RD 8 STF + Ch 1 (Patreon)

Story Thus Far

Last time on Returner's Defiance, Bran brought some of his group down to the Amazon to hunt demons. When he arrived, he saw the greatest delta between his last life and current. Assuming the Demon Lord and his forces were hard at work in the region, he took the offensive to counter them.

While they were down there, Eve, the leader of the First Garden sect, was their host. Bran arrived having faith in Eve despite her unfortunate personality. She had fought the demons in his past life, and Bran considered her an ally, even if he didn't necessarily like her as a person. She was in a convenient position to help Bran and his team set traps to hunt demons, and so he took her help.

Bran found that the tribes and the city were far less developed than they should have been. As he worked to learn more, he killed demons and even uprooted the Demon Lord's influence.

He lured the Demon Lord out and in a fit of rage, the Demon Lord revealed what he'd been doing in the region and why Bran had been unable to find him earlier despite trying to draw him out. The Demon Lord had implanted fragments of his soul into humans across the entire region, only to extract them, killing thousands, to become more powerful and face Bran himself.

However, in doing so, he was temporarily weakened, expecting to rely on an ancient artifact to protect him through it all. Figuring out what was happening, Bran changed his strategy to not require a physical attack. Instead, Bran drew the Demon Lord into his soul and, with the Demon Lord fractured and weakened, revealed that he had the Soul Absorption Arts and Bran devoured the fragments for his own power.

While Bran was busy taking down a large fragment of the Demon Lord, the others fought Eve, who had in fact betrayed all of humanity, having allied with the Demon Lord long ago. In the end, Simone got a chance to show off just how impressive she was while using Bran's spirit stat, defeating Eve by entering her soul and crushing the powerful leader of the sect.

Now, with the Amazon clear of demons, it was relatively stable but would take a while to recover.

Needing to check on his other regions, Bran headed back to the Citadel, realizing the Ennead Clan had stopped contact. Wondering what had happened to Ozzy, Bran headed down to Egypt, only to find that the necropolis's leadership had changed and Ozzy had gone missing. Bran didn't take their dismissals or their no's for an answer and dug to the root of it, finding himself in the depths of the necropolis, challenging the ancestors of the Ennead Clan, and beating them to free Ozzy.

Through everything they encountered, the group celebrated their wins while continuing to prepare for the future. Simone and the Mul Branova put on a huge celebration commemorating Bran's first defeat of the Demon Lord with the inaugural Bran Day, and Almeria officially joined the harem.

But with Ozzy back in the picture and communications with his clan restored, Bran came to learn that during the Ennead Clan's absence from the region, a demon had moved in and begun swiftly taking action, killing humans and turning a swath of humanity into hosts for demons. Bran launched an attack, found a second shard of the Demon Lord, and destroyed it as a team effort.

While Bran and company left to celebrate and enjoy their victory, the Demon Lord opened his eyes on a far-off mountain with a new determination: he could no longer remain as passive as he had been lately. And so the Demon Lord made his first major move of the war, coalescing some of his many fragments into enough strength to wipe the Kailash Clan off the board and remove Shiva in a coordinated assault.

With the war heating up, we return to Returner's Defiance for Book Eight.

Chapter 1

Simone threw water in the air and twirled around in nothing more than a white micro bikini, showing off her toned legs and all of her exotic curves. She had kept her illusion on, her blonde hair swinging around her, though she let her demon horns curl protectively around the crown of her head.

She had softer features than the demon horns would suggest, but pouty seductive lips that made her irresistible.

I smiled, watching her splash in the water, though she wasn't alone.

Winnie was out there with her. The frosty woman had her white hair pulled back in a high ponytail as she floated in an inner tube, the waves lapping at her feet and gently swaying her away from Simone’s excitement. She was more modestly dressed than Simone, though that was admittedly an incredibly low bar that she barely passed in an ice-blue and silver bikini of her own.

"There you are," Circe said, walking up to my spot on the beach.

I lifted the pair of red-lensed sunglasses that Simone had gotten me, which I'd only worn on the trip to be polite. "Yes?" I asked. "Here I am."

Circe didn't waste time with words, simply dropping a bottle of lotion into my hand and then plopping belly-down on the blanket beside my chair.

I looked at the bottle in my hand, then down at her, then back at the bottle before, with a sigh and a heave I got up and knelt over her. "You know you're practically picking a fight right now, don't you?" It wasn’t that I didn’t want my hands all over her. It was what would happen after that.

Circe peeked over her shoulder, her red eyes squinted against the sun. "Well, I can't help it that I burn easily. Besides, tan skin does not go well with my hair. I'm definitely more of a winter than a summer."

She wiggled her butt back and forth as she got comfortable on the blanket, and I knelt over her, popping off the cap and squirting a copious amount into my hands before deciding this wasn't too bad of a job. I lotioned up the legendary nymph, who was content to be putty in my hands.

"Oh, that's good. A little lower," she moaned, and I slid my hands over her shoulders to her sides.

"More," she said, and I inched down just a little more.

Her eyes peeked open. "More," she pushed, and at that point, I practically had my hands inside her bikini.

"So you are trying to start a fight, huh?" I accused her.

"Not so much trying to start a fight as trying to win one. There's a big difference, Bran. I'd think a man like you would understand." Circe answered.

I chuckled and continued to apply the lotion wherever she wanted, even as Circe hummed under my fingers and occasionally let out the kind of lip biting note that went straight below to belt for me.

"Oh, that looks nice." Simone's voice was far closer than I expected, and I glanced up to find her, Winnie, Nyx, and Almeria kneeling close by.

"Well, lay down a blanket, and I'll get to you next," I said, having half expected this when I started and trying to avoid a fight over who went first. Well, that honor was already gone but the next one was up for grabs.

Beating even Simone, Almeria had a blanket down on the ground and plopped beside Circe in the blink of an eye.

Simone squinted at her for a moment, no doubt contemplating a certain type of violence. "Well, I suppose sand isn't really ideal anyway. You can go first," Simone said, and in her moment of contemplation, Nyx moved into the line, only for the Medusa to shoot her a sheepish smile.

"Better luck next time?" Nyx asked, probing if she would get away with the move.

"We've got a few days of beach vacation, right, Bran?" Simone glared at me, and like the smart man I was, I bobbed my head several times.

"Of course. We've all been doing some very heavy lifting and demon slaying. It's only right that we get some time off." I parroted the words Simone had said previously, though she had said them while kneeling between my legs in a very convincing argument.

Hearing her argument come back at her, Simone was all smiles. "Of course. Bran is the best, after all." She kissed me passionately on the cheek for a moment before letting me go. "A few days of being pampered at the beach by my lord is the single best reward I could ask to receive."

My woman was all smiles, which meant I was doing something very right.

"Where are the others?" I asked, looking around the beach.

"Oh, Merlin's going to be here shortly," Circe reminded us. "The golden servants probably need a little face time with you."

I nodded, keeping any vocalization of how I felt about that at bay. I had helped them, largely in an effort to make them mine, or at least make them think twice about reporting absolutely everything to Zeus. And quite frankly, I had pawned them off on Circe, to the point I wasn't entirely sure I considered them mine anymore, or at least not my responsibility.

"So that still leaves Gloria and Venthra in the wind."

"Gloria's running late," Simone said. "And Venthra…" Simone's smile sent a chill down my spine.

"What did you do?" I asked in abject horror.

"Nothing. Why do I have to do something in order to be happy?" She crossed her arms.

"Simone swapped Venthra's swimsuit," Nyx offered, ratting the other woman out.

"Oh, don't say it like that." Simone rolled her eyes. “I acted as her personal stylist. She had something that looked like it was freshly skinned off a deer.”

I stared at Simone for a long moment. "And does she dislike this new swimsuit?" I asked.

"I don't think it would be her first choice," Simone admitted, looking anywhere but at me.

"Oh, it's a good one," Winnie said, and the scandalized glare coming from Simone told me enough.

"Is this going to cause any issues?" I asked Simone, only for her to rapidly shake her head.

"No, it's going to be perfectly fine. She's just a little shy, is all. It's just a little… unconventional." Simone’s hips swayed back and forth as she did not meet my eyes.

"Unconventional? Is that what you call this?" A voice pitched across the beach, causing us all to swivel and stare at the woman, only for her mouth to suddenly snap closed as she realized she'd drawn more attention than she intended.

Venthra, with her wild mane of red hair, was standing on the beach in a metallic emerald-green bikini, gold loops holding it all together and just barely as it was perhaps a size too small.

I stared perhaps a moment longer than I should have.

"See? Bran likes it. You’re welcome." Simone pointed at me, and it didn't help, by the way Venthra's face turned bright red, made ever more apparent by the attention-getting green swimsuit.

"It really highlights your freckles," I tried, only for my comment to make Venthra even redder in the face.

"Oh come on. Don't wait back there," Simone said.

"I only put this on so I could come out here and ask you where you hid my actual swimsuit," Venthra growled at Simone, who shrugged.

"Not here. Though if you'd like, you can borrow one of mine," Simone smiled.

Venthra's eyes went down Simone's form and her white micro bikini. "Somehow, I have a feeling I will pass," she deadpanned.

Simone turned back to me with a big pout. "I tried, Bran. You see? She won't even accept my help."

I stared at her for a moment longer before a sly smile slipped across my face. "Then I suppose you can wait for your lotion," I said to Simone, only for my woman's jaw to drop as I withheld the lotioning she'd demanded and turned back to Circe, giving her my attention. "You're going to withhold her swimsuits? I can certainly withhold lotioning," I reasoned.

Simone turned back to Venthra. "I have a couple of nice suits," Simone offered with wide, innocent eyes. She could do puppy-dog eyes so intense that I'm certain even demons might be swayed.

Sure enough, Venthra hesitated. "Well, I suppose that could work."

"Great!" Simone bounced on her feet and clapped excitedly, giving me a small look out of the corner of her eye, and I gave her a slow, accepting nod. "Perfect," she said, even louder, and bounded off.

Even so, Venthra paused to glare at me, as if I could do anything about Simone’s choices.

"You could have negotiated something yourself," I said.

Venthra crossed her arms. "I didn't think I needed to do something myself," she said, wagging her head back and forth with serious attitude. “This was supposed to be a vacation not a strip show for you.”

"We're all friends here. I hope some skin is acceptable," I said.

Venthra glanced down at my hands, which had somehow drifted back to Circe's warm globes. I quickly shifted them away. I was merely human, and they really were glorious.

"My turn next," Almeria said, wiggling on her own towel, her round rear catching my attention.

"Your turn next," I agreed, refilling my hand with lotion and sliding over to straddle her.

"Sharing you is going to start getting hard," Circe said, rolling to her side and propping her head up to watch me with half lidded eyes.

"Just think of it as little friendly competitions," Nyx said, and the two of them stared across the six inches between where they lay on their towels, some communication happening between them.

"Teaming up could solve a lot of challenges," Simone said, having returned and plopped herself into a nearby beach towel. "Twice the fun, even," she said with a massive grin.

"I'll just have to take your word for it," Almeria said.

"Not if you give it a try. Who knows? Maybe you'll really like it." Simone punctuated each word with a little pop of her lips.

"I can't believe you all," Venthra said as she walked down, tying a sheer white shift across her waist. It hid literally nothing but did make her significantly more modest. Funny how the brain worked. Still, it seemed to be enough for her to lounge nearby as she sat down in a chair and began putting on her own lotion. Then again, with that red hair and freckles, she might legitimately burn to a crisp in an hour. The Mediterranean coast was beautiful, but also quite warm.

Right on cue, the ground around us rippled before a shadow crawled up, revealing Merlin with my three maids, all dressed like their nick name in golden bikinis.

"Great. More," Venthra said with a sour look. Amanda and Jenny then stepped out behind them, and her face fell further.

Simone lifted her sunglasses. "Oh, you made it!" she said excitedly to the two Mul Branova.

"Saintess." Jenny bowed low.

"None of that, none of that. Vacation mode. And Bran's being a little stiff," Simone whispered with a hand in front of her lips, as if that was going to hide her loud mouth at all.

"Simone," I grumbled, and she jumped practically a foot in the air.

"He's got ears like a bat," Simone said, absolutely scandalized.

"No, I just have ears," I said, then turned to Jenny and Amanda. "Thank you for coming. I don't suppose Simone roped you into joining us on the vacation?"

"We heard our Lord was in need of our services," Jenny said, bowing low in her Mul Branova robes.

I glared at Merlin. She could have left them behind.

"Oh, wow. You are grumpy," Merlin said. "Seems like Simone's vacation was desperately in need."

"Betrayal. All of you," I told them, throwing my hands into the air dramatically.

But really, I knew why we had to have this little trip. For one, I had technically promised Simone, and I was a man who kept his promises. But also, people needed something to fight for, which meant getting a taste of the joy that might lie on the other side of what I hoped would be a push to end this.

"Well, do I have to get in line or something?" Gloria asked. She was still in leather pants and what I assumed were designer clothes that had survived the apocalypse. That seemed to be her current trend.

"I'd let you cut the line, Gloria, but I think there might be a riot," I said, focusing back on Nyx.

"There would be," Simone said quickly. "Which means Merlin would be last," she added, then shrugged. "Those shadows keep you from burning, don't they?" Simone asked with a playful smile.

"One of these days, you are going to cause too much trouble." The fair-skinned woman threw up her hood and was wreathed in shadows, likely protected from the sun's rays as a result. Or she was just pouting.

"Well, I might as well get changed," Gloria said, holding her coat out to Jenny, who took it and held it up between her and me. As if I hadn't already seen that dozens of times.

"Heaven forbid I see my woman naked," I teased, only for Gloria to look around the edge with a sharp gaze.

"Something given so freely loses its value." She tucked back a lock of purple hair and ducked back behind the coat.

Every woman on the beach, many of whose opinions I cared about, turned to me with disappointment.

"Hey now, it was just a question," I said defensively.

"Well, you've gotten your answer, dear," Simone said as I finished up with Nyx.

The Medusa was a puddle of contentment on the ground. I could tell by the way her serpentine hair was all laid flat, as if the snakes had gone boneless.

Having finished her, I re-lotioned my hands, and Winnie was flat on her stomach a blink later.

"I don't understand," Venthra said, grouchy as always. "Is his dick magic or something?"

For a moment, I was stunned by the question, before Simone broke the mood with a snort and began laughing.

"It is! Our Lord Bran's member will drive even the most devout crazy." She clasped her hands and knelt in prayer, but the barely-there bikini really did weaken the effect.

Venthra sighed and stared up at the sky. "What did I do to be lumped in with nutjobs like you?"

"Don't worry," Almeria said. "After your first time, I have no doubt you'll become a convert too."

Venthra stared at Almeria in shocked silence. "It's gotta be an illness. That's why it's so contagious," she said after a moment.

"Well, if that's true, I can only hope I catch it soon," Winnie said, and I shot the woman a look as I started in on her.

Meanwhile, Simone made no secret of giving the two of us a massive thumbs-up. "I approve. Honestly, Winnie, it's your time. Get it."

"And you pimp out your own man?" Venthra said to Simone.

"Of course." Simone rolled her eyes. "I need the reinforcements. My man is simply a beast between the sheets," she said with pride.

I couldn't help but feel my cheeks warm, and I knew it wasn't just the sun adding that extra touch of heat.

I pressed a little more firmly on Winnie, the lotion turning into more of a massage, only for the frosty woman to let out a clear, dulcet moan.

"Really?" I asked.

"It feels good," she said defensively. "Besides, don't blame me. It's your fault."

"Yeah. Stop being so good at massages if you want us to be quiet," Simone said and added a moan of her own to Winnie’s, as if suddenly making a chorus of the thing, her own tone a little deeper than Winnie's.

"Oh, good. I've been holding mine back," Circe said and joined the chorus.

Nyx shrugged, joining in too.

"I'll be back later." Venthra shot to her feet and stormed away.

I glanced over at my ladies. "Having enough fun?"

"Oh, Bran," Simone said with a sly grin. "We're just getting started. Do you really think that a beach trip was all we had in mind?"

Simone's grin was infectious, and several of the other ladies picked up on the direction she was going as looks were shot around the group. Their shared smiles made me a little nervous.