It took two kitchen attendants to move the first roast out to the dining table even though it was riding on a wheeled cart. Elaine sat on her father’s right side as she had for the last several decades with her own lifemate sitting on her right. Béla sat on Sibilius’ left. Jake sat next to her.

Béla, surprisingly, had been one of the last to arrive, having spent the last three hours in attendance with her old friend, the Great Bard Geoffrey and his wife, Terri. She had wanted to introduce them to her own lifemate, but he had been shepherded into the dining hall by Annalisa only moments before her own arrival.

Béla smiled, seeing him seated next to her empty chair and looked around to see who else was in attendance. As she gazed raptly around the hall, she realized that all of her sisters were in attendance – even Melinda. Only Beth was absent from the original group.

There were a few male humans interspersed in this immortal mix – the few who had been chosen as lifemates by whichever goddess they sat next to. Béla didn’t know them at all, but they were obviously well liked among the group and didn’t seem a bit shy about expressing themselves – with respect to the other goddesses, of course.

The last to arrive in the dining hall were Bard Geoffrey and Terri, who sat at the far end of the four tables, Jeff and Terri mirroring Sibilius and Elaine across the great hall. They were the only two humans in the great hall who had chosen each other as lifemates.

No one disputed their right to sit in the main hall with the immortals. In fact, that special place at the end of the far table was reserved just for the Great Bard and his lifemate. Bard Geoffrey had been instrumental in helping the goddesses to assume power in New Eden and had gained Sibilius’ undying gratitude in that respect. In addition, Geoffrey had been the first consort to the Goddess of the Land. His wife of many years, Terri, who was also blood-sister to the Golden Goddess, was privileged to accompany him wherever he was invited.

Lisa was with Macario in a second dining hall, along with Jake Hedron, Tabatha, Frank, Tanya, Alicia, Jackie and the entire Necrotwin group. The original blond twins, Amber and Ember sat one on each side of a very youthful Roland, cheerfully intent on feeding him to death. Frank Junior sat next to Amber, who divided her attentions between her two favorite men, one on each side of her.

“They certainly know how to cook here,” Frank Senior grinned through a mouthful of meat. “I haven’t eaten this well in nearly fifty years!”

“You haven’t eaten this much in nearly fifty years, either!” Macario quipped, showing off a mouthful of half-chewed squash.

Lisa looked from one to the other of them, then at Tanya. “We’re going to have to work it off of them, you know?”

Tanya laughed, demurely covering her mouth as she chewed. There was a tittering of laughter as the erotic image she broadcast of ‘working it off’ was picked up by most of the females in the group.

Jake and Tabatha, all business as usual, were discussing the distribution of the colonists. Just before their disembarkation, everyone aboard the Phoenix had been asked to divide up into groups of family and friends. There had been nearly sixty groups of passengers who wanted to remain together on the surface of this new world, so each group had been transported to a different community so as not to overload any town with too many newcomers. For several months before their arrival, the local denizens of New Eden had been busily building shelters and houses, cheerfully anticipating the arrival of new faces and (hopefully) fast friends.

In addition, there were small groups of two or three, and single individuals who wished to strike out on their own. They were billeted in a nearby barracks here at Southern, and would be addressed by the goddesses in attendance after this feast. Fresh meat and vegetables were provided for them as well, along with the use of the magnificent kitchens and mess that had been installed a thousand years earlier to feed the great ship’s crew whenever they were billeted here.

Many of the original ship’s crew helped the human refugees with the preparation of this feast celebrating their arrival. The feeling of new adventure was contagious amongst the human group.

That feeling had been shared the day before by almost everyone in New Eden as groups of newcomers began to appear in designated arrival points, mostly in areas lightly populated. No groups had been transported to any community along the equator. There was no room for them there.

That didn’t stop the local citizens from celebrating, however. The first night after the ‘Great Exodus’, as it would come to be called, fireworks were visible all over the inner surface, especially along the equator. In addition, daylong picnics had occurred everywhere there was a park, with feasting and games.

Almost eight percent of the tiny moon’s food reserves were consumed over the next several days. Temporary kitchens were set up in many communities where the new arrivals were settling into their new lives. The strangest thing for the newcomers to get used to, aside from the slight skew of the land because of the moon’s rotation, was the mockery of sunrise, noon and sunset created by the giant fixed crystals that bathed the inside of their world with sunlight as they went through their cycle of light and dark every thirty hours.

The day after the feast, Elaine sought out Lisa and Tabatha to learn more about how they had created the wormholes that had breathed life into their ship, the Phoenix III. She was also extremely interested in Tabatha’s mind shield containing the nuclear energy that powered their ship.

“Do you think you can teach some of my sisters how to create your time shield?” she asked Tabatha. “There will be times in the future when we will have need of its protection.”

“I don’t know,” Tabatha admitted. “Lisa couldn’t learn how to do it – she had to invent her own shield. But it holds almost as well as the one in my mind. The problem is, I know how to use this shield, and, as you probably noticed, I can even make copies of it. But I don’t know how I acquired it. It happened with I was in psychic contact with a mentally advanced race.”

“The Hurrahs,” Elaine replied, not particularly surprised.

“You know about them?” Lisa asked, raising her eyebrows.

“I learned about them from the Praetor,” Elaine admitted. “They are recorded in our history.”

“As is everything else,” Lisa smirked. “Why are you so interested in us, anyway?”

Elaine smiled. It was amazing how an extra few thousand years of memory had helped her to stabilize her mind. All of her own questions were now answered, and she could see how crippled Béla, her Father and many of her sisters were with their memories of each other denied to them. In addition, Elaine now had her full powers as a trained Seeker.

“Because the two of you are a pivotal part of our future survival,” she informed them. “You two, specifically, have the most powerful minds in existence, as far as I know. You,” she indicated Lisa, “have the ultimate offensive power. You can blow up anything, anywhere.

“You,” Elaine nodded to Tabatha, “have the ultimate defense. No physical power can breach any shield you create. Only by time-walking around it can one of your shields be penetrated. Am I correct in assuming that once you have created a shield it will remain without your required attention?”

“The shield that houses the Phoenix III’s power plant feeds on the power within it, Goddess,” Tabatha replied. “Other shields I’ve created of the same nature have required my constant attention to hold them in place.”

“It took both of you to create that power plant, did it not?” Elaine asked.

Both girls nodded.

“What about the…” Elaine sighed, not certain how to describe the constant teleportation of air and water into the ship’s unusual park.

“Those are wormholes,” Lisa told her, easily seeing the image of Elaine’s question. “I didn’t come up with those; Alicia did. She’s Frank and Tanya’s daughter. I only provided the power to punch them through to where they needed to go.”

“I helped, too,” Tabatha broke in. “My mind shields hold the wormholes in position. Those wormhole shields don’t need my constant attention as they gather their power from somewhere else. Alicia dreamed up the idea, but lacked the power to pull it off.”

“Well, I shall have to talk with her, as well,” Elaine said, smiling at Tabatha, then returning her gaze to Lisa. “Now, regarding your Phoenix powers… You have been trying to teach humans how to harness these abilities. Is this correct?”

“Are you charging me with a wrongdoing?” Lisa asked, suddenly feeling defensive.

“Of course not!” Elaine protested. “I know you already have two promising apprentices. I was wondering if you would like to start a class. In the coming centuries, we will need a great many individuals with great power – even more than is available currently with all of my sisters.”

Lisa frowned ever so slightly at that word, and the fact that Elaine had excluded her from that favored grouping. She had once been Elaine’s sister, but that was a lifetime and many bodies ago. Now she had no vampiric powers at all; she was pure phoenix. Cleansing, purifying fire was her power, now. Her blood would heal no one – not even herself. But, as a being of pure, tightly controlled energy, she would never again require healing of the vampiric kind.

“My lifemate and I want to start up a school for my human blood-sisters – those I bonded with when I was still like you,” Lisa informed the goddess. “We would require a large, preferably wooded area; a wilderness, perhaps, that isn’t being used for anything constructive. My mother’s blood-kin would be welcome there, as well.”

Elaine smiled, knowing well what would come out of any wilderness ‘school’ this sex and blood-hungry phoenix desired. Lisa’s violent sexual games would produce the most powerful beings this universe had ever known.

“I was already considering something of that nature,” Elaine told her agreeably. “The districts nearest Northern Depot are the most desolate and would fit your purposes well, I think. Would you require assistance for constructing housing?”

“No,” Lisa grinned. “I built a spaceship out of pure energy – I don’t think a few buildings would be beyond my abilities.”

“Very well, then,” Elaine agreed, smiling at them both. “You shall have your wilderness.”

She rose, preparing to leave. “I’m sorry, but I have many things to do today, so I must take my leave of you.”

Tabatha and Lisa walked with her to entrance of their temporary billets. As the door shut behind Elaine, they felt Elaine teleport somewhere.

“Wow! Tabatha grinned. “We get our own place! We could set up another maze!”

“Yeah!” Lisa grinned, then hugged her ancient lover. “We can do anything we want, now.”

“Well, I know what I want,” Tabatha grinned, pulling a strap off Lisa’s shoulder, baring it to her delicate kisses. “It’s been way too long since we’ve been together…”

“Several months, anyway, from your point of view,” Lisa mentioned.

“What do you mean, ‘my’ point of view?” Tabatha wanted to know.

“Tabby-darling,” Lisa began, “this isn’t the same body I had the last time we were together. I’m different. I’ve died and come back a hundred times since then. I’m not really my mother’s daughter any more.”

“But you still love me, don’t you?” Tabatha asked, almost whimpering.

“Of course I do,” Lisa crooned. “But I will have to remember to be gentle with you. I’ve not known you for a few hundred years. And that passage of time has been extremely violent for me.”

“You’re afraid you’ll hurt me?” Tabatha asked, her eyes widening. “Don’t be. Have you forgotten how much l love being close to death? I remember you used to gripe about my ‘carelessness’ and how often you had to save me.”

Lisa smiled, staring deep into Tabatha’s light blue eyes. “Yes – I had forgotten… perhaps you would do, as well… Tell me, earth girl – would you die for me?”

“Okay, now your scaring me,” Tabatha said, stepping back. “Are you looking for another apprentice or a lover. Because a ‘lover’, I am willing to be.”

“For me, now, there is no difference,” Lisa explained, taking the blue-eyed redhead in her arms. “If you want to make love to me, you must be willing to die for me.”

“Oh, shit,” Tabatha whispered, her lips almost touching Lisa’s. “I hope Jake understands… Maybe you can send a set of twins to console him.”

“Don’t be… silly,” Lisa gasped between kisses. “I’m not… going… to destroy you.”

“Damn!” Tabatha muttered as her lips were crushed against Lisa’s. “There goes… half the thrill…”

“Don’t worry,” Lisa said, breaking their kiss and leading her lover to the nearest bunk. “I think you’ll make a fine apprentice. After all, what else is there to do around here?”

“You lay down,” Tabatha suggested. “Let me do you while you tell me about your wilderness plans.”

Lisa grinned, remembering how ardent a lover Tabatha had been before. Now, the lovely, freckled redhead was gently unbuttoning her top. As one breast was exposed, Tabatha moved to it with her soft lips and warm, wet tongue and tortured that tiny bit of sensual flesh until Lisa was ready to smack her on the side of her head.

Picking up the annoyed image, Tabatha raised her head and laughed, then gently kissed her way across Lisa’s chest and nuzzled her other breast free of the confining cloth. This time, instead of centering her attention on Lisa’s nipple, she pressed her lips against the lower orb of Lisa’s soft breast. After a moment of kissing and licking, Tabatha took a bit of warm flesh between her teeth and gently bit down.

Lisa jerked at the sudden sensation. She definitely wasn’t used to be seduced in so gentle a manner. By now she should be bleeding from several serious wounds. Taking a deep breath, she let Tabby continue her soft, nuzzling ministrations, forcing herself to be patient.

“Tell me what will happen to me when I come to visit you in your wilderness sanctuary,” Tabatha whispered, moving her lips sensuously against the flesh of Lisa’s breast.

She began kissing and licking her way down Lisa’s taut torso as Lisa began to speak.

“Well, Darling, first of all, I would show you where you’ll be sleeping. I’ll want you to try out the bed, of course.”

“Of course…” Tabatha murmured and delicately nipped at the flesh stretched over Lisa’s bottom rib.

“This is a special bed I’ll have constructed just for my Femme acquaintances. It has a special lid to cover you.”

“Ooo. What’s so special about it?” Tabatha crooned, moving her fingers across Lisa’s lower belly and watching the little phoenix twitch with desire.

“The underside of the lid will have a thousand sharp spikes in it to penetrate your breasts and your soft belly,” Lisa replied, grinning at her guest’s imagined reaction upon encountering such a treat.

“Oh, God!” Tabatha softly exclaimed. “You would close it on me? Would you slam it down, or would you take your time so I could feel every single sharpened point as it penetrated through my flesh and into my body? My body that wants so badly to bleed for you…”

She was gently biting on Lisa’s belly flesh, now, and Lisa was definitely starting to squirm.

“You really are as blood-thirsty as me,” Lisa chuckled as she listened to Tabatha’s lusty words. “You will make a wonderful…”

“Tell me!” Tabatha demanded through a mouthful of tight belly flesh held between her teeth.

“I would slam it down so I could hear you scream out your agony to me!” Lisa exclaimed, almost yelling as Tabatha bit down hard on her stomach.

Tabatha let go with her teeth and moved down toward Lisa’s pelvis to bite her again.

“And then I would raise it back up, just to lick off the blood that leaked from your perforated flesh,” Lisa continued, sighing with pleasure, now. “And when you were nearly healed from that, I would slam it down again… and again… Aahhh!”

Tabatha had a mouthful of belly flesh and was jerking her head back and forth, joyfully tearing at her skin. Lisa cried out and arched upward as she orgasmed, then dropped back against the bunk again.

Tabatha let go, listening to Lisa gasp and pant as she recovered. After a moment, she sat up, shoving her elbow into Lisa’s belly for support.

“That sounds good for day one,” she grinned. “What would we do the next day?”

“Hunt…” Lisa gasped. “I would take… you out with my group… my apprentices. We would go spear hunting.”

“Really?” Tabatha asked, her body responding to all sorts of ideas about spears. “What would we hunt?”

“We,” Lisa said, raising her head to look down at her lover, “would hunt you.”

Tabatha laughed wickedly at the very thought of it and sat up further, moving her pointy elbow off of Lisa’s stomach. Lying down on the narrow cot with her feet up by Lisa’s head, Tabatha caressed Lisa’s bare legs for a moment, then began slowly scratching her nails along Lisa’s inner thighs.

“Every time I hear something I like,” Tabatha promised, “I’ll scratch harder.”

“We could give you a head start, I suppose,” Lisa said, expanding on her imagined girl hunt. “We might even give you a spear. Uhh…”

Lisa groaned with pleasure as Tabatha made a deep scratch along Lisa’s thigh right up to her pubic mound.

“Two spears,” Lisa said, hoping for another lover’s wound.

“What then?” Tabatha asked, her lips softly brushing Lisa’s hipbone as she spoke.

“We would all be naked,” Lisa continued, then sighed as Tabatha scratched her again.

“We would run you down and spear you in your back as you tried to flee.”

“Why do you think I would run?” Tabatha wanted to know.

“It’s a hunt, Tabby – you’re supposed to run.”

“I would run only to get ahead so I could ambush one of you,” Tabatha promised.

“I hope it will be me seeing you suddenly appear right in front of me,” Lisa sighed.

Tabatha began running her fingers up and down Lisa’s thighs again. Lisa spread her legs a bit, hoping Tabby would start playing a little further up, please.

“Yes…” Tabatha sighed as she caressed her lover. “I would leap up right in front of you and you would run right onto my spear.”

“Yes!” Lisa moaned. “We would impale each other with our spears! Oh, yes!”

Tabatha changed her position so she could reach a hand between Lisa’s legs and began stroking her leaking vulva with her fingers.

“Then the others, hearing our cries of death would come running – Oh, yes. Right there! – Come running up,” Lisa continued, “and they would pin you to the ground with their spears, jabbing them through your soft, bleeding belly – Oh, Jesus! Do that again! – Bleeding belly – Oooh, God! I’m coming!”

Tabatha was gripping Lisa’s hipbone with her teeth while she dug her nails into Lisa’s pussy flesh. Her thumb was buried inside and pressed hard against the tender front of Lisa’s pussy. One sharp fingernail was pressed hard against Lisa’s hooded clitoris. There were tiny drops of blood where Tabatha’s fingernails dug in from the pressure she exerted.

After a moment, and as Lisa shuddered into a semi-conscious state, Tabatha relaxed her hand, releasing the pressure around Lisa’s pussy.

Somehow, she’d lost track of time. It seemed that something good had been happening, but she couldn’t remember what. She jerked as something lightly stung her nipple. As she became more aware, she noticed someone was evidently lying halfway on top of her. Something stung her nipple again. Then something warm and wet touched it where it had been stung.

Lisa opened her eyes, just barely making a slit to see through. Seeing Tabatha gently licking on her breast brought her back.

Noticing she was awake, Tabatha stopping licking and grinned up at her, “Then what?”

“What?” Lisa asked, confused for a moment.

“Your girls,” Tabatha grinned, “they pin me to the ground with their spears in my belly. What would you do to me, then?”

“I would take a knife from my belt,” Lisa began.

“No, no,” Tabatha corrected her. “We’re all naked, remember?”

“Oh, yeah,” Lisa muttered. “Alright, I would take my spear – no, take your spear, already coated with my blood – and insert it up into your bloody cunt…”

“Why would it be bloody?” Tabatha wanted to know as she began masturbating herself against Lisa’s thigh.

“What? Oh. Because one of the girl’s spears was shoved into your belly just above your pelvic bone. It penetrated through your pussy and out into the ground underneath you.”

“Oh, I like that,” Tabatha grinned. She began rubbing her thigh against Lisa’s vulva while continuing to rut against Lisa’s thigh.

“You’re distracting me…” Lisa murmured as she began to hump against Tabby’s smooth, muscular thigh.

“You were shoving a spear up my cunt,” Tabatha reminded her. “But there was already a spear in there, penetrating my tender womb from the front…”

“Oh,” Lisa moaned. “Well, I’ll have to burn it out of the way.”

“What? You mean burn the spear in my lower belly?” Tabatha asked.

“Of course,” Lisa replied. “It would be very easy to do.”

They were both getting a little excited and breathing heavily as they humped themselves against each other.

“Oh, God!” Tabatha cried, pretending agony. “The spear is burning up in my belly! Oh, it hurts! Yes! I’ll come really good from that!”

“Don’t be so dramatic,” Lisa complained, “or I won’t impale you with my spear.”

“You’re going to impale me?” Tabatha asked, immediately cheering up. “Shades of Dracula! I love it already! I can hardly wait to get there!”

The girls stopped talking then and became serious about achieving their next orgasm together. Lisa wrapped her arms around her lover and slowly clawed deep, bleeding furrows down Tabatha’s naked back as her insides began to melt from the orgasmic sensation that swept through her.

Tabatha shuddered with orgasm as well, her teeth buried in Lisa’s shoulder – their pain and orgasmic sensations blending together in their minds and bodies as they collapsed, weeping and gasping with ecstasy, back down on the little cot.

---