Steampunk Harlots Ch. 26

"I was working and suddenly lost the light from the window. Everyone is gone. I was so lost in my work, I didn't notice."

Hannah was about to ask more questions when Hope interrupted, "There is a guard."

They all turned to look at the man in a guard uniform with his rifle slung over his shoulder. Hannah inwardly chided him for being so sloppy about it. He was facing the wall as if admiring some artwork on it, ignoring their calls to get his attention. When he finally did look at them, it was with an unnatural swivel of his neck at an odd angle. A devilish grin formed on his face as his body reoriented itself to face the same way as his head.

"Oh this can't be good," Hannah commented.

"He's already dead. Like, he just died." Hope informed.

An unearthly giggle echoed from his lips as he suddenly broke into a sprint, his arms outstretched towards them. Hannah raised her gun but Hope tapped it down with her mace as she readied herself for his charge. With practised ease, Hope got under his guard and struck him soundly in the chest. He crumpled to the ground, his flesh burning with white flickers of flame where he had been struck.

"What's all this then?" Hannah asked the still smiling corpse.

"Something else I think they should have spent more time teaching us. Unless I have missed my guess, it's a thrall. Someone belonging to a certain blood sucker. This is what happens to those who are bitten but not killed. At least, ones who don't receive certain care afterwards."

"I would like to again, express my gratitude. Though if there is one of these, there should be more than one."

The sound of shuffling down the halls confirmed Hannah's suspicion as the far ends filled with corpse-skinned figures. Hope turned around and slammed her mace into the body at her feet to silence it before slamming hard on the heavy doors, ignoring the damage she caused.

"Vile! Little help out here!"

"Oh that won't help," the worried woman behind them started to explain. "The Duke was most adamant about his sleep not being interrupted by noise. We have to wait for him to exit."

"Well, damn." Hope sighed. "And it's not like we can get outside and wave through the windows."

"Any other entrances would be his escape tunnels and such, and we don't have the time to go looking. Hope, we need a plan of defence."

"Well, once Vile finishes, we fall back into the Duke's room and bottleneck them. Until then, the two of us have to hold three angles of approach. Take a knee."

Hannah went on one knee at Hope's request, not quite understanding why. Hope withdrew a flask of holy water from her belt and popped the top off.

"Miss Hannah, do you swear to act as a vessel of righteous vengeance against the evil of this world in defence of the innocent?"

"I do so swear."

Hope flicked the water over Hannah and her weapon, "Then I bless you and your weapon in Holy service. Rise to the fight and never back down."

"Thanks. We need all the help we can get."

"Speaking of that, drink the rest of this while I bless this woman and the rifle the guard dropped."

Hannah drank the rest of the holy water while Hope did her thing, and got to work gathering all the grenades she had. Hope blessed them as well as she lined them up on a nearby table. Each one had to have the fuse cap unscrewed before they could be thrown, so she got them ready to be thrown quickly.

"Miss, can you fight?" Hope asked the woman, who was clearly too frightened to reply. "Alright, just take this and keep yourself safe."

Hope handed her a knife from the ankle sheath she wore and stood next to Hannah.

"Back to back and twist?" Hannah asked, hoping that Hope understood the tactic.

"Sounds good to me," she replied.

The tactic that she had referred to was the method of being able to roll against the other person's body to cover each other while not getting in the other's way. They went shoulder to shoulder and rolled their bodies to familiarise themselves with the other so they could predict where the other was moving. It normally took months of training with someone you knew well to become experts at it, but they didn't have that time. Their foes stood watching them, waiting.

"I'll take the first shots," explained Hannah, switching to the incendiary rounds. "Save your big fire blast or whatever for when I need to reload."

"Got it. Grenades at their feet to start, then over their heads after," Hope replied.

"I can do that," spoke a soft, frightened voice.

Hannah turned and nodded, giving a short explanation on how to pull the fuse. Then the three of them waited, knowing that time was on their side - if they could last until Vile finished fucking the Duke and opened the door.

****

"What do you mean there isn't a man in charge?"

Liddy gave a hard look at the man who had just come up the ramp out of turn and flung his scorn at Juno.

"I mean, sir, that this vessel is captained by a woman and she is in charge." Juno bit her tongue to keep her words polite.

"That's idiotic. What kind of lord gives a ship to a woman and lets her fly off without..." he was cut off.

"I paid for this ship myself, sir," Liddy interrupted. "I own it and answer to nobody."

"Oh, shut up," he spat. "You will answer to me. This is supposed to be a place where the bitches do what they are told. Not give me lip."

"If you want to tell me what to do on my ship, or anything involving my lips, then you can pay for the privilege. Assuming you have the cash to afford your rapidly increasing price."

"Oh I see," he started with sarcasm. "You think because these other fools pay you more than a penny to let you do the only thing women are made for, that I will?" He pulled out his billfold, fat with bills. "Well, I'll tell you what. I doubt you are worth even one of these, but if you keep your mouth quiet and do what I tell you, I will pay you what you are worth."

Liddy smiled kindly and curtsied meekly. Without saying a word she guided him to her quarters. He snorted at the decorations as he walked in as if they offended him personally. Liddy recognised his pose quickly as one of waiting for servants to undress him. She did so, watching him watch her the whole time, making sure to let him have a pleasing view of her chest while she did so. Taking off his trousers, she could see she was having the desired effect. After taking off his shoes, she rose up and licked along his manhood at the same time as she let her own dress fall off and brush her breasts along it as well. Liddy smiled at his surprise of her quick disrobement. She took him into her hands and gently massaged him harder as she waited for further instructions.

He grabbed her by the head and, without subtlety of any kind, pushed her down to her knees. On her way down, she took him into her mouth and he gasped at the surprise of being fully swallowed. He watched in stunned silence as Liddy worked him in and out of her throat with ease. It was a frequent pleasure of his to make women choke and gag on himself, but Liddy had no such difficulty. Even forcing her head into him, without letting her pull away, he could feel her tongue continue to massage him and felt no panic from her. When he did let her breathe, it was more to avoid finishing so soon than for her benefit. Liddy caught her breath as quietly as she could.

The man seemed confused. He wasn't getting any of the normal satisfaction he derived from making desperate women service him for coin. Liddy smiled, indicating she was ready for more, and this made him angry. She was supposed to be crying already, humiliated of what she was forced to do for money. Pushing her to the floor, he grabbed a nearby towel that Liddy would have used to clean herself, and proceeded to dry himself off. Then, gripping her by the hair, hauled her to the bed where he climbed on top of her. Used to the pain and difficulty women had accepting him like that, he was again surprised to find himself sliding smoothly inside. Liddy was actually enjoying the rough treatment enough that her body was providing plenty of lubrication on its own.

Deprived of the rough entry he had been expecting, he put more effort into his thrusting, to try and hurt Liddy that way instead. Liddy smiled, biting down on bed sheets to keep herself quiet as she squirmed with pleasure underneath him. Her loudest noise was when she breathed in sharply as he gripped her breasts in his hands. He felt the fluids flow from her onto himself at her climax. Slapping her across the face in frustration, he had had enough when she caressed the red mark with her free hand and smiled. Pulling out and flipping her over, he pulled her hips into position and pushed inside her bum, keeping her on all fours. When most women had begged him to stop just from him being inside there, Liddy began to rock her body back and forth while he kneeled behind her. He watched, stunned, as she worked him inside her bum as enthusiastically as if it were normal for her. Again he felt fluid spilling onto his lap as her body shook with another climax that put him over the top, and forced him to pump his seed into her backside.

He fell backwards and off the bed as he started to relax. Shakily standing up, he regained his balance, not seeing the door open a crack as Inky checked in on the noise.

"What the hell was that?!" He yelled.

"That, sir, is what I get paid for. Speaking of paid..." Liddy got off the bed, rummaged through his clothing and took the billfold as well as a coin purse that had been on his belt, and tossed them on the bed.

"Now just a minute!" he started.

"Correct. You have paid for services rendered, and that's how long you have to get dressed and leave."

Inky came into the room with Juno, and they waited at attention with their rifles in their hands. The man didn't seem to notice.

"It doesn't work like that. I'm not done with you until I see you cry and beg for forgiveness!"

"Then go get some more money. I'm happy to service your tastes, but you haven't any funds left."

"Minute, ma'am!" Juno called out.

"Well, then, please escort this fine man off the ship."

"You can't tell me what to do, you stupid whore!"

"Sir, you will get off my ship right now or I will have you shot."

He seemed ready to retort after a moment of surprise, but was suddenly aware of the bayonet under his chin and the rifle it was attached to. Juno gathered his clothing and pushed it into his arms to carry out of the room.

"You can't march me past those people naked like this!" he yelled, almost refusing to walk down the hall to the lounge.

"Right you are, sir," Liddy said cheerfully. "Inky, that door will work fine."

Liddy had indicated the door nearby and Juno moved to open it for her. When the man got to it though, he was confused.

"There isn't a ramp at this door you..." His words were cut off by the boot to his backside.

He yelled as he fell and hit the dock surface hard. Laughter erupted from the crowd that still waited its turn to board. Liddy was thankful that nobody seemed upset other than the man moaning in pain as he lay naked on the dock.

"What do you want us to do if he comes back?" Inky asked as Juno closed the door.

"I'm torn between having him shot, and frustrating him more with being unable to get too rough with us."

"I'd love to see him with Vile. He probably hates Emberborn more, but he'd be hopelessly unable to be too rough with her."

"She should be with the Duke right now. Hopefully, Hannah and Hope aren't too bored with guard duty."

****

The three women simultaneously threw the grenades at the feet of the onrushing horde. The deathless howls chilling their blood. In their rush to get to the warm bodies of the women, they ignored the grenades and even the weapons that some of them carried. As the time between throwing the grenades and the following explosions slowed to a crawl, Hannah spotted the various fine outfits they had been wearing. Guards, clerks, nobles, servants, all dead and rushing at them.

"For the Mistress!" they howled, right before three almost simultaneous blasts threw their mob into chaos.

Bodies were torn apart and fell down dead, "Didn't think concussive force would work so well on corpses."

"Animated by magic," Hope replied, as Hannah fired her first shot into the mess of bodies. "Magic that's vulnerable to the blessing of faith."

Hannah fired another shell that, like the first, tore through the ranks with fire. "Hallelujah, now I might just enjoy this."

Another blast down the third hall, having fired one at each by that point, was followed by more shots as groups of the thralls formed. Hope moved around to face the single threats that got close enough so Hannah could focus on the groups. Her burning mace crushed into every form that got close to her. Another grenade went off, thrown by the frightened woman behind them both.

"Reloading!" Hannah called as she crouched to reload.

Hope took a few wide swings as the crowd around her thickened, until she cradled her mace and blasted the stream of holy fire into the mass. This gave Hannah the time to reload and start firing again, while Hope took a moment to reload her mace. She finished just in time to slam her mace down on a form that crumpled under the impact.

The woman throwing grenades stopped to grab the weapons dropped on the floor by the attackers and leant them against the door. She took any grenades for herself and got back to throwing.

A fire had broken out down the hallway to the left, an oil or gas lamp having been broken and ignited by the weapons fire. This stymied the flow of bodies, but didn't block them completely. Elsewhere, munitions cooked off on the bodies of their owners as they fell to the burning rounds Hannah fired into them. Hannah felt a hand grip onto her and turned to smash the face of her attacker, only to see the arm severed by the knife Hope had given the woman. She shook off the grip and returned to firing, thankful the dedicated woman kept her wits about her.

Another round of reloading put Hannah on her last drum of ammunition, the regular kind. She swore but kept up the pressure, thankful the regular rounds seem to tear apart the attackers all the same. Of course, the shells didn't last for ever and her gun clicked empty.

"I'm out!" she called, "Switching to a rifle!"

Hannah picked up one of the rifles that had been leant against the door, thankful a bayonet was already fixed on it. Her tactics changed to match Hope's - close range melee fighting. She used the rifle like a spear, taking the occasional shot when she had a spare moment to aim. When it was out of ammunition, far too quickly for her tastes, she grabbed the next one. The woman, out of grenades, learned quickly to put the blades on the end of the rifles and hold them ready for Hannah. Unfortunately, they didn't last forever, and she was forced to fight with the unloaded rifle while Hope did the bulk of the killing. The flail swung free in wide arcs, giving Hannah time for a quick reload of a rifle. It was knocked from her grip by a thrall that had crawled under the flail swings. Hannah put her pistol into its mouth and fired.

"Watch your feet for crawlers!" She warned, putting rounds into the bodies on the floor that weren't still enough.

Ripping a pistol off another dead guard, Hannah fired it empty, before picking up the rifle again to skewer one thrawl that had jumped on Hope's back and tried to bite her through the chainmail on her neck. A heavy thud sounded, followed by the screeching of metal.

Suddenly the hallways started to fill with light again, and the undead began to scream in pain as the sunlight burnt them alive where they stood. Hope's mace flickered with the last of her fuel, and Hannah reloaded her rifle to take shots at anything that didn't seem like it was dying fast enough. A few tried to hide from the light but her bullets found them. A few heavy thuds behind them and the heavy door finally opened.

The putrid smell of rot and bile hit Vile in the face as the door opened, melting her smile. She and the Duke stood dumbfounded at the sight of the three women amidst the bodies.

"What the hell happened?!" Vile finally blurted out.

"Well," Hannah started to reply. "Guard duty is rather tiresome, so the universe decided to help us out by sending the Vampiress' thralls out after us. Duke, sorry but they all seem to have been working for you, so you are going to have to hire some new help."

"Are you alright?!" Vile asked, rushing to help Hannah back to her feet, fire in her eyes.

"Yes, a little light-headed. Guess I should have spent more time in bed. If only someone had told me to take it easy."

Hope rolled her eyes and laughed with a shake of her head, "I'm sorry, I should have mentioned it. So what happened? Why did the windows open suddenly?"

"Oh," the woman spoke up. "They always open when his lordship leaves his chambers. He likes it that way."

"Fair enough." Hannah turned to the Duke. "So, what do you think, sir?"

"I think I may have overstated my need for sound proofing to my architect," he said, mostly to himself.