Chapter 3

"God! That bite goes clear down to the bone!" Tanya was saying as she put some pinkish cream on Tony's wounded leg. "That little raptor got a good grip on you, didn't he?" It wasn't really a question; she was just making conversation.

"Is that what that frigging thing was?" Tony asked, remembering that raptors from the Tri-d remake of "Jurassic Park" he'd seen as a youngster looked a lot different than these. "It had blue and red feathers on its head!"

Tanya didn't answer right away. She was wrapping Tony's leg.

"What is that stuff you put on my leg?" Tony wanted to know. "It's making it itch really fierce!"

"Vaseline and vampire blood," Tanya replied, grinning at him. "Sorry – Life-essence of the Goddesses, I mean ... Anyway, it speeds the healing process by about a factor of two hundred. Hence, the itch! That'll be healed by morning."

"How's Cherrill doing?" Tony wanted to know. "She doesn't have any special 'life-essence' in her like most of the Phoenix trainees."

"I'm just fine," Cherrill chirped from the doorway. "I just filled the bite mark with fire, and it healed right up!"

Booom!

Everyone jumped as the explosion of Ric's hunting rifle shook the second-story window of the infirmary.

"Hey! Let's go see if he got one! Ow!" Tony exclaimed excitedly as he hopped down onto his feet, then winced as his wounded leg complained of the sudden movement.

Booom!

"Does the second shot mean he missed the first time?" Cherrill wondered out loud as they trotted and limped down the wide staircase.

Victoria was still in the dining hall with the University students and heard Cherrill's question.

"It's not likely," she called up to the little group descending the stairs. "Ric usually hits what he's aiming at. There's probably more than one of those big turkey things out there!"

Sure enough, several minutes later, the door to the lodge burst open and Ric backed in, pulling two eighty pound bird-like creatures into the foyer with him. They were very dead and covered with bloody feathers.

"Where ya want these?" he called out, grinning to no one in particular. "We're eatin' good tomorrow!"

Frank and two of the kitchen help quickly relieved Ric of his load and the proud hunter turned and raised his gun over his head in victory as he entered the dining area. Vicky clapped and cheered, then the others joined in. In the meantime, the dead birds, if indeed that's what they were, were dragged back outside and around to the cleaning shed behind the inn.

"My mighty hunter," Vicky grinned as she came forward and hugged him, ignoring the blood spatters on his shirt. Ric stood still and permitted it, knowing that Vicky got a charge out of getting animal blood on her.

"I need to get you alone," she whispered into his ear before letting him loose again. "Soon..." He grinned at her, knowing that this night she would be hot and ready for him. It would be a good night to remember her by.

"Well, now that all the interruptions are over," Tanya announced to the group, "We have some special guests tonight, and they want to perform for you. After that, if anyone wants to get up on stage, feel free to do so."

"Ladies and gentlemen," Frank called out from the stage, causing everyone to turn in that direction. "I would like to present Tia and Tara Simpson."

Tony and Cherrill found seats so they could easily see the stage, wondering what the show was going to be while Ric sat down, holding Vicky in his lap. Quite often, the shows were very sexual in nature, and the rumor was that the night would probably end in a free-for-all orgy. That was one reason why the University girls were dressed in those sexy, see-through outfits for dinner.

Tia and Tara were twins, as well as long-lifers. They had also been trained in controlling mind-fire like the Phoenixes, and had actually evolved past the point of needing physical bodies to ensure their continued survival. However, since most of the rest of the population depended on physical form for communication or, for that matter, sex and everything else, the 'T' twins maintained their physical forms as well. They liked sex as well as anyone, and if either wanted sex with someone besides each other, a physical form was, well ... required.

The 'house' lights went down and the two twins moved so that they faced each other from opposite sides of the stage. Tia raised her arms and created a brilliant, thin arc of red and blue fire.

"Ooh!" and "Ahhh!" everyone gasped as their senses were treated to the brilliantly beautiful display.

Tara (presumably – who can tell them apart, anyway?), raised her arms and shot a long shaft of fire through the arc which then circled around to form a complex design with Tia's fire, then both flames faded.

A smattering of applause rippled through the small group as they watched, then Tia created a beast made completely from a column of fire about two meters high. It began to 'walk' toward her twin sister, obviously stalking her.

Tara pretended fright and created a bow and arrow made from fire and launched a fiery shaft at the beast while at the same time the beast opened its mouth and belched fire at her. The two flames met high over the middle of the stage and exploded in an awesome fireworks display.

In the meantime, Tia had created another beast made of fire and it was crawling around behind and toward her sister as Tara concentrated on the fire beast in front of her.

"Look out behind you!" one of the students in the audience cheerfully called out, hoping to see some more fireworks.

Tara obliged, waving at the girl and turned around just in time to be completely enveloped all the way to her waist by the fiery mouth of the second beast. As Tara was lifted into the air, the first beast bit down on her legs and, between the two monsters, they pulled the poor girl apart, each greedily wolfing down half.

"Eeeeaaaggh!" Tara screamed and her blood and insides sprayed the stage before turning into pure, deep blue fire. Then she and both the beasts vanished, leaving the stage and the entire room in darkness.

A puff of fire appeared in the center of the stage and expanded upward, finally creating enough light for everyone to see Tia (or Tara) holding up a finger like a candle from which the tall, narrow flame danced.

The girl was naked, now, and as she twirled around, the flame spiraled, surrounding her alluring body in a prison of fire. The other twin, (Tara?) appeared and danced around the outside of the spiraling flame, seeming to attempt a rescue of some sort.

Tara reached out and grabbed the flame, which immediately surrounded and enveloped her, burning off all her clothing in an instant. Now both twins were beautifully naked, and Tia was free from her self-created prison.

They danced around the stage joyfully for a moment, then one seemed to trip, and the other laughed and pointed at her, miming the act of ridicule directed at her sister. Long rapiers made of pure fire were suddenly in each of the girls' hands, and they were fighting furiously, much to the delight of the audience.

"Get her between her legs!" one of the University girls yelled, cheering excitedly as she watched.

"Slice her tits off!" Cherrill yelled, getting into the spirit of the event.

Then it was over, and Tia's long narrow rapier of fire was stuck right through Tara's tummy and sticking out through her back. Tara whimpered and slowly sank to her knees, not daring to touch the fiery weapon for fear of burning her hands.

She arched backward beautifully as Tia pulled the fiery blade out of Tara's belly button. Then Tara lay gasping and whimpering on the stage floor, still holding her own fiery blade.

"Should I finish her?" Tia asked the audience.

Tara turned her head toward the front of the stage, feigning fright, and shook her head, trying to get everyone to say 'No!'

"Yeah!" and "Carve her up into little pieces!" met Tia's query. So much for cheering the underdog.

"Put it right through her nipple!" Kristi, one of the University girls called out.

"No!" one of the girls from the second hunting group yelled. "Bury your blade in her pussy!"

Several others in the audience looked at the girl and nodded, cheering her suggestion.

Tia turned toward her dying sister on the stage. Tara flopped around weakly trying to sit up and defend herself, her fiery blade much duller, now.

"Right through the heart, my darling," Tia called out as she raised her blade and pointed it downward.

The fiery blade dove down like a long dagger and pierced Tara's breast. Tara shrieked and spasmed, raising her own sword arm in her death throes and piercing her victorious sister right between her legs. Tia cried out and sank down on the blade as her knees collapsed under her, her lower body bursting into flames as the blade sliced her open, her insides igniting as they sprayed down onto Tara and the stage floor.

Then, both girls exploded in fire and in mere seconds were consumed completely, leaving the stage in darkness once again.

This time, the house lights came up, bringing the cheering group back to a more mundane reality as the room became more visible.

Tia and Tara came back out onto the stage, both unharmed, both still naked, and bowed.

"Would you like to see a gunfight?" Tia asked, hoping for suggestions from the group.

"I'd like to see another swordfight!" Tony yelled up at them, grinning with pleasure from the scene the girls had just completed.

"How about one of you use the other for target practice?" one of the girls from the other hunting group asked.

"Can't wait to see us get killed again, huh?" Tara asked, laughing. "Okay, I'll be a target. Who wants to shoot at me?"

"I will!" Tony yelled and quickly headed up the stage steps. The girl from the other group was there, as well, coming up on the stage with him.

"Don't mind me," the girl said as she joined him. "I come up here every night!"

"I'm Tony," Tony introduced himself to the pretty huntress as they both advanced toward the middle of the stage.

"My name's Sheryye," the huntress replied, grinning at him. "You're with that Phoenix girl, aren't you?"

"Yeah," Tony admitted, wondering where this was going.

"You think you could get her up on the stage with us?" Sheryye wanted to know.

"Uh, yeah, I guess," he replied, then turned toward Cherrill, still sitting next to his empty seat. "Cherrill, you wanna come up?"

Cherrill gazed from Tony to Sheryye and back, wondering what they were up to, then grinned and rose from her seat. She walked over to the front of the stage and looked up at the two of them. "What is it?" she asked, feeling game for almost anything they might want to do.

Sheryye stepped forward and looked down at the red-headed Phoenix trainee. "You were the girl who was bitten earlier, aren't you?"

"Uh, yeah," Cherrill admitted, surprised that anyone would be interested in that.

"Can you do stuff like what we saw on the stage? With fire and stuff?" Sheryye asked.

"Well, some," Cherrill admitted. "I healed my bite wound with fire, but I can't flame my whole body into pure energy yet. That takes more power than I can manage."

"Well, come up then," Sheryye said and held out her hands for Cherrill to climb up onto the stage. "You'll do just fine!"

With a quick grunt from both girls, Cherrill and Sheryye stood side by side.

"You seem to know your way around," Tony said, noticing Sheryye's confidence on the stage.

"Well, we've been here for almost a week, now," Sheryye told them both. "Frank and Tanya encourage audience participation, and like I said, I've been up here a few times. The Phoenix girls like to show off their abilities to us commoners, and these two will pretty much let me do whatever I want to with them. Last night, I had them tied together and shot them both with about twenty arrows."

"Wow!" Tony exclaimed. "I'm sorry I missed that! You hunt with bow and arrow?"

"Yeah, that's my weapon of choice," Sheryye admitted. "It gives the monsters a fair chance..."

"Not with those explosive arrows you use," Joey, another hunter from her group and obviously Sheryye's companion, called out from his seat. "There's hardly enough meat left on them for cooking after you're done with them!"

Everyone stopped talking and looked at Joey as he continued, "First day out she bags a Tyro – near blew it up! Chunks of meat and blood and guts all over the place!"

"Hey!" Sheryye snarled down at him. "I had to get in really close to make that shot! I could have been trampled to death, or eaten before I could get my shot off!"

"Mon Cherie, darling," Joey replied, sounding sarcastic. "You got right between its legs and shot it in the ass! If you had been trampled, it would've been your own stupid fault!"

"It was still dangerous!" Sheryye declared, trying to defend herself against this sarcastic asshole. "It almost fell on me!" She turned away, determined to ignore Joey. He was just jealous, anyway, not having managed to bag anything yet! And she also wanted the conversation to end there. No need to tell what did fall on her when she made that shot ... not that she'd minded...

"I brought a bow, too," Tony said, noticing that Sheryye seemed to be finished talking to her friend. "We haven't gone out, yet, but I'm looking forward to it tomorrow!"

"Yeah, it's all good," Sheryye murmured, still trying to disconnect her mind from Joey and not really listening to Tony.

"So," Cherrill interrupted as she noticed the Phoenixes, Tia and Tara, were both actually waiting to see what Sheryye wanted to do. "What are we doing up here, anyway? You have something planned?"

"Uh, yeah!" Sheryye replied, forcing her attention back to the present. Thinking quickly, she decided what she wanted to do. "Um, let's see ... one-two-three-four-and-me-makes-five...

"We're gonna have a five-way shootout!" she exclaimed. "Tanya, honey, can you get us all some guns?"

"For all of you?" Tanya asked, "Are Tia and Tara going to be your targets?"

"No," Sheryye decided. "They can have guns, too! We'll all have guns!"

"You can be killed, you know," Tanya warned her. "The goddesses don't make it a point to rescue anyone who suicides, especially if the victim plays games like this!

"Tony, you could be killed, too!" Tanya said sternly as she gazed at him. "You still want to play?"

Tony's emotions were in turmoil. Here was a chance to gun down four beautiful babes, right in their sexy, indented tummies. The fact that he would probably be shot as well only added to his excitement. Besides, he didn't really believe he would be killed. After all, Tanya had that 'magic' cream that was already healing his bitten leg.