“I… thought it looked familiar,” Jalee admitted.

  Kinara shook her head, and Ahlaksiz had a distant, worried look in her eyes.

  “What?” I asked.

  Milkshake shifted uncomfortably. “The seat of the High Renador. A religious order, who went missing many years ago. Monsters made up many stories about what might have happened to them, and now…”

  “Now we know,” Ahlaksiz said. “They’re here, somewhere.”

  “If they’re still alive.”

  Ahlaksiz nodded, lost in thought again.

  I wasn’t sure I quite understood. “You two are saying that, somehow, some monster made this holy city vanish from your world and come to ours?”

  “That, or some human summoned it here,” Milkshake said. “And if that’s possible, it must have been a strong summoner indeed.” A long silence followed, interrupting by her tapping her claws on the window. “Speaking of strong summoners, it’s cool to see that you can indeed summon the hunter’s blade now.”

  I grinned. “That was related to us sharing that first Ichor?”

  She nodded. “That’s right.”

  “You got another, yes?” Kinara asked.

  “Should we… apply it?” I couldn’t hide my excitement. “Or however that works?”

  “When we get situated,” Ahlaksiz said, eyes watching the scenery outside. “We need to get back, only… They’re going to be waiting for us. Setting up an ambush.”

  I frowned, then noticed my scarf moving, becoming the furry creature again. He rolled down to my arm and then turned to look at me with his wide eyes.

  As everyone but Jalee let out sounds of surprise and excitement, images came my way and began to fill my mind. The first was of us landing in the woods, the lamia’s complex visible in the distance. All of a sudden we were inside, flames were everywhere, monsters gnashing teeth and striking with magic blasts. Kinara got hit, her rib cage opening up, while behind her Jalee’s head went flying. The lamia came at me, but before she had a chance to strike, Tooth was at my side, striking. All I saw was the splatter of blood before the vision vanished.

  “Fuck,” I said, shaking my head to clear it.

  “What?” Kinara asked.

  “He… he thinks we shouldn’t go there. Not yet, anyway.”

  “He’s a nightmare monster,” Jalee said. “I told you that.”

  “I’m not sleeping,” I countered. “And… I don’t think that was a nightmare. Or daymare. I think he was showing me a possible future.”

  “That… might be possible,” Ahlaksiz admitted. “You picked him up in that city?”

  I nodded.

  “That’s… wow.” She continued to stare at the creature, then finally broke from it. “Oracle skills often go hand-in-hand with mental abilities.”

  The little guy curled up on my lap and closed his eyes, seemingly going to sleep. I lifted him to my shoulder again, so that he became a scarf.

  I turned to the team, determined. “We’re not ready.”

  “What would you propose?” Ahlaksiz said.

  “Find somewhere to lie low, then… build up the team. We go, but we go in with an army.”

  “We’d hesitate because of this little creature?” Jalee protested. “My sister—”

  “Will be worse off if we’re dead and never make it to her at all.”

  She frowned, but clearly didn’t have an argument against that.

  “You’re sure about this?” Milkshake asked.

  “I am.”

  She leaned forward, hand on my shoulder. “Then I’m with you. Your instincts have been right so far. You’re the leader here, after all.”

  Me, a leader? The idea seemed preposterous. But as I looked around at them, I saw it was true. Even Ahlaksiz, who I had taken for that role, was eyeing me and waiting for my command.

  “We’re not so far from Greece?” I asked.

  “Not the way this car moves, no,” Ahlaksiz said.

  “Better not to stay in Turkey, because they might be on the lookout.”

  She considered this. “That might be too obvious, though. I mean, a summoner looking for totems in Greece? That’s 101. Now Tunisia, that might not be so bad.”

  I had actually never considered visiting Tunisia, but hey, that didn’t sound half bad. “At least, let’s lie low somewhere out of sight.”

  “Great, because I might know of a place or two we can look for totems there.”

  “Then it’s settled.”

  We began our journey to Tunisia, where we would take the next step in building the team so that we could form an army to take the other half of the sun disk.

  24

  It sucked to arrive in Tunisia at night, but at least we’d be alert and fresh on our first day of exploring. For the time being, Ahlaksiz arranged for a safe house from another monster she knew—this one not famous enough to be a named Myth or Legend. In fact, the monster owned a little hotel, which turned out to be an apartment building with only three apartments to it.

  We quickly made our way to our place, glad to find the lockbox and everything working, along with bottled water. It was warm, but I didn’t care. Guzzling down three of them and helping myself to the plate of apricots and almonds left out, I stood for a moment on the balcony, looking out at the dark city with only its few lights on. Being on the outskirts of Tunis, I had to wonder what the main part of the city was like, or villages. Most of all, I had to wonder how far we were from the Star Wars filming location.

  Feeling ready for sleep and realizing the others were all in the bedroom, I went to find there were extra toothbrushes and toothpaste in the bathroom. Score! I went number two. Next, I quickly brushed my teeth, gave myself a wipe down with a wet cloth—too tired for a shower—and then joined them in the bedroom. On the way, I noted Basty sleeping in a nook that served as a bit of a closet. The little guy was coming with us, apparently, and I was happy to have him. I wasn’t sure if I should think of him as a friend or a pet, but either way worked for me.

  I found the others gathered in a semi-circle, facing me.

  “What’s going on?”

  Ahlaksiz cleared her throat, standing tall and formal. “We’re going to need all the strength we can get going forward. And… trust. We’re in this together now.”

  Grinning, I nodded. This was all very strange. “I agree.”

  “Do you know what you’re agreeing to?” Milkshake said with a scoff.

  “Not… exactly.” I turned back to Ahlaksiz for her to elaborate.

  “For one, I believe I should be part of the team.”

  “You are.”

  “She means,” Jalee said, leaning back and putting a leg up to show off her panties under her skirt, “she thinks her pussy shouldn’t be the only one that isn’t getting to feel your hard cock inside of it.”

  “Of course,” Ahlaksiz said. “In part because I want it, and in part so that we’re linked. So that you have more power.”

  “I see.”

  “There’s no reason I should tell any of you my name!” Milkshake blurted out, striding over to the bathroom. She stood at the doorway, then turned back to us. “What, because… because…”

  “Because we’re putting our lives in danger for each other,” Ahlaksiz said.

  Now I got what the ‘trust’ comment had been about. In fact, I agreed.

  “I get that you lose power to someone who knows your name, I’ve seen it happen. What’s the opposite side of that?”

  “In what way?” Kinara asked.

  “If you know someone’s name, is there a benefit?”

  They all looked at each other, but it was Milkshake who spoke. “There is, if both know each other’s names. Like how forming a link gives you powers but you have to claim the monster to do so, knowing names is a mental connection. Once you have that connection, there are ways to sense each other, to at times even be able to communicate with each other… mentally.”

  Considering that, my thoughts on the matter were clear to me. “At this point, we’re all tied together anyway. There’s no going back, at least not that I can see. And if you can’t fully give your trust and faith to each other, then we might as well all quit right now. So if there’s a benefit to sharing, then fuck yeah, I say do it. Put yourself out there, be vulnerable, for the good of our team.”

  A long silence followed, interrupted by creaking from the bed as Kinara stood from where she’d been sitting. She disrobed, then stood there naked, hands at her sides and perky breasts tempting me.

  “I’m Kinara.”

  The others stared, but Milkshake gasped.

  Ahlaksiz was next, eyes on me and unwavering as she too stripped. When she stood before me, nude, she said, “Ahlaksiz,” and her eyes moved along my body, craving me.

  “Fine, fuck it,” Jalee said, rubbing a hand over her brow before stripping, too. Fuck, it was hot to be standing there with three beautiful, nude women in our room. “My name—my true name—is Jalee.”

  “All you are crazy,” Milkshake said, and took another step, but then she put her hand against the door, leaned back to eye me, and said, “You’re fucking serious about all this? What then? What if you want to betray us?”

  I shook my head, and took a gamble. Walking over to her, I stopped a foot from her, then started to strip. I took off my shirt, then pants. Shoes and socks first, as the pants wouldn’t come off. Finally, I slid off my boxers and tossed them aside.

  Standing there nude before her, I held out my hands and said, “I am Ferris.”

  “We all know,” she said, then scoffed. Still, she seemed to appreciate the gesture, and what she was seeing.

  With a slight hesitation, she nodded, then whispered something.

  “What?” I asked, not quite hearing her.

  “You do it,” she whispered this time. “Undress me.”

  I was happy to oblige. I stepped closer, taking her shirt and unbuttoning it first before taking it off. It was complicated with the old wing bases, but she was here, ready and willing. So I continued. I knelt to remove her shorts and panties, then her big socks. Finally, I stood with her, all of us nude now, and waited.

  It took longer than I would have thought at that point, but I wasn’t complaining. Standing around with four beautiful ladies, I wasn’t about to get bored.

  Finally, she opened her mouth and a word emerged. One name. “Milrae.”

  “Milrae?” I said, and instantly felt something. As if we were closer? I had to chuckle at how it had some similarities to Milkshake. No wonder she had gone for that word.

  Each of the ladies repeated her name, and she repeated theirs. We were all in it now—no going back. And with that out of the way, Ahlaksiz turned to me and said, “I am ready to link.”

  “Such sexy talk,” I replied with a grin, but my throbbing erection showed the formality had, if anything, turned me on. It was also confirmation that I definitely didn’t have any issue with her being so much older than me.

  Her eyes moved from mine down to my cock, a smile curving her lips. “Is there a position you’d like to start with?”

  I eyed the other ladies, but they were all waiting for me to do my thing. Instead of answering, then, I stepped over to her, taking a hand to turn her around and then pressed her so she was bending over the bed.

  “What, no forepla—” she started, but then moaned low and strong as I caressed her tail, then reached over to do the same with one of her ears. No foreplay my ass—I’d learned early on from Kinara what turned on these monster girls, and was damn sure going to use it to my full advantage. As she started moving her ass around, loving it, I slid my cock between her legs, letting it push against her pussy but not go in yet.

  “I like the show almost as much as being part of the action,” Milrae said, but then walked over. “Mind you, I said almost.”

  She started kissing Ahlaksiz’s back, but the cougar took her and brought her over in front, kissing her thighs first, then started eating her out. The other ladies took that as their cue, and joined as well. First with Kinara massaging Ahlaksiz’s breast with one hand, her other grabbing my ass as we kissed. I brought my cock back and found Ahlaksiz wet and ready, so it slid in without any help. Jalee turned my face to kiss me, then moved to stand over Ahlaksiz as the woman ate out Milrae, and lowered herself so that the latter could lick her pussy. More than once, her wings of electricity shot out, but not enough to be dangerous.

  I started going harder now, so that Kinara pulled back, opting to watch the show while fingering herself. With Ahlaksiz’s tail in one hand, I started slapping the woman’s ass with my other, and she seemed into it.

  Before she came, though, she pulled away and turned to pull me onto the bed, kissed me passionately before letting Milrae kiss me while the former moved down to run her tongue along my balls. I was thinking about suggesting a shower, but remembered this was how they cleansed themselves. They were used to this. No problem here—from what I’d experienced so far, I fucking loved the taste of pussy. I put this to the test, grabbing Kinara so that she sat on my face. Eyes up at the curves of her breasts, I ran my tongue along the outside of her pussy first, then tasted along the inside of her lips before moving to the clit. Then, feeling like experimenting, I started playing with her ass. She rotated her hips, moaning, so I kept going. Two tongues were working my cock now, I could tell by the feel of it and their hands on my thighs and hips, and since Jalee had moved up to kiss Kinara’s breasts, I knew it was Milrae and Ahlaksiz.

  As far as I was concerned, this was the perfect end to an adventure. Or, a good way to pause between adventures, I guess was a more accurate way to think of it. One of them did something that caused me to clench up, pleasure taking hold so that I thought I would cum, but I didn’t. Still, Kinara took this as a sign to do something else now, so she moved her ass down, guiding the new lady to the group to lick her ass while she slid her pussy down onto my cock.

  Damn, it felt so good. Wet and tight, like someone clenching hard on me with a hand full of lubrication. But this was the real deal. She slid up and down on me, clenching tight and claws digging into my chest—which still hadn’t fully healed from the glass, mind you. But I enjoyed this mixture of pain and pleasure, as I had recently learned about myself, so gripped her hands and held them tight, encouraging the pain. Hell, she could lick the wounds later and help them heal, or Jalee could use her electric touch.

  When she got the message, I grabbed her ass and squeezed it hard, then pressed it together around my cock so that each thrust up made my balls hit that soft, amazing ass. Her orgasm came soon like that, and then I went to my knees and leaned back with Jalee, kissing her passionately as she knelt too, and slid onto my cock. Those electric surges came with each thrust, and I had to hit the wall to stop from yelping like a little bitch.

  I was starting to cum, no doubt about it, and was going to tell her so, to make her slow so I could save more for the other two, but Ahlaksiz was at my side then, kissing my shoulder and telling me to cum all over them, as Kinara reached over to massage Jalee’s clit, bringing her to climax, I resisted just long enough to see her clutching her breasts and whispering my name.

  Then Jalee was off and Ahlaksiz gripped my cock stroking it one final time while Milrae and the others got into position. The woman turned my cock to them in turn as the shots came out, one burst of cum after another, landing on bellies and breasts. Finally, with the last little bit hanging from my tip, Ahlaksiz took my cock and rubbed it along her cheek, then brought my cock into her mouth to make sure she had it all.

  To my surprise, the other three were licking it off of each other. Cleaning, I told myself—it was only natural for them. For me though, it was a completely new and unheard of experience. Another spasm hit me, and then Ahlaksiz pulled back, winked, and joined the others to finish licking up the last drop of cum from Kinara’s nipple.

  All I could do was sit there watching, barely able to keep from falling over. To my surprise, this sight got me hard again! I looked down, thinking there was no way that could be possible. Milrae, though, seeing this, went for it, and pushed me back to ride me. It stayed up long enough to bring her to orgasm, and even most of the way for Ahlaksiz. She was so close, all it took at the end, when I started to go limp, was for me to bury my face in her pussy and massage her clit with my fingers.

  When it was done, she purred, laughed, and then purred again.

  “What a team we make,” Kinara said, rubbing my shoulder and kissing my cheek. “And you, our man.”

  “You all were… incredible.”

  “I agree,” Ahlaksiz said, then suddenly sat up, alert again. “And now that we’ve brought you to the point of ecstasy, I’d say there’s no better time to apply that Ichor.”

  “What?” I blinked, totally caught off guard. “Now?”

  She grinned. “The key is to be in in a mental state of complete relaxation. To clear your mind. Is there a better time for that than after our little fun?”

  Everything she said was right.

  “How?”

  She grinned, went to the edge of the bed, and sat cross-legged. “Like this. Focus on your energy, try to visualize it.”

  I did as she said, but at first couldn’t help feeling a bit odd, sitting there nude like that. There was no reason for me to feel that way though, I reminded myself. Especially not after what we’d all just shared. Taking a deep breath, I cleared my mind, focused only on the moment and finding my inner peace, and then breathed out.

  Again, and suddenly it was there—my mind clear, this sensation of power hovering within, just waiting to be used.

  “What do I do with it?” I asked.

  “Focus on your power, whether it’s with the sword, fists, or maybe energy manipulation. There have been various ways to focus it, including a rumored stone that long ago was embedded in the hilt of Excalibur, that let you see what you were doing, but we don’t have that luxury. As far as I know, the possibilities are only limited by your mind, but there are certain paths that work best together.”

  “Wait… like the actual Excalibur?”

  “That’s right.”

  I had to refocus after hearing that. Imagining someone using the Arthur’s Excalibur to level up, or cultivate their energy, was mind boggling. But I had my focus again soon, and sensed something else. Basty was with me. Maybe he was asleep, but he was suddenly there, in my mind, walking past a white wall with the red ball of energy floating in front of me. He turned to face me with his wide, staring eyes, then blinked.