Homelands Pt. 06 Ch. 06

Another faint grin.

He found it a lot easier to remember who he was now that he'd hid behind a tower of iron will, but the movement of her lips still affected him. Eric couldn't imagine what it would take to resist her if she really turned on the charm. Assuming it was even possible.

Which it probably wasn't.

"All you need do is accept my help," Daphne said.

What he wanted to ask was what was in it for her. But he couldn't bring himself to do that. If he did, he might displease her. Instead, Eric said, "What would you have me do?"

The look she gave him then came perilously close to qualifying as a genuine smile.

A shiver ran down his spine, and he felt his cock twitch.

"Nothing you haven't dreamt of," she said, her voice smooth as silk.

"Rule," he said.

She nodded.

Eric closed his eyes again. Pictured Gabby, standing in front of the mirror and studying her swollen belly. Or lying on her back, smiling up at him as she pressed a soft palm against his cheek. She was far more beautiful than Daphne. Less powerful, yes. But she didn't need to overwhelm him with supernatural forces to arouse his desire.

The walls of his mental fortress solidified. If they were iron before, now they were platinum. Coated in diamonds. Nothing could penetrate those walls.

"No," he said.

He could hear himself breath for a time as the bluest eyes he'd every seen bore into him.

"Perhaps you need some time to consider. I can be very persuasive."

"No," Eric repeated, more firmly.

She could get a yes from him. There was no question about that. Her skin hadn't so much as brushed against his. One touch and he'd do anything she wanted. Chew his own foot off for her amusement, if that was what she wanted. Or pour gasoline over his privates and light them on fire. Anything.

It was no coincidence that those images came to mind, he suddenly realized. Through the impenetrable walls of his mental tower, Lady Winter had slipped a messenger. Those were her sons who'd done those things, in hopes of earning one more kiss from her.

But, for whatever reason, she didn't prove to him how feeble his defenses truly were.

Perhaps she had no use for puppets. Maybe he was only valuable to her if he chose to serve her of his own free will. There was a certain sense in that.

"There's power in threes. Refuse me once more and there'll be no going back," she said slowly. Her voice hadn't really changed. Maybe hardened just a little. But it no longer sounded to Eric like silk or sex or anything of the sort. It was the voice of a great and terrible power, a force larger than nature. An unforgiving goddess. "Think carefully before you answer. I want to be a friend to you, Eric. More than a friend. A lover. The greatest you've ever known. Don't you want that too?"

Teeth gritted, he said again, "No."

Her cold blue eyes narrowed and those dark red lips pursed, and the world became an infinitely less beautiful place, if only temporarily. "You've just condemned Summer to an unspeakable fate. When the others come, no one shall lift a finger to help you. And they will come, rest assured."

"Bullshit," Eric said.

His head spun as the words left his lips. Was he delirious?

No. He was in love.

Even without being there by his side, his mother lent him the strength he needed to say what had to be said.

"No doubt you told the queen much the same. Yet here you are, making me the same offer. As you will another after me. And another after that, if you don't get the answer you want. I don't know why you need us, but you do. And you're probably throwing the same empty threats at people in every other court in the Homelands. Who exactly are we supposed to believe that you won't protect us from? You and your allies?"

"The first immortals," she replied. "The sun and the moon."

"We'll take our chances," Eric said.

He saw Daphne start to move, then suddenly everything went black.

#

"He's adorable, isn't he?"

Annie pulled her head back out of her son's crib. Aunt Nina stood across from her, resting a hand on the wooden rail.

"He is," she replied hesitantly.

The other woman smiled at Annie before turning her eyes back to little James, the cutest little baby boy ever to draw breath. Her son.

"Such a cute little fella, aren't ya? Aren't ya?" she cooed, pinching one of James' feet.

Annie's throat went tight.

Her aunt had been surprisingly nice to her ever since they'd left Summer. In a sane world, that would make Annie more comfortable around her, rather than less. But she couldn't help feeling that it was all an act, designed to lull her into a false sense of security.

"Oh, relax already," Nina said without looking away from the baby. "I'm not going to hurt him. You might think me a monster, but I love children as much as the next woman."

Reluctantly, Annie let the tension go out of her body. Allowed herself to breathe again.

"I don't hate you, you know," her aunt went on to say. "Sure, I'm jealous of you. And I'm still trying to wrap my head around the fact that my brother prefers you to me. That it wasn't just some act to get you to trust him, or a diversion to keep him amused until I was ready to rejoin the court." She finally met Annie's gaze again, though her thumb and forefinger continued to play footsie with little James. "But I'm also glad that you talked him into stepping down. You have no idea how many times I tried to get him to walk away from it all. To put me ahead of the damned throne. He always insisted that it was because of me, and our children, that he had to rule. But that was always horseshit, wasn't it?" Her eyes returned to the crib. "Running away was always an option."

It was hard to argue with that.

The Hinterlands weren't exactly inhospitable. In many ways, they were more beautiful than Summer. And the biggest difference was simply that no one cared who did what here. Or who lived here. They were out past the edges of significance, in a land ruled by no one.

Of course, that was because they were also inhabited by no one.

It took a great deal of power to open the portal. The great stone archway nestled deep in a forgotten valley hadn't looked to Annie like it served any purpose other than collecting moss. But once she and her father and his sister pooled their energy together, that changed. Light began to shine through, and Annie found something other than more of Summer staring back at her when she looked through the arch.

There were portals just like it in all the courts of the outer Homelands. But they'd all been sealed off ages ago. Her father hadn't bothered to tell her why though.

Perhaps there was a reason no one came here. But whatever it was, Annie couldn't see why it should have stopped them from leaving Summer long before they'd ever consider worshipping those sunlit fucks. Undoubtedly, though, she wasn't seeing the whole picture.

"You're welcome?" Annie said.

Nina snickered at that.

"He's happy," her aunt added with a sigh. "That...hurts. But at the same time, I can't imagine taking it away from him. I might hope that your little prince here grows up to be handsome and charming, sweet and caring, confident and unafraid to take what he wants. That he sweeps you off your feet and you forget all about Hank, leaving him all to me. But unless you find that threatening, you've nothing to fear from me."

Annie regarded her beautiful baby boy. It seemed so wrong, even after living a life of utter depravity from the day she turned eighteen, to be thinking of her son in those terms.

But she couldn't help it. Aunt Nina's words made her tingle between her legs.

She loved her father. Dearly. She didn't want another man to take her away from him. But if the nefarious plot her aunt was scheming up involved nothing more than playing matchmaker between her and her son, then she really didn't have anything to fear.

"Your sons didn't distract you from him," Annie replied in a neutral tone.

"No indeed," Nina said with a wan smile. "For a time, I thought Mike would. But he proved to be an even bigger disappointment than Troy."

Shock took hold of Annie and refused to let go.

How could the woman speak of her own children that way?

Granted, Troy sometimes struck Annie as the type of guy only a mother could love. But still. It was a mother's job to love her son. Even if no one else did.

"Don't get me wrong," her aunt continued, as if reading her mind. "I do love my son. Both of them. Just not the way I love my brother. Not in the way that makes it hard to think straight. With my luck, you'll understand some day."

"Maybe I will," Annie said.

Her aunt gave her a bemused grin. "You've spent too much time with him. His habit of speaking without saying anything is rubbing off on you."

If that was a habit of her father's, he kept it in check around Annie.

"Sleep now, child," Nina said, and Annie felt her pour energy into young James.

The gentle gurgling that had been coming from her son's mouth fell away.

That was a trick she tried not to use too often herself. It felt like cheating. A real woman wouldn't need to resort to that. But it sure made life easier. And she didn't doubt that her mother had done the same with her and her siblings countless times. Her father assured her that it was okay, that unless she really overdid it, it wouldn't even work unless James needed the rest to begin with.

Part of her still thought that if anyone was going to use that trick on her son, it should be her. That it wasn't her aunt's place to decide that it was time for James to sleep. But she sensed that it was high time that the two of them have some time alone together anyway. On the surface, they'd been getting along much better since they'd fled to the Hinterlands. But there was still plenty of tension lurking beneath. Annie was sure of it.

For good measure, she wrapped her son in a one-way dome of silence. Should he wake up and cry out, she'd hear him. But nothing that transpired between her and her aunt would disturb her baby's sleep. They could scream and yell and slap each other all they wanted, if it came to that. Or fuck each other's brains out, for that matter.

She wasn't sure why she thought that might be in the cards. But she sensed that it was.

Nina came around from the other side of the crib. When she reached up to run her fingers through Annie's hair, the temptation to recoil was strong. But Annie forced herself not to move. To enjoy the light touch.

She looked down at her little aunt and the generous breasts that didn't belong on her petite frame. Studied her big, brown eyes, whose soft hue somehow made Annie's seem much darker than they were in comparison. Noted her full red lips and unreasonably gorgeous face. Truthfully, Aunt Nina was a beautiful woman. In her shoes, Annie might have been surprised to be passed over by her brother too.

And how well had Annie dealt with rejection in the past? When neither of her own brothers had shown much interest in her, had she handled that like a mature adult, devoid of insecurities? Could she really hold it against her aunt if she was a little bitter?

"I suppose it's not that big a mystery what he sees in you," Nina said softly.

Annie felt her nipples harden.

Sometimes, she thought their kind's bottomless sexual appetites were a gift. Other times, the fact that cravings so strong as to border on debilitating often hit them out of nowhere felt like a curse. She wasn't sure which it was just at that moment, but she was keenly aware that an ordinary mortal wouldn't be so suddenly overcome with an irresistible urge to fuck her aunt. The lust addling her brain definitely owed to her immortal heritage.

For a few moments more, she tried to fight it.

Then she gave in.

Without warning, she grabbed her aunt. Roughly. One hand gripped soft brown hair, tugging at it just hard enough to awaken pins and needles in the woman's scalp. The other took hold of her aunt's flat ass and squeezed hard.

As Annie's lips met Nina's, the latter moaned. If she objected in the least to the rough treatment, she didn't let it show. And her Libido, which Annie caught a few glimpses of, suggested that she rather liked it no less than Annie herself would have.

Their lips locked and their tongues traded jabs. Their hands fumbled over one another's bodies, Nina's moving gently and Annie's roughly.

Stepping back, Annie ripped her aunt's dress off. It tore away cleanly, with a little supernatural help. "On the bed," she snapped, pointing with her finger.

Nina smiled at her then did as instructed, slowing her journey briefly to slip out of her bra and panties. She climbed atop Annie's bed, got her on her back, and spread her legs.

The sound that escaped Annie's throat sounded to her own ears like a growl. She slapped her hands over her aunt's thighs and went to work eating her pussy. Every now and then, she'd reach up to smack the other woman's full breasts harshly, or torture her nipples. When her hands weren't too busy pinching her aunt's love button the way no clitoris was ever meant to be treated, or finger-fucking her so hard that Annie's own wrist started to hurt almost as bad as the older woman's cunt must have.

Through it all, Nina raked her nails lightly over Annie's scalp, urging her on. Sometimes even begging her to get rougher. To bite harder.

When she brought her aunt to climax, Annie almost toppled over. The rush of energy wasn't any stronger than she was used to experiencing with her father. But somehow, in the back of her mind, she'd convinced herself that it wouldn't be the same with Nina. That her aunt couldn't really be enjoying herself as much as it seemed like she was.

Even after she got all that fresh energy under control, she still felt her head spinning.

"Your turn," Nina said, slipping out of bed and throwing Annie down face first. She waited long enough for Annie to get on her back before beginning her own attack.

Her aunt made love to her tenderly and seductively. But it was still an attack, if only because poor Annie's body couldn't handle all that sweet sensation. Nina's fingers ran lightly over Annie's breasts, teasing her nipples. Her lips danced over Annie's vulva, and her tongue swirled in circles around her clit. Extra hands and mouths appeared from nowhere, caressing and massaging and licking and kissing and nibbling her from head to toe. Her entire body became her aunt's canvas, and her aunt was a masterful painter.

"Fuck, yes," Annie panted, bucking her hips, driving her sensitive little lady against the older woman's mouth. "Right there, there there, fuck, just like that."

Her own orgasm was no less intense than Nina's had been. Annie almost couldn't believe how thoroughly she'd let herself go. Or how little she cared that her aunt practically drained her dry. If she'd known that it could be that much fun to have sex with another woman, she'd have spent less time worrying about her brothers and her grandfather and more time chasing after her sisters or her mother and grandmother.

Assuming, that is, that any of them were half as good as Aunt Nina. Grandma Flori probably was, to be fair. But she doubted any of the others were. Annie usually liked it a bit rough, but she didn't even care that her aunt had chosen another path, because, damn, that woman knew how to please.

To Annie's delight, she soon learned that her aunt wasn't afraid to get rough after all.

It started with spanking and hair-pulling. Breast-slapping and nipple-twisting. By the time her aunt raked tiger claws down her back, Annie was in another universe. One filled with pain and pleasure in equal measure. They spilled a fair amount of blood in that bed, but it didn't matter. They healed their wounds as they went, where needed. All the pent up hostility came out with a vengeance, and it couldn't have been more gratifying.

When they were done, many orgasms and near-blackouts later, they lay side to side, facing each other, with their legs tangled together.

Annie smoothed a damp lock of hair back from her aunt's face. "Who needs him anyway?"

Nina laughed and kissed her on the lips.

They'd joked about that before. On the very night Annie had met Nina. But it had never seriously crossed her mind that maybe she could see her aunt as yet another incredibly talented lover, rather than a rival. This wasn't the first time she'd shared a bed with the woman either. But it was the first time she'd thrown everything she had into it, allowed herself to truly enjoy it without any reservation.

"Or, I guess we can share," Annie added.

"You think?" Nina asked. She gave Annie's ass a playful smack as she did.

"Would you look at this," her father said then. He rested one hand against the white doorframe as he leaned in, his hard body filling the empty space quite nicely. "My two favorite ladies, in bed together. Could anything be more beautiful?" With a slightly less wistful tone, he added, "Too bad I missed all the fun."

"There might still be some left to come," Nina said, fretting at her lower lip.

"If you ask nicely," Annie added.

"Where's Troy?" Nina asked.

Annie was tempted to ask, "Who cares?" But she kept her mouth shut. Besides, given what she'd said earlier, her aunt was probably asking because she didn't want her son to interrupt them rather than out of a desire for him to join them.

"Out patrolling. Like I should be," her father replied.

That made Annie's hair prickle up. She'd tried asking him a few times what this patrolling business was all about, given that the Hinterlands were deserted, but he'd only given her glib responses. When he'd answered at all.

Come to think of it, perhaps Aunt Nina had been right about that.

"Just had to sneak back for a quick kiss. And to check in on little James," he continued.

"Better not be too quick," Nina said, as if it hadn't been quite clear that he was talking about his daughter and not his sister.

"James is fine," Annie said. "He's asleep."

"That's good," he said, looking at the watch he wasn't wearing. "Well, probably ought to get back out there. Wouldn't be right to leave Troy to it all by himself."

"Fuck that," Annie said. "Get over here, now!" Then she added, "Please, Daddy?"

He gave her a warm smile. "How can I say no to my little princess?"

Despite his words, her father turned around and walked down the hall, towards the front door. Or, one of him did. Another on began taking his shirt off as he approached the bed. And by the time he reached the bed, he'd divided in two again. Then again.

Three shirtless men with fuck-me-breathless abs soon climbed into the bed. A bed that was no longer standard size, but big enough to accommodate five quite comfortably.

None of the three versions of her father looked quite alike. One was taller and leaner than he should be, with a clean-shaven face. One was shorter, more heavily muscled, with a darker complexion and facial hair that was just a bit too long to really be considered stubble. The third was old and scarred, the way her father had looked when she'd first met him, with a scraggly white beard. All three had gorgeous emerald green eyes and amazing bodies, even if those bodies were differently shaped and sized. Not one of them was anything less than utterly irresistible. But they looked just different enough to give Annie the illusion that she'd be sleeping with three different men.

As his sister had done, her father switched back and forth between rough and sweet. To start off, he kissed her softly, his hands caressing her swollen breasts, while slowly climbing atop her to pump his big dick gently in and out of a pussy that was still sore from the even larger cock that Nina had grown a little while earlier. He soon rolled onto his back and pulled her on top of him. He summoned extra hands and mouths to suck on her toes, make love to her hips, and leave a trail of kisses down her spine, all while massaging her feet, cupping her breasts, running his fingers through her hair, and squeezing her ass. His beautiful green eyes made love to her as sweetly as his body did.