In the shared provincial capital city of the two wealthiest men of the Holy Light Empire, columns of highly organized and highly trained soldiers marched in unison outside of a disgustingly magnificent mansion spanning a half mile long.
Ten columns of soldiers stopped in unison and turned to face the mansion. Each column numbered ten thousand soldiers. The man commanding the 100,000 soldiers in total marched at the head of the group in front of the mansion.
“Men! Today is the day we begin our journey! Today is the day we fight for what Pope Gregory built! We will not allow a foreign savage to hand our hard work back over to the commoners for free. She will not take our earnings from our hard work and redistribute wealth as she sees fit!” The man marched passionately back and forth.
The soldiers called out in response, “Hoorah!”
“Today! Today is the day we fight for what is ours! To oust this foreign power from her usurped throne!” The man stroked his beard and continued, “We will mobilize and be ready to attack when our allies from overseas strike with the tip of their spear!”
Nathaniel and Solomon stood on a huge terrace above watching their army below. Solomon called down, “General Mattison! Your military grace never ceases to impress. Nathaniel and I will be inside discussing strategy. Please join us at your leisure.”
General Mattison nodded before turning back to his soldiers. He began a slow walk between the columns checking his soldiers form and dress to ensure perfection amongst his ranks. As an accomplished military leader, he knew the value of discipline and habit.
He laid a sharp-eye on every formation, line, uniform, hand position, and more as he walked the aisles of the columns perusing every detail.
Then suddenly, an out of line figure caught his eye. He looked passed the current column of soldiers to see a single person walking down the aisle in the next column over.
He grit his teeth and began to yell, “Get back in line! There is no place for subordinance in my army! You think you are better than the entire army! Individuals do not win wars, brothers in arms working together do! Get back in line, or I will whip you back in line!”
The lone soldier ignored him, and Mattison began to run across the column making haste to correct this massive error and unacceptable action within his ranks.
As he neared, he noted long black hair running the course of the soldier’s back. He became instantly irate as he thought to himself, “God damn recruits! There is no long hair allowed! Or even worse… it’s a woman!”
He finally caught up to the soldier and took note of her exceptional womanly body. The soldier walked towards the mansion ignoring him, and General Mattison shouted as he walked to catch up to her, “Lass, there are no women in my ranks. Too weak! Too heartfelt! You would cost us our lives out there! Now scram from here or prepare to be whipped!”
The solider stopped in her footsteps, and General Mattison closed in on her. Once he was within ten feet, he took note of her all-black leather military outfit which did not conform to the standard uniform code.
The woman turned to face him with a smile on her face, “I’ve never met a man who refused to accept a BloodStar in arms on the battlefield.”
He suddenly realized his deathly mistake. He instantly recognized one of the world’s mightiest warriors… a woman… who he had likely just offended to his own death. He stood speechless.
She put her hand on her hip watching him stand frozen, “I thought you were going to whip me? I’m just a powerless girl, remember?” Mattison stood unsure how to proceed, and she continued, “I quite like being whipped, it’s such a sexual weapon. But I don’t think I will allow you to engage in such arousing activity with me.”
She began to walk towards him, and Mattison finally decided to take action as he yelled, “Men! Disperse!”
Xenia began to laugh wildly with a hint of evil in her look, “These men aren’t going anywhere. These men are mine now. Perfectly bloodbent in place until I decide what to do with you all.”
Her eyes flickered red with a menacing aura raging within her as it held in place 100,000 soldiers. She was impressed with her own power growth, not even needing to activate her Bloodlust to enact such a feat.
Frozen with fear, Mattison accepted his fate. He knelt down before her and declared, “Kill me if you must. Kill me honorably.”
She furrowed her brow and said, “Mattison, I don’t intend to kill you just yet. You are the world’s foremost military expert, are you not?”
He looked up at her, “On paper it is debatable. But in the field, there can be no doubt.”
She smiled, “And I hear you like money. Is this true?”
He once again nodded, “It is what drives me. That and victory in the field. They are my two vices.”
Xenia looked down at his kneeling position, “I quite like your kneeling. I will double what these two fools are paying you to serve as a general alongside St. Michael in my army.”
He began to answer; however, she cut him off abruptly, “Don’t move an inch. Just stay kneeled thinking about my proposal. I don’t intend to win the coming war single handedly like the last. I will need talented leaders to do my killing for me. To sweeten the deal, any city you capture, you may keep as your own. The taxes you could collect in a large American city would make you a major power in the world.”
She turned and began to walk off, “I will be back soon enough. Don’t move an inch. I have some matters to discuss with your two bosses.”
Xenia left him free of her bloodbending as she marched off; however, she didn’t relinquish her grip on the poor surrounding soldiers. She knew better. Any grunt who joined the armies of elite men had long since been brainwashed into undying loyalty.
Solomon and Nathaniel laughed together as they poured wine in the second-floor great room with large windows looking out onto the plaza below with the columns of soldiers below. The largest bay window was open.
Solomon chuckled, “Do you hear all of that yelling down below? Mattison is a world-class leader. He will quite literally whip his soldiers into shape.”
Nathaniel laughed as well, “Xenia is undoubtedly powerful; however, it is nice to have the world’s foremost military genius on our side. That along with our powerful allies in the East will topple her in due time.”
The door to the room creaked as it swung open, and Solomon smiled, “That must be the good general now.” He began to turn saying, “General Mattison, great of you to join-“
Nathaniel and Solomon both felt a cold icy shiver down their bodies as they turned to see who had entered the room.
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
Xenia smiled at the two men, “A silent stare.” She proceeded to walk towards them, “Men lose themselves staring at me every day and everywhere I go. But their stares are ones of lust. Your stares… reek of fear. Is that any way to welcome your ruler, gentlemen?”
Solomon stuttered, “Warlord BloodStar, we are honored at your presence.”
Nathaniel followed suit, “We aim to please our new ruler. Welcome.”
She looked out the bay window down at the amassed army and said, “Then please me by telling me this. Why is this army ready for assault without my explicit command?”
Solomon thought to himself, “It’s now or never. Time to play hardball.” He cleared his throat and said, “Speaking truthfully Warlord. Jarek Heraklinos has made us an offer to aid his cause that we can’t refuse.”
She turned where she stood with her hands behind her back and looked at both men, “Master Heraklinos offered you the money and the power did he? Did he also promise to rid this empire of me?”
Nathaniel spoke up next, “We, of course, would be willing to switch allegiances. I quite think you will need us to run this country smoothly. Is that not why you are here, Warlord BloodStar?”
Xenia smiled as she laughed to herself subtly. She then bloodbent both men to their knees and walked towards them, “You think that I came here looking for your help? What gives you that idea?”
Solomon’s voice was shaky as he replied, “We control the great plurality of the resources of this empire. We also hold a generous amount of social influence. We could propel you to great success.”
She walked closer to Solomon invading his personal space as she put the crotch of her leather pants directly up to and against his face.
She massaged the back of his head with her glove and said, “Go ahead, kiss me.”
Solomon, fearing for his life, began to kiss her leather pants over her crotch she had placed directly into his face. As he kissed her, she said, “To me, it looks like I have all the power I need. I have the two most powerful men in this empire on their knees kissing me wherever I please.”
She then walked over to Nathaniel placing her crotch directly in front of his face. Nathaniel began to kiss her leather pants before she said a word, and she quickly reprimanded him, “Did I tell you to kiss me?”
He immediately stopped, and she grabbed a fistful of his hair forcing him to look up at her, “Nathaniel, do you think I have enough power to stand against the likes of Jarek Heraklinos?”
He nodded his head furiously in agreement to which Xenia replied, “Then why are you so keen to amass an army against me for him?”
She snapped her finger and pointed to her crotch. Nathaniel buried his face in her leather pants and began to kiss her as she stood saying, “You two have more money than brains. Let me give you a small display of my power, so that you may never forget what I am capable of again.”
She snapped her fingers once more and Nathaniel immediately stopped. She massaged the back of his head and said, “Good boy.”
She walked to the bar area holding them both in place on their knees, “Before I do though, I need a drink. A proper drink.”
She grabbed a wine glass and walked back in front of the two men, “Now which of you eager boys wants to serve me my drink?”
Both immediately said, “I will!”
She paced before each of them and remarked, “Two eager boys at my disposal. I suppose you will do Solomon.”
Solomon smiled happily at her. She walked back in front of him and hiked her right boot up on his shoulder and said, “Lick my stiletto clean.”
He turned his head and began to kiss and lick her long, black stiletto until it was completely clean shining with a patent black luster.
She raised her leg and rubbed her boot against his face and smiled down at him, “Now. Stay very still.”
She took her stiletto ending in a razor-sharp point and slowly inserted it into his lateral neck and held it there as blood began to spray out with significant pressure. She flawlessly caught the small geyser of blood into her wine glass allowing it to fill halfway.
She leaned back up and swirled the glass and took a sip of his blood while leaving her heel in his neck. “Mmm. Not bad. But I think actually, I will try Nathaniel instead.”
She tossed the blood from the wine glass and removed her heel from his neck. His neck continued to spray with blood; however, she quickly healed him just enough to heal his neck and nothing more.
She then walked over to a terrified Nathaniel and hiked her right boot up on his shoulder, “Nathaniel. My boot seems to have gotten dirty with blood. Will you clean it for me?”
Nathaniel began to lick and clean Solomon’s blood from her stiletto as well as he could. He was performing to keep his life, and he performed well. Xenia smiled down with utmost pleasure watching him follow her commands like her very own puppy.
She then said, “Now. Don’t move an inch.” She raised her leg and slowly inserted her stiletto into his neck just as she had Solomon’s. She once again collected the blood into the glass and swirled it before tasting it.
“Mmm. Now that’s what I want.” She removed her stiletto from his neck and healed him to keep him alive as she retreated to an armchair and sat sideways in it with her legs hanging over one of the arm rests.
She held the glass in one hand as the sun beamed in directly through the bay window, “This is true power gentlemen. I have true power. You do not. And to prove my point further…”
She took a sip of her glass of blood and a chorus of deafening cries began to scream like an army of banshees from the plaza below.
General Mattison stood in the center of the plaza terrified as if he were in the middle of an awake nightmare. The bodies of every soldier around him began to contort into unnatural positions as they cried out in abject pain and terror before exploding into bits of bone and flesh.
Any remaining organs that even resembled humanity began to wring themselves dry of blood as the blood ascended into numerous tributaries of blood feeding a larger river floating into the air and ending in a sphere of blood that grew larger and larger by the second.
Within the second-floor great room, Xenia continued to sip on her glass as the BloodStar fed by the 100,000 soldiers continued to grow larger and larger eclipsing the sun. Nathaniel and Solomon gazed in utter shock and awe through the bay window to see the beautiful BloodStar begin to eclipse the sun.
As the BloodStar reached its full size, only a ring of bright light from the sun could be seen around the BloodStar creating a red aura that rained down on everything as if the planet itself was covered in a blood red hue.
Xenia smiled as she reveled in the red glow of her power. She looked to both men and said, “You are only powerful because people like me allowed you to be. And I can take it right back as I have.”
She stood and said, “I can use my BloodStar to kill everyone in your provinces. I can raze your buildings. I can wipe your entire source of power from the planet on a whim.”
Solomon looked to her and said, “Are you going to kill us?” Both he and Nathaniel looked on at her drenched in red tones as if she were a devil come to take their lives in the most painful of ways. And they were helpless to fight back in any way.
Suddenly, Xenia allowed the BloodStar to fall from the sky revealing the bright sun once more. The massive quantities of blood fell from the air splashing in the plaza down below painting a red sea of crimson. General Mattison found himself utterly drenched in human blood as he stood in place as Xenia had commanded him.
Xenia moaned to herself in pleasure at the thought of so much blood. She could nearly taste it. She looked to Solomon and said, “I am not going to kill you. I will let the people decide your fate. I am a kind ruler, after all.”
She turned and left the room without hesitation leaving them both on their knees. She descended the stairs and walked across the courtyard approaching Mattison as her boots splashed in the shallow layer of blood covering every surface of the plaza.
She took note of his entire body covered in blood. Without hesitation, she aggressively walked up to Mattison and grabbed his face as she began to make out with his entire face kissing him up and down as she licked the blood from his face moaning and crying in pleasure the entire time until his face was clean of blood.
She then took a step back and said, “I simply can’t let all of this blood go to waste now can I?”
He shook his head ‘no’ although he couldn’t believe he was agreeing with her. The circumstances were surreal to him.
Xenia then said, “You follow orders well Mattison. I will have you as one of my generals. Take Nathaniel and Solomon to the empire’s capital and prepare them for a public display of whipping in the stadium.”
He nodded, “I will transfer them at once and have them tied up for a public whipping.”
Xenia replied, “Good. And what is the capacity of the stadium for public events?”
Mattison quickly responded, “A hair over 500,000.”
She bit her lip in satisfaction, “So many. Wonderful. Make an announcement to the public. They will be deciding the fate of the elites who have for so long driven their standard of living into the ground. Let’s see if the people of this empire are more kind than I am.”
Mattison shook his head to acknowledge her orders and immediately rushed to detain the once unstoppably powerful elites Nathaniel and Solomon who were now prisoners in the hands of Xenia.
As he rushed by her, she quickly said, “Stop!” He stopped on a dime. She turned and ran her tongue up the length of the side of his head lapping up the taste of blood as she went. She wiped her lips with her finger and then said, “Now you may go.”