Previously on Divinity Binds:
Our story began in the swamplands, where Ivan was running from witch hunters. There, he bled all over the temple for the god of nature, Korin. It freed Korin from where he had been imprisoned by an ex-lover, and now they are magically bonded. The bond pulled them into the enchanted forest, where their newfound connection opened the pathway to the demigod underworld. Here, Ivan and Korin’s relationship deepens—not only sexually, but emotionally too—as they learn their newly bonded power is needed to enable the birth of new demigods, which is apparently necessary for the circle of life to keep on spinning. In order to fulfill this necessary task, Ivan and Korin must complete seven trials across the lands of Presmithia. The first trial included lubricated tendrils of light and was quite … kinky. But now, the next trial leads to Noctrelle. Korin warns the trial might not be so fun this time … and a lot more bloody.
CHAPTER SEVEN
I leaned over the side of the ship, drooling, trying to stop vomiting for the third time today. I’ve been unable to keep down anything I try to eat since we began our journey across the Surnoss Ocean.
Water was never for me.
A smooth, warm hand on the back of my neck grounded me. Korin tried to soothe me as much as possible, though he couldn’t help but crack a few jokes at my expense every now and then.
After the first trial had our clothes magically handed to us from the vines at the top of the tower, the orb led us on a trail to the next. Which would be outside of the underground home of the demigods, almost all the way at the other side of Presmithia.
Korin realized the map would be leading us to Noctrelle, the land of the dead, and the quickest way to get there would be by ship. I would’ve gladly done the extra weeks of travel to stay on land, but Korin wouldn’t have it.
The impatient Elders, of course, agreed.
We stopped back at their meeting place before leaving, for supplies and to check in, and they happily gave us access to a ship, as well as a crew of demigods to operate it for our journey. They’re clearly eager for us to complete our mission and ensure the birth of more demigods is possible.
I’d never seen these types of people out in the world. I figured they were only able to live below. But I also don’t get as close to the fae lands of Dryathorne where their docks sat.
Faeries aren’t very friendly to witches.
Our magic is greatly similar. We come from the same species, technically all humans, but people always have a way of holding onto differences and using them to separate themselves. Ancient Faeries were obsessed with breeding an only magical society, allowing breeding only between themselves—even if it means things get incestuous.
Witches long ago defied the ancient religious beliefs and incestuous culture of the fae, but have their own share of … problems. Both kill any offspring without innate magic power. Neither were exactly healthy images of a society.
That’s why I left my coven years ago. Both sides are just fucking different flavors of religious fanatics.
Even with the drama that would probably ensue, I would rather our next trial was in Dryathorne than Noctrelle.
No one with half a brain went to Nocrelle on purpose.
The land of the dead was ruled by Vampires, powerful creatures who live off of the blood of the living, theorized to be an old witch’s attempt at immortality gone wrong.
Or right, depending on who you ask.
The only thing keeping them from taking over Presmithia is both their fear of the well running dry—if all of the land becomes death, there’s no more blood to drink—and the fact that their sects of courts are always fighting each other for who should be their leader.
Only the strongest and most powerful Vampires are the rulers—and what is the best way to show you’re the most powerful? Killing whoever everyone thinks is the current most powerful, of course.
The constant change in rulers keeps them quite busy.
Instead of roaming and hunting like in ancient times, they manage to stay in a fresh supply of blood with some sort of ethically questionable political deal with the human lands of Veldenreach.
They are now ruling a section of their lands, full of humans, in return for leaving the rest alone. Anyone who happened to be living in the lands governed by this Crimson Pact, as they call it, when it was signed, were barred from leaving. Now, everyone living there must give a tax: twenty-five percent of the population every year becomes Vampire food. It keeps them full and fueled to fight each other. That doesn’t count the numerous unrecorded murders by vampires, though, which still occur despite the pact. There is also a business for specific kinds of food, like witches and faeries, which are looked at as a delicacy in Noctrelle. This dark underbelly of Presmithia is run by lowlifes from all corners of the land of various descents who value coin over others’ lives, split into different gangs that are usually always fighting each other as well.
People are fucking stupid and vile more often than not, it would seem.
The Vampires would probably jump on an opportunity to feast on a god like Korin.
Not to mention myself.
Getting to and from the second trial, stealth would be very important. Sure, Korin and I took out some witch hunters no problem, but I didn’t want to put our new bonded powers to the test with Vampires. In their own lands, most would not stand a chance.
Gods, this was foolish.
Maybe my unsettled stomach wasn’t just due to sea sickness.
“We’re getting close!” Fredricka, the ship’s captain exclaimed. She was a short woman with pale shiny skin and large muscular arms.
“Thank the Gods,” Korin whispered in my ear, “I don’t know how much longer you’d be able to take it.”
“Just grab me some more water, I’ll be fine.”
He was already handing me a cup. I downed half of it in one gulp. I swished the remaining half and spit overboard to rise away at least some of the bile.
Soon, the blood-red land of Noctrelle started coming into view.
Only a few pale tree branches, that looked as dead as their land’s inhabitants, were visible. Any possible structures were obscured by a thick crimson mist. Only vampires could see through the mist naturally. Luckily, I wasn’t exactly natural. I knew a spell that would allow Korin and I to see quite well.
“Ready?” Korin asked.
“Yes.”
The magic came so easy to me this time. I’d only ever used the spell once before, and it had been a strain. This time, it came so naturally. I could probably include the whole crew if I wanted to. But they would stay on the boat. Safe … er than venturing into the mist.
After that first experience in Noctrelle, I vowed to never venture in again.
Yet here I am.
It’s amazing what good god dick will get you to do!
The crimson mist was magically cleared, but all I could see was a dense forest of pale trees with blood red leaves past the white sand beach where we docked. The map orb fluttered forward, guiding us into the mysterious unknown. Again.
“We’re miles from the nearest town,” Korin confirmed, “there aren’t many who come to this part of the crimson land. If the trial is nearby, maybe we won’t have to have any unpleasant interactions with the local living dead.”
“I can only hope the Gods have granted us that luck,”
“I wouldn’t count on them,” he spat.
Korin led the way as we entered the pale wood, and I was happy to let him. Whether or not there were vampires nearby, there were bound to be any number of horrifying local creatures that I’d rather not have to know anything about. I kept expecting something, anything, to jump out from the crimson foliage and attack. But strangely enough, nothing did. It was absolutely dead silent. Like nothing living had been here for quite a while. Maybe the vampires, being unnatural to the environment, scared or killed everything off.
The white sand gave way to deep red grass under my feet, and slowly, the density of the trees lessened. A pale stone walkway came into view, which sent a heavy rock right to the pit of my stomach. It meant they were near. Vampires.
“Stay close,” Korin said.
“I can handle myself,” I wasn’t sure I meant it. But I couldn’t have Korin seeing me as some weak damsel.
The map orb, hovering a few feet ahead, headed down the path, leaving a trail of red in its wake.
And we followed. Followed. And followed. Until the sun peeked behind the crimson leaves of the trees surrounding the path and gave the area a golden-red glow.
“Is it taking us closer to vampire civilization?” I asked
“Dangerously so,” Korin looked grim.
A harsh wheezing broke the surrounding silence. The sound of a strained, harsh breath.
Korin’s head snapped in the sound’s direction, and he placed his right pointer finger to his lips.
I wanted to tell him not to shoosh me, but I complied, because I didn’t want to be heard by whatever was making that noise either.
It happened again, this time followed by a wet, gargled cough.
Footsteps light as air, Korin tiptoed towards the sound, now clearly coming from behind a bush lining the trail covered in bright red roses.
Vines surged from the ground. Korin’s vines. They held the person who was making the sound, wrapped around his arms and legs, and dangled him above the road before us.
“What the fuck!?” The man exclaimed through the blood escaping his mouth.
He was in rough shape. His long black hair was ratty and tangled with rose bush remnants. Multiple stab wounds in his abdomen were oozing dark, almost black, blood. Soaking his ruffled white shirt.
If he was a vampire, he was already too fucked up to be much of a threat.
Hopefully.
But whoever, or whatever, did that to him could be just around the corner. And I didn’t want to run into it.
“Vampire, what did this to you?” Korin’s tone demanded an answer.
He spit a glob of blood at Korin’s feet. “Who’s asking?”
More vines wrapped around the man’s waist and squeezed, making more blood ooze from his wounds. He screamed in agony.
“Korin!” I exclaimed, causing him to turn to look at me with all the annoyance of a child getting a toy taken away.
“What? He’s being an asshole.” He turned back to the man. Or vampire, apparently. “Answer my question.”
“Set me down and we can have a conversation.”
Korin squeezed the vines again. Making the man groan in pain some more.
“Korin, come on. Let’s be civil.”
“Fine,” the tension in the vines eased. “If I let you down, you better not make one move towards me, or my gorgeous little companion here. Or I’ll fucking kill you. Is that clear?”
“Clear,” the man grunted.
Korin slowly sat the man down on his feet. As soon as the vines no longer supported him, he wobbled and fell to his hands and knees, coughing up blood.
“Fuck, Korin, he is not okay.”
“No shit,” Korin mumbled. “Now, we can talk all polite like. What messed you up like that? And you’re a vampire, as long as your heart isn’t pierced, you should be able to heal. But your wounds are only getting worse by the second.”
“Yeah, no thanks to you,” he managed to sit down and prop himself up with one arm. He spat some more blood onto the pale stone pathway. “But, in order to explain my situation, I would have to tell you something that the vampire lords have desperately tried to keep hidden since its creation. I would be killed if anyone found out I told you.”
“It looks like you already have been,” Korin responded.
The man managed to gargle out a chuckle, “So it seems, doesn’t it?”
“Go on, I’m on the edge of my seat.”
“Some sort of substance that hinders our supernatural healing ability has come on the scene in just the past few months. Discovered to be the cause of death in the murders of several high level courtesans. I am the head detective of the vampire court crime investigation. I was trying to find the source of the substance and stop it from spreading, for obvious reasons—” he coughed up more blood, “and this is what it got me. I know nothing, and I’m fucked. I’m going to die. While some random, strangely sexy foreigners with magical powers watch.”
“You think we’re sexy?” Korin beamed.
I rolled my eyes. And ignored the instinct to go comfort the man. He could bite me, after all.
“I’m sorry, sir. For your surely extreme pain. But I might be able to help you … I’m no medwitch, but I do know a few healing spells.”
“No, absolutely not,” Korin countered.
“What? We can’t just leave the poor man to die if we can do something to help him.”
“That poor man is a vampire. Who feasts on the blood of living people. He’s a murderer. You really want to help him?”
“No. No you don’t understand. I don’t feast on the living.” The vampire said.
“Want to know the first rule of vampires, Ivan? Never. Trust. Vampires.”
“I’m telling the truth!” The man exclaimed with a pained rasp.
“Korin … let’s hear him out,” I insisted.
Korin pinched the bridge of his nose in annoyance.
“We still have a trial to get to, or did you forget?” He gestured toward the crimson path, now following the one of pale stone before us.”
I ignored him, and dared to take a step closer. “What do you mean, sir?”
“I’m a part of a small but fast growing group of ethically concerned vampires who no longer want to create a society so full of torture and death. We can survive on the blood of the recently dead and animals. But the majority of Vampire Court Lords refuse to see any other way of living as worthy, and enforce strict adherence to their barbaric traditions. The high level courtesans murdered with this new substance I mentioned earlier? They were all like-minded vampires like me, who vowed to stop feeding on the living, and actually had a chance to make it up the ranks to become decision makers for our society. So I thought … Until now…” he looked at the ground. Utterly defeated. “They were dropping like flies. I was left here for dead hours ago. For all I know, I’m the only one left.”
“That’s utterly awful, so ... so—”
“Boring,” Korin cut Ivan off. “Where does this stone path lead?”
“The Justini Palace,” the vampire gargled.
“Which is?”
“Must you be so heartless, Korin? Let me at least try to heal him before you start an interrogation.”
Korin made a show of rolling his eyes as I reached my power out towards the vampire. Only … it wasn’t exactly how the spell had felt before. I could feel the very atoms holding the vampire together, and surrounding him, and exactly how to manipulate them to my will.
“My powers have definitely been … upgraded.”
“I feel the same,” Korin said, growing a glowing flower bud in his palm and then making it disappear in a moment. “These trials are full of surprises.”
I closed my eyes to focus on what little healing spells I’d learned in my training. Only, I didn’t need them. I simply … thought of healing the vampire, and the exact way to manipulate the matter in his flesh to make him whole again was as clear to me as breathing. I opened my eyes to find the man glowing in the same flame-violet coloring as the witch hunter I incinerated accidentally on the first day I met Korin. Whatever this power was that was given to me from the bond, and growing stronger with every trial, I had a feeling I was only scratching the surface of its potential.
“Are you … okay?” I asked.
“Okay?” The vampire stood, stretched his neck, shook out a leg, and said, “I feel fucking better than I have in a century. Like I’m … younger somehow.”
“Well, well, well. You’ve got more than just looks, little Ivan.” Korin said.
“Don’t call me little,” I scoffed.
“You’re right,” Korin said, and continued with a loud slap to Ivan’s ass. “You got such a plump, delicious ass … one could never call you little.”
Heat rose to my cheeks as the comment sent blood straight to my cock, but I tried my best to still appear pissed, despite the urge to ask Korin to shove me on the ground and take me right here and now.
“Thank you, witch, thank you so much. I thought I was dead. I don’t know how to repay you, but I owe you a life debt.”
“There’s no need, really,” I said.
“Don’t turn down an offer of help so quickly, Ivan. The kind … vampire-lite can help us reach this palace, which most likely houses our next trial.”
“You won’t make it within 100 yards of the palace without getting ruthlessly murdered and then devoured,” the vampire responded grimly. “They do not take kindly to outsiders. And now, unfortunately, I think that includes me.”
“I wouldn’t underestimate us, parasite,” Korin said with a vicious bite. “It’s not exactly my preference, but we don’t have much of a choice.”
The map-orb started darting down the path as if to solidify that fact.
I took in the vampire man’s appearance. He certainly was manly, in an effortless sort of way. He had long, wavy dark brown hair tied back in a crimson hair tie at the nape of his neck. A sort of ribbon that swayed behind him in the wind. Fine jewelry hung from his ears and his neck, and he wore several expensive-looking rings. His pale face was well defined, with a chin dashed with stubble that trailed down his torso, visible through the tears in his shirt. Wounds now healed, I could clearly see the hard planes of thick muscle peaking through the slashes in his tunic, and his tightly tailored pants aptly accentuated the curves of his well-defined thighs and ass. If I had met him in a tavern back before all of this magic bond nonsense, he’d be exactly the kind of guy I’d take to my crappy room I could barely afford and ride until morning.
“What is your name, sir?” I asked, a bit embarrassed that I hadn’t already.
“Daero Justini, pleased to meet you,” he said, and reached out for a handshake that I gladly accepted.
“So, you are a descendant of this palace’s namesake. Shouldn’t you be doing some boring courtesan business? Paperwork at a desk, seducing old rich power brokers or something, not investigating murders?”
“Yes, my father is the Lord of the Justini Court. And most likely, the architect of my murder. And this whole godsdamned vampire anti-healing serum plot.”
“Damn, that’s … a lot,” was all I could think to say.
“Yes, and he did want me to do paperwork at a desk, or something, as you said … but that kind of life wasn’t enough for me. I wanted to actually be able to make a difference in this land.”
“Very noble of you,” Korin said seriously.
My eyes darted to him, shocked at the possible sincerity in that comment, but I wouldn’t dare draw attention to it.
“My name is Ivan,” I gestured to Korin, “And this is Korin. It seems we might have to infiltrate your family’s palace,” I said. “Perhaps you might know a sneaky way in?”
Daero smirked a bit. “Perhaps…”
Definitely want more of this tale sooner!!