“RIXIE!” He yelled before he knew what he was doing. Out of the corner of his eye he caught movement. Vanser turned just in time to see Greno Shan lower his weapon, a satisfied grin on his face. 

Imperator Nix’s heart raced as he dashed up the stairs that lead to the loft where he’d seen Greno run after the fugitives confrontation with Rixie. He’d received her message about the direction Greno had been running and since Nix had been the closest to that area, he’d responded. 

Vanser made it to the top of the staircase just as the shot rang out. He’d watched in horror as the tall confident form of his partner dropped like a stone, landing on the concrete below. Her body lay unnaturally still and Vanser feared the worst. 

Vanser turned back towards Greno. The thug hadn’t seen him yet; he quickly ducked for cover behind a large metal crate and tried to steady his nerves. 

It only took a few deep breaths for a steely resolve to replace his earlier anguish. He was, after all, an Imperator.

And he had a job to do.

Cautiously, Vanser inched up until he could just peek over the top of the crate. Greno still hadn’t realized he was there, if he moved quickly Nix might be able to get the drop on him. 

He had to move cautiously, however. Vanser no longer had any back up as the rest of his team was too busy tending to Rixie’s injuries. 

As they should be. 

As he watched Greno put down his weapon on a box in front of him. That told Vanser one of two things. Either he was feeling confident and didn’t see the need to shoot the officers who were helping Rixie, or he was out of ammunition. 

Vanser decided to gamble on the latter. 

“Raise your hands and keep them where I can see them!” Nix said, stepping out from behind the crate, weapon at the ready.

The sudden stiffening in Greno’s posture told Vanser that the fugitive had indeed been surprised. 

Good. 

“You’re too late.” The man laughed in his tortured, gravelly voice. “I already slagged that ice-sucking partner of yours. Clean shot, right through the neck.” 

Vanser tightened his grip on his weapon and resisted the urge to pull the trigger. “Just put your hands behind your back, wrists together. I’m sure you know the drill.” 

Greno chuckled and did as he was ordered. 

Never taking his eyes off Greno, Vanser inched closer and took his hand restraints from where they were hanging at his side in an equipment loop. 

He’d just clicked the first cuff over Greno’s wrist when the burly man let loose a feral yell and jumped backwards, landing on top of Vanser and throwing them both to the ground. 

Greno recovered first. He rolled behind Vanser and looped the chain of the officer’s handcuffs around his own neck. 

Vanser gagged and tried to draw breath as Greno continued to crush his windpipe. He struck at his attacker, but Greno seemed to ignore the blows completely. 

Vanser ‘s vision blurred as he fought to be able to draw a breath. His grasping fingers passed over something hard and after a few misses, managed to grasp it in his hand. 

With his last remaining strength, he brought his arm up and struck Greno in the forehead with the object he’d found. 

The burly man let out a yell of pain and the pressure on Vanser’s neck slackened enough for the young officer to break free. 

Imperator Nix gasped for air and rubbed at his injured throat. He looked down at his hand and discovered the object he’d struck Greno with was a short wooden pole as thick as his own wrist. 

Greno clenched his skull, howling in pain. Nix stared at the wooden stick in his hand before he stepped up behind Greno and struck him in the back of the head as hard as he could. 

Greno let out a strangled grunt and collapsed to the floor, unconscious. 

Vanser picked up his handcuffs again and bound the larger man’s wrists as tightly as he could. 

He’d make sure Greno lived to pay for what he’d done to Rixie. 

*.*.*.*.*.*

“We’ve managed to flush most of the cultists out. Those who survived the raid are being held in a cellar we’ve commandeered and turned into a dungeon.” Lysis peered into the tiny screen of the strange device Zhan had left with her. He told her to use it to contact Pryvani if she needed to. 

So that’s what Lysis was doing.

Pryvani smirked in fond amusement at the stern young captain, who was holding the device upside down if the image on the screen was anything to go by. 

“Good.” The former young goddess said. “I’m just glad that you’re all right. What happened to their leader, Khalin was it?” 

Lysis nodded, her eyes sliding away from the screen. “Yeah. Him. He’s been taken care of.” 

“Fabulous.” Pryvani noted the evasive reply. “We’ll be able to reenter Avalon proper again soon, without fear of spreading the contagion that has infected the city. Is there anything we can help with?” 

“Supplies.” Lysis answered after thinking for a moment. It was still hard not to think of the clever young woman as a diety, especially after having been raised all her life to do so. “If you happen to have a more secure way to transport forty-five prisoners, that would be useful as well.” 

“I suppose I can come up with something.” Pryvani replied with a shrug. “And how are you doing, dear?”

The young captain’s eyes widened in surprise at being asked the question. 

“I…” She began, her brows creased in confusion. “You mean me?” 

“That is generally what one means when they address someone as ‘you’ yes.” Pryvani’s worn features lit up with amusement. 

“I’m fine. My injuries have been tended to. I’ll live.” 

A flicker of disappointment flashed across Pryvani’s face, but it was gone after a moment and her confident smile replaced it. “Good. I’m very glad to hear that.” 

Pryvani rubbed her eye with the heel of her hand, letting the mask slip just for a moment. “Well, at any rate… Just hold on and we’ll be there as soon as we can to help with clean up.” 

Pryvani sighed. “We just have one… small… matter to take care of first.”

*.*.*.*.*.*

Night fell over Avalon and Nick found himself wedged deeply in between Trell’s breasts while the Titaness slept. He was unable to take advantage of her slumber, however, because she’d also bound his wrists and ankles together. As much as Nick struggled, he couldn’t seem to escape the oppressive weight of her flesh. 

Sweat dripped into his eyes as her body heat began to overwhelm him, despite the cool night air, his wrists and ankles were falling asleep and he was in desperate need of a drink of water. 

And on top of everything else, Trell snored. 

Nick squirmed against all of his restraints and tried not to feel the sting of despair. Things weren’t looking good. He had been captured by Trell, again, and he knew that the Titans would be bottled up in Pryvani’s compound due to fear of spreading the plague. Who could say how long it would be before they were certain the vaccine had worked? He knew Trell said she wanted to keep him alive until they came for him, but he wasn’t willing to trust Trell’s… restraint. 

His mind flashed back to the first time he’d found himself entombed within the psychotic giantess. He’d been drugged and hallucinating at the time, and thanks to her, he’d actually found the experience to be… pleasant. 

Nick shuddered in revulsion. He’d gotten over his fixation, thanks to therapy and Brinn, but it was sometimes hard not to fall into a bout of self-loathing when he was reminded of how pathetic he’d been. 

He had to hope that fate intervened soon to keep him free of Trell’s digestive system. He doubted very much that she’d dope him up on Daze this time, before sending him to her stomach.

“Hey!” A voice whispered to him from the darkness. “You still alive up there?” 

Nick’s eyes shot open and he tried to squirm free enough to see who it was, but unfortunately he remained stuck fast. 

“Who’s there?” The young man whispered back hoarsely, afraid to wake the titaness who held him captive. 

There was a shuffling sound, and grunts of exertion. After a few minutes a face crested the top of Trell’s left breast. A man, younger than Nick, peered down at him through clear blue eyes. Shaggy blonde locks fell down to obscure part of his face. 

“You okay?” The stranger asked. 

“No…” Nick replied. “But you have to get out of here… If she wakes…!” 

“Believe me.” He replied bitterly. “I’m more than familiar with what Trell is like.” 

That took Nick aback. “You’ve run into her before.” It wasn’t a question. 

“Yes.” 

“Then you know you have to leave before it’s too late.” Nick shot back desperately. “Please. Go!” 

“Not without you I’m not.” Carefully the young man began lowering himself down the inside of Trell’s bust. “I’m Zhan.” 

“I’m Nick.” 

“Good to meet you Nick.” Zhan grunted as he carefully made his way down into Trell’s cleavage to where Nick was trapped. “Although I wish it were under better circumstances.” 

Nick didn’t respond, he could only watch nervously as Zhan worked his way between the fleshy mounds and down to where he was. 

Nick squirmed until he was able to turn over enough to expose his bound wrists and ankles. There was a reflected flash of light as Zhan produced a hunting knife from his supply bag and began to saw away at the bindings, trying as best he could not to disturb the slumbering Titaness. 

With a snap the first binding around Nick’s wrists severed and Zhan began to work on the second one, working as fast and as quietly as he possibly could. 

There was a rumble underneath them as the sleeping giantess moaned in her sleep and shifted her body into a more comfortable position. Zhan and Nick were rocked up against her flesh as she moved. 

They both waited in tense silence for Trell to settle back into a deep sleep. Then, finally, with a contented sigh, the Titaness became calm again. 

Nick breathed a sigh of relief and Zhan resumed cutting away at his bonds. 

The ground, so to speak, shook underneath them and Zhan stumbled, bracing his hand against Trell’s breast to keep from falling over. 

A shadow passed over them and Zhan looked up in time to see Trell’s hand descend on them. 

His heart skipped a beat as he feared she had discovered them, but the long talon-like finger nails dug into her flesh above his head, scraping absentmindedly at the skin. 

Zhan held his breath for a tense moment. Trell’s hand didn’t get any closer, but it didn’t look like it was going away either. 

Cautiously, Zhan inched his way towards Nick and began to work away at the bindings again, ever-aware of the Titaness’s hand sitting a few feet away, ready to strike. 

Another tremor shot through Trell’s body and she squirmed restlessly in her sleep. Her arm flopped on the ground and left a wake of devastation as it moved. A second later, her hand reappeared over her cleavage and the long agile fingers wrapped around Zhan’s body. 

Trell moaned incoherently in her sleep and Zhan was suddenly dragged out of the valley between her breasts. He looked up in time to see her massive lips, which were opening wide to receive him. 

“Oh no.” Zhan moaned in panic. He’d been afraid of being rediscovered by the Titaness, but this was so, so much worse. She was about to devour him and never even know it. 

Trembling in fear, Zhan was drawn inexorably closer; he could feel her oppressively hot breath on his face and what little light there was reflected off her jaws. 

With a splat he was dumped on top of her tongue, followed by a sucking sound as her fingers were pulled back through her lips. 

Zhan was given only a second to get his bearings before Trell’s tongue surged underneath him, battering him against her teeth and pressing him against her tongue. Her saliva soaked his entire body and threatened to drown him. He gagged on the viscous liquid and almost vomited when he was forced to swallow some. 

The world around him was thrown into a chaotic hell of soft flesh, hard bone and disgusting saliva that clung to his body, making it difficult to move. 

Zhan’s body lurched against the tongue, the cord that tied his supply pack to his back snapped and he soon lost track of it in the humid darkness inside Trell’s mouth. 

Zhan couldn’t even begin to try to escape because the second he thought he knew which direction he was facing, his entire world would turn upside down and he was forced to begin again. 

And then everything stopped. There was a soft growl that reverberated up from Trell’s throat. The jaws in front of him opened and Trell’s fingers reappeared, snagging Zhan around his waist and dragging him back into the cool night air of the outside world. 

Zhan was left dangling from Trell’s fingers, dripping wet and beaten. He stared into the large pitiless brown eye that was right in front of him. 

“You know, if you wanted to be my breakfast, all you had to do was ask.” The Titaness muttered in amusement. 

“Wait…” the eyelid in front of him narrowed and her pupil dilated as she scrutinized him closely. “I recognize you… You’re that little toy I found before I left this place the last time. So you managed to survive only to find your way back to me. You must have the worst luck in the world, little man.”

Zhan stared at the grinning pair of lips that were as wide as he were tall. Fresh in his mind was the experience of being just beyond those lips, in the hot humid abyss of Trell’s mouth. The way she was looking at him, he had no doubt that he’d be visiting that place again very soon. The difference being this time she’d know he was there. 

“So.” Those lips formed words and sent them on warm gusts of air that washed over him. “You were in pretty bad shape when I left you, little toy. How did you manage to survive?” 

“You don’t actually care.” Zhan spat as he dangled helplessly from her fingertips. 

“Not really.” Trell admitted, her tongue darting out to moisten her lips before retreating back into her mouth with a disturbing squelch. “Not beyond a mild curiosity anyway.” 

Zhan glared at the Titaness, who rolled her eyes at him. 

“You might as well tell me, nothing will change for you either way.” The titaness admonished wryly. 

“Pryvani.” Zhan finally admitted. “She found me and helped me heal from what you did to me.” 

Trell’s eyes lit up in amusement and a laugh burst from her mouth. “Well, wonders never cease. Looks like your little goddess came through for you after all.” 

“She’s not a goddess.” Zhan replied. “I know that now.” 

Trell’s eyes narrowed. “Do you? Well, isn’t that interesting. I guess that means I get to swallow you now, don’t I?” 

“What?!” 

“Oh yes.” Trell purred. “Don’t you remember? I swore that I wouldn’t kill you until you admitted that little spoiled brat was no goddess. Until you willfully gave up your faith in her. Which you just did.” 

Zhan’s heart hammered in his chest at the realization of what he’d just done. He watched as the lips in front of him puckered out before a large pink mass pushed through them. Trell’s massive wet tongue licked up his body once before retreating back into her mouth. 

“Normally I’d draw this out and torment you, but we’ve already been through that part and really, if I feel like doing that later, I have Nicky. So if you don’t mind, I’m just going to speed things along, okay?” 

Zhan barely registered what she said, so focused on the moving pair of lips in front of him. Suddenly, her jaws opened wide in front of him, what little light remained reflected off her pearly white teeth but left the rest of her mouth in shadow. Suddenly, his whole body lurched and she began to lower him down into her jaws. 

With a splat he landed on the soft damp muscle of Trell’s tongue. Before Zhan could regain his bearings, her jaws snapped shut and he was left in the oppressive darkness of her mouth. 

Zhan’s heart hammered in his chest and his breath came in quick panicked gasps. His eyes darted around but he couldn’t see anything in the pitch blackness. There was nothing. 

His mind over come with fear, he pressed against the roof of her mouth, animalistic instincts demanding he attempt to force open her mouth and escape, even while his conscious mind knew it was hopeless. Indeed, the only response he got was a mocking little chuckle wafting up from Trell’s throat. 

Without warning her tongue surged underneath him, roughly battering him into the roof of her mouth and rendering him momentarily senseless. 

The next thing he knew, her tongue rippled, knocking him over again and Zhan realized he was being delivered into her throat. 

The strong muscles of her esophagus clenched around him and propelled him inexorably down into the ravenous pit that was the Titan’s stomach. For several seconds he found breathing difficult and his arm was wedged painfully behind his back. 

He didn’t even have time to cry out, however, before the muscles of her throat released their grip on him and he was unceremoniously dumped into the vat of her stomach. 

After a moment of recovery, Zhan sat up and realized where he was. He was inside her. Trapped. With no hope of escape or rescue. His eyes widened and his heart quickened until it was thundering in his chest, a harsh counterpoint to Trell’s own relaxed and steady drumbeat. He stood in the shin deep muck at the bottom of her stomach, before raising bile covered hand to his face. 

He fell to his knees, blind panic overtaking him. 

He was going to die. 

Zhan’s mind snapped and he screamed.