answers to reviewers questions or statements:
mpowers45: Yep.
Starlord Master: Couldn't find one so I said fuck it.
Storm-Master: Cause I don't want the story to end in one chapter maybe? And if you have a issue with how I write my stories, you can find another one to fuck around with. I'm sure there's a number of well written stories of Spider-man where he has god like power right off the bat and a equally large harem, most of the members whom have no reason to be in it in any shape or form other than it's because 'their hot'.
CRUDEN: It was an okay event.
Bladewolf101: Uh-huh.
superpierce: What better way to hunt a predator than to have another one hunt it.
Guest: So I've been told.
Disclaimer: I don't own any Marvel or AHR characters seen, mentioned or used.
In hindsight, Arkhalla may have been a bit... brash, in her decision to have her entire court thrown into the dungeons.
Having been the one who created their offices and appointed them to it so many decades ago, the Undying Queen was, or at least thought she was, aware of the work load that her former inner council possessed. But after several days of having to perform their duties on top of her own, Arkhalla had found herself pushed to the brink, mentally speaking of course. And that was before she delved into the appointment of new Ministers, even the most capable of candidates were subpar at best in comparison to their predecessors.
Arkhalla didn't know if such a thing was intentional, her previous allies insuring that they were irreplaceable by making their 'competition' incompetent or if perhaps she was 'blessed' more than she was willing to admit.
Regardless, Arkhalla quickly found her already busy schedule even more bloated now that she's taken on many of her former Court's responsibilities. Most weren't too difficult and really only took up a few minutes of Arkhalla's day, such as Sin or Kuthan, and Lilit and Erun's duties were handled by the rest of the Augurs and Magi that stilled lived and showed no signs of rebellion. It was the likes of Talmas and Fazuz's hands in the merchant's guild and their dealings with the various trade throughout her Empire that truly gave her headaches and made her long to curl beside Peter and waste the day away indulging one another's carnal delights.
'Economics are the true bane of all life... that and politics' Arkhalla thought dryly as she reviewed yet another trade agreement with the only true rival to her kingdom, the Akkadians.
While she and the Akkadians have settled for a somewhat lukewarm nonaggression pact with one another for decades, Arkhalla knew that war between them was inevitable. With Carcosa taken, and Dilmun next to fall under her army's might, the Akkadian's king, Nimrod, would no doubt be reading his people for war. In all seriousness, the Akkadians were the one people that Arkhalla wasn't sure her army could face head on and defeat, and if they did, they'd be too terribly weaken against any other powers watching, waiting to see who will be left alive to plunder from. Egypt was continuing to grow in might to the West, and far to the north, Latveria was conquering kingdoms left and right if Kuthan's spies were to believed.
"Never become a ruler my love" Arkhalla sighed as she glanced at Lockjaw as he sat at her feet, looking up at her with love and awe "It's not worth the headaches it brings on"
The mutt quirked his head at her for a moment before he barked and began to lick her leg, causing her to giggle as she set aside the trade agreement and reached down to scoop the canine up. He was starting to grow a bit, in a few months time the Queen of Ur wouldn't be able to comfortably sit him in her lap anymore.
"In a year or so you won't be such a cute and lovely creature, but a big snarling and smelly beast that makes me question why I kept you" Arkhalla teased the dog as she rubbed her nose against his, causing the small furry animal to bark before leaning in to lick her face.
"My Queen..."
Arkhalla's mood dampened slightly as she turned towards her body slave, Shamath and narrowed her eyes slightly at him "What?"
The boy, to his credit didn't flinch, though she supposed little could affect him anyone more after what he's seen and experienced "I have more missives for you to go through-"
"Yes, yes, put them with the others and I'll get to them when I can" Arkhalla said with a dismissive wave of her hand.
Shamath nodded and slowly made his way towards the table that held various other scrolls and sheets of parchment and set the new missives next to them before stepping away. He was about to leave before Arkhalla loudly cleared her throat, causing the boy to stop and turn towards her.
"Did I say you were dismissed Shamath?" Arkhalla asked with a raised brow as she continued to scratch a specific spot between Lockjaw's ears, causing him to hum in approval.
"No my Queen, I thought that you-" he began before Arkhalla cut him off with a scoff.
"You presume to know what I think do you?" Arkhalla said as she slowly placed Lockjaw on the ground and stood up and turned towards Shamath with a blank expression on her face "What do you think I'm thinking now little boy? What do you think is occupying my mind currently?"
Shamath swallowed thickly as he tried to not to stare at the Queen's body, which laid bare and seemed to glow in the morning sunlight. After a few seconds of tense silence, Arkhalla smirked and slowly approached Shamath with a sway in her shapely hips before coming to a stop before him and cupped his chin. Shamath tried to resist meeting Arkhalla's eyes, but the immortal queen's grip was sure and thus the boy from Lakar was forced to gaze into the depths of the ruler of Ur's eyes and shiver in dread.
"I'm thinking that you'd make a most wonderful pet after I bite and turn you" Arkhalla whispered with a coy grin "I'll leave you chained in my throne room and watch as you slowly starve over the coming weeks until your nothing more than a blind hungry animal and feed you bits and pieces of those that annoy me"
Shamath stared in horror as Arkhalla released Shamath and watched him stumble back before falling on his rear. Arkhalla giggled at the display and turned away from the human with a wave of her hand "Go and fetch me something from Marcilla and bring it to me in the throne room. She'll know what I want"
Shamath hesitated for a moment before he slowly nodded and turned and quickly made his way to the entryway into Arkhalla's chambers. The Undying Queen watched him go for a moment before she sighed and turned to look down at Lockjaw as he sat on his hunches, looking up at her with curiosity.
"Tell me little one, do you think I should bother with turning him?" she asked the canine, knowing that he wouldn't be able to understand or answer her properly.
Lockjaw barked at Arkhalla's question and began to wag his tail in excitement before he began to run around her feet, causing her to smile fondly at him. It was a pity that there wasn't a way to turn Lockjaw into a vampiric hound without destroying what made him so cute and lovable.
Suddenly Lockjaw slide to a stop and froze, his hair on end and his ears pulled against his head. Arkhalla frowned as she watched Lockjaw glare at her doorway and began to growl, barring his teeth in a display of intimidation. For days now he's been acting this way, growling and snarling at unseen foe. At first she assumed it was because he was around so many Vampires and a few have off scents he didn't agree with or felt threatened by, but as time dragged on, and Lockjaw's reactions became more common, Arkhalla began to have her guard, led by Narama, conduct random searches of the palace for anything unusual.
Most people would've simply written Lockjaw's behavior off as him being a 'dumb dog', but Arkhalla herself has begun to sense that something was amiss in her own home. As if on some instinctual level, she knew a predator was nearby...
Calling loudly for her guard, Arkhalla gently reached down and picked up Lockjaw and held him in her arms, doing her best to sooth him as several men from her personal guard entered the chamber. They stayed well away from the sunlight pooling into the room and stuck to the darkest shadows they could while still maintain some sense of formation. But even from here, Arkhalla could see their skin beginning to redden and sweat build upon their brows, it seems these men were possibly sires by her grandsires perhaps.
"My Queen..." the captain of the guard that replaced Rab bowed before Arkhalla and spoke in a raspy tone that sounded like the man was always recovering his breath after a great exertion of some sort "You summoned us?"
"Search the immediate area around my quarters captain" Arkhalla commanded with a frosty tone as she cradled her canine companion close "It seems that whatever is setting my love here off has returned and I can't help but feel that Rab and his rabble may not be the only ones within these walls that wish me ill"
"Yes my Queen" the captain bowed even deeper before he turned towards his subordinates and began issuing orders for them to began a room by room search of every space on this level of her palace.
Arkhalla watched her new captain and his men leave for a moment before she turned and made her way to her bed and set Lockjaw down on the silks and soft cushions. Once Lockjaw as settled, though still growling and snarling at some unseen threat, she quickly went to throw on a few silk garbs and retrieve her sword from beside her armor.
It seems that she'll be sleeping with it a little closer for the foreseeable future.
...
Several days later, Arkhalla found herself sitting upon her throne, bored and lonely as several girls before her, all nude and adorned with priceless gems, danced to a deep somber tune being played by a few musicians on the other end of the hall. Lockjaw laid at the foot of her throne, gnawing on a piece of bone, from what she had no idea, but he seemed to love it, while a goblet of blood sat on her throne's armrest, untouched.
Peter's absence was beginning to affect her more than she'd care to admit. She didn't think she longed for the man's company so much as she longed to be filled by him, though at this point she had no way of telling if that was true or not. She glanced to her side where an empty space laid for several meters before a wall began, it was more than large enough to have a throne as grand as her's placed there, though with perhaps a bit of a spider like motif.
'I wonder how he'd react to having a throne of his own, next to mine' Arkhalla thought with a small grin as she tried to imagine Peter's reaction.
Of course, she had no issue with sharing her throne with him, sitting comfortably in her seat of power while she rode him, crying to the far heavens and deepest hells in ecstasy. Perhaps if Narama was a good girl, she'll even make her an official consort to them, assuming of course, she was not in league with Bel and the rest of the traitors that were rotting away in her dungeon. Narama has shown no signs of such things, but than again, neither did the others until it was almost too late.
"Perhaps I'll force it out of her..." Arkhalla mused as the festivities continued before her.
They lacked the certain flare that members of her Court would bring to these, but there was something soothing about it in it's own right. Lockjaw seemed content with the music's volume and the level of people's voices throughout.
Just as Arkhalla was about to summon the dancing girls to her chambers, she heard some sort of loud and violent commotion outside. The sounds of death cries, swords clashing against shield, spear or another sword followed quickly by the smell of blood. Arkhalla's eyes narrowed as she slowly stood up from her throne and glared at the large double doors that led into the chamber as something, multiple somethings, crashed against in on the other side.
Now that she thought abut it, she hasn't seen Narama in quite some time, a day at least... nor Shamath after he dropped off a bag that she requested him to retrieve from Marcilla.
"Oh I pray you haven't made another foolish choice boy" Arkhalla muttered with a hint of bitterness at the prospect that her body slave may have become involved with this apparent coup d'état.
The sounds outside were enough to cause a stir within her throne room, slaves, servers and the softer members of Arkhalla's court tried to flee to the opposite side of the room while the posted guards within rushed to stand between Arkhalla's throne and whatever laid beyond it's doors. The doors shook for a moment before they were thrown open with enough force for both to bounce off the wall behind them as dozens of men poured in.
And at the head of them was Sin, flanked closely by Kuthan and Hadu, with what appeared to be Erun lingering a few feet behind them, surrounded by his Undying guard and a look that looked like a sort of mixture of confidence and smugness. She saw no sign of the likes of Talmas, Lilit, Uthara or Anul, though she supposed that was to be expected, they weren't what one would call warriors.
"My lady..." Sin said with a hint of mocking sarcasm as he gave a slight nod towards Arkhalla while he and his troops slowly poured into the throne room "Forgive the sudden intrusion, but I felt the need to speak with you urgently"
He was armed with a sickle sword, stained with blood, and though the man was thin and pale from weeks of incarceration within her dungeons, he carried himself better than most. Though she was a bit amused to see that he was favoring his left side a bit more than his right, and his lips were badly chapped and stained with blood.
"Lord Sin..." Arkhalla hummed at Sin, taking note of the various warriors, human and Vampire, that stood behind him along with the former members of her court, well the ones that could somewhat fight worth a damn.
It was a most impressive display, she'd admit, and she couldn't help but feel hurt that after all she's given these ungrateful wretches, they'd turn on her so. Her blue eyes cooled even further to the point that even ice would seem warm in comparison, and the depths of the sea shallow to the rage that swelled within them. Some of those within Sin's ranks seemed to notice this and began to fidget while Sin himself remained composed, unafraid or unbothered by the obvious rage Arkhalla was feeling...
'But not for long... as hard as you tried my dear Sin, you weren't quite quick enough to keep me from finding HIM' Arkhalla thought with a slowly growing grin as she began to slowly make her way down the dais of her throne.
Sin's smirk of triumph faltered slightly, as did that of several of his compatriots, as they watched the Undying Queen, in the face of numbers and power that she might not even be able to defeat on her own, casually stroll down to their level as if it was another day at court. Arkhalla stopped when she reached the base of her throne's dais and reached down to pick up the blood stained bag that one of her guards had dropped when the doors first flew open. The two hundred year old monarch untied the bag and glanced inside it for a moment before she grinned and slowly looked up to meet Sin's eyes.
Those eyes, filled with such cruel amusement, would haunt Sin's life for the rest of his days.
"Tell me Sin, what did you promise Idu?" Arkhalla asked, the name of Sin's lover rolling off her tongue like a barb "To turn him? To spend eternity together?"
A cold feeling entered Sin's heart as his gaze flickered back and forth between Arkhalla's face and the bag in her hands.
"Enough of this, let's kill her and be done with it!" Erun snarled with rage as he took a step forward before a single piercing gaze from Arkhalla froze him mid-step.
"Erun, do be patient, I'll get to you soon enough" Arkhalla promised the immortal with a wink before she turned her gaze back to Sin and smiled as she reached into the bag and removed it's contents.
"No" Sin whispered with horror as he stared into the glassed over eyes of Idu's partially decomposed face.
It was clear to everyone present that Idu had been dead for some time, perhaps killed not long after Arkhalla had sentenced her Court to the dungeons weeks prior. And based on the frozen expression on his face, his last few moments were spent in utter torment.
"Oh dear, it seems Idu went and lost his poor little head while you were locked away like the animal you are" she gasped rather dramatically before she smirked coldly at the former Councilor and began to toss the head back in forth in her hands "He begged you know, at the end. Cried and sniveled and begged that I stop, that I let him live, that he'd tell me everything I wanted and needed to know. I didn't of course, he could've been lying about his involvement in your rebellion against me. Though I suppose it doesn't matter much anymore, hmm?"
"Y-Y-You... y-y-you..." Sin stared at the severed head of the man he loved with tears building in his eyes "Y-You... YOU HEARTLESS WHORE"
"Is this who you've chosen to lead you against me?" Arkhalla spoke to the rest of her former Court as she tossed aside Idu's head with a flick of her wrist "A man who at the first sign of lost, shatters? I dare say you would've fared better with that idiot Bel in command"
Who no doubt was now experiencing a truly gruesome end at Peter's hand, assuming the cur hadn't fled the moment that Peter bested him and tore apart his men. She still suspected that Narama was involved, of all of her inner circle Arkhalla was wary of her the most given her skill and power, though it seemed that whatever perverse attraction she had for Peter may have slowly chipped away her commitment to Bel and the others. Not that she could blame Narama for giving up on Bel after decades of unrequited love that was so obvious that fucking Rab of all people noticed it.
Sin said nothing as he stared at Idu's severed head for several more seconds before his face turned from pale to a scorching red rage. With a yell that would've given Narama pause, Sin drew his blade and charged towards Arkhalla like a berzerking boar. Arkhalla grinned as the rest of the rebellious members of her court and army followed after him while Arkhalla's own forces charged to meet them halfway. The Undying Queen remained where she was, watching as her loyal subjects fought against her rebellious court. They had numbers on their side, there was no denying that, they were also using humans, conscripts from her own army, to fight against, and Dark Mercy, kill her warriors with training courtesy of her beloved Spider.
'Peter will be most displeased to see his own teachings turned on us' Arkhalla thought with a snarl
The Undying Queen reached out and seized a sword from one of her guards and used it to bisect a approaching Vampire, one from the traitors side, from shoulder to the opposite hip. Without even pausing to watch the body slide apart, Arkhalla made her way through the chaos, cutting down every single traitor, be they human or not. She saw Sin ahead of her, fighting like a demon possessed to the severed head of his late love. If he died, than this rebellion would be over, what few traitors she did happen to spare would be unable or unwilling to continue their defiance against her with the war Councilor dead.
'I've always fucking hated him anyway' Arkhalla thought with a dark grin as she grabbed a human by the throat as he attempted to run her through with a spear and snapped his neck before tossing him aside.
Sin seemed to sense Arkhalla's gaze on him and turned to meet her look with a dark snarl as he began to hack his way through her still loyal guards, and even a few of his own men, to reach her. The Undying Queen grinned as she made to slash at Sin's face, forcing him on to the defensive when suddenly, a hand grabbed Arkhalla by the shoulder and dug it's nails, claws really, so deep that they drew blood before pulling her back and throwing her clear across the room.
The roar of battle quickly died down at the sound of Arkhalla's pained scream as she slammed into a stone pillar, cracking it's surface as she slumped to the floor, leaving a trail of blood behind her. Both from her now cut shoulder and the injuries her back received when she struck the stone. Perhaps she should begin wearing more over her torso aside from a few scraps of gold to cover her breasts or nipples or the occasional thin tunic.
With a pained grown, Arkhalla pulled herself to her feet and glared at the person that threw her before her eyes widened at the sight before her.
Every single guard that was loyal to her laid dead on the ground, their bodies torn and broken in ways that not even one of the Undying could hope to achieve even at their most blood thirsty. And standing in the middle of the carnage was a figure unlike any she's ever seen before. Their skin was pale, very pale, even a Vampire would be considered dark in comparison. And they were dressed rather oddly compared to most that would be wandering the lands of Mesopotamia, dark brown, gold and red were the articles most prominent colors, covering their entire body and looked more suited to the royal courts of the lands far to the north, such as Latveria or Symkaria.
The hair was black, somehow appearing even darker than Arkhalla's and his pale red eyes stared at the Queen with a unfathomable hunger that Arkhalla has never seen before in another being.
"And you are?" Arkhalla said as she slowly reached down for the sickle sword at her feet, her eyes never leaving the mysterious... creature, before her.
He wasn't a Vampire like she was, or anything that she's ever encountered before her in her two hundred years of life. But every instinct in her was telling her to run from this aberration, to seek shelter and hide and pray that it never finds her. Of course she'd do no such thing, she was the Undying Queen of Ur, one of the most powerful beings to have ever walked the face of the Earth with the 'blessing' of Asag himself at her back. If she were to meet her end tonight, than so be it, but she'd be damned if she didn't make this thing work for it.
Her would be assassin didn't bother with a reply to her earlier words, instead he simply lunged at the woman with a unearthly wail.
...
And done.
Next chapter, Cat and mouse...