A New Beginning: A Fantasy Adventure (The White Chronicles Book 1) Read online

  “Wait…you’re a genie?”

  She laughed. “No, I’ve just been waiting for so long to make that joke. I’m a succubus! That means—”

  She disappeared in a puff of red light, and then reappeared right behind Vexx, whispering into his ear, “Whatever you want it to mean, Master.”

  Vexx stumbled away in surprise and crashed into Kaylin. I am so uncomfortably aroused right now. He glanced up as Zombie Frank collapsed under the surging attacks of three skeleton warriors. The spectral green energy flickered and faded around him and the empty white eye sockets of the skeleton warriors fixed themselves on them.

  “Uh, I wish…I wish for them to go away!”

  The succubus sighed. “Like I said, darling, I’m not a genie. But as you wish,” she said, flicking a spectral whip that flashed into existence. She slashed it at the skeleton warriors, severing them in half. “There will be more coming, Master. They will never. Stop. Coming.”

  Vexx licked his lips. “We need to get out of here.”

  “Ah, so young and insightful! We will have a good lifetime, Master. Wait. Who’s this bitch?”

  Kaylin smiled weakly and extended a hand. “Kaylin Lulynn, Miss Shy. What’s it like to be in a book?”

  Shy sniffed disdainfully. “You get used to it. Master, can I kill her?”

  “What? No,” Vexx said, scanning the room for exits. More skeleton warriors were emerging from the entrance, trampling the doubly lifeless corpse of Zombie Frank. “Shit, shit!”

  “Never fear, Master. When one door closes,” she paused to flick her whip above the skeleton warriors, searing through the masonry above and sending the ancient stone collapsing down onto the skeletons. “Another…opens!” she screamed out as she fired a burst of magic into the nearby wall, flinging huge blocks of stone into the night. The new entrance yawned open, but the entire building shook unsteadily, bits of dust and debris fell around them as the room started collapsing.

  “Let’s go!” Shy shouted, spanking Vexx with her enhanced energy and sending him flying through the entrance. Vexx sprawled on the grass outside and staggered to his feet. He looked over to see the succubus sauntering calmly out of the hole in the wall. The building was collapsing around her, though she didn’t even bother to look back. A second later, Kaylin leaped through the entrance and barely made it onto the grass outside. She swayed where she stood before dropping in a heap beside Vexx.

  Shy frowned down at her. “Still alive, I see,” she said. “A shame.”

  “You two,” Vexx said as he rose to his feet. “Need to get along. But right now?” He looked over to see spectral forms materializing as they streamed out of nearby ruins, their translucent, blue-tinted forms hefted warhammers and battle-axes. “Let’s get out of here!”

  26

  The General’s Mausoleum

  Every time they turned a corner in the ruins, they found themselves hemmed in; whether by glowing, malevolent spirits or by roving squads of skeleton warriors. Shy slashed one of these squads with her whip, turning back to look at Vexx, who dispelled the circling orb of fire he’d readied.

  “I’m afraid we’re surrounded, Master. The elf’s fault, I would assume.”

  “Somewhat,” Vexx muttered, glancing over at Kaylin. She had run over to an ornate marble building that was supported by cracked pillars. A decent place for a final stand, I suppose. So much for being the next Dred Wyrm.

  “You can’t teleport us out, can you?”

  “Unfortunately not,” she replied. “If I die in this world, I’ll be transported back to one of the hells. I don’t particularly mind it, but I would hate to lose you, darling, when we have only just met.”

  “I imagine I’ll join you soon,” Vexx replied, glancing at a swarm of ghosts circling above, evidently keeping tabs on their movements.

  “It won’t be the same one,” Shy said in a disappointed voice. “You’d need several human lifetimes to commit the number of sins that would earn you a place in mine.”

  “Vexx, over here!”

  He looked over to see Kaylin waving from behind the pillar. Vexx gritted his teeth and ran over with Shy in tow.

  “Oh, I recognize this,” Shy said as she approached. “This is General Pel-Kantheon’s mausoleum. He died in the wars shortly before I was trapped, actually. Highly renowned, highly. They used to say his legion would follow him into all the hells. Kind of cute, too, if I remember correctly.”

  “Really…” Vexx mused.

  “I mean, if you’re into that. Close-cropped jaw, full lips…he was balding, but it added a certain gravitas to his—”

  “Not that,” Vexx snapped, putting his shoulder on the sarcophagus’s lid. “Help me get this off!”

  Kaylin joined him without question, straining at the heavy marble, which started to give. Shy, on the other hand, just whistled in amusement.

  “Really, you’re that interested? And with danger on all sides? You’re twisted, Master, much more twisted than I’d imagine. And I’m very imagin—”

  “Shut up and help me!”

  Shy joined them, and the lid slid further away, opening a wide gap. Then, it fell to the ground on the other side with a heavy thunk. Vexx stood up and looked down at the linen-wrapped corpse of General Pel-Kantheon.

  “This won’t do,” he muttered, tearing at the linens and exposing the corpse’s ancient face. “Shy, help me get it up!”

  The succubus let out a long sigh. “I’m normally quite good at that, but—”

  “Kaylin!”

  Kaylin and Vexx grabbed the corpse of the general and together, they hauled him out of the mausoleum. Shy simply looked on in confusion. Together, Vexx and Kaylin set him against the wall at the entrance. Vexx glanced over to see a veritable horde of skeletons and spirits approaching.

  This had better work.

  Vexx extended his right hand, green spectral energy flowing toward and around the linen-wrapped corpse. Beside him, Kaylin half-raised her bow, but hesitated. Arrows were next to useless against a single skeleton warrior, not to mention a whole legion, and he knew she didn’t have many left.

  “Good luck, Vexx,” she whispered.

  A moment passed, then another, and Vexx grimaced as he braced for the swords of a legion of skeleton warriors to plunge into him. But then—a faint green light appeared in one eye socket, and then lit up in the other one. The corpse general lurched to the side and strained against its wrappings before looking down as if surprised to find itself trapped in them.

  “Stop them,” Vexx said in a faint voice, half desperate whisper, half command. The ancient, weathered face looked at him for a long moment. Then it nodded and turned towards the approaching horde. Vexx stepped back a few paces, Shy and Kaylin kept close on both sides as if for protection.

  “I didn’t realize you were a necromancer!” Shy said, her eyebrows raised.

  “Haaauuwt…” the corpse general rasped, its ancient, rotting jaw twitching. “Haaahhhh…tuh.”

  The charging skeleton warriors slowed. Then, they came to an uncertain halt. One of them stood stiff and twitched, its right arm slowly rising. The finger bones tapped against its skull and it remained there; rigid and motionless. Then another skeleton warrior mimicked the motion, then another, and another. The spirits slowed, hovering above the skeleton warriors, and then dispersed to various gaps in what appeared to be a growing formation.

  “Staaaaah…undah. Ah. Tennn…shun.”

  As one, the skeletons straightened, but Vexx wasn’t there to see it. Instead, he was crouched behind Shyola, trying his best not to be distracted by her shapely butt as Kaylin led the three of them to creep away through the back. I swear she’s wiggling it on purpose. They proceeded in silence until they reached the gap in the wall.

  “Amazing,” Kaylin muttered as she glanced back.

  “Well, the Imperial legion was supposed to be well-trained, after all,” Vexx said in a low voice as they clambered over stones and debris. “Now, then. We’ll need to get at least a mil
e away from here before we can make camp. I’m going to have nightmares as it is.”

  “I can help you relax,” Shy said seductively as they bounded away into the darkness.

  “Ahhh…eash!” came the distant rasp of the corpse general, followed by a rattle of bones. “Baaahhh…to…yo…gwaves!”

  27

  The Succubus and the Sacrifice

  “Help! Vexx!”

  Vexx’s eyes flicked open and he groaned. He had only just managed to get to sleep and they were under attack already? Vexx staggered to his feet.

  “What…what is it?” He blinked and looked over, confused at what he saw. Two figures struggled, and as Vexx came to his feet and cast his bleary eyes over to the commotion, he saw a couple of attractive, half-dressed women scuffling with each other.

  Am I dreaming?

  Vexx shook his head and blinked, now seeing that Shy had wrapped Kaylin with her whip, and was now keeping her firmly in place. Kaylin was once again bound in Shy’s whip—though this time, the elf was just in her underclothes. “Time to break my fast,” Shy cackled, teeth bared.

  “Don’t even think about it!” Vexx roared, two fireballs already readied and circling around his fists. Shy just looked over in annoyance and disbelief.

  “Master, really? Fighting me over this girl? Some time with me, and you won’t miss her one bit.”

  “Let her go!”

  The moment dragged on. Vexx flicked his gaze to the right at Kaylin, who was still squirming in her bindings. He flicked his eyes left to Shyola, who licked her lips, expression inscrutable. She had been so close to throwing off my domination spell before. Would she try now?

  “How quick do you think you are with those fireballs, Master?” Shy asked.

  Vexx didn’t reply. Instead, he kept his fingers loose and flexible, his right fireball aimed at the whip holding Kaylin, the left facing Shyola directly. A cool wind blew, flickering his flames, and a stray weed tumbled between them as the standoff continued.

  Finally, Shyola waved her hand in a careless gesture and vanished her whip. Without the whip holding her in place, Kaylin tumbled out of the air and fell to the ground in a disgruntled heap. Vexx breathed a sigh of relief and expelled his flames.

  “I still need to apply my eyeshadow today,” Shyola said in a flippant voice, “so I can wait on a meal for a little while. But I do need to suck her dry, Master. It was part of the contract.”

  “What contract?” Vexx scoffed. “I didn’t sign any contract.”

  “It’s in the book!” Shy pointed out. “I should know. I was in there for centuries.”

  “It said you need the hair of the innocent. Not their bodies…or souls, or whatever.”

  “Ah, clearly it’s implied.” Shyola crossed her arms and rolled her eyes. She looked back at him and blew a stray strand of hair out of her face “I mean, I hate to be a stickler for contracts, but if nothing else, it takes a lot of energy to travel across dimensions. I’ve got to drain somebody’s life force.”

  Kaylin rose to her feet and made a face at Shyola before dusting off her knees. “I’m really starting to hate this demon, Vexx.” She yawned. “I guess I’ll get dressed.”

  Shy rolled her eyes. “You see how she flirts with you, Master?”

  “Flirting? I’m just putting my clothes on!” Kaylin shouted back, already shrugging her top on. Vexx was finding it very difficult to avoid looking at her—and Shy wasn’t much better, her outfit half mesh and half crisscrossing leather straps. He mustered the last dregs of his willpower and stared somewhere in between the two of them. At least he was awake now.

  “So…you need to eat someone,” Vexx stated sluggishly. “Or something?”

  “Not just eat. Devour their life force. It can’t be dead yet, it needs to wriggle and writhe around…”

  “So like a worm?”

  Shy sighed. “Let’s not start off like this, Master. You really don’t want me to overpower this bond and suck you dry instead. Or…” she arched an eyebrow. “Maybe you do.”

  Vexx suddenly brightened. “I have an idea!”

  “Oh?” Shy asked. “You do want that? Well, I can make it enjoyable, though you won’t live through it.” She smiled at Kaylin, who was adjusting her skirt. “And you’d be next.”

  “No,” Vexx shook his head in exasperation. “I know what you can feed on. Come on, let’s get started. We’re all awake now, anyway.”

  The dungeoneers packed up quickly, and all the while, Vexx kept a close eye on both Shyola and Kaylin, and it wasn’t long before they had set off on the winding road that led to Cloudbury.

  “You are from here, Master?” Shyola asked as they plodded along.

  “From Cloudbury? Well, yes. More or less.”

  “More or less?” Shy raised an eyebrow in curiosity, and even Kaylin looked over. It wasn’t like they had talked much of the past, but Vexx found that he didn’t mind. It helped him endure the long trek, at least.

  “My mother and father met in Oerchenbrach. It’s north of here, by the sea. I grew up there, actually, though I barely remember it at all. There was a plague, and…” Vexx trailed off, unexpected emotion surging through his chest. “Well, after my mom died, my dad and I moved to Cloudbury. You know. To start fresh.”

  “Is that why you’re so obsessed with death magic?” Shy asked. “Why you want to bring back the dead?”

  “What?” Vexx blinked. “No. No! You’re reading too much into that.”

  Shy and Kaylin exchanged skeptical glances, which annoyed Vexx even further.

  “If anything, that would mean I’d try to learn healing magic,” Vexx pointed out with a grimace. “And I’ve never had the touch for that.”

  “If you say so, Master.”

  “So what’s your story, succubus?” he asked after a few uncomfortable moments of silence.

  “Oh, that is a long tale. Much too long to tell, with Cloudbury not far off. And with…somewhat innocent ears around.”

  Kaylin blushed, her long elven ears twitching, but she said nothing. Shyola smirked over at her. “And what of you, elf? What’s your stor—”

  “Goblins!” Kaylin shouted as she fumbled for her bow. “On the left,” she added, then swore as she dropped her nocked arrow, quickly crouching to snatch it from the road. A grove of trees near the road rustled, and then one goblin darted out, followed by another and another.

  Vexx readied his flames and aimed at the first goblin, a stocky brute who stomped forward with an upraised spear—and then Vexx shifted upward, firing three fireballs at the trees. The trees shook even as the branches caught fire, a goblin lookout concealed on one limb came crashing to the ground. A few others staggered out of the grove, grunting and barking as they slapped uselessly at their smoking pelts.

  Kaylin had recovered now, and she loosed a quick shot that took the goblin in its leg, just as three others rushed past. Then, Shy stepped forward, her glowing whip flickering into existence, and she slashed forward at all three. They toppled forward, severed through, and collapsed to the ground.

  “Silly goblins,” Shy added with a laugh. A few others had come to a ragged halt, and as one, they turned and ran off up the nearest hill. Kaylin held her bow at full draw for a long moment and then lowered it, easing off the pressure. Vexx dispelled his magic. His hands fell to his sides and he took a long breath.

  “I hope you didn’t intend for one of those filthy creatures to be a meal,” Shy said, striding back to the road. “A goblin simply won’t do.”

  “No,” Vexx said, glancing down the road. “I had another idea.”

  28

  Breakfast

  “This is a joke, I take it,” Shyola said after a long moment. The dungeoneers were standing in Pollander’s ranch, just outside Cloudbury. Shyola’s unimpressed gaze rested on a large sheep as it cropped the grass inside its pasture. Kaylin crouched beside the sheep, feeling its soft wool.

  “It’s no joke,” Vexx replied. “Goblins have been raiding the ranch here. The owner
is busy at the tavern. Nobody’s around to notice,” Vexx said, spreading his hands wide, gesturing at the tranquil pasture in the hills outside Cloudbury. “I don’t know if it’s a virgin or not, but otherwise, it’s perfect! Go on, dig in.”

  Kaylin giggled as the sheep sniffed at her fingers. “Oh, she’s so cute and fluffy.”

  Shyola regarded it with intense distaste. “I can’t believe this is what you had in mind, Master.”

  “Why not? Plenty of people like sheep. Goblins like sheep. I like sheep.” Vexx shrugged. “I’m sure it’ll struggle. What’s the problem?”

  “The problem is, is that it’s such a mediocre sacrifice. Centuries I was trapped in there. To say I was looking forward to feasting on a virgin would be an immense understatement.” Shy leaned in close, gesturing at Kaylin, who was laughing as she played with the sheep. “I mean, she’d be acceptable, I guess. And after I sampled her hair, I kind of want the whole meal. Does she even have any family?” she whispered. “Little elf girls like that go missing all the time. No one will—”

  “Shy. Enough.”

  She sighed before cracking her knuckles and sashaying towards the sheep. “Out of the way, girl,” she said, pushing a protesting Kaylin to the side. Then, there was a blur of motion, Vexx raising a hand in front of his face, Kaylin reeling aside as fur and blood went flying. There was a tearing, rending, lustful sound, as if a gathering of starving orc barbarians were having an eating contest.

  Finally, a silence settled.

  Then, there was a long belch. “Sorry,” Shy said, looking back at them, trying unsuccessfully to wipe blood from her chin, but dribbling it all over her half-exposed breasts instead. “I was famished. Not bad, all things considered, but I still have a hunger…” Shy finished, locking her gaze with Kaylin.