Nightgaunt

 

“And just what was your plan, Guardian? Come in here, destroy my work… the audacity of you people.” The wizard growled, standing at his desk in the middle of his library. The room was circular and stone, with great carved bookcases all facing the center, where his mighty marble desk and a giant floating fire waited. 

I leaned against the wooden table I was strapped to. It was tilted on an angle, keeping me tight to its wooden frame with leather I couldn’t break from. It was an aged platform, designed for showing off victims to those in the audience. I narrowed my eyes at the wizard, my hate for his kind growing deeper with each passing moment.

“Did you really think I wouldn’t see you? Do you know who I am?”

I yawned, turning my head to look around the room. IT was three stories high, a dome glass ceiling showing the night sky at the top. The fire rose half of the way, yet emitted no heat. Only a wizard would have decorative fire and expect others to be thrilled by their achievements. 

“I’m talking to you!” 

My eyes wandered back to him after reading several of the titles of the nearest books. “Sorry,” I said. “You were saying?”

The back of his hand connected with my face. It barely stung. I raised a brow. 

“You will suffer, Guardian. I promise you that. There is nothing you will be able to hie. No secret I won’t find once I’m one with you.” His finger jabbed the air towards me. Slowly he walked away, inhaling deeply, and walking to his desk. 

“I don’t understand why you’re so surprised. A place like this? It just screams ‘come rob me.” 

“Only an idiot robs a wizard.”

I shrugged, making the leather rub against the wood. “Not from what I’ve heard, but hats off to the arrogance. I’m sure it won’t bite you in the ass one day. But hey. Maybe you’re into that.”

“Ah yes. I’ve read about your kind.”

“My kind? You’ll need to be more specific.”

He chuckled. “Guardians.” He said it like a dirty word.

“Hm, yes. That kind.”

“Vile creatures, aren’t you? Running around bedding anything that isn’t human. Monstrous, really.”

“Is fucking them worse than enslaving them? Or consuming them for their power? I’m a little unclear on your lines, spell slinger.”

“I am a wizard,” he hissed. 

“Hm. Yes. You are a person who can manipulate the energies of the natural world and steal them for yourself, then fling them outward to make things happen. With things they call spells.”

The wizard raised a brow. “Your point, Guardian?”

“Spell slinger.”

The thin line of lips somehow grew thinner. I smirked. “Lots of books here. D’you and friends all write them together then trade? Oh! Is it a book club?”

He picked up an athame from his desk and slowly strode over. “You’re trying to make me angry, aren’t you?”

I smiled. “I would say I’m succeeding.”

The fire glowed brighter, pushing out to take up more space. He turned his head, looking at it before taking a deep breath. “Do they teach you that we’re monsters, we wizards?”

Laughter spilled from my lips. “Fuck no. You’re arrogant humans who treat power as an addiction. And even though you’ve learned to utilize what’s already there, you use it to make the world worse. You’re not monsters. You’re just people. Plain old humans. With gimmicks.” 

His hand moved, pressing the edge of the dagger against my face. I looked into his blue eyes and his pasty skin, smirk still on my lips. “This the best you got? A little blade? This is why wizards don’t have true magic, you know.”

“Why’s… that….” he hissed, pushing down but not quite hard enough to cut the skin. His hand shook, tempted and fearful.

“You can’t cut out someone else’s heart and offer it up. That’s not real magic. If you want real magic, you have to offer your own flesh and blood… and not expect to get it back. But every wizard holds themselves more precious than the true gift. So here you are, no doubt with demons and minions, who murder for you… but you’ve never plunged a blade into someone. Pathetic, when you think about it.”

“You have a rather naive and romantic view of magic, Guardian,” he hissed. Our eyes met and we stared at each other. “But nevertheless,” he said, pulling the blade from my face. “You are correct in that we see no reason to sully ourselves with the most base of human instincts. Like murder.”

I laughed. “Just because it happens at the claws of a demon on your behest does not make you a murderer, wizard. It just makes you a coward.”

His jaw tightened. 

“And I’ve seen almost all of you in base human behavior. You mock me for taking monsters to my bed, but how many of them have you fucked just for the pleasure of abusing something under your control, hm?” I raised a brow, pulling against the leather suddenly.

He flinched, stepping backward. “I would never-”

“Don’t lie to me. You think I stumbled across this place? I heard what’s happening here. You treat enough staff like shit, word gets around.”

The wizard turned, as though he would see the offending servant. The library was empty save for the two of us. A flush rose on his cheeks.

“That’s right. I  know your filthy secret, wizard. That you’re a monster fucker. But let’s be real. It has nothing to do with the monster and everything to do with them being dangerous and powerless to stop you. I’m surprised you’re not balls deep in me now.”

He turned again, hand finding my face once more, fingers closed together. The punch was weak, unskilled, and though my face turned and I felt a tinge of pain, I laughed. “You wanna hit me, boy, hit me. Or get your demons down here. I bet they know how to make it hurt.”

The wizard screamed in frustration, throwing the books off of his desk onto the ground. “Gods you are infuriating!”

“True. I’m also not afraid of you. So maybe that’s what has you all flustered.”

I smirked. “C’mon then. Call your demon. Show me how you’re truly the boss.”

The wizard spun, eyes darkening as he stared at me. “Is that what you want? To be abused?” A chuckle rolled from his lips. “It makes complete sense that you would crave that, so accustomed to the pan monsters give you.”

His steps brought him closer to me. A hand moved out, stroking the side of my face. “They must have indoctrinated you when you became one of them.”

I snorted  in amusement. “Is that what you need to think? That I don’t want you because I’ve been brainwashed into wanting pain?”

The wizard looked at me, trying to pierce my soul. I felt his power brush against my mind and shook my head. “Doesn’t work on me, spell slinger.”

His brows furrowed and he cupped my chin in his hand. “No matter. It shall once you are weakened. Days without food or water will bring you to your knees.”

“I’m an immortal, you walking cock.”

His eyes widened. “I had… how interesting. By way of being a Guardian or… through magic?”

I looked around the room again, pausing to stare at the fire. “Sure.”

“Answer me.”

My eyes flicked back to him. “It’s a mystery.”

“Yes your people always have been but that changes now. Tell me. How are you immortal?”

I shrugged. 

He growled and gestured to the fire, pulling it from the center of the room with a small chant and a flick of his wrist. The flame moved like a wave, engulfing me. I cried out as it burned the clothes from my flesh and ate through the leather on my wrists and ankles. I slid from the wood to the ground, kneeling on the stone, naked.

Yet it didn’t touch my flesh. 

The wizard stepped back, the room considerably darker as the fire faded out and a small flame sat in the hearth, barely casting enough light. 

“What are you?” he murmured in fear and reverence as I stood.

“Justice come to call.” 

He stepped back then scooted around his desk, keeping it between us. “Stay away from me!”

“What’s wrong? Afraid I’ll take revenge for all you’ve done?”

The wizard muttered a spell, touching a crystal on his neck and then gesturing to the ceiling. The dome ceiling faded from view, leaving behind old rafters and shadows moving amongst them. Each shadow was tall and hulking, a long spindled tail draping from their dark forms. I saw no eyes but knew I didn’t need to.

They moved, jumping from rafter to rafter as they grew closer to where I was. Yet not a sound was made. No claws on wood, or wings with leathering sounds, or teeth gnashing nor throat growling. My brows drew together at their void existence before I stepped back from him, ignoring the smug look on his lips. 

One jumped atop a bookshelf above me, head pointed downward. There was no face, just a simple blank canvas where it should have been. I drew in a breath and steeled myself to not step back. 

“Oh hello,” I said softly. “I haven’t seen you before.”

The creature tilted its head, claws biting into the wood of the bookcase, yet no sound came out. It was a disturbing silence that set off strange alarms in my mind. It stood, wings expanding outward behind it, a silent roar in its pose. 

The wizard made a hand signal and touched his crystal again, his eyes on the creature. It responded with a tilted head before leaping. I didn’t have time to turn, only to feel that it was upon me, and yet I felt nothing at all.

Claws pushed against my shoulder, clear as day in the dark. Its head remained lowered over my face, menacing and dangerous. Around it there was an unsettling stillness that seemed to eat sound and life, causing the light to be dimmer. I barely saw its tail flick out behind it, shaking as though it should rattle yet no sound escaped.

I pushed against the stone, trying to rise up against the weightless yet heavy thing, and found it only pushed down harder, keeping me pinned to the ground. One clawed hand rose, trailing down my cheek to my throat and raking over my collar bone.

Chills went through me, sending a strange sense of anticipation into my body. The claws moved, tantalizing and lightly, over my collarbone and under it, dancing over the flesh in featherlight patterns. Goosebumps rose on my arms and skin as chill after chill went through me at its playful caress.

The claws went lower, brushing over my breast to the skin below it, this time pulling a  hint of laughter from my lips. They continued, skimming the flesh of my armpit and sides, moving faster and more rapid as I began to laugh, joyous amusement and anticipatory fear mixing in equal measure as I squirmed beneath its black mass.

It seemed encouraged, moving its tail to trace over the bottom of my foot, ignoring that I kicked out of it in protest. Its pointed tip moved further up, tracing along my calf to my knee, where I shouted out in laughter again. My body quaked and shivered as the tickling appendage moved higher, playing with the inside of my thighs and hips until I felt tears roll down my cheeks, my laughter half shouts of agony.

I couldn’t hear the wizard over my own fits of giggling and gasping. The air became difficult to breathe, the creature unrelenting as claws and tail made their work over my body, bringing me close to some unperceived precipe before changing and letting me relax for just a breath. My muscles tightened and shivered, contracting constantly in the barrage against my body.

Laughter hung in the air as another creature landed, joining its companion in my chortling torment. Their tails worked quickly, each running roughly over the inside of my hip as I twitched and screamed. Pressure rose within me as claws raked my sides, digging into the skin roughly and then lightly, pushing me back and forth until I cried out, body shuddering as it convulsed and released.

My cries and laughter became giggling moans as I rode the wave of estranged pleasure and release their claws brought me. As I twisted and contorted beneath them, hands trying to catch their tails or claws to stop them, I heard the wizard walk closer, an amused smile on his lips. 

I panted on the ground, my body quaking uncontrollably. With a wave of his hands, the monsters stopped, their heads turned towards him. He knelt down, one long finger trailing over my stomach which sent tears down my cheeks as I tried not to laugh more. 

“Well, look at you, finding a way to come even when being tickled to death.”

His face was close to mine, his voice filled with mirth. I murmured, so softly I knew he wouldn’t hear. 

“What’s that, guardian? Was that surrender?”

I swallowed, mouth dry from the attack, as he drew closer to hear what I had to say. My hand closed on the crystal at his neck and pulled, snapping the cord before smashing it into the stone ground.

It shattered and the magic in the library went out, leaving only the faint light of a small fire for us to see by. 

The wizard stumbled back. “You bitch,” he growled, standing quickly, hands spread out.

I sat up as the creature moved off of me. “What’s the matter, wizard? Afraid of what they’ll do?”

“Stay away!” he yelled, hand groping on the desk for any type of weapon.

I stood, caressing the monster beside me, feeling its nonexistence. It turned its head, looking at me. I nodded and removed my hand, grabbing my cloak from the table where the wizard had set it. 

“Guardian!” the wizard yelled as I pulled the fabric around my shoulders and turned to walk away. “Guardian!” he screamed again, the cry echoing through the hall.

Silence hung in the air as I pulled the hood up and headed for the door. As it creaked open, the raucous sound of hideous laughter filled the air, growing in desperation and agony rapidly. I smiled, pausing to listen for only a moment, and then locked the door behind me.