The Generator: The Succubae Seduction (77 page)

“Oh, I’m sure you know what to do,” Gaia says evenly with a gleam in her eye, and I do.

It takes a moment before the elf realizes. I wonder if she’s going to mutiny before she finally drops her head and nods. “The mission is more important than one person’s aversions,” I hear her mumble.

“With that in mind, I have a gift to help you on your way,” Gaia states, waving her hand to the side. The floor begins to shudder and a moment later, a bright shiny metal substance breaks the surface, rising to stand as tall as Blue, and almost as big around.

“That can’t be!” Brooke gasps, looking at the pile of metal ore. “Adamantium?”

I can almost feel the energy pouring from the pile, wondering what I’m supposed to do with it. It’s too large to carry, and too unwieldy to do anything with.

“Use this for your mass when you change forms,” the Pillar of Earth informs me, “and I don’t think you’ll regret it.”

Walking forward, I tentatively reach my hand out. It feels like a bolt of lightning courses through my arm as I come into contact with it. “What’s adamantium?” I ask my redheaded girlfriend, yanking my hand away from the power of the metal and sucking gingerly on my tingling fingers.

“The rarest of materials,” she answers in awe. “A handful is enough to buy every government on Earth with enough money left over to build bridges across the oceans. I didn’t know this much existed.”

“That’s because this is all that has ever existed,” Gaia states calmly. “I’ve been saving it, and this seems like a good excuse to finally pull it out.”

“But
why
?” I ask, awed by this immense gift.

“Because I can,” she responds placidly, and I look back up to meet her dark eyes. “Now, get going. You have a lot to do, and I have preparations to make for when you return.”

Stepping forward, I let my hand hover over the powerful metal, not wanting to touch it until I have to. Turning, I hold my hand out towards the elf. “What’s your name?” I ask as she reluctantly walks towards me, a sneer across her beautiful features.

“I’m on this mission to accomplish something,” she tells me coolly, “not to become friends.”

It takes some effort not to roll my eyes at her behavior.

At least she’s good looking,
Shemhazau says to me.

Leave her alone, dad
, I mentally reply back, knowing he’ll be able to interact with her after the change.

As soon as the elf’s slender fingers touch mine, I close my eyes and lower my other hand to the adamantium, willing my body to transform. At first I think nothing has happened. Not only is there no drain on my energy levels, but I actually feel more energized. When I open my eyes, however, I find that I’m towering over everyone else in the room.

“Areth!” Brooke states annoyed, for some reason looking right at me. “You know you can’t go with him.”

Craning my long neck around, I try to look for the little fairy, but don’t see her. I notice that my scales shine a little more than usual, and chalk it up to the adamantium that must have supplied the energy for my transformation.

“Oh, drat!” the pixie’s voice sounds in my mind. When had she. . .? Shaking my head, I close my eyes again, and force her out of me. “You’re no fun,” she complains as she flits back over to the Pillar of Earth, sticking her tongue out at me.

“You won’t last in TanaVesta’s domain,” Brooke states consolingly. “It nearly killed me to be there for more than a few hours.”

“But he
needs
me!” She complains. “Think of all the trouble he’ll get into, if I’m not there to help.”

“Like bringing a dragon to Earth in the middle of a city?” Becky asks solicitously, making the golden woman blush prettily.

“This is eerie,” the elf’s voice sounds in my mind, drawing my attention back inward.

Make yourself at home
, I tell her while walking to the balcony where Blue is waiting for me.

“Two last things before I forget,” Gaia says, walking over to me. “It’s about the Outsider and your succubus, Angela.” Why do I have a feeling she didn’t really forget?

“Yes?” I ask, or try to, remembering too late my forked tongue.

“That trick you used to scare the Outsider away while rescuing the mermaid was a very dangerous thing to do.” I raise one scaly eyebrow at her, not quite sure what she’s referring to. “You attempted to absorb some of its power. Instead, you were absorbing it. Had you succeeded, the Outsider would have taken over your body with ease, and you’d no longer be here.”

I shudder, remembering the desperation I’d felt as I’d begun to black out down under the water. Instinctively I’d reached for the power coming from the light creature, and suddenly it’d gone. I hadn’t understood why at the time, but now I do.
Never do that again,
I tell myself.

“And Angela,” Gaia continues, “she’s working for TanaVesta. I don’t know what her motives are, but she went to the Pillar of Fire after leaving you, and abased herself, asking for forgiveness. I’m not altogether certain why TanaVesta took her back into her graces, but I think it’s safe to say that if you run into Angela, don’t trust her.” Even with the speculative way she talks, I know she’s certain about her facts. “I take no joy in telling you this, but you need to know. TanaVesta is working with the Outsider as you know, but Aldol has taken an interest in the succubus’s sexual prowess. It has been interested in sex ever since it tried to kill you through Becky.”

Looking around the room, I see sad eyes trying to console me. Brooke and Becky step forward, and I can easily see their intentions in their beautiful loving eyes.

I can’t take their pity. Turning away, I dash past Blue, spreading my wings wide and leaping from the balcony. The Earthen city passes below me in a blur, either from my speed or the tears stinging my eyes, I’m not sure and I don’t really care. I’m not even concerned if Blue is following, just wanting to get away from those pitying eyes.

I can’t fly, though I desperately wish I could, and the ground eventually comes up to meet me just outside the city walls. A thump besides me lets me know that Blue has followed. I refuse to look at her as I move in the direction of TanaVesta’s demesne. I don’t know what I’ll do if I run into the succubus, but I’ll face that event if it happens.

“What’s the deal?” the unfriendly elf asks me.

I thought you didn’t want to be friends
, I mentally snap back at her.

“I don’t,” she replies coolly, “but if I’m going to be working with you, then I should know what to expect.”

Don’t worry about it
, I snarl, and proceed to ignore her as I crawl over the terrain. I use the strength granted to me by the adamantium to cover the ground quickly.

Blue keeps taking to the air, looking back at me, and then landing before repeating the process. It’s obvious she wants me to fly.
I CAN’T FLY, I telepathically send to her.

I expect the dragon to laugh, or ridicule me in some way, figuring it would be par for the course today, but instead she simply lands and walks next to me for a while. After moving about a half mile, she nuzzles the wing on my right side and then backs away. When I ignore her, she repeats the gesture, this time spreading her wings and flapping them for a second.

YOU WANT TO TEACH ME HOW TO FLY? I ask, shaking my head. I’VE TRIED. I’M JUST NOT SUITED TO IT FOR SOME REASON.

Blue snorts, sending out a gout of smoke in the process.

“Maybe a dragon can teach you what you couldn’t teach yourself,” the elf’s voice says soothingly. Her attitude is so different from her behavior from before, that I actually listen to her this time.

What could it hurt
? I ask myself, not expecting a response. Besides, it’ll take my mind off other issues.

“Your pride, but I’m guessing you don’t have much of that left right now.” And there she is, coming back with her usual hatred.

I’m not sure if I do it just to spite her or for some other reason, but I spread my wings feeling the slight wind move across the thick membranes, and push hard off the ground.

Air moves across my body, and I flap my additional appendages powerfully to keep me aloft. Unfortunately, that sends me into a spiral, and it’s only with the last minute aid of Blue that I don’t pile drive right into the ground.

Echoing laughter rebounds in my head, but I ignore it. The other dragon lands gracefully next to me, and thankfully she isn’t laughing. At least, I don’t think she is. It’s kind of hard to tell with her draconian features.

Blue spreads her wings, flapping them gently, and I know she wants me to mimic her. I do so, but when she growls at me, I stop. She repeats her previous gesture, and this time I try to time my movements with hers. Up, one, two, three. Down, one, two, three.

It dawns on me, that I’d been flapping too hard. I remember what Angela had tried to teach me the first time I’d become a dragon, and shake my head. Maybe flapping strong and fast works for a succubus, but it’s different for a dragon.

Or has she been working for the Pillar of Fire all this time, making sure I never learned the proper way to fly? Was everything she’d done an act?

NO! I can’t believe that
.
Something had to have been real, between us.
Careful, son. The mind of a woman is never an easy thing to read.
The voice of Shemhazau reaches me.
The mind of the ones we love, even more so, but I have no doubt that she truly loved you.
Loved. Past tense. . . .

“
Where
did you come from?” my other passenger demands. “Why are you looking at me like that? Stay away from me old man!”

I chuckle inwardly, knowing the elf can hear it as I picture the shade of my father hitting on the ornery elf.

Another growl in front of me reminds me of what I’d been doing a moment before, and I meet Blue’s large eyes for a moment before shoving hard off the ground, wings tucked tightly to my body. As soon as I reach the apex of my leap, I unfurl my thick leathery wings, and slowly, gently, flap them up and down on a three-count. I can feel the air catch beneath them, and even though I wobble a little bit, I stay aloft. Another careful movement of my wings and I actually rise a little bit.

Blue joins me in the air a moment later, and this time there is no mistaking her grin. Even though it shows her sharp fangs, I find myself grinning back at her, giving a strong beat to my wings in my joy, and then frantically trying to recover from my mistake, before whooping—well, it comes out more like a joyous growl—in joy as I regain my lost altitude.

Over the next hour, Blue shows me how to use thermals to lazily gain altitude, before gliding over to another, saving on energy. With the adamantium in me, I don’t feel a need to conserve energy, but I know she does, and it would look odd for a dragon to fly nonstop in a straight line. I still have to pretend to not be Lyden Snow the Generator, but a regular brown dragon instead.

Well, a regular brown dragon, carrying the last elf in existence and all of the adamantium to boot into the lair of the monster that is helping an even worse monster try to destroy two worlds. Did I mention that one of my girlfriends was working with the monsters? Why are things never easy?

We make better time now that we’re airborne, and when we cross the border into Fire’s domain, it seems like we are in one nonstop thermal making even better time.

Almost too soon, I spot the top of TanaVesta’s mountain, the flaming roof of her pavilion standing out with its four thick pillars and stadium seating.

We land off to the side of the seating, and I’m glad to note that the Pillar of Fire herself isn’t here now. My eyes land on the spot where TanaVesta and I had had wild sex in front of her entire court and shudder, remembering what had followed afterwards.

Where to? I ask internally.

“Go through that opening over there,” she tells me, and somehow I know she’s referring to a large hole off to the side. Walking over to it, I see that there is a ramp leading deeper into the mountain peak.

STAY HERE, I tell Blue. I’LL RETURN AS SOON AS I CAN. THANK YOU FOR ALL YOUR HELP SO FAR.

To my surprise, she nuzzles my neck for a moment, before nipping playfully at my snout and then turns away.

“We could use her to watch our back,” the elf states.

I won’t use her, or anybody else
, I reply sternly.
She volunteered to help us and I don’t want her in any more danger than she needs to be
.

“I still think it’s a mistake,” she responds, but there is a note to her tone that I don’t recognize. It almost sounds like respect, but I know that can’t be true.

Stepping onto the ramp into the mountain, I’m glad to see torches here and there, lighting the way. Following the directions coming from inside my head, I soon begin to recognize our surroundings.

My suspicions are confirmed when we enter a large chamber that is unmistakably TanaVesta’s. A large boulder still sits on the far wall, covering a hole that leads to the bed where I’d been raped countless times. To my right is a large opening, leading out to the open air and freedom.

“What are you doing?” the elf demands of me. “The Pillar of Air’s mantle is behind that boulder, not out there.”

She doesn’t understand, though. I know what’s behind that boulder. Torture. Pain. Horror. Mutilation. Humiliation. Bliss and pleasure almost beyond any I’d ever experienced before those horrible two days.

“Whoa, whoa!” the feminine words come to me, but I can’t seem to focus on them. “I didn’t know. What she did to you was wrong, but she isn’t here now.” Her words of compassion seem so wrong, that it finally breaks me from my daze. “All we need to do is go in, grab the mantle, and we’ll be gone before she ever knows we were here.”

Yes, I think I can do that. Just get in, and get out. I had no idea that being back here would affect me so much, but I’ve been through a lot since then, and I can do this.

Slowly as though at any moment the Pillar of Fire is going to leap out and start forcing herself on me again taking bites out of my flesh, I approach the blocking boulder. I let out a deep breath of relief when nothing happens when I place my chrome and black tipped paw on the boulder and give it a gentle nudge. It moves easily, though I cringe at the noise it makes as it moves out of the way, revealing a dark opening on the other side.