a small heavy pouch hung from the loincloths thin leather tie.

As he moved, the rhythmic slap of the pouch against his muscled thigh sent a long shiver through her body. A smile blossomed on his lips, the hot masculine scent of him overwhelming her as he came so very close and stroked a single dark finger down her cheek.

"I care not what games you play with others, but do not lie to me." He whispered huskily, his fingers brushing along the side of her face and then up into her hair to form a tight fist. Gasping softly as he shoved her to the edge of the desk, Ms. Winters barely caught herself, her legs shaking as she spread them wider for balance. His hands smoothed down her back, the warmth of his touch easily felt through the thin material of her blouse.

It took one rough pull to rip away her clothes, and the veil of magic that disguised her true form. Six wings of silvered ice slowly unfolded from her smooth luminescent bag. As Mister Kole stepped back and gave her room to manifest her true shape a stirring could be seen low in his loin cloth. A cold and glorious light washed over him as she turned to face him, her limp feet floating just inches above the carpet. Those sharp steel eyes of her employer swept over her body once, alighting on her perfect breasts and the ruby like quality of her nipples. His dark hand reached up, pressing against her stomach, stroking down over her thighs and smooth sex then up over her perfection.

"Winter. Angel of the Silver Ice." He intoned, sharp steel eyes locked upon her ice green gaze.

"Master Koleian Soul Drinker, holder of this one's soul. How may I serve?" she whispered, her voice a chill wind.

A flickering smile crossed his face before thorn wood vines shot from the surface of his desk and coiled around her wrists, ankles and throat. She gasped, her arms brought up and out as far as they could, her legs opened wider and wider. Knowing better then to struggle Wintre still felt the bite of the enchanted thorns, and knew the intoxicants laced within them would make every pleasure pain.

"You have lied, for that you have earned five strokes." He said, determining her punishment.

A thicker vine from the desk its heavy and curved thorns dripping the sensual intoxicant in thick beads. The first lash struck her back, the second as well. The next went to her ass, the thorns grasping skin and piercing flesh before it fell. When it rose again its touch was so gentle, so feather light against her inner thighs and sex that Ms. Winters simply shivered. When it stung, she moaned. The final lash teased her breasts, kissed her nipples before the vine drew back into the desk.

Lashed at wrist and ankle, held high and open for his use, the Arch Angel Wintre watched in expectant need as her Master pulled aside his loincloth and approached her. He was long, thicker then four of her fingers put together, and covered with small shimmering bumps. Those bumps, she knew from so many intimate encounters, were capable of so many delightful and wicked things.

He wasted no time, gave no words, he ground his cock head against her clit and pussy before guiding himself inside and shoving. Her hard grunt of pleasure made him chuckle as his teeth set themselves in one of her hard ruby nipples. With her luminescent skin pressed to his dark flesh, Wintre could see the illusion of his body beginning to glow as he took hers. Each thrust was painful ecstasy, his thickness spreading her open and pushing deep enough to make her gasp out for his edification.

Then those shimmering bumps began to vibrate. The sensation of a thousand small warm beads covering a pistoning shaft became all that Wintre knew. His lips suckled and bite at her hard ruby nipples, the spill of her agony coming with the first burst of her climax. The beads turned to ice, her climax shattered her thoughts, his body pressed to hers all the tighter. Using her, thrusting faster, faster, then finally as the beads turned to fire he spilled his essence within her, and Wintre knew bliss in her service.

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Crow never let the sensation of freedom she felt when touching the sky in these feather forms slip from her heart. She never forgot the strange harmony she felt when dividing her power, and as such her soul, amongst the birds smaller bodies. Each part of her would sing with joy as she flew, as if each portion of her soul were but one instrument in a greater chorus, but all too often she flew alone.

Now, linked with Swann's power as heir's fueled and guided their transformation, she felt all the pieces of his soul singing in joyful chorus alongside her own. She felt the warm light of his heart bathing every part of hers and together they dove and climbed, rolled and called. Together they touched the sky.

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As the murder of crows glided in towards the small tower held by the Black Feather family, the gathering of nearly twenty dark birds flying towards a tenth level window merged into a single spiraling mass of dark feathers. A pair of large windows opened softly as they approached, the touch of Swann's magic the 'key' needed to open any portal in his home.

The mass of feathers split within the apartment and settled into the forms of Swann and Crow with a whisper of magic. He stretched slowly, working out the strange feeling of shifting from so many bodies to a single one. A low groan slipped from his lips then as he looked about his apartment and sighed gratefully. It took him less then a minute to sink lazily onto his couch and stretch out.

"Its good to be home." He said happily, giving Crow a playful grin.

"It's also the first place they will come to look for you after destroying my shop Swann." Lady Crow hissed, obviously upset. She began to pace slowly, one finger slipping to her lips so she might chew the nail as her eyes tracked the bare smooth wood beneath her feet.

He gave her the time he thought she needed, simply watching her pace and letting her mind work through things as best she could. When she spoke, he found her priorities more then a little unsettling.

"We need to figure out what the light of Avasei is, what it's meant to do." She whispered softly, though whether she spoke to Swann or herself he could not tell.

"Shouldn't we figure out what was in the box first?" he said gently, hoping to draw her attention back to the world around her.

"I know what was in the box," she said absently, her eyes turning to the window.

"What!" he almost roared.

She looked at him in confusion for a minute, and then blushing softly drifted across the room and sat quietly beside him on the couch.

"I meant to tell you in the shower. I just got...distracted." She finished lamely.

He smiled a bit, and then gave her a nudge to make her go on.

"My contact says there are only three artifacts genuinely connected to Avasei. The first is something called the Eye of Avasei. It's a gem set in an ornate necklace with vast mystical powers." She said softly.

"Maybe that's it." Swann said with a smirk. "The box has been the right size to hold such an item."

Crow was already shaking her head "No one has found the Eye. At least not yet." She said, then seeing the growing impatience in his look gave him the details he wanted.

"Nearly two centuries ago, not long after the ending of the war, one of the nobles from the Province of Heaven was said to be in possession of the Eye. It gave him access to incredible amounts of knowledge and power, but it also overwhelmed and drove him into madness. Eventually he fled to a small island off the coast but never made it, his ship and the Eye were lost at sea."

Swann sighed and nodded softly "The other two?"

"My contact also told me about the Sunfire Page." Crow stood slowly, offering her hand to Swann so that he might rise and follow her. Leading him to the window she pressed her palms together in a shaft of waning sunlight then spread them open slowly. A thin sheet of sunlight touched each of her palms and appeared much like a scroll or piece of parchment.

"This a pale imitation of course. The true Sunfire Page exists in the physical world, some say it was carved from the fires within the sun itself. The god Avasei used it as a journal to record all that he witnessed from his place in the heavens." Crow said, her wondrous smile enchanting Swann as she enjoyed the small bit of magic she had woven.

"The box could be holding that too." Swann reminded her. Somehow he knew that wasn't it.

Crow shrugged "No one knows if it's even real. It's a legend amongst the scholars who have studied it. According to the story it was given to a human whose faith and devotion to the god was more then that of any angel in his service. Whether or not the human truly lived, or ever received such a blessing, is unknown."