Are you ready for the next chapter of DEFEAT THE DARKNESS?

...continued from February 9th




~~~~ Release

Kyle opened his eyes to Amyra's, wondering what she expected.

She
lifted her face from his chest and wiped his blood from her lips. Her demon had
faded, and the vision of the painfully beautiful woman he’d first seen in the
compound returned. Aroused by her demands, his blood stirred, need overwhelming him.

“Will
you accept my blood, now?” she asked. The
silver in her eyes still swirled with the demon bloodlust, not fooling Kyle. Too weak to speak, he slowly moved his head
from side to side denying her what she wanted.

The
demon still resided within her.

He
flinched at her high pitched scream.

Furious
at his refusal, she spit out orders to her surprised female guard. “Take him
and punish him.” They remained in a terrifying state, half shifted—part
female—part jaguar as Amyra spun on her heels and disappeared through the far
door.

Punish? There was
more?

The
first guard with the partial facial features of a jaguar, had fully assumed her
human form. She whipped her finger over the blood on Kyle’s
body and sucked his blood from her fingers.

“Taste
his power,” she said, her voice sounded like nothing more than a garbled growl as
she spoke to the other guard in the local dialect.

The
other shook her head. “He is weak from the bloodletting. The blood will be thin,
not worth the risk.” She looked down at him then at the door where Amyra had
exited. The guard’s face and body was almost entirely human again.

“It
is not thin.” The first guard bent down and licked him. “He is part shifter
now. He smells delicious, and his blood has the properties of both  human and shifter. She keeps him drained on
purpose. Until he drinks pure human blood, he will remain weak and under her
control.”

The
information registered as Kyle cringed
from the shifter’s tongue. His skin was sensitive and the coarse tongue was
enough to take the skin from him.

“Be
careful with him. Do not injure him further.”

“I
have no intention of damaging him. I intend to follow orders and torture him
with pleasure as she instructed.”

The
shifter spent time teasing him with her hands and tongue. The forced
attentions, though degrading, were both pleasurable and painful. Still
stimulated from Amyra’s seduction, Kyle
couldn’t help responding. He arced against the shifter’s hands, hating her for
arousing him and himself for wanting just a single touch. His damn erection
wouldn’t subside no matter how he tried to ignore it.

“I
should help.” The second Jaguar shifter joined the first and ran her tongue
over an open wound eliciting a groan from Kyle.
“You are right. Even weakened as he is, his blood is rich.”

They
swirled their tongues over every inch of his skin and occasionally nipped him
with their sharp teeth, drawing more blood before licking him clean. Careful
not to take too much, they also managed to arouse him. For the sole reason of
keeping him from coming, they skirted the one spot on his body that needed just
a single touch for his relief.

Torture.

Kyle’s whole body
was hot, tense, and vibrated with desperation. For a split second, he
remembered the way Shelby’s mouth felt
devouring his length and sucking him…

This
was sick. He cleared his mind of her. He didn’t want to think about her while
he was here being sexually tortured by two other women—half jaguar, half shifter.
His feelings for Shelby
were pure. This was filthy. Making love to her was more than a physical act or animal
instinct. Not this, this perverted arousal—a sick reaction to pure physical
stimuli.

The
pain made him weak, and he needed his strength to survive. Although he couldn’t
stand the way his body betrayed him, he knew she’d understand. Not just
understand. She’d be furious that he’d been subjected to this treatment.

He
smiled knowing Shelby
would fight like a she-devil for him.

As
a tongue whipped ever closer to his cock, he groaned and arched into the air.
Thoughts of Shelby
would help him come without their touch. Memories of her took him away from
this place and would soon relieve the pain. He imagined her eyes and her full
generous lips—how she licked them like a cat covered in cream when she stared
at his cock.

The
image made him ache.

She
would bend over and take one or two long swipes with her soft tongue and then
nuzzle his groin. Finally, she’d kiss her way up his shaft, teasing it with her
tongue until she reached the head...

Kyle screamed as
he ejaculated into the air, spilling himself all over his chest and abdomen
while the jaguar guards screamed at him to stop.

Females!
What did they know about a man’s need? He wanted to laugh. Stop? As if he could at that point.

He
continued erupting like an over-active volcano, and when he thought he couldn’t
possibly produce any more, the creamy liquid jettisoned again until his cock
pumped itself dry. Finally.

He
closed his eyes and breathed a sigh of relief.

“No,
no! You were not to bring yourself to completion.” The one guard shouted and
struck him hard in the head.

“The
queen will be furious.” The other guard removed Kyle’s
shackles from the bed and dragged him out of Amyra’s, room shouting orders back
to the other guard. “You clean up in here. I will take him to his room and
throw him in the shower to get rid of any evidence. She must never know.”

~~~~

Kyle must have
passed out because he didn’t remember the trip to his room, and when he came to
the shifter guard was in her full human form, naked, holding Kyle up against the wall. To his disgust, the guard
tried licking the cum off his chest.

“Ewe.
Stop that,” he said, weakly pushing the female aside. He had to escape the
madness.

“To
us jaguars, your essence is said to be more powerful than your blood.” She
backed away as if thinking better of what they were doing. “But you shouldn’t
have come. The mistress will be furious if she finds out. We must remove all
trace of your release.”

“Try
the soap and water technique. It’s worked for me for years.”

He
moved under the warm shower stream and the guard soaped up Kyle’s body. While he weakly hung on to the towel bar
to keep upright, the guard massaged the soreness from his shoulders. Kyle relaxed his bunched muscles. This was nice a
change from the constant torture, especially since they usually dumped him on
the floor in his suite.

If
he could think straighter, he’s figure out what this was all about. This good
guy, bad guy approach was different and...weird.

There
was no denying it felt wonderful to get Amyra’s cardamom and sex smell off him,
and the heat from the shower seeped into his soul pulling the tension from his
muscles. He closed his eyes, ready to relax just when he felt the woman’s soapy
hands on his groin and her mouth covered his. For a moment, Kyle was tempted to just give in and go with it. Then
his eyes popped open and he shoved the guard away with more strength than he
knew he had.

“But
you are still hard,” the female argued.

Kyle looked down
at himself. The swollen member between his legs was still erect despite pumping
out a larger load than ever before.

“We
will relieve each other and she needn’t know.” The jaguar woman smiled and tried
to place his hand between her legs.

Kyle groaned.
“Leave me. I’ll take care of this myself.”

The
woman ran a hand over Kyle’s chest.
“You are an exceptional human. Your blood and your essence has much flavor.”
Her fingers traced Kyle’s nipples
while Kyle batted them away. The guard
licked her lips as she stared at him. “I wish to take your length in my mouth
and swallow your essence.”

“No,
sorry. Not gonna happen. My essence will go down the drain. Thank you anyway.” He
opened the shower door and pointed.

Reluctantly,
the guard stepped out and toweled off, but Kyle
noticed she didn’t bother with her clothes. She paused and posed with her sleek,
beautiful body aroused for him. “Perhaps another time?”

“Thanks,
but no thanks.”

She
tilted her head to the side and shrugged.

Thank
God, she left without argument. He was seriously too weak to fight the woman
off. He slumped against the tile and waited, tension simmering through his
nerves. When he heard the lock click in the outside door he relaxed.

Finally,
he was alone.

~~~~

The next time Kyle woke up, he was on
his stomach in his bed. He barely recalled how he’d managed his way there, but
he did remember elements of a dream and Julian’s
words from the day he’d shifted for the first time.

The
boy said if he tried focusing on the jaguar he could shift. If only he could
manage to assume the body of the jaguar inside him, his wounds would heal, and
he could regain some of his strength.

He
couldn’t deal with much more of this. Every chance he had, he practiced
shifting, focusing on the jaguar. The difference between days and nights were
subtle, only possible to determine by the routine because of the perpetual half
light in the underground maze where Amyra resided. Time in the dark jungle and
below ground was deceiving. How long had he been held captive—six maybe seven
days?

At
times, Kyle presumed while she slept,
he was kept in the locked suite, free to roam the three rooms, but too weak to
do much more. Each morning, one of the villagers brought him food, but there
was always a jaguar guard with him, usually one of the large males.

If
only he could figure out how to shift. At least he’d be stronger if the jaguar
within him had to take on the guards, or perhaps he could escape with one of
the villagers.

Later
that night, he was brought to Amyra’s rooms and bound to her bed. They went
through the same routine as they had since he was first brought to this place.
She asked him the same question. “Are you ready for your transmutation?”

He
replied the same way each time she asked. “No.”

Every
time, she started out patient and seductive. It was too late to seduce him,
he’d already seen what her true nature. No matter what he was or what had
happened to him, he couldn’t imagine becoming that kind of monster. So tonight,
like every night, he would deny her again.

A
noise at his door drew his attention. Today the villager was alone.

“Where
is the guard?” Kyle asked in Spanish.

The
young man answered quickly in the local native dialect, “He is just down the
hall, signore.”

“Do
you know why I am being kept here?”

“Ci, the dark
one needs you for her strength. She grows older and needs more power.” The
young man glanced around the room, his attention on the door.

“Why
me?”

He shrugged. “You are the human who survived the jaguar
shift. You are different. She believes you are strong enough to also survive
the change to vampire,” he whispered under his breath. The man didn’t look at Kyle while he picked up the baskets and trays from
the previous day.

Kyle kept his eye
on the door, waiting for the guard to arrive. “Do you know why she asks my permission?”

The
young man turned and stared at him, then smiled. “Because you are now a jaguar
shifter. You cannot be turned without your cooperation. You must submit
willingly.”

“One
last question before the guard shows up. The boy, Julian,
is he safe?”

“Cí, Cí. The queen is very angry. He has
disappeared into the jungle.”

Kyle breathed a
long sigh of relief.

The
door opened and the large male jaguar-shifter, Amyra’s favorite rogue, stepped
into the room. “What’s going on?” He shoved the young man out the door. “I
heard voices.”

“I
was just asking him if he could bring more bread tomorrow.”

“If
you need anything, you should ask the queen.” He snarled and sneered, knowing
the likelihood of her doing Kyle any
favors after he kept refusing her was slim to none.

“Salir
de aquí.” The guard ordered the villager out, and the man scurried away with
yesterday’s waste and dishes.

A
short while later, when Kyle was
brought to Amyra’s room later, he was left standing, unbound for a change. She
entered looking more exquisite than ever and began pacing.

Kyle had a bad
feeling about all this.

“I
heard you were talking to the village servant, today,” Amyra said.

“It
was nothing. I just wondered if I could have more bread tomorrow.”

“That’s
not true.” She turned and sneered at him. “Even when I sleep I can hear you.”

Kyle’s insides
twisted, and he knew not to lie again. He may as well tell the truth. Even if
he managed to block his own thoughts, he’d forgotten about the villager’s. “I
asked after Julian.”

“Ah,
a truth.” She smiled that hateful all knowing smile Kyle
had come to dread.

“I
wondered why you ask my permission to take your blood when you could very well
force me.”

“And
did the young servant answer your question?”

“You
already know that answer.”

“Yes.
Yes I do. And I know you considered escape when you didn’t see the guard.”

Apparently
he hadn’t learned how to guard his thoughts as well as he thought he had.

Amyra
clapped her hands and two more male guards appeared. The females from the other
encounter had been conspicuously missing since the night he’d ejaculated. Amyra
probably read their minds too.

“Please
bring in my surprise for Dr.
Lachlan.”

The
guards left and returned within moments escorting Julian’s
mother, Antonia, and his little
brother. When little Tomas smiled at him, Kyle’s
heart dropped.

“You
said we had a deal,” he said.

“Yes,
we had a deal, as you put it. But you
broke our agreement when you considered escape.” Her smile was benign as she
considered the lovely little boy, petting him, wrapping his soft, dark curly
hair around her fingers. “So anything that happens to this child will be your
doing.”

Rocking
and keening, Julian’s mother suddenly
looked up frantic, first beseeching Kyle
then Amyra who merely shrugged. He hated knowing he was the cause of Antonia’s predicament, hated seeing the fear and
worry on her face.

“You
win.” He said to Amyra in English. He wouldn’t stand by and let anything happen
to the boy and the woman when he saw the trust in the little one’s eyes. “Let
them go and I will take your blood.”

“Do
we have a ‘new’ bargain, doctor?” Amyra asked.

“Yes,
if you agree to a few stipulations. Free them now and vow to leave Julian and his family alone in the future. And... I
want to continue my life’s work when I have completed the change. ”

“I
will need your presence for a few weeks after that, and then you will be free
to go. Does that meet with your approval, doctor?”

Kyle nodded.
“Release them, now.”

“Guards,
set the woman free.” She was breathless with anticipation. Her voice sounded
giddy at the prospect.

Antonia Ramirez sobbed, clutching her youngest son
as he wailed. “Gracias, doctor. Gracias,” she whispered. “I am so
sorry.”

“So
am I, for bringing you into all this.”

"It is no fault of yours," Antonia whispered before she turned and left with the one guard.

His
insides churned at the idea of cooperating with Amyra, but he grew weaker every
day and knew he wouldn’t be able to help the jaguar people if he was dead.

“Leave
us,” Amyra commanded to the remainder of her guards and turned to Kyle with a curt nod. “I believe we have a ‘deal’.”

“Say
the words. Take the vow.” For some reason Kyle
had come to believe she couldn’t go back on her word once she’d spoken the
words aloud.

“I
have already freed the woman and child. I will leave Julian
and his family alone in the future. And when you complete the change, after one
full moon, I will release you to continue your life’s work. All this for a
month of blood exchanges. You and I will drink from one another once you have
been turned.” She grinned at him as if she’d just finished reciting a lesson.
“Is that to your satisfaction?”

Kyle nodded and
collapsed onto the nearby chair. For some unknown reason he believed there was
more to this bargain than he realized.

“How
does this work?”

 “The guards will prepare you for tomorrow
night. When you are brought to me, we will exchange blood three times. Be
prepared to stay with me in my rooms where I will care for you during your
transition. The transition should take no more than a week while I provide you
with all the sustenance you will need until later.”

“And
later?” Kyle noted how tired Amyra
looked. The sun must be getting high in
the sky. Pale shadows fell across the outside entrance when the jaguar
guard came in to escort him back to his rooms. The usual darkness became the
green-gray haze of muted daylight below the dense jungle canopy, and he
suspected Amyra would be ready to go to ground.

Her
voice sounded weak when she finally answered. “Later, if you wish, you will be
free to see to your own tastes.”








Read the previous chapters here Hearts of Darkness page



To Be Continued Next Week....

All rights reserved. No part of this may be copied or reproduced without the written permission of the author. Copyright 2012, Eliza March