Chapter dedicated to Samerella2276. Thanks so much for reading and voting, my friend!

Chapter 96 – Good Boy – Felaern's POV

Getting through Quinn's security had gone as expected. It was clear they had very specific orders upon my arrival. Anxiety pebbled their expressions and a flurry of activity ensued as a large group of guards suddenly appeared to 'escort' me to the conference room.

I smirked. Oh yes, Quinn definitely expected me.

When I breached the doorway, I found the conference room to also be exactly as I had expected. Quinn stood toward the back with several of his guard strategically around him, while Alaric stood off to the side.

Alaric's posture was stiff, and his hands clenched into fists, as he walked to stand about five feet in front of me. He didn't extend any sort of greeting. Instead, he just held his ground between his father and me, and waited.

While his loyalty to his blood was commendable, he had to realize it was an impossible effort, which would only lead to his own demise. I was aware of Raine's great affection for him, so would rather not kill him if possible. In an effort to sway his course, I kept his hard gaze and spoke pointedly, "You are naïve if you think you can beat me."

He replied through gritted teeth, "I am no fool. However, while our opinion on the matter may agree, I will not just stand by and allow you to take his life."

Again, admirable. He planned to fight me, even though he readily admitted he knew he couldn't win, all in the name of honor for his father's life. I tried a different tactic. Maybe he would be willing to step aside if he knew I did not have lethal intention. I clarified, "On that count, you have no worries, because Queen Raine has already secured his continued existence, when she begged me not to kill him."

Alaric hesitated and his stance relaxed ever so slightly.

Quinn hissed, "Then what the fuck are your intentions?"

I smiled wickedly at him. "Simple. I am here to exact earned punishment. Surely, you of all people would understand that."

"I do not answer to you," he replied through clenched teeth. "Alaric, show our guest out."

My eyes narrowed at his foolishness. "You would condemn your son to a battle you know he cannot win, and with a high potential it will cost him his life? And for what gain? Just to prolong the inevitable? Your punishment will happen. And the harder you make it for me, the more severe penalty I will inflict."

Truthfully, I hoped he wouldn't give in to me easily. I wanted a fight. But not with Alaric.

Ignoring my comments, Quinn tried to talk his way out of it, "I was not aware of your protection over her. If I had been, I never would have touched her."

Anger flared through me and I reminded him coldly, "Raine ran away because of facts she was not aware of as well. And did you grant her any leniency for her ignorance?"

He ground his teeth together, knowing I spoke the truth.

"Your choice is simple. You can accept your punishment and preserve the safety of your guard and son. Or you can resist, and incur any number of casualties."

At some unknown signal, the idiot actually ordered an attack, and about twenty of his guards surged forward. Alaric's head spun around in surprise as they approached from behind him. It was clear he didn't expect their advance. Likely because he knew how foolish it was.

No matter. I was in the mood to kill anyway.

Alaric was still closest to me, so before he could even turn back around, I hurled him across the room. I wanted him out of the way, and hoped he would stay there.

Hand to hand combat wasn't really necessary for me, but it felt good to stretch my muscles, so I eagerly met the leading vampires with punch after punch, enjoying how it felt every time my fists impacted with their flesh.

However, without warning, fire shot through my chest! The pain stunned me and caused me to drop to my knees. I looked down in shock to find several metal stars with jagged edges imbedded in my chest. And I knew they could only be one type of metal – obsidian iron ore.

In the same way that silver could weaken and kill a vampire, a very specific iron ore could render a faerie powerless and be deadly. It wasn't even found in this dimension, so I never anticipated Quinn would have it.

Vampires still surrounded me, but as soon as the pain hit, I had mentally held them back, so that they could not inflict a lethal blow. They appeared confused at their inability to come any further, but I saw anticipation in their eyes that the stars would accomplish their deadly effect. Indeed, the high dose of the metal in my body would have been fatal for any lessor faerie. But they had made a grave mistake in wielding the weapon against me.

Their expressions altered radically as they watched me. A second ago, they were confident. But then, as I slowly jerked out each wretched star, they grew more and more alarmed. With good reason. I was going to slaughter them all.

Once the blasted pieces of metal were out of my body, it took a moment for my full strength to return before I stood to my feet. I found Quinn's gaze across the room and growled, "You had your chance to end this peacefully and endure your punishment like a man. But instead, you had to be a pussy about it. And now, you can watch them all die."

With that, I mentally froze them all in place. There wasn't a vampire in the room strong enough to withstand my mental power, except for Quinn and possibly Alaric. Quinn chose not to move of his own accord, likely because he was still being a pussy. And Alaric remained stationary as well, likely because he knew better than to provoke me.

Quite leisurely, I approached the first frozen vampire. His eyes grew wide in horror. With a quick flick of my wrist, I jerked his head from his body. It took about two steps for me to reach the next one. Oddly enough, he had the same expression of horror as the first one. I smiled wickedly, and then slammed my fist into his chest and extracted his heart.

I continued this process...Casually and methodically ending each one of their miserable existences, as I held Quinn's gaze periodically, making sure he was paying very strict attention to the devastation he incited. By the time I was finished, twenty-seven vampires lay dead and only Quinn and Alaric remained standing.

Once I was done, I addressed Quinn again, "Are you willing to submit to your punishment now?"

His jaw clenched, but he replied, "Yes."

"Very good. Now, out of the goodness of my heart, and because you offered Raine a choice, I will extend the same courtesy to you. You may either select to have twenty lashes at my hand, or...I will take your eyesight," I purred.

Quinn growled obstinately,"You might be powerful, but even you cannot take my eyesight."

Oh brilliant, he really was an idiot. I snapped my fingers and blinded him.

"No!!" he gasped and hissed, "I believe you!! Return my vision!! I'll take the lashes!"

Another snap of my fingers and he was staring at me again. I commanded him, "Come here."

Slowly, he walked through the dead bodies until he stood right in front of me.

"Kneel and remove your shirt."

Anger flashed through his eyes, but he sank to his knees and pulled off his shirt. I smiled, quite enjoying his submissive position and said silkily, "Hmm...You look good like that. It is the natural order of things that you should bow to me. How does it feel to you?"

His lips formed a thin hard line and he made no answer. No matter, I wasn't really looking for a response. I reached to my back and extracted a whip. As I uncurled it, Quinn tried again to argue, "There should only be ten lashes because that is the same amount I inflicted on Raine."

A growl escaped my lips at his insolence. "You are in no position to question me, but I do find I agree. Twenty is not the correct number. Instead, here are your new options. You may select fifty lashes or I will take both your eyesight...and your speech."

His eyes widened and he hissed, "You will not get away with this! I will kill you!"

I was done listening to his foolishness and snapped, "If you do not shut your mouth this very instant, I will put something in it to silence you. And when you are done sucking me off, quite thoroughly, I might add; we will proceed with your punishment."

I didn't particularly want his foul mouth wrapped around my cock, but I would certainly do it to prove a point. Apparently, he believed I would follow through on that particular threat because his mouth snapped shut.

Finally.

Before I began, I turned to Alaric and asked shortly, "Do you wish to die today?"

"No," his answer was fast and simple.

I nodded and continued pointedly, "Will you get in my way?" It would not bode well for him if he attacked me while I was punishing Quinn.

"No," he replied. Again there was no hesitation in his answer.

Excellent. I walked around Quinn so that I was at his back and ordered, "In my utter enjoyment, I might just miscount; therefore, after each hit, you will count for me. Is that understood?"

His hands clenched into fist, but he ground out, "Yes."

I didn't wait any longer, and snapped the whip across his back, slicing open his flesh, causing blood to run down to the floor. His entire body jolted and he hissed, "One."

With hits two through ten, I went quite fast because I enjoyed the pattern I was making on his back. Vampires might heal quickly, but not as fast as I could lay down nine stripes.

After that I slowed down a little.

Until number thirty-five.

I was somewhat impatient to finish, so the next ten were fast and furious. When I stopped, he was panting hard, his back a mutilated mess of flesh, bone and blood. I actually did not need him to count, as I kept a perfect count in my head, but I growled, "What number are we on?!"

It took him two more breaths before he was able to hiss, "Forty-five."

"Good boy," I purred.

After the last five, I rounded to his front again. He waited for his back to heal and then began to stand to his feet.

"Stay!" I ordered him back down.

He sank back to his knees and glared up at me, but thankfully had learned his lesson in keeping silent. He watched as I carefully picked up the obsidian iron ore weapons and tucked all but one into a pouch on my back.

When I was done, I returned to him and grasped his chin firmly, angling his head up exactly as I wanted it, to keep his utter attention on my next words. I slid the edge of the star down his cheek, slicing open his flesh as I growled low, "Now, we are going to talk about where you got the metal to make these. And you had better tell me every last detail, because if you do not, I can assure you, the consequences would be severe. "

Once again, he must have learned some lesson from our time together, because he quickly rattled off the name and location of the person that sold it to him. I hesitated for a moment and then nodded. I could normally tell when I was being lied to, and sensed he was telling me the truth.

Before I left, I issued one last warning. "Suffice to say, I hope it is abundantly clear you are never to touch Brialle or either of her children, ever again. Are we clear on that?"

"Perfectly," he ground out.

With that, I turned and walked out.