USAN 04/20 "Dark Palace" (nc)


        Early the next morning, Robert went out to the side porch,
where the ten men awaited him in a silent deathly slumber. He
wished to gain their allegiance, and failing that, he had decided
that he would simply kill them.
        "Awaken, Wolf," he ordered.  The hairy man groaned, and sat
up.  He stiffened when he saw the Dark man standing there, dressed 
in black; jeans, shiny leather knee-boots, and a fine silk shirt.
        The only color to his apparel was a royal blue full length 
cloak and fat gold ring, set with sapphire pieces in the form of a 
four pointed star with concave arcs between the points on a
smoothed oval surface.  His belt buckle and a cloak clasp had an
enameled copy of the same design: a blue star with four points,
slightly over lapping a gold oval over a black rectangle.
        The big man's hands held a bare human skull, and the big
black club he'd had the last time Wolf had seen him.
        "Now your leader matches his nick-name," Robert said, 
tossing him the bone.  Wolf caught it, but quickly set it down.  He
got to his feet, on his guard.
        "Almost half of you are dead," the big man said.  "The rest
of you will join them if you don't swear to serve and obey me."
        "Why should we?," Wolf said, seeing the too-quiet forms of
his erstwhile fellows.
        "Because I'm going to need men who can get things done," 
Robert said.  "As long as you obey me, I'll tolerate you.  You will
all leave Maggie and Susan Black alone, as I have claimed them for
myself."
        "You don't expect us go without fuckin', do you?" Wolf
complained.
        "Hardly," Robert laughed.  "My appetites are large, but I'm
sure that there will be plenty of females available for the needs
of my troops.  You seem to be the highest ranked survivor of the
gang. Do you think they will follow you in my service?"
        "Dunno.  What makes you think that I'll listen to you,"
Wolf said to him with a surly tone.
        "Because I can give you Powers to match your name," Robert
told him, and sent him an image of a feral wolf-man, snarling and 
baring long, sharp fangs.  He jumped lightly from the ground to the
top of a car, and jumped from there into the middle of a knot of 
angry men.  With claws and teeth he inflicted a lot more damage to 
them, than their knives and metal pipes did to him.
        Wolf shook off the vision.  "Yeah, right.  And how you
gonna do that?" he said.
        Robert tapped his chest.  "Do you think I looked like this
before I found the Rod?  You'll be less powerful than I, as your 
master, but you will dominate the others.
        "And what if I just took your toy?" Wolf said, grinning.
        "Here," Robert said, and tossed it to Wolf, who caught it.
        "God Dammit!" Wolf cursed as the Rod's dark energy flare
seared the skin of his palms.  He threw it down, and it jumped of 
it's own accord into Robert's hand again.
        Robert told him, "It's become a part of me.  No-one can use
it until I'm dead, and it's made me Immortal.  The World is stuck
with me, but I don't really need you.  Serve me or die, the choice
is yours."
        "Ok, it's cool.  You' the man," Wolf said.  "You' the boss,
but I am gonna need some serious stroke to be your lieutenant.  Can
you really do that man-wolf thing?"
        "See for yourself," the Dark man said, and he threw black
fire at the other man.
        Wolf screamed and it quickly turned into an agonized howl.
Robert watched as his face stretched, and his legs curved back, 
destroying his shoes and ripping his clothes.  His body sprouted a 
thick forest of fur, and he rapidly morphed into the form that 
Robert had tempted him with.  It was soon finished, and the mutant 
rose, shaking off his pelt like a wet dog.
        He looked at his fur arms, and clawed hands, raising them
to feel along his massive jaws.  "Oh, cool," he growled, "I'm a 
werewolf!"
        Robert's hand shot out and grabbed him by the throat, 
lifting the big beast-man off the ground, and squeezed just hard
enough that Wolf's windpipe started to close off.  The creature
flailed in his grip for a moment in panic, futilely scrabbling at
Robert's arm and kicking in the air.  Robert released him, and fell
with a heavy thud.
        "I... I get your point," Wolf choked, coughing and clearing 
his throat.  "Please lay off."
        "Just as long as you obey me," Robert said.  "Now change 
back, and wake up the rest of them.  Tell them that I will kill
them if they don't work for me.  If you let them get out of hand,
I will kill *you*.  Got me?"
        Robert waited on the front porch for them to make up their
minds.  he didn't think it would take long, not with those options,
and not with Wolf's visible evidence to show them of their new 
master's power.
        One of them was stupider than most.  He ran for it after 
Wolf changed forms, and tried to escape the backyard.  He burst
spectacularly into flames, turning into a human pire that spun
about before collapsing into a smoldering heap of ashes.  Wolf and
the other eight came around the corner not too long after that.  It
had been an offer they were not allowed to refuse.  
        Robert sat calmly on a big wooden chair.  "You're all
scum," he said.  "But I need you, for now.  I can't let you loose
without supervision.  If you were worth anything, you wouldn't have
been molesting this family.  So either you are my warriors, obeying
my orders precisely, or you die.  It's not a hard choice."
        Wolf bent his knee to Robert.  This dog already knew his 
Master.  The others reluctantly followed suit.
        "Good," the Dark man said.  "These badges have my symbol on
them.  While you wear them on my business, you have a certain 
immunity to bullets.  You'll need it.  I want you to go to every 
home and building in town, and inform the folks who live there that
they are required to go to the Palace on the hill above Indian 
Cavern.  What Palace?  The one that will be there by the time you
give the word to them.
        "You are not to use any force.  You'll have a feeling about
who hasn't been told, so you can cover everyone.  What if they
don't come?  Not your problem.  You are the messengers, and that is
all."
        "Just tell them to go the Palace," Wolf said.  "Not for
who, or even why?"
        "That's right," Robert said, and sent them on their way. 
He didn't want to live here anymore.  The good memories of the
house, were more than outweighed by the horrible events of the last
week.
        In a flash of black light, he disappeared, and materialized 
on the scrubby hill that rose slowly from the ranches at the edge
of town to dominate the surrounding landscape.  He made the rock
flow and form into supports for the vast weight of the Palace he 
envisioned, but leaving most of the cave system intact.
        Once he had strengthened the hill, he poured a vision of 
every elegant edifice he'd ever seen, or which he now scanned 
throughout the world, into a dream of dark grandeur made real.  He 
rose in the air and stood in a huge throne room of black basalt and 
obsidian.  Different textures and shades of black were the backdrop 
of the room; jet, onyx and ebony.
        The throne itself was a massive slab of translucent blue
stone with heavy gold trim.  On the wall above it was a large
banner with his symbol prominent.  Filling most of the vast space
between the great doors of the grand entry-way and the many stepped
dais of the throne was inset into the floor a four-pointed star
shape, inlaid with a gold border a foot thick.  The room's high
arcing dome sported a skylight star that matched the size and shape
of the one below, but tilted by forty-five degrees.  It was the
shape you find in the center of a square filled with four circles,
one in each corner.
        He walked to his throne, and sat awaiting his people. 
While he sat, he furnished areas of the Palace, starting with his 
quarters.  He sent a thought to Maggie and Susan to gather their 
things, he had a new place for them to live, away from the memories
of the house.  Next he outfitted the kitchens and staff quarters, 
and the dungeons.
        To make their arrival easier, he created a broad, smooth 
road linking the edge of town with the Palace grounds.  He also put
signs in the Palace to make getting to the throne room from the 
Outer gates uncomplicated.  Those who came had a hard time seeing
where the hill was.  The Palace flowed over it's sides like a dark
cancer to the foot of the hill.  Tall spires reached high into the
sky above, and quiet caves still lurked beneath.
        It took over an hour, but about a third of the town's 
several thousands filed into the great room, feeling dwarfed by
it's dimensions.  The great doors closed, and Robert addressed
them.
        "Thank you for coming, My name is Robert.  I have appointed
myself the authority of this town, on the basis that I am more 
qualified to run it than anyone else.  My qualifications for the
job are the ability to provide food, goods, and services the
community needs, and the power to protect those assets from
outsiders.
        "Many of you no longer have any means to support
yourselves.  I need people to work for me in all capacities.  As
cooks, accountants, and guards, just to start.  I can pay
generously in food, goods, and security for now.  I'll pay in money
later when I establish a new currency.
        "As far as I'm concerned, you either work, or you don't.  
Those who don't and have someone who works to support them are 
alright.  Any minors who have no supporters I declare wards of the
state, and I'll provide for them until their majority.  Those who's
jobs was to take care of them will be housed here along with them.
        "For those adults with no jobs or supporters, I am the 
employer of last resort.  I will find you work, I will employ you
myself, or I will sell your contracts for indentured servitude. 
One way or another, you will earn your keep."
        Robert smiled.  "It's not you who came when called that I'm
worried about.  It's the rest of the town, which I'm now compelling
to come whether they want to, or not.  I believe those might be
more troublesome.  Are there any questions?"
        "Yeah," said a former county deputy.  "Are you nuts?"
        "No," said Robert.  "Next question?"
        No one else dared.  The rest of town arrived and stood 
looking stupefied.  Last came Robert's messengers, including Wolf,
who carried the bleeding body of one of the eight.
        "Who shot him?" Robert said.  A man from the new group of
townspeople raised his hand, apparently against his will.
        "Why?" Robert asked him.
        "The creep was trying to fondle my daughter," the man said, 
"and said he was going to rape her.  I swear I'd do it again."
        "Good man," Robert said.  "You saved me the trouble.  Those
badges had no power to protect him when he started breaking my 
rules."  He gestured, and all traces of the body disappeared.  Wolf
looked apprehensive, but Robert smiled at him, and he relaxed.
        "That's it?" the sheriff said.  "A man's been murdered, and
all you have to say is good is 'good riddance'?  You're crazy."
        "No one can lie to me," Robert said.  "I saw the truth in 
his mind and in his family's minds.  The dead man was part of a
gang who'd already killed a townsman you were supposed to protect,
and raped his family.  He lived on my sufferance, like the rest of
these men.  He merited death simply by disobeying my orders while
he was on a suspended sentence.  I do not coddle criminals, and
will not support them to do nothing.  They will work while doing
their time. And it's not as if you've been doing your job.
        "I'll get this town functioning again," Robert said.  "But
I'll be cutting out the deadwood to do it."  He gestured towards
the sheriff as he said this.  "Those who simply want to go back to
work, go home with your families.  Supplies for your businesses
will be here tomorrow, even if you don't work for money, you'll be
paid in food and other necessaries.  And for now that will have to
do.  Those who are hungry, will find food waiting for you in your
homes, and Medical personnel will have supplies in the clinics.   
        "Those who wish to see me for something else can stay, and
I will deal with as many of you as I can."  Most of the people
left, with the orphans and their caregivers going to their new
quarters in the Palace.  Others stayed who wanted a job in the
Palace right away.  Robert invited them to find something to do in
the kitchens or other areas, and he would get back to them tomorrow
as to exactly which positions they were to fill.
        There were still several determined groups bent on giving 
him a piece of their minds.  He called those who disagreed already 
with his policies to the foot of the dais.  'Lump it,' was the gist 
of the response from Robert; it wasn't a democracy.
        There were more who wanted to retain some special 
privilege, their political position, or to increase their wealth at
his expense.  'No,' was his answer to them, he would make his own
appointments, and his own decisions, though advice was welcome;
when he asked for it.  He sent them home to their comfortable
homes, with a feeling of unease.
        That left those with no other means, or smarts, than to try
to freeload off the Dark man.  The men he sent to some isolated 
quarters, then he smiled, and looked over the remaining women.    
        Some of them looked on him as the town's most eligible
bachelor.  "I hope you realize," he said, "that I have no intention
of marrying anyone, but I'll be happy to fuck any of you who simply
must be had by me.  My men will also volunteer to service you."   
        His eight remaining men laughed harshly, and rubbed their
crotches suggestively.  Several women who were offended at his 
crudeness left in a huff.  Good, he thought.  Soon only the
hopeless users will be left.
        A beautiful and busty red-head sauntered up to the dais,
and walked up the steps to the throne.  He stopped her with a
glance before she reached him.  Her name was Traci, and she was
known throughout the town as a social climber, and a first class
slut.
        "Oh, come on, honey," she purred at him.  You don't need
anyone else but me.  Send them away, and I know I can make you very
happy."
        "On the contrary," he said, grinning, "I intend to have a
large harem, and if you persist in this, you will be appointing
yourself as a member."  She gave him a 'be serious' look.
        He shook his head, he'd given her enough chances.  "Come
here to my feet, woman, you belong to me now."  His power urged her 
forward and now Traci tried to resist him.  She never wanted to be 
the property of any man, but she found herself kneeling at his feet 
despite her efforts.
        "What do the rest of you want?" he asked.  "Answer me
truthfully.  Do you wish to be free of both want and work?"
        The general consensus of their answers was that his 'work
or be made to work' decree was far too harsh.  Here, a woman had 
married young to a rich man, and now divorced, she had lived on 
alimony now absent.  She'd never had to work before, nor ever
wanted to, so how would she live?  There, an heiress's money came
from the rentals of property she'd inherited, and not from any
effort on her part.  How could he make them work, when they'd never
had to before?
        "It's a fucked up world, ladies, and you're going to have
to face facts," Robert said.  "Those resources are simply no longer
available.  If you will not leave now, to try to find useful work,
you will be made to be useful to my men!"
        Two women tried to leave, but Robert shook his head. 
"You," he said pointing at younger woman.  "You're not serious
about working, you're just trying to get out of this."  He pointed
at the other one, "You can go.  But the first one stays, to join in
the party."  He waited until the older woman was gone.
        "Ok, Wolf, you and the guys can have them.  They're good
for nothing else, and they will serve your needs.  But don't hurt
them, got it?"
        "Aye, and thanks, sir," Wolf said.  "Let's get some, boys."
        On the dais, Robert stood and opened up his button fly 
jeans.  He reached for Traci's head and pulled her mouth to his 
cock, which quickly became hard as she bent to suck it.
        Robert's warriors closed in on the remaining women, in
order to throw them down to be fucked.  The heiress cried out to
him, "How can you let them do this to us?"
        "Because it's all you know how to do," he said.  "I gave
you a chance to be useful, but all you wanted was to be the users. 
Now instead you'll be used."
        Robert stopped talking, she wasn't listening anymore.  Wolf
had her on hands and knees, with her expensive skirt thrown over
her back and her silk panties torn off.  He was clutching her tits
hard and pumping her cunt hard with his doggish cock.  She was
grunting almost as bestially as Wolf at the treatment she was
getting.
        The Dark man stroked Traci's head at his crotch.  The 
divorced woman was one of two who were being made to french around 
the prick of a big man, who was giving them no choice but to do so.
These were hardened, violent men, used to getting exactly what they
wanted.  The women were rich and pampered, unable to offer any 
effective physical resistance to them.
        The room began to pulsate with Robert's lust.  Traci was
pulling off her clothes at his unspoken urging while he fucked her
mouth with his cock.  He stood, making his clothes vanish, and 
created large golden cushions at the foot of the throne, on top of
the dais, and pulling her to him.
        Robert pushed the town harlot down on the cushions, and
kneeled between her legs, looming over her, at first just looking
at her, and letting her look at him.  He was a big man, just how
huge she hadn't realized until this moment.  His hard body, wide 
shoulders and broad chest were everything she always wanted in a 
man, but had never had.
        His chest had a swirl of fine black hairs that plunged in
a steep dive to the thatch of coarser curls at the base of his
cock.  Under his thick head of dark hair, his matching brows were
bushy and wide.  His face was clean shaven, his features well
formed, but his black eyes pierced her soul.
        She had firm round tits, a narrow waist, and nice broad 
hips.  Her trimmed pussy snatch proved she'd come by the red hair
naturally.  Robert had always thought so, and that if she were 
likely to take her hair color out of a bottle, she'd be a blonde.
        She had the flawless skin and classic heartshaped face of
her celtic blood, but there was no warmth in her blue eyes, and the
lines besides her wide mouth were caused by bitterness, instead of
smiles.  She was the perfect trophy woman, always throwing herself
at the most influential man around, but this man had her measure.
        "I'm going to keep you," he said as he rubbed his cock on
her cunt lips.  "You'll join the others in my harem, and have my 
babies, just the same as they."
        "You can't just use me like that," she said, struggling
with him.  She hadn't worked so hard to be the woman of a man with
power, just to be 'kept' by this man and have nothing to show for
it; no status, and no power of her own.
        "Sure I can, 'honey'," he purred back at her.  "I'm boss 
around here, and what I say goes."  As he spoke he slipped inside
of her.
        Even Traci's blase attitude about sex was shaken up by that
piece of meat.  Long ago she'd trained herself to use sex only as
a tool, since it did nothing for her anyway.  She wouldn't really
let it get to her, but to make her partner think she had never had
a better time.  She wasn't sure she could keep up her reserve with
this man.
        "Ah," he said.  "Whoring around has had it's effects on
you. You've had two abortions, and no births.  But you do like
cats."
        "Bastard!" she hissed.  "How did you...?  I never told... 
I went out of state!"
        "I know everything," he said.  "Like how much you like 
roses."  From above her head he pulled a perfect blood-red rose
bud, and stroked her cheek, lips and throat with it, while he
looked deep in her eyes.  Unspoken in his eyes, a smile was shown
there.
        She'd never been so filled, not even when her Uncle Bob had
forced himself upon her when she was ten.  For most of her life,
men had used her, so she'd decided that to get even, she would use
them instead.  Before Robert, she'd hadn't met a straight man she 
couldn't wrap around her finger at will.  Somehow she'd always 
picked the wrong man.  The married ones, the gay ones, the users...
        Robert slowed down, each stroke distinct so she could feel
every one.  She focused on the feel of his cock deep in her pussy,
and as she did so, he started to gradually increase his tempo.  A
power burned in her.  He'd found some vaginal scarring and other 
things that would reduce her responses, and he set to fixing them.
        Deep in her cunt, his slowly speeding strokes were
beginning to cause a tingling feeling.  She'd felt it before, once
in a while, but never anything more.  She gritted her teeth. 
Usually at this point she began faking orgasms, but she wouldn't
give this man the satisfaction.
        The tingling grew stronger, becoming almost a burning.  She
writhed, trying to escape the unaccustomed heat in her groin.  But
Robert was relentless in his fucking.  He held her tight and sped
up even more.  Then he would back off and go slow for a bit.  The
tingle began to cause little twitches in her cunt walls, something
she couldn't remember ever feeling before.
        The Dark man smiled at her again, because she was closer
than she knew.  He'd sensitized her clit when he healed her, and
she was primed for one rip-raring orgasm.  Her cunt pulsed inside,
she Robert suddenly started slamming her hard.
        He was pounding her without pity, when it started.  A 
buzzing flare that seemed to light up her nervous system, ignited 
somewhere near the tips of her toes, flashing up to the crown of
her  head, and zig-zagging between the two points several times,
setting off little wildfires of ecstasy at several parts of her
body along the way.
        "Unnnhhh!" she groaned unconsciously, as her back arched in
racking spasms, again and again.  Robert rode through it, laughing 
in triumph at defeating her control, and bringing her to pleasure. 
She stared up at him in shock, her eyes glazed, at first unable to 
process the feelings she'd experienced.
        She lay there shuddering, wondering how to take what had 
just happened to her.  Robert stroked her with the rose again, over
her tits this time, and kissing her face.  "I'm going to make you
my little kitten, Traci," he said.
        He leaned back a bit, and said, mostly to himself, "You
even played a part in a production of 'Cats' in college... and your 
latencies work well for that idea..."  Before she had a chance to 
wonder what kind of madness he was talking, he blurred her and bent 
to altering her body.
        Incredible agility and great strength were among her
genetic potentials that he tapped, as well as making her body even
more sensitive to pleasure.  All of her senses were enhanced, as
well as her sense of spatial relationships and balance, and her
instinct for danger and curiosity.
        When he let her come aware again, something was different.
She was purring.  Really purring.  Like a cat, deep in the throat,
and vibrating her whole chest.  In part she had the form of a cat, 
and as much of the abilities of a cat as he could pack in that 
delectable body.
        She could feel a light coat of fur on her body with her 
clawed hands, and her tongue traced the sharp fangs now in her 
mouth.  A tail she'd hadn't had before lashed as she snarled at 
him.  "What have you done to me?" she demanded.
        "Given you what you've always wanted," he said in her ear.
"The way you are now, you can defend yourself from anyone who wants
to abuse you, even from Wolf.  Ever seen a cat take out a dog 
before?  Cat's can do more damage.  As long as I am your master,
and the only father of your children, you can keep that body.  I
don't even care about other lovers, as long as we are clear on
that."  He held her slitted blue eyes until she nodded her
understanding.
        "I won't have time to direct everything that goes on in the 
Palace," he continued, "or greet everyone who comes to see me. 
I'll need ambitious and diplomatic people to do some of these
things for me.  Do I take it that you volunteer for this sort of
thing?"
        She looked back into his dark eyes for a long time.  Was he
pulling her leg, tempting her with gifts and responsibility that he
didn't intend her to have?  Teasing her with her heart's desire,
only to disappoint her, as she had been disappointed so many times 
before?  With those questions unspoken by her, he shook his head, 
and she could not doubt that he meant his answer.
        She would have what she had wanted, she had just never 
foreseen it happening quite this way.  With a growl she pulled him 
close, and kissed him hard, biting his lips.  She'd always been 
willing to be owned, but only if she got some of the power in 
return.  This strong and sexy body seemed to be a good trade for 
having only one master.
        The two of them began to fuck again, while Robert's 
inaugural orgy continued on around them, unabated.