The Champion's Companion Ch. 08

"I accept your pledge. Please let's get along." Kaarthen said standing and bending to hug them.

Rinis continued to stare stupidly at him as she was hugged. Marcos was sure she would have voided her bowels had she eaten anything. He mused that perhaps she was slow and almost chuckled at the silliness trying to push away the darker feelings he had.

Marcos waited outside across the street as the three collected their meager belongings and closed the café. Predictably, as they stepped out, they fell flat under the weight of the sun. Kaarthen fretted and almost stripped naked in the nearly empty street trying to protect them from the mid-morning sun. Marcos took pity and found a wheelbarrow near a blacksmith. He left money for it paying much more than it was worth. He returned and lumped the three girls in and pushed them down the street. At another store, he bought two blankets and a cowhide for them to cover them selves. Kaarthen hugged and kissed him happily, as he pushed on toward the city gates.

When the sun went down Marcos had to rest with it. They had stopped in a grassy clearing near a creek on the edge of the forest for the night. He was beyond tired but mostly sore. He had refused letting Kaarthen push the wheelbarrow over the rutted dirt road. The hills outside the city had been nearly worth those girls lives. On the flat areas, he still fought the washed out road and every rock while trying to push the wheelbarrow along.

Marcos easily fell asleep sitting in the wheelbarrow covered in a blanket. His swords leaned between the handles and he snored lightly.

Kaarthen sat on the other blanket that was spread out. The three gladly collected around her.

"I have special milk for you." Kaarthen said lifting off her robe. "Come drink."

She hefted a teat to them. Rinis and Mara silently suckled her as she leaned back and closed her eyes. The Goddess was reveling in the activities of the whole day. It wanted more though. Kaarthen felt pain in her body as the Goddess made the changes it wanted.

"Come here Ein." She patted a spot next to her.

Ein scampered forward. Kaarthen reached for her with one hand reaching across her shoulders drawing her in. New long fangs grew in to her mouth with an odd tingling sensation.

In a flash, the Goddess froze them and Kaarthen lunged forward, biting Ein's neck, latching on for only a second. She took her blood before casting her aside where she collapsed. She pulled up Rinis who stared blankly at her and took her also then dropped her limp body before taking Mara who looked at her wide-eyed.

The changes she made to them were subtle. Their bodies could take almost any body fluid for sustenance now. Their red eyes changed to a cloudy bluish grey. They had also lost their fangs because now her milk or pussy would feed them more efficiently. She gained power over them with her conscious thoughts. A bond stronger than anything vampires share was made. They would be little more then her appendages now. They now would be constantly connected to her and each other. The feelings and thoughts of all would be shared.

The Goddess looked down through Kaarthen on the three quite pleased. Marcos would have eventually killed them. They would have gotten stronger and no sworn oath would stop what was in their nature. This way they could feed from her and stay safe. Daylight would not be a problem now and they could hurry without further delay to Mavvus.

The next morning Marcus was surprised to see the three up. As they walked, Kaarthen trailed behind with her hood up. He dropped back to her as the walked

"What's wrong? Where you up all night feeding your babies? After a night's rest, you should be fine. How much did they drink?" Marcos snickered.

"I..." Kaarthen was knocked to her back by Marcos who was suddenly upon her.

"WHAT IS THIS?" Marcos roared. He held her head with both hands prying into her mouth. His finger had hooked a fang and was painfully tugging on it. His anger made him lose control and his appearance seemed to darken as his true form peeked out. It seemed that an aura of black was seeping out of him into the air.

This was an extreme reaction. Marcos had already lost control of himself. Mara and Rinis looked on in terror. They could feel Kaarthen's fear. The Goddess was shocked by this reaction. Even though it felt him all those years killing and hunting vampires, it had never seen this. It also was unfamiliar with violence directed against its person.

"She saved us and made us better." Ein said and instantly regretted it.

"Silence!" He roared

Faster then a blur he closed the distance and backhanded Ein who tumbled like a skipped rock across the road. A mere mortal would have died of a broken neck and a crushed skull. Ein was just stunned and bleeding. Scratches healed as she pulled herself back up.

Seeing her alive, Marcos reached for a sword but his hand froze. The Goddess was trying to stop him. The Goddess was using Kaarthen's soft body as a platform to control Marcos' hardened resolve. Kaarthen could feel its push shoving back against her mind under the strain and tasted blood. Her vision tunneled and dimmed, as she grew woozy.

Marcos stared incredulously at his hand frozen out of reach over the hilt but reacted quickly reaching with his armored hand for Mara who stared at him stunned. He seemed to mistake her for the source of the interference.

"YOU!" Marcos shouted with blind hate, jamming his arm through her chest to the elbow, then swinging her away.

"STOP!!" Kaarthen and Ein yelled. Rinis only looked up at him blankly in awe.

"SILENCE!" He roared.

Marcos was now in full form. His body absorbed the light around it, and he looked like a hole in the midday. His black robes and leathers were oozing tendrils of black. His face was only a silhouette with two burning red eyes of hate. He seemed like a man shaped portal to the abyss with two terrible eyes staring back. Talons had ripped through his glove and only the gauntlet remained unaffected. With all the terrible darkness around it, the gauntlet shimmered in the midday light.

He rushed Rinis but Kaarthen lunged, hugged him around his waist, and pleaded. She cringed from the look he gave her. He grasped her head looking at her with eyes that didn't see.

"Wampir." Marcos uttered lost in a trace. His voice was a guttural whisper with an accent she had never heard.

Kaarthen's heart sunk with the word and her bile rose. She felt the Goddess scrambling through the world's memories trying to find a solution before he went any further. She was paralyzed by their shared panic. She knew he was seeing his wives dead on the floor with all his children he had killed. Houses were burning, and everyone was screaming. The images flew into her vision in chaos. Thousands of faces in the shock of pain and death flew in a blur and she fainted.

**STOP**

Kaarthen opened her eyes the pain had stopped and she felt empty. Marcus still clutched her with a blank unseeing expression.

Behind him, the Goddess had appeared with her death aspect. The only change was the bulge of a few months pregnancy she rubbed, and a spear in her other hand she idly held like a walking stick. The image was an imitation of one of his numerous statues.

The display worked, perhaps to well. Marcos roughly shoved Kaarthen's head away. He ran and prostrated before the goddess.

"Greetings mother....."

**WE ARE NOT PLEASED. HAVE YOU NOT ATTACKED YOUR COMPANION AND THOSE SHE SHEPARDS?**

Marcos cringed at the recrimination. "I have...I have...I... have lived too long if I have seen this happen." Marcos sputtered finally. His anger was quelling into dread and self-loathing.

Kaarthen felt mortified at what was happening but she could say nothing but lay still.

**ARE WE NOT FORGIVING? EASE YOUR MIND. KNOW THAT THESE VESSELS OF MY WILL SHALL LOSE THEIR SCARLET EYES. THEY SHALL NOT BE VAMPIRE NOR SUCCUBAE. THEY SHALL DRINK THE SPITTLE, THE SEED, AND THE WATER OF YOUR BOWELS. YOUR COMPANION WILL RETURN TO THE FORM YOU FOUND MOST PLEASING. SHE SHALL SHEPARD THESE NIGHT CHILDREN AS WE CALLED HER TO DO.**

"That is most gracious. I thought I failed you by allowing her desires to be subverted and her body corrupted by those..." For a moment, raw emotion broke into his voice before he trailed off.

**WE KNOW YOUR THOUGHTS CHAMPION. YOUR COMPANION HAS SOUGHT MY PROTECTION FOR THOSE CHILDREN. SHE SOUGHT IT NOW FOR YOU ALSO. NEVER TAKE ACTION AGAINST HER. SHE WON'T COME TO HARM, AS SHE IS MY DAUGHTER, AND THESE CHILDREN ARE MY THREE HANDS.**

The Being raised his head and gracefully kissed him, disappearing as their lips touched.

When Marcos blinked his eyes open, he felt weak. All his anger had burnt away. He felt emotionless and numb. He sat up on his knees barely able to move his legs out from under him. Meditating, he slowly pulled his form back in, focusing on the image he used for so long. The dark hair, the thin face, the lanky figure, and the dark tan of a southlander.

Around him, Mara and the girls crept warily to Kaarthen who was only partially happy he recovered himself. The Goddess was within her again. It was monitoring Marcos as he pulled his mind and body back into shape. The anger at vampires was still there, visible but once again compartmentalized.

Marcos eased himself up onto his feet feeling tired already. His hair was back, His black eyes, and his weathered and tanned skin. He was complete, but didn't look the same despite the form he wore. He appeared in his posture to be old and worn away. To Kaarthen he looked all of his 67,000 years. He didn't speak as he turned and ambled down the road. Kaarthen and the girls got to their feet and followed quietly as he slowly led them away.

That evening they stopped earlier than usual at the first inn they found in a small farming town. The inn they found was a four-room inn and walked in to find it quite empty. The girls were for the first time able to be around mortals without conflict. They didn't care to celebrate. Marcos bought two rooms and walked off leaving the other key for Kaarthen and the girls. He immediately went up stairs. They stayed and ate.

The serving area was quiet. Kaarthen's emotions ruled the group. The Goddess was raging over the entire disastrous day. For the first time it had been witness to a real miscalculation. It had learned fear from its own Champion. It was not happy or satisfied with how things were resolved either. Quietly the other three ate a real meal for the first time in several centuries. The food was average but with Kaarthen so emotional, they couldn't enjoy it. They all went to bed full but in a somber mood.

The next morning Marcos opened his door to find Rinis standing outside. His anger flared before he exhaled and stepped past her. She followed him downstairs and out to the stables.

"Hello?" He shouted.

"What?" a shaking pile of hay asked.

"I need five horses." Marcos said.

Quickly the stable man stood in front of him looking around with the air of a sale.

"Five huh? I dunno if I can part with five..."

Negotiations were quickly finalized since Marcos was well past caring. He turned to the little mute girl but found that Kaarthen, Mara, and Ein had joined them while he was paying.

They led out two mares and three geldings. The horses had cost a small fortune and came with everything including camping gear.

"Why horses I thought we were--" Kaarthen started unsure of this change.

"We are taking too long." Marcos said in a clipped voice with his back to her. "The trip is only getting longer. We lost any advantages of not having horses. We will be in Mavvus in three days now." Kaarthen noticed sensitively how he didn't look at her.

He led the horses to water and unclipped his swords. He placed one in a front loop sticking up and the other across in front of him. Kaarthen did the same with Lourndai. The girls watched and fidgeted with Kaarthen's stress.

Marcos used a calming touch and words to get the horses over to the road. They seemed enchanted and followed easily. He mounted, set the horse to a cantering trot, leaving the others to quickly learn how to mount and ride a horse.

By midday, the women were all sore but didn't say anything. That evening they pulled into a larger town. The inn had its own stable that they used and they walked into a serving area much louder and crowded than before. Marcos again bought two rooms and disappeared. When the women ate alone in the serving area, they were the center of attention.

Kaarthen could feel their eyes all over her open robe. The sides showed her body scandalously. When she had decided to wear it, Marcos had been the only one who would have seen it like this. She angrily ordered beer with her food.

Not too long after they sat, a drunken man pushed over onto the table. He stood over Mara and put his hands on the table over her. He had a short graying beard, a dirty grey shirt, striped messy pants, and stood barefoot.

"How are you gals eh? Needs a man eh?" He said sharp liquor was on his breath.

Kaarthen silently asked someone to get rid of him and Mara accepted. She spun out from under him and took his hand.

"Give us money." She said, letting the man draw his own conclusions. She structured a favorable situation where he could assume control. He tossed a few coins on the table. Nobody looked at how much it was, just where the money came from. Mara led him outside to the stable.

"Na girlie I just want a suck" he said tugging her over to the wall.

"We can't get caught, we need privacy." She pulled him into the shadows. He drunkenly followed and she slung him on his back to sit on a barrel among some farm implements. She ignored his protest when she ripped open the crotch of his pants. She dropped over him, licked, and nibbled his half-hard cock. His cock was just under average but had large round balls under it. She dropped lower sucking him completely into her mouth.

Her mind was aware of Rinis and Ein's curiosity. Both women had been ravaged numerous times as serving slaves. They had not actively served in that manner. They learned with interest what a woman could do when she isn't pushed down in a corner and fucked in her face. Kaarthen and the Goddess found the mundane creature less than impressive and urged her to finish faster.

The man gave a shock when her small soft tongue crept down and tenderly stroked each nut in turn. She got them both wet before bobbing lightly on his cock. He came then, his balls dumped their spurts, and Mara kept the flow up by sucking it out of him. He noticed when his balls ached that his semen wasn't stopping. He realized his body was numb and suddenly heavy. He could not move, but still she kept sucking from him. He started to faint with the taste of blood in his mouth and realized he might die like this. Mara continued to suck his seed after he fell back sagging against the wall. She took his purse and walked back out to the inn. When she left him, he was still alive only because the alcohol he drank had saved him. The sugars from his liquor provided for a few long minutes the only energy in his body.

In the hotel, the three went to bed, and Rinis waited for Marcos.

In the morning, Marcos woke and found Rinis waiting again. He walked down stairs but paused, turned, and flipped Rinis coin telling her to get a packed lunch for them. He moved on to the stables and a girl went and got his horses.

He watched her idly she was twenty, skinny, and had an average face that was too plain to be cute. When Rinis came up the stable girl tried to talk to her. Marcos watched the two. The girl was slender. Her breasts were mere bumps under her loose dress. He had a built up urge to fuck since the pussy he was getting the last several days had turned into a monster.

He tried thinking of situations that would work but couldn't find anything creative, or romantic. He looked around as he finally considered the direct approach. In the early hours no one was around it seemed.

He walked over, grabbed the stable girl, and tugged her further into the stables and into a stall. He pulled his leathers back and showed his face. He fumbled with his robe and pulled his cock out then grabbed the shocked girl and drew her head down to it. She opened her mouth and sucked him. She did an average job of just bobbing along as she looked up at him surprised at what she was doing. He pulled her up and yanked up her skirt. This whole time no one said anything the girl looked at him shocked. Rinis stared sleepily.

"Go away!" He yelled. Inside the inn Kaarthen was crying and fell to her knees sobbing as she dressed.

Rinis backed up a few feet but still watched. Marcos turned and thrust into the girl who was now more accepting. For twenty minutes, he felt like he never had any complications. He rammed her hard and she climaxed twice though he couldn't have cared less at her enjoyment. She was getting the fuck of her life from his ten-inch cock. She started to sag under him trying to keep him satisfied despite her exhaustion. He finally pulled out of her and let her flop to the ground as he climaxed and shot his load on the stall.

When he walked out, he flipped the girl a gold sovereign that could likely buy a house in town.

She stirred after seeing the coin and tried to look sexy in the hay pile. "Thank you milord. You blessed me with your presence to know I was more pleasing then your ladies."

Marcos cringed at the tart's words. He walked and thought about why he was so upset. The sight of fangs on Kaarthen had caused him to become unhinged. He should be happy she is fine now. This meant he wouldn't have to fuck his appointed Companion from behind for eternity.

Nevertheless, he could not look at her face without remembering that horrific sight. He blamed her for bringing the damn girls too. His hands were tied in dealing with those girls, and that was not a comfortable feeling. Without those girls, everything would have been happy and simple.

He felt a presence near him, turned, and looked at Rinis who wore a blank, questioning, accusing look. He squared up to her with his anger flaring again.

"I should kill you." He muttered quietly. His black eyes told her exactly his thoughts. His vision narrowed and tunneled onto her face.

"Hey Marcos, let's go!" Called Kaarthen already mounted. She wanted to break the spell quickly.

It would be impossible to kill one of them and claim an accident. She started to realize the Goddess' problem that it would never wish to punish him. She and the Goddess would want to forgive him for anything that happened.

She told Rinis to forget her odd fascination with Marcos. It was about to get them into trouble again.

Their day went by quietly and Marcos pushed the horses mercilessly. Kaarthen's horse threw a shoe late in the day and they had to stop. It was nearly dark. They simply came off the road to the side of the road. Marcos found a replacement shoe in the kit and started a fire. He removed his glove and robe then tossed the horseshoe into the heat. He stood there watching it, trying to ignore Ein and Rinis who watched him as they sat together on the other side.

He was thinking to himself as he did all day. Kaarthen removed her robe and the women followed suit. She walked up behind him as they watched, and hugged him around his back.

"Hey Marcos, shhh it's me." Kaarthen said feeling him bristle under her. She pressed her chest into him.

Instantly he moved from her embrace to outside facing her. He clutched her face in one hand holding her back. Without their robes, she was topless and her loincloth was loose, and he was in his tight Safi leathers. Her body sang to him and her arms snaked over his. He quickly pushed her away.

Mara came at him next completely naked with arms outstretched. Marcos grabbed a wrist and barely stopped himself from breaking it before he spun her to the ground. He kept his armored left arm low and pulled back to avoid striking them. Kaarthen came back and wrapped her arms around his waist from behind. Her hands snuck around releasing his cock. She almost had him in her mouth before he freaked and knocked her away. Mara came back as he stumbled around but was tripped when the two collided.