At a knock on the door De'Shak looked up from her reclining pool. Filled with a mixture of feraid diluted in water and warmed to the temperature of her blood, she’d been resting as it helped her heal. She indulged herself with things like her bath, none of her minions would ever luxuriate in water. Immersion in self-replicating feraid gel was the closest they would get, and that she only allowed Guards, to keep them in peak physical condition. De'Shak enjoyed the exclusivity of her bath as much as she enjoyed the physical sensation.

Her visitor did not knock again. All was as it should be; her minions announced themselves then awaited her pleasure. The feraid infiltrated the wound in her side, removing tissue too damaged to repair, accelerating the healing of live flesh, and scouring the remains of her sash and her enemies from the outer layer of her skin. For a time, she concentrated on her relaxation. With her mind at peace and her body healing, she spoke a single word.

"Come."

The door swung open immediately. Three of her Guard stomped into the room. After a moment, she realized the center one was shorter than the other two. She bred her Guard for uniformity; the difference stood out more than it otherwise might. He also stood at least twice as wide as the other two. With a start, she recognized the remains of the Guard's face. The leader of the last world's resistance, now suitably augmented. She writhed around until she lay on her belly, her arms folded on one edge of the tub. She settled her chin on her arms and took her time examining her new Guard.

He was still short. That would take an extraordinary amount of manipulation to fix. She might do just that at some point when she tired of his unique appearance, but for now it fascinated her. De'Shak found him endlessly intriguing; as an unmodified human, he'd been able to resist her voice while fighting for his life against her Guard. He'd even identified her Guard as expendable and ignored them in order to attack her personally. Smart, determined, deadly, she had been wise to reap rather than cull him.

"You, in the middle, what is your designation?"

"My designation is M-267." She watched, fascinated, as his face twisted up. His own voice’s betrayal obviously infuriated him.

"'M'? My Guards are typically designated 'G'. Why do you have a different designation?"

His voice wavered as he tried to stop himself from answering, but he couldn't resist the overrides in his implants, "I do not know."

De'Shak made a noise of frustration. She hated being thwarted. "You others, retrieve my Prime Researcher. I would speak with this one alone."

The senior of the two Guard, differentiated only by the more extensive scarring on his carapace, hesitated, "Mistress?"

"Is there a problem, Guard?"

"Possibly, Mistress. The Researchers report the psychological conditioning was not completely successful."

De'Shak's lips curled up in a grin. "So, this conversation may be less boring than the ones I normally have. Go on, I will be fine."

"Yes, Mistress!"

The Guard saluted and left, leaving her alone with her former enemy. His body quaked and shivered as he tried to engage his new weapons. She left him like that for a span of time as she stretched her body in the warmed feraid. The gel burned faintly, tickling every portion of her, her injured side most of all. A girlish giggle escaped her as it wormed its way in and cleaned up the final fragments of her opponent's weapon.

She supposed in a lesser creature the slight burn of the feraid would be agonizing. That might be the cause of some of his anger. She needed that anger as much as she needed him. She needed every ounce of power she could get her hands on, both real and metaphorical.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

While De'Shak was, of course, smarter than her fellow Imperiatrices, and personally far more dangerous, she was also the youngest among them. When she killed her parents, she assured that no others of her immortal kind would run the risk of creating a rival again. The others had more troops, more stored power, more stored mass. When she fought against them, they could afford to lose two Guards to each Guard she lost. She took to the field for that reason even more than her own love of destruction.

It kept her sharp, kept her fit, and kept her intimately aware that each time the collected Imperiatrices consumed another world, they gained a little less time. Their world was failing. Long before she achieved equality with her peers, the world would collapse. She'd seen an Imperiatrix who failed to replace her mass destroyed by proton decay. The memory sent a thrill of fear and lust coursing through her.

She blinked at the sound of shaking metal. Her new Guard stared at her, fury and disgust in equal measure etched on the remains of his features. She moved her hands back up to the edge of the tub. They'd wandered when the erotic nature of her destructive memories overcame her. She didn't care if he watched, but her curiosity at his reaction overcame her lust.

"Guard, is there a problem?"

Addressed with a direct question, the Guard's augmentation allowed him to speak, "Yes."

De'Shak was still confused by the anger in his voice. That confusion was so foreign to her, she indulged it just for the diversion. "You wish to join me?"

This time the Guard didn't fight his augmentation. The disgust in his voice clear, he answered, "No."

De'Shak remained confused, she still could not understand his anger. "You wish freedom of movement, to indulge yourself?"

When the Guard spoke again, the eagerness in his voice belied his answer, heightening her confusion, "Yes. No." A groan escaped him when his augmentation stopped him from speaking further. She considered her situation for a moment. When she realized what she wanted to do, the Imperiatrix shrugged her lack of concern for the consequences.

"Guard, you have permission to speak freely, so long as I am not speaking. Explain yourself."

Derogatory epithets and screamed obscenity spewed from the Guard’s mouth. After a few moments, during which De'Shak listened in indulgent amusement, she tired of the tirade. For one thing, he’d begun repeating himself. When she spoke, his augmentation cut him off.

"If you continue on like this, I will be forced to silence you once more. Answer my question."

When he spoke, his distilled anger filled the first word he spoke, "Fuck! Demon, I hate the thought that you were pleasuring yourself looking at me."

The thought that this lesser being might expect her to deprive herself fascinated her. "Was I? I really wasn't paying attention to the fact that you were in the room."

"You were staring at me. You were playing with yourself. Are you going to tell me you weren't masturbating?"

"Lying is for lesser beings, Guard. You lie to each other constantly. If you didn't, my people would long since have died out." De'Shak smiled, her interlocking teeth clicking together as she stretched her face into the unfamiliar expression. "I'm sure we should be grateful to you for that. Would you like a boon in exchange for your assistance in the destruction of your world?"

The elegant sneer on his face expressed his feeling better than his words ever could, "I will never help you against my fellow men, Demon!"

Her heartfelt chuckle threaded its way through her reply, "Oh, there is no need for that, Guard. Your world underwent final proton collapse less than twelve hours ago relative. I believe you were undergoing weapons fittings at that time. The world from which you came is no more."

A wordless howl of anguish echoed through the bath chamber. So heart wrenching, so awful in its desolation, De'Shak could not resist the erotic thrill of it. As her Guard fell to his knees and his weapons twitched, her hands wandered. Her howls of passion eclipsed his cries of grief. Spent for the moment, she slipped back to a vantage where she could watch her new Guard.

Tears dripped from his closed eyes, and his shoulders shook with exhausted sobs. His voice hoarse and quiet, he spoke once more, "My wife… My children…"

De'Shak's mind swam in a sea of endorphins, and an odd sensation of gratitude to her new Guard trickled through her. Perhaps that explained why she took pity on him. "If they were alive when your bunker fell, they likely did not die with your world. My sisters claim every self-mobile object, along with any objects they can carry."

If anything, this disturbed her new Guard further. His shoulders shook with grief and rage. His weapons cycled, and his fists hammered the floor. Such passion, such fury, she thrilled at her wisdom in saving this one.

"You intrigue me, Guard. I think… Yes. I will check to see if anyone with a genetic relation to you was captured. It is possible to trade for such. However, I would find it much more effective if you were to win me concessions on the field of battle."

Her new Guard’s head lifted at the first mention of his offspring, and when she spoke of fighting for them, a dangerous light came into his eyes. "For you, demon, I will do nothing. For my children… Tell me who I have to kill."