The Blood Pact Ch. 35

--- The Blood Pact, Chapter 35 ---

The ethereal howls of the Dark God's laughter over its victory continued to fill my brain. I slumped down against the steps with legs askew and shoulders bent.

With the continued protection his Dark God, the king was invincible.

The Transformation Wand, the one weapon I'd had to use, was destroyed.

I'd failed to avenge Nikelle. Failed, utterly and completely. I pulled Delphina's dagger from my pocket and drew it out of its sheath. In the sunlight, the polished blade flashed brightly. There was nothing left for me to do.

I would wait here for the king and confront him as Nikelle had. He could take my life as he had hers. Perhaps in death we would find each other again and finally get past all the extraneous things in our lives which had prevented us from ever fully understanding each other.

The latch to the door lifted. My actions must have been heard. I ducked out of sight behind the door as it swung inward. I may have had nothing left to live for, but that didn't mean I was simply going to lie down and let that bastard kill me. Nikelle deserved better. I would fight to the very end with every advantage I could lay my hands on, as Nikelle would have wanted. Rosenthal would have to fight for the honor of killing me.

I heard a pair of footsteps enter the room, but neither sounded like the tread of the king.

"There," spoke the gruff voice of a guard. "All this business has greatly distressed the king. The queen wants all reminder of it removed right away."

"Y-yes, I understand," From around the corner of the door, I could see Natalie plod haltingly into the room, two large buckets of water awkwardly carried in her hands.

That was just like the queen, always looking out for her husband, even when he didn't deserve her love. If she wasn't blinded to the truth about him, perhaps she wouldn't have been so devoted.

Suddenly, like a bolt of lightening, realization sprang upon me. Was that the weapon I needed? Would it even work? The Dark God merely cackled mockingly in my head at the vain surge of hope that had welled up inside me. Perhaps I really did have no hope of success, but what did I possibly have to lose by trying?

"I'll be nearby," the guard said. "You're not to leave this room until you've finished cleaning up every last drop of that traitor's blood."

With that, he went back outside and closed the door, leaving me alone with Natalie. Staring only at the pool of coagulated blood on the terrace outside and apparently working up the courage to go forward, she hadn't yet noticed me.

Stepping away from the wall, I said, "Hello, Natalie."

She gasped and turned, dropping both buckets as she did so. At the sight of me, she moaned and clutched her hands to her mouth.

"You once placed yourself in the employ of the Queen," I said, coming near. She quivered but her fear prevented her from running. "It must fill you with shame to know Lord Ruvano forced you to betray her trust as you have."

Natalie shook her head vehemently, tears in her eyes. "N-no! I've learned my lesson, I have!"

"You misunderstand me. I'm giving you a chance to redeem yourself." I pointed to the gardens beyond the doorway. "Go. Soon no one will care that you have shirked your cleaning duties, least of all the queen. The gate to the palace gardens is unlocked. Tell the queen that I am meeting her husband right now."

She stood in indecision for several long moments, mentally weighing the situation, her eyes darting from me, to the spilled buckets, and back. When she laid eyes on the black altar, she took a step back, shivered visibly and then fled into the gardens without any further word.

Now there was but one thing left to do.

I went to the carven throne and sat upon it, the Dark God's mirth at whatever futile plan I'd dreamed up still ringing in my ears. I could have disconnected the warning mechanism hidden beneath the seat cushion with the simple slipping of a hook from a chain, but I wanted the king to hear the sounding of its bell. Today, of all days, he would heed such a summons himself, his rage-fueled arrogance driving him on to personally deal with whatever fool chose to sit in his throne.

As I waited, I pulled one of the pink ribbons from my dress and tied it around my dagger with an elaborately dainty knot I'd learned while working in the kitchens on the day of the festival. At the time, with all those other women screaming at me to go faster and telling me every few minutes how worthless I was, it had seemed like an impossible knot to tie. Now, it went together so easily I wondered if maybe I'd forgotten a few steps.

The doorways on either side of the throne lead back to the king's personal chambers. Already I could hear his footsteps approaching. The time to strike was drawing near. The Dark God seemed to mock my hastily conceived plan once again. I still had no idea if it would work, but I had no other options and I would not allow myself to be dissuaded. As the king burst in the room, he drew a long sword and cast aside its scabbard.

"You bloody assassins want another shot at me! Well come on then, have at thee!" The fury burning in his eyes did not diminish in the least when he spied me sitting dispassionately upon his throne. "What is this! Stephanie, have you come to try and drive a knife into my back as well?"

I smiled, a surprisingly easy thing to do considering the circumstances. "Not at all," I said, making my voice thick with seductive charm. "I heard of the assassination and was worried for you safety."

Somewhat dumbfounded, he glanced around the room, the point of his sword wavering. "If what you say is true, why do you carry a weapon?"

I stood then and glided down the stairs. With head bowed, I offered up to him the dagger. "A gift. I wanted you to be able to protect yourself should anyone else try something so ghastly as attacking you."

"You, what?" Dumbfounded, he lowered his sword and took the dagger from my hands. After examining the tiny weapon and the frilly pink ribbon tied around it, he let out a rowdy laugh. "Oh, my simple little Stephanie! I have no need of such things; I beat off this assassin with my own hands!"

With another laugh, he threw his sword aside, sending it clattering across the floor, and grabbed me in his thick arms. "Still, I treasure your concern. Ever since that woman came at me, I have been beside myself with irritation that she was allowed to escape. Even the cleaving of her traitorous head from her body offered no relief. All I've wanted is to see you again. My duties have thus far kept me otherwise engaged, but now here YOU come to ME, like an angel bearing promise of blessed respite at last."

As he spoke, his hands ranged freely over my body, stroking my back and groping my ass. I did not resist. In fact, I encouraged him, rubbing my body against his, feeling his massive cock growing hard against my hip. Having been with him so often in the past, I knew that was all it would take to get his full attention.

Taking me in his arms, he lifted me up and kissed me savagely on the lips. Swallowing down my revulsion for the man, I kissed him back with even greater fury, wrapping my legs around his waist and my arms around his shoulders.

"Oh Stephanie, so lively today!"

He carried me to the wall and held me there with his body as we continued our embrace. His hands found my breasts and attacked them as he dry humped my crouch with the cock bulging visibly from the front of his trousers.

The Dark God cackled wildly at the show, but I did my best to ignore it. Seemingly closer than ever before, it felt as if the crack I'd put in the stone gave that demonic beast the freedom to project its presence beyond the confines of the altar. The king seemed blissfully unaware of it, but my skin still crawled to be so near.

Growing frustrated with the tangled skirts around my legs, the king all put threw me down. I landed on my feet, panting, but my balance was still precarious as he lunged at me, pulling at my dress and putting a lengthy tear in it from the shoulder well past my hip.

As the garment was forcibly torn from my body, it became snarled around my legs and sent me backpedaling frantically. It would have tripped me entirely had my fall not been arrested by an object directly in my path. However, the moment I felt the icy cold stone of the black altar against my bare thighs and upon my palms, I drew back as if burned. I didn't get far at all before the king came at me again, his mammoth cock now sticking straight out from the opened front of his trousers. Savaging my face and my chest with rough kisses, his brutish embrace knocked me flat onto my back atop the altar.

Still unseen but keenly felt, the Dark God was indeed no longer bound within the confines of the stone. As the king pressed me down with the weight of his body, a fresh burst of laughter from that hateful thing nearly stripped me of my resolve. I was still determined to go through with my plan, but not with that thing looming over us as it was. In a panicked struggle to get out from under the king, I grunted and tried in vain to push him off. He merely caught one of my hands and wrenched it out of the way with a fierce jerk.

"Yes, I'm excited too!" he laughed.

My pained cry delighted the dark god. Had it been a living thing and not just a vile presence, I could have felt its carrion-scented breath on my face as it bent close to revel in the futility of my situation.

The king drew back just enough so he could tear away the last of my undergarments. In his distraction, I made another attempt to get off the altar, but was pulled right back. I kicked and clawed for my freedom, but the king grabbed my ankles and laughed as he attempted to turn me over onto my stomach so he could mount me from behind.

The Dark God seemed to be growing annoyed with the delay. I could feel it lash out at the king, admonishing him for not getting on with things quickly enough. To my surprise, the king seemed to reel as if the Dark God HAD actually struck him. My legs still held firmly in his burly hands, he stared down at me with a glassy-eyed expression. Then, hesitantly, as if dazed by the Dark God's attack, he pulled my legs apart, opening my pussy.

Again, I attempted to crawl off the altar, but again the king pulled me back, this time heaving one of my legs over his shoulder and firmly striking my ass with the open palm of his hand. I let out a yelp and the Dark God chuckled.

"Please, your majesty," I pleaded with face mashed uncomfortably against the cold stone altar, "Must we do this here?"

"You've always been far too much of a tease, Stephanie," the king said, his words sounding hollow and emotionless. "I've tolerated it in the past because you always put out in the end, but I think it's finally time I taught you some manners."

Taking the base of his cock in hand, he dragged its head down the crack between my ass cheeks, leaving a slippery trail of precum in its wake. If only we weren't doing this on the altar, it would have been so much easier to accept. I thrashed out once more and he spanked me again, even harder than before. Looking back at him across my twisted body, I could feel him press the head of his cock against my constricted asshole.

The Dark God's chuckles now turned to a growl of irritation. Again it lashed out at the king and again he reeled as if its claws had ripped across his face. This time, however, as the momentary shock left his eyes, it was replaced by a maniac glee completely unlike anything I had ever seen in him before.

With a single violent yank, he threw me back down to the altar and climbed between my legs. His cock stood taller and harder than I'd ever seen before. In fact, it almost seemed to pulsate, ready to burst with pent-up desire. A thick hand on my chest, the king slammed me down hard enough that it knocked the air out of my lungs.

I closed my eyes and prayed that this would all be over quickly. Maybe if I was unconscious it would make this whole ordeal easier to bear. I could still feel the Dark God there alongside the king, but when next it laughed, my eyes shot open wide. That hideous thing's dry cackles had not came from some imagined place, but from the king's own mouth! Pinioning my arms to the altar, the king took a moment to stare down at my prone form, his eyes alight with insane mirth.

"I've taken your body many times, but always only halfway," he said in a voice that was somehow not quite Rosenthal's. "I think it is long past time I resolved that oversight."

What had that creature in the stone done? Was it somehow inside the king, manipulating his actions? Plan or no, I was not about to let that...that thing take me! I struggled to close my legs but they were pinned open just as assuredly as my arms. Looking down the length of my body, I could see him lower that abnormally swollen cock towards my hips. The bulbous head raked across my pussy lips. I let out a whimper that sounded something like a cross between a cry of defiance and utter panic. The King merely laughed.

"Yes, long past time," he said.

With that, he drove his hips down over mine. His cock found my pussy and invaded it with a single long thrust that felt as if it were going to tear my insides apart. My shriek filled the room and again the King laughed in a voice that was not quite his own. Drawing his hideous member out of my pussy was blessed relief until he drove it back in again, even harder than the first time.

At my renewed struggles, he brought the back of his hand across my face and I tasted blood. He leant in and kissed me roughly, all but sucking at the split in my lip. Parting, he cried out to the ceiling with an insane burst of audacious laughter.

"Ah yes! You know that brown-skinned little bitch came at me in this very room?" the King said in that strange voice as he continued thrusting his engorged cock into me, his breathing growing fast. "The Mordengern have resisted their kind for generations and she thought to strike me down with a BLOOD DAGGER! I am a god!"

With one sweaty palm, he seized my left breast and pinched the red mark that had been left by Nikelle's blood dart piercing my heart. "You pathetic bitches and your blood magic. Oh yes, you don't have a blood dagger, but I can smell their taint on you. I'll admit you made a better go of it than most in the past. You actually wounded me. No one has ever done that before -- and oh so grievously! You destroyed my home, my realm, my existence! But he and I have a pact as well, sealed with the blood of a thousand virgins! I shall live on, despite your artless attempt to destroy me."

Was this truly even still the King or was that Dark God now fully in control of his body? The way he spoke, I could no longer tell. His next words sounded more like the man I knew, but they were still laced with a certain alien quality that made me want more than ever to get out from under him.

"I wanted to put the stupid bitch up on this altar and show her the error of her ways with my cock, but Lord Ruvano said I should just be rid of her quickly!"

At the utterance of the spymaster's name, he jabbed into me harder than ever and I cried out. Gods, if he kept at this pace, he was going to injure me. I wasn't even sure how much longer I could take it.

"I follow that man's advice far too often. I could have entertained myself with that southern beauty for years! You could have joined the three of us, Stephanie! It would have been wonderful, but, no!"

Again he stabbed me as if his cock were a dagger being thrust into the heart of a hated foe. My wail sounded like I was indeed the one on the receiving end of that vengeance. However, the pain had become secondary to all else. His words had snapped my mind into crystalline focus. I'd come to kill this man because he was the one who killed Nikelle, but now he was telling me that he was only the instrument of another. The real enemy here was Lord Ruvano! If not for his advice to the king, Nikelle would still be alive.

"It was the same with my uncle!" he said. Sweat rolled from his face and dripped onto my bared breasts and face. "I would have liked to have seen that shriveled old fool suffer in the dungeons a bit before taking his head, but Lord Ruvano insisted on killing him right away! Always the same with him -- unless its one of his own men! Doesn't he understand the fun of a nice prolonged torture!"

The old king too? But Lord Ruvano had said he'd tried to talk Rosenthal out of that. That lying bastard had as good as killed them both.

Then, from the corner of my eye, I saw a flash of movement. The king, or the Dark God, or whatever it was that was atop me, hadn't noticed, too engrossed in its own tirade, however, someone else had definitely entered the room. Whoever it was stopped in the doorway and simply stared.

"If that man wasn't so useful to me in other ways, I would have gotten rid of him long ago and simply taken you for my own!" The king continued, his voice growing even more maniacal and taking on a raspy hissing quality. "It has always sickened me to know I've only been able to have you with Lord Ruvano's permission! All you mortals are nothing but playthings to the likes of me, but sometimes you still have your uses. You, for instance, may play at being a noblewoman, Stephanie, thinking you're so much better than everyone else, but from where I stand, you're nothing more than fertile soil in which to plant a seed. If that whore of a queen would have let herself be taken on this altar, I could have given that bitch such a child -- a child like this world has never seen before. Now, because of this grievous harm you have inflicted upon me, we shall have to see what I can plumb from your worthless depths. Through you, my reign on this world will truly begin! You will provide me with a legacy that will last for all time!"

Gods! I prayed that he wasn't saying what I thought he was. Again I cried out and thrashed about helplessly under him. If this kept up much longer, he was going to kill me with the brutality of his thrusts alone, but to anyone watching on from the outside, it probably looked like I was being utterly consumed by throes of ecstasy.

The figure in the doorway swept across the room and stooped alongside my discarded dress. I saw the flutter of a pink ribbon and the flash of a blade. As the pounding of the King's hips grew to a furious pace, he, or whatever the Dark God had turned him into, reared back and let out a cry of absolute bone-chilling rapture. Over his shoulder, the queen's equine face came into view, contorted with rage as she plunged my dagger into her husband's back.

The king's eyes grew wide and his cry of pleasure suddenly became a gasp of surprise. A second scream seemed to escape the King's throat as well, this one a brittle shriek of despair. At the same instant, the cock still buried deep in my pussy convulsed and released its seed in a single titanic rush. I felt life slip from the king, and with the lingering tendrils of the Dark God's malevolence still pervading my mind, I felt that horrid thing die along with him.

Under us, the black altar quivered, seemingly turning from solid to liquid in an instant. It crashed to the floor, taking the king and myself along with it. I fell with a splash into the middle of that viscous black filth, scrambling out from under the now limp body of the king only a moment before being crushed beneath it.

I scuttled across the floor, drenched in the vile substance that had once been the stone home of the Dark God. I left long streaks of it trailing behind me as the King's final load of cum leaked out from between my legs. My mind reeling, I could barely stitch two coherent thoughts together in my mind, but I still somehow retained enough lucidity to retrieve the remains my dress with which to cover myself.