Ultimate Assassin Saga: Tundra

He caught the statue easily and he stopped it in its tracks. Then, he sneered at her and yanked it from her hand. He looked like he was going to bash her over the head with it, but then, his eyes lit up with a malicious glee. It was obvious to him what had been made apparent to her: she was defenseless against him.

"You wanted to play." the man said in a dark voice and he dropped the statue on the ground. He smirk at her and grabbed her, pinning her easily to the bed with his large body pressing her down. She could smell his breath once more and this time she couldn't repress the gag. "Now, I'm going to show you how I play. You're going to regret bashing me in the head."

His words sent fear rocketing through her body and she knew what he meant. If there was any doubt about what he was planning, it was torn away from her the moment her pants were torn down her legs. She tried to fight, but it was no use. There was no escape and she knew it. Tears coursed down her cheeks and she closed her eyes, not wanting to see him when he did it. She had been a fool and now she was going to pay for it.

Diana sobbed as the violation of her body began.

XXXXXXXXXX

Hours later, Diana lay curled up on her side sobbing and her body aching. The guard hadn't been kind to her and he'd taken what he wanted of her without giving her a choice. She felt completely and utterly alone, her spirit crushed from what had happened to her.

Luckily, he had gone an hour ago, but she was still unable to reconcile herself to what had happened. She knew that it was her fault. She had enticed him and she had brought him into her room, but she hadn't thought it would go that far. She had intended on knocking him out, and with her guard out cold, she would slip through her window into the village. Then, she would flee the village alone and find her brother. She hadn't known how she would find Darville at the time, but it hadn't mattered.

Now, everything had changed. That guard had taken from her what she had always believed that she would give to her husband. Her virginity. She wasn't like some of the other girls of the village her age. She coveted her virginity and had intended to keep it safe until she married, but the pockmark faced guard had destroyed her hopes of that.

He had done much more than that.

He had destroyed her faith in men.

After all, if one man could be so evil, couldn't the rest of them? Could even her brother Darville do the same that the pockmark faced guard had done? Or Acheron? Didn't men of all species think and act the same? How was she to ever trust a man again?

She shook her head even as some of her sobs began to subside. No, men weren't all the same, just as women weren't all the same. True, there were bad men, but there were bad women too and neither one were better, despite their gender. There were probably more good men and women then their bad counterparts, though at this time it was hard for her to see this fact.

Diana began to uncurl herself from her ball and she sat up a little bit. Her eyes were gritty and her nose burned from all the crying. She knew what she had to do even though she wasn't sure what was going to happen when she did. She had to tell Darcine and have the guard brought up on charges. Surely Darcine wouldn't be so evil as to allow a guard to rape her and nothing be done about it.

A lingering doubt hung in the back of her mind.

Darcine had been evil enough to have their father assassinated and Darville framed for it so why wouldn't he simply ignore that his sister had been raped? It made sense. He seemed to want to hurt his family for some perceived wrong against him and he didn't seem ready to allow any of them to get off free without suffering. However, she had to try. She had to.

Doing her best to regain her composure, the Barbarian girl swung her legs over the side of her bed and she pushed to her feet. She walked to the pants the pockmark faced guard had tore off and she bent down, picking them up. She winced as she noticed that they were in ruin and that they would never be able to be worn again. She noticed something else to.

Her body hurt. It hurt a lot. Her legs, her thighs, and most especially her breasts ached like they'd never ached before. She understood why her bottom half hurt, but her breasts were different. They shouldn't have hurt, but she supposed that it had something to do with his harsh kneading of her breasts while he'd violated her. She gritted her teeth and fought back the tears that threatened to push through. No more would she cry over this. She had to be strong and she had to fight through it.

If she didn't, she would go insane.

Dropping the ruined pants, the Princess walked over to her wooden chest and opened the lid. She dug through it for a while before she came out with another pair of black pants. She frowned when she noticed that these pants were tighter than the last and would accentuate her body even more. She wanted nothing more than to hide her attributes after what had happened to her, but she knew that she didn't have anymore suitable clothing.

Cursing angrily, Diana stood up straight and pulled the pants on one leg at a time. Once she'd pulled them up to her waist, she snapped them and she walked towards the door. She was barefoot, but she didn't care. Her brother would take her audience no matter what. She wasn't going to give him a choice. She didn't care how many men she had to punch in the groin to get to her brother, she would get there and he would listen to her.

Straightening her spine, the girl walked from her room and she tried her best to glide down the hallway without flinching. However, every man that walked past her, she watched them like a hawk, thinking that every one of them were going to attack her. She wouldn't have that, and if they attempted to attack her, she would make sure none of them could ever harm a woman ever again. It was at a time like this that she wished for her father's presence and council. He would know what to do, and knowing her father, he would hunt the man down to castrate him himself.

She knew better than to hope for the same thing from Darcine, but she hoped that there was some sort of punishment for the man. He deserved to die, but knowing Darcine, the man would get off with a light prison sentence. He might spend a year locked in jail, but if that was all that he got, she would be glad for it. At least that would be a year that he wasn't hurting women and girls like herself.

The Barbarian stopped at the end of the hallway and she stared at the empty audience chamber. If the audience chamber was empty, she knew that there was only one other place that he would be: his office. She walked across the audience chamber and made her way down the right hallway, heading directly for her brother's office.

Reaching his office, she closed her eyes and took a moment to breath. She had to be confident that he would do the right thing and punish the man that had raped her. Opening her eyes once again, she raised her fist and knocked on the door. She took a step back and waited for him to answer. She didn't have to wait long.

"Enter." Darcine's voice was cold and empty of all human emotion, even through the thick wooden door. She steeled her spine and she grasped the knob, stepping into her brother's office. She shut the door behind her and she turned to face her brother.

The Elk King was sitting behind the large redwood carved desk and he was looking at her with a curious light in his eyes. The candle that sat on the table behind him cast a light upon his face and made shadows on the desk as well as the floor. He was dressed in his leathers and his armor, but he still had his sword at his belt. He looked every inch the Barbarian King that he was suppose to be, though at this time he was staring at her with a curious look in his eyes.

"I need to speak with you, brother." Diana said urgently and she took a step forward further into the office. Her brother raised a single red brow, but he said nothing, obviously wanting her to tell him what was going on. She took a deep breath and she walked forward, sitting down in the chair set before the desk, meeting his gaze evenly. "This is very serious."

"Go on." Darcine replied evenly, frowning and staring at her in confusion. It was obvious that he hadn't been the one to order what had happened to her, and if she were honest with herself, she hadn't even suspected him of such a heinous thing. He would never order her raped, but she didn't know what he would do to her rapist.

So, she began her tale. She omitted the fact that she wanted to escape from the village and was using the guard to do so, but he didn't need to know that. She told him that she'd lured the guard to her room in the hopes of losing her virginity, but had changed her mind when he was on top of her. When she'd told him to stop, he hadn't and had instead forced himself on her.

Despite it being a lie, the Princess thought that it sounded like a plausible possibility and she only hoped that her brother would see it the same way. The Elk King had listened to her whole speech without showing any sort of emotion, not even when she'd finally told him that the man had forced himself upon her. Her heart and her hopes began to sink as she waited in silence after her tale was done for her brother to respond, but they were nearly gone when he finally spoke.

"You lured this guard to your room to take your virginity, you changed your mind and told him to stop, but he continued anyway." Darcine recounted, his voice not showing a trace of anger or rage at the man, but instead was clinical as if he was speaking about the snow falling all across the Tundra during the daylight hours. When he looked her in the eyes, his blue eyes were empty of all emotion and she felt a shiver run down her spine. "If you weren't sure about losing your virginity, you shouldn't have lured that guard to your room. Never promise a man a warm body and then take it away because you didn't think about it enough. I will not punish this man because you are fickle."

The girl stared at her brother as he spoke, unable to believe what he was saying. He was basically blaming her for being raped! How could he do such a thing? How could he tell her such horrible things? She was his sister for the sake of the gods! He was suppose to love her and protect her! What the hell was wrong with this twisted man that she called brother?

"Now, if there is nothing else, you can go." Darcine said once again, dismissing her and he looked down at what he had been doing before. She sat there, staring at her older brother in shock as he turned his attention away from her and down to the map in front of him. He was simply dismissing her major, earth shattering problem with a wave of his hand! How dare he!

The Barbarian wanted nothing more than to lean across the desk and smack her brother, but she refrained. He wasn't in the right mindset. He had gone mad. He was going to allow her rapist to go free and he was blaming her for her own rape. What the hell was wrong with him? What had gone wrong with him? True, he hadn't been the nicest brother to her growing up having blamed her for the death of their mother, but still, this was way over the line.

Knowing that there was nothing else that she could do here, Diana rose to her feet and turned away from her brother. She reached the door and opened it, but before she could step outside, she heard her brother's voice again.

"For future references, if you wish to avoid such situations as the one you are in now, I would avoid tight clothing like the pants that you are wearing now." the Elk King relayed to her, once again blaming her for her own rape. It was as if he really thought that just because she was wearing tight clothing that gave a man the right to rape her or just because she consented at first, but changed her mind later about having sex that that made it okay for it to happen.

She said nothing to Darcine, knowing that she was too angry to be objective right now and she needed to hold her tongue unless she wanted to be killed. She nodded curtly and she turned away from him once again. She walked free of her brother's office and she began to plan once again. Just how was she going to get out of her brother's clutches?

As she thought up plans on how to escape her home, Diana felt more and more alone. She no longer had the protection of her father or her brother Darville. She wanted the protection of Acheron, but he had believed that Darcine would never harm her seeing as how she wasn't a threat to him. However, they had both failed to remember that there were others out there that she would have to worry about and she had run across one of them.

She realized something then. She had become way too dependent on other people to fight her battles for her. It was time that she toughened up and fought her battles for herself. True, it didn't hurt to have Darville in her corner watching her back, but she didn't have to be completely defenseless.

Diana promised herself then and there that she would be the one to kill her rapist one day. She would dole out justice on her rapist and take something just as precious to him as her virginity had been to her. She would take his life.

Shido stood in the window of his room and he stared out at the High Forest beyond. The forest was a beautiful bit of nature, and after so many years living under the blood red sky, he'd nearly forgotten completely what nature looked like. Now that he was here, he could see the beauty of nature and what the Human race could do to blend in with the nature around them. It was truly amazing to him.

He sighed and ran his hands over his long lavender hair. He knew that he would have to find Breal soon and sit him down to talk, but he didn't really want to. Who wanted to tell someone that was loyal to him that he had killed their parents and that he had known their parents personally? He worried that Breal would hate him once he knew the whole truth and he didn't know if he could take that.

The Blood Demon knew that the boy had become close to the Prince of the Amazons and he found himself smiling at the thought. It would seem that he'd found his happiness with a good person and he was glad for that. However, it didn't change things and they all knew that. Eventually, the Amazon Prince would grow old and he would die, leaving the Half Demon alone in the world.

Then again, he could lengthen the Human's life by exchanging blood with him and even the Amazons would benefit from that. After all, Tide was the future of the Amazons, and with him having an extended life, he would be able to rule the Amazons for a long time.

That was considering of course that they weren't all killed in the coming war with Dalkia. He knew that there was yet to be a war, but it would come eventually. Emperor Azrieal didn't move quickly, but when he did move, he moved with all his might and when that happened all fell before him. However, he no longer had a powerful General to lead them, and even though there were many candidates for General of the Dalkian army, none were as good as Acheron.

Acheron would be able to mobilize the forces of the Wilds against the invading Demon army and he would be able to drive him back. That he was certain of. He just hoped that they would all live long enough to see the death of the Emperor himself, and maybe with the Emperor gone, the Demon Empire would collapse.

That was something that they could all celebrate. If the Demon Empire collapsed, the center of evil would end and many evils would be extinguished from this world that should've never existed in this world in the first place. No longer would there be an asylum for the criminals, the cutthroats, and the evils of the world. The evils of the world would be on their own and there was nothing that they could do to stop it. When Dalkia collapsed, the world would be a better, safer place.

Shido heard a stirring behind him and he turned around, looking at the bed. His Mate was rolling around in the bed, obviously having a dream, but of what, he had no idea. It wasn't like it really mattered. He couldn't sense any fear or anguish so he knew that it wasn't a bad dream. If it wasn't a nightmare, he saw no reason to wake her up and probably piss her off. If there was one thing that his Mate loved above all else - including him - it was sleep.

Suddenly, Leanna let out a loud, jaw cracking yawn and she sat up. She blinked her eyes and tried to rub her eyes free of the sleep. That wasn't what he noticed however. What he did notice was the fact that when she sat up the sheet slipped down her body and exposed her breasts. The creamy flesh was marked with bite marks and he smiled at the sight of them. That was his favorite place to feed from her. Well, her breasts and the cheeks of her ass.

She in turn enjoyed feeding from his penis and he didn't mind at all. Anyone that came upon them while they were feeding on one another would've thought that it was painful, but it wasn't. Their saliva had a special chemical in it that eradicated the pain before they bit down and so they felt no pain when feeding from one another. In fact, when she fed from his penis, he often felt euphoria wash through him and make him need her even more.

The first time the Mates had slept together, the Lady of the Blood clan had been amazed that her new Mate had asked her to feed from his penis instead of his neck. She'd been embarrassed to do so, but when she had fed from it, she had found it quite the exhilarating experience and she'd wanted to keep going. He'd been forced to break her hold on him before she drained him of all of his blood, but she'd merely giggled with red cheeks and apologized for losing her faculties.

The Blood Lord was drawn from his reverie once more when Leanna settled her sleepy, passion filled gaze on his. He stared back at her, lust burning in his eyes and he gave her a half smile meant to seduce. Her smile widened even more when she saw this look, but when he took a step forward, he saw her shake her head, denying what was going to happen. He didn't stop walking until he was on the bed and about to kiss her, but he was stopped when she placed her hand against his chest.

"Wait." Leanna said in a strong, feminine voice and she looked straight into his eyes. Her own eyes were filled with overwhelming lust, but there was something else there that he couldn't determine what it was. He raised a brow at her and he stopped, looking at her with a curious gaze, waiting for her to respond. "I want to know that you're going to talk to Breal about his heritage before we make love. It's important that he know."

The Blood Demon groaned out loud, not even bothering to try to hide it. There was no point in trying to hide it after all. She would be able to smell his frustration and anger towards the question. He knew that she was merely holding him to his promise and that she just wanted Breal to know who he was. He could understand that, and to some point, he wanted to tell him, but at the same time, he didn't. After all, he would have to inform the boy of the horrible thing that he'd had to do to his father and mother, though there was much more to it than merely killing a couple who had broken the mandates of the Lord of the Blood Demon clan.

He reached out and he cupped his Mate's cheek, lifting her gaze to his. He took a moment to scan her features, taking in the beauty of his Mate and the plumpness of her soft, luscious lips. Then, he grinned at her and nodded his head.

"I will tell him today." Shido told her truthfully and leaned forward, capturing her lips in a soft, passionate kiss. She obviously took him at his word because she moaned softly against the kiss and she wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him down on top of her.