The Forgotten Island

PROLOGUE:

THE QUEEN

She traced her forefinger along the top of his exposed stomach, his gagged pleas sending shivers of excitement through her body. Warmth blossomed between her legs as she sat close to him on the grand canopied bed. ” Shhh, quiet now, darling.” she whispered “Your Queen isn’t ready to have her fun just yet.” Tears rolled down his cheeks as she rose from the already blood-soaked sheets, gracefully crossing the room to take a seat at her vanity. She inspected her reflection in the mirrors smooth surface with care, her pale skin luminescent in the room’s low light. She was indeed an exquisite display of demonic femininity with a slender frame, sultry ember eyes, prominent cheek bones, and full lips. Her horns, the color of ashes, curled elegantly from her forehead, branching like twisted vines along the curve of her skull. Like most of her kind, the veins beneath her skin emitted an otherworldly glow. Picking up her brush, she began to run it through her long obsidian-black hair, humming contentedly. The Queen relaxed, the loud sobs of the specimen on her bed a soothing accompaniment.

A soft knock echoed from her chamber doors interrupting her reverie. “Enter” she called, irritation lacing her voice. A royal guard entered the room. He looked to be in his late twenties, bearing a slender frame that seemed to sag under the weight of his service. “Well, what is it? Speak, you imbecile!” she sneered at him; disgust marring her perfect face. The guard shifted uncomfortably on his feet, his leather boots scraping the floor. “Your majesty, I have been sent to report that two prisoners have escaped from their cells.” The Queen went still as death, her composure momentarily slipping. A moment passed, then another, before the Queen asked, “And which prisoners would that be?” The guard’s body seemed to sag further before he answered in a low voice “The two princes, My Queen.”

“WHAT?!” she bellowed as she rose to her feet, flinging her brush aside and hurtling towards the guard. Her claw closed around his throat, small trivets of blood trailing down his skin as the nails sliced into him. She lifted him from the ground as if he weighed nothing. He dangled there in her grip, gasping for breath as darkness invaded the room. “What do you mean they’ve escaped?” She hissed. Her lips curled back in a snarl, revealing elongated canines, while her eyes flickered to a deep red hue, a visual testament to her shifting mood. The shadows responded to her rage, twisting and shifting around the pair with whispers of pain and oily laughter.

Another, larger demon, entered the Queen’s room. The darkness swallowed his presence with a choking embrace as his eyes met his Queen’s. His sharply pressed uniform fit his large muscled frame well, rows of medals along his wide chest displaying his accomplishments. The Queen hissed once more, squeezing her victims throat tighter as he writhed and choked. The new demon’s presence was enough to confirm the first guards’ words, and she struggled to control the madness within her from being released. The darkness spread, tendrils wrapping around the smaller guards head and tunneling into his ears. His body began to jerk as his eyes rolled back into his head. An unearthly scream tore from his mouth as the darkness ate at his mind. With a jerk of her wrist, she ripped out the guard’s throat, his body falling lifelessly to the ground. Flinging the gore from her hand and stepping over the carcass, she approached the newcomer with death in her eyes. The shadows pulsed as she spoke “Choose your next words wisely, General, or join him in death.” The General raised his chin as he gazed upon his fearsome Queen. “The prisoners were gone this morning when the guards did their routine rounds. There were no indications of forced entry or exit. My men found a sorceress unconscious in their cell whom we presume aided in their escape, along with the bodies of eight guards. I have had the sorceress detained for questioning in one of the holding cells. She will deliver the prisoner’s location and means of escape soon, of that I have no doubt. By the time we are done with her, she may even help us track them down herself.” The Queen listened while the General chuckled at his own joke, and although her canines had receded, her crimson eyes still blazed.

Five years ago, she had invaded this kingdom under the pretense of opening up trade routes with her own., The King and Queen had been eager to make the agreement, the promise of expanded allies too good to pass up. She and a handful of her best soldiers had entered the kingdom to a festival in their honor and hordes welcoming demons. The Queen had smiled at the citizens who crowded them in greeting, each of them eager to see what goods the new trading agreement might bring in. She took the royals by surprise during dinner that evening, killing the Queen first; her knife slicing cleanly across her throat, the demoness’s eyes wide with shock as her blood showered the perfectly pressed table linens. The King had posed more of a challenge; however, he too was eventually defeated. Afterwards, the couple’s five children were hunted down and thrown in the dungeon. Her invasion had been swift with minimal casualties, with the young hostages enough motivation to quell any rebellion by those still loyal to the overthrown monarchy. During the first few years, she had kept the King chained to her throne as a living trophy, his strength and powers bound by dark magic, and she reveled in the fallen king’s breaking psyche. She entertained herself periodically by having one of his daughters dragged into the throne room, where she would let her guards take turns using their bodies however they wished. The King was made to watch as his children underwent hours of abuse and assault. The girls never survived the brutality of the event, their young, mutilated bodies nailed to the throne room’s walls as a warning to any who would defy her. Finally, when the youngest and last remaining of the daughters was brought in and given to her guards before him, the King had broken completely. The Queen had watched in fascination, making no move to stop him as he clawed out his own heart, dying next to the broken body of his little girl. After that, all that remained of the former royal family were the two sons, who she still had plans for; and she despised when her plans went wrong. The two sons that were now missing.

The Queen paced around her room, stopping to wipe the blood from her hand on one of the remaining shreds of the loose-fitting pants of the demon tied to her bed. He whimpered at her touch, and she felt a little calmer hearing the noise, her eyes returning to their normal ember color and the darkness receding like a clearing fog. “Persuade the bitch faster, General. I have use of those two royal brats, and I have no intention of seeing those plans go awry. Once she locates them, kill her slowly, as well as any family of hers you can locate.” She gracefully glided up to him as she spoke, a small smile beginning to lift the corners of her mouth. The General watched her with guarded eyes, no longer chuckling. He didn’t waver when she reached up to cup his cheek with her still blood-tinged hand. “And besides,” she cooed, “We wouldn’t want the little tykes to start a rebellion now, would we?” She lowered her hand, turning away from him. “You have forty-eight hours to come back with my prisoners, or I shall remove your head from your body and feed it to your mate.” she breathed calmly in dismissal, as if commenting on the weather. Smoothing her hair about her shoulders, she stepped away and began walking back to the demon tied to her bed, no longer acknowledging the General’s presence.

The General bowed to her back, silently leaving the room and closing the door softly behind him. The Queens attention fell fully onto the demon on her bed, who, failing in his strength, no longer fought against his bonds. Instead, he met the Queen’s eyes with his own as he pushed his consciousness down, down, down into himself. She returned his gaze with a smile that seemed to be filled with secrets and seduction, the light in the room dimming so slightly that none but the keenest of eyes would have spotted it. “Well, now.” She said, taking a long slender knife from atop her dresser and approaching him with a coy look. She batted her long eyelashes at him as if he were a long-lost lover. “It looks like I am in the mood to play after all”.