Hunted [open for one female, details within]

[Svenski]

The voice in his head makes to remark snidely, <Now this is quite a turn...> but Marcus snaps back at it inside his mind so violently that the voice withdraws, almost stunned into silence. Outwardly, his nose curls in a brief snarl and then the expression is gone, washed away in a torrent of lust just held at bay. He feels the sting on his cheek where she slapped him, watches her face turn away as she denies herself and he realises she's holding back. Somehow, she has opened herself up to him, to be taken by a man she knows almost nothing about and yet she still holds something back.

He feels her drenched pussy press upwards against him, inviting him inside. He needs only to withdraw an inch to let the head of his cock separate her nether lips then a thrust forward. He feels her heat, sees the flush in her cheeks, draws in her scent through his nose. Shamed, almost desperate for him to take her, her body calls to him. Yet he wants something more, hunts after it like she is still some elusive prey.

He gently, so slowly continues to slide his length over her offered sex, further wettening the underside of his stiff, thick member. Then he sees what he is looking for in her slender beauty, hidden behind the turn of her head to hide her face. She has offered her body but no more; it's as if she hopes that her body might appease the monstrous force he represents and that maybe, after he has taken her, she might convince herself it was really against her wishes, that she had no choice. But she asked for the man and the man wants more, needs more than that. Her body might sate him this time but he knows that his demon is hungry for more than that and he needs time, needs control, and for that he needs to take more than her capitulation. He wants her surrender.

But she doesn't know how, and can see that now. So he helps her help him, "Yes, yes you do. You're just hiding from it." His body shudders over her, his cock slipping back, its head sliding between her outer lips, holding there in the wet heat, quivering. "Stop hiding and tell me you want it... tell me how you want it... look me in the eye and say 'Marcus, please fuck me'..." Only a thrust and she'd part, he'd be inside her, and yet he holds back. The intensity of his face, his eyes, blot out everything else. There is just him, her, and what he asks of her. His heart pounds, beating rapid time, as he holds himself ready for her response... her surrender.

 

[_kyrie_]

Danni can’t breath. Her chest heaves as it forces air without substance into her lungs. She feels his hand on her cheek, almost gentle, turning her face to his. His eyes are dark, stormy but clear of the black mist that was there just a moment ago.

She feels the intensity of his eyes boring into her. She wants to, good God how she wants to do this. Her mind tries to jerk her body away from its desires, Danni won’t allow it. Her soul is somehow bound to this giant of man. Above her is a warrior torn by forces she can not understand. Forces that are pulling her into this black vortex from which there will be no turning back. Her mind tells her these things, her body doesn’t listen. Her body responds to his. His body calls to her.

His hard shaft stands ready just at the delicate entrance to her core. His whole body is trembling with the strain of waiting, but he does wait. She looks into his eyes and sees the man waiting, Marcus…the man, is waiting.

Danni turns her face fully to his, lifting her eyes, a mere nod of her head signals her surrender.

In a voice that is not hers, barely a whisper heard above the rattling of his breath as he exerts his tremendous strength to hold himself above her, Danni speaks.

“Marcus, my God…please fuck me as the man. Fuck me as the beast. Marcus… please, fuck me.”

Tears swim in her eyes, overflowing onto the high cheekbones splashed a fiery red with desire. Her fear so strong it’s nearly a visible essence as it rises from within her. The lust interlacing with it, pushing her to a peak her body demand she cross, her mind still wavering in terror of the unknown.

She feels him move and tenses. Her shoulders push into the ground in anticipation, her glistening green eyes looking courageously into his. The eyes of a woman-child pushed beyond the limits of humanity into the swirling chaos of demons, sex and lust.

 

[Svenski]

A thing thrice requested he can hardly refuse, nor by now could he really turn away even if he wanted to. Stretched to the limits of his ability to deny, her accepts her surrender with a shuddered gasp as he thrusts forward, parting her inner lips, her pussy stretching to accept his girth. He does his damned best to be steady, to prevent himself just slamming forward and taking what she offers, but he has waited so long that his need near consumes him. Forcefully, if not quickly, he slides deeper and deeper into her centre, the rest of his body immobile as his world shrinks to a point surrounded by her incredible heat, the parting of her most intimate core.

He pushes forward to the hilt, 'til he can feel his entire length wrapped tightly by her young pussy and there he stops, quivering but otherwise still. His arms hold him above her, hands planted on the floor either side of her, her nipples depressed just a fraction by his weight. He hardly breathes, staying eye to eye, meeting her courage with passion mixed with a profound thanks. Still buried inside her, he lowers to one elbow, then the other. Large, powerful hands slip under her, fingers curling under a shoulder, the other cupping the back of her neck, thumb stroking the tendon that runs up into her hairline. It is the nearest this large and forceful man comes to a tender embrace. Eye to eye, lust to lust, he withdraws his hips for almost his entire length... holds for a heartbeat... then slides back into her.

Marcus' heart thumps deeply in his chest, breaths coming long but ragged with desire, yet he holds himself in check, does not give in to the virulent need to rut on her like a crazed animal, no matter how eager his body and its demonic occupant might be. He fucks her slowly, in long smooth strokes, massaging the back of her neck between his thumb and two fingers. Such restraint, and such a long time since last he had the pleasure to couple with a young and nubile woman, he cannot help but let his pace rise, creeping up, a little faster with each stroke.

His leans more heavily on the arm that massages her neck, slipping his other hand free to stroke down her flank, caress over her tender breast, slide over her hip and along the outer edge of thigh. He cups his hand round her buttock, pulling her closer onto him, driving himself yet deeper into her. His breath quickens. His lips dip forward to find hers, his tongue seeking to play in her other soft, wet heat.

 

[_kyrie_]

The pain of entry was short, hot and sweet. Her eyes watered as the burning sensation eased, her nerve nearly shattered when he pushed himself through the flimsy shield barring his entrance. She thought to tell him no at the last moment, to push him away. Yet, his eyes held her, the pain of his entry was there; but there was so much more.

His eyes spoke to her, his soul called to hers. She felt his thumb lightly stroking her neck, as she had stroked the necks of those mares frightened by her Stallion when he mounted their backs.

Danni wrapped her small hands around his big wrists, holding on to his strength and his heat. Her eyes widened when he withdrew his shaft, wondering briefly if that was it until he pushed it back into her further, twisting to run his hand down her side and hip before pressing her small bottom more firmly against him.

Her small chest rising and falling rapidly with each breath, she called out when he increased his speed. The width of it was almost too much to take. Her moan spoke of pain laced with delicious pleasure as her moist lips cushioned his entrance. He was heavy but wonderfully so. His lips claimed hers, she responded in kind. Closing her eyes, the weight of his body disappeared replaced by an urgency that began low in her belly, coiling, ready to burst forth with every movement of his hips.

Unknowingly, she sank her small nails into his arms as her hips rose to meet his. The strong muscles between her legs squeezed his manhood, milking from it his very essence. Her legs trembled as she pushed with the heels of her feet into the worn, wood floor.

His breath on her face smelled of man and something else she could not place. As he increased his speed even more, pushing even deeper into her center, she heard his muted grunts of pleasure. The sound of it spurred her to tighten her buttocks, squeezing that huge member sinking so wonderfully in and out of her womanhood.

Danni was coming undone. As the lightening bolt within her coiled, ready to strike with its release, she called out to him, frightened. The world spun into one single sliver of white hot light, all feeling, sensation and sound focused completely on Marcus and that which he thrust within her.

She was gulping great gasps of air as her hips writhed beneath him, seeking release. Unable to bear much more, her fear sprang forth as her legs parted further for his use.

“Marcus!!!” Her scream of terror, awakening and awe echoed throughout the tight, sturdy walls of the cabin.

 

[Svenski]

Deliciously responsive, Marcus feels himself quicken as her body goads him onwards. Her fingernails in his flesh serve as hooks to draw him closer and he takes advantage of her wider spread to plumb his sex as deep as he can go.

Faster and even faster, her body demands he moves faster and his heat strokes in rapid rhythm calling out her pants, her cries, her screams. Blood pounds in his ears, consumed with his passion for her.

Between ragged breaths, he whispers loudly to her, "That's it... relax into it... take me into you... deeper... and deeper... and faster..." and his words continue on, a crooning litany of encouragement, a caress meant for her mind just as his hand sooths at her neck.

And as she screams, he hears the other female voice cajole gently, almost tenderly, <Let your seed spill inside her... just let it release like you did into me...> And he knows he wants to fill her, feels a sudden possessiveness that comes with that urge. Her legs open to him, inviting him all the way in and it is that, in the end, that makes up his mind for him.

His breath catches, his body quivers and he drives himself into her 'til the tip of his head touches the deepest part of her and there his manhood flexes with an incredible intensity releasing a rush of his hot seed into her sex. Another flex, another rush, he floods her inside. His hands stiffen, hold her tight onto him, and he lets loose a sigh of incredible release, a gasping moan that speaks of long pain now banished, if only for a while.

 

[_kyrie_]

Rivers of white hot sensation pour from between Danni's legs. His insistent urging and powerful hips rip the orgasm from her. Danni screams and screams again, his name over and over as each wave takes her higher and further.

She feels his wetness crash into her, the strong hands twisting hurtfully but wonderfully into her skin as he throws his head back in release. Her eyes closed at the last, drinking in every drop of sweet nectar from his body, her legs fall to the sides, spent and weak.

Her nails still buried in his arms, she lays beneath him silent, unmoving. His weight presses her into the floor, his shaft still buried deep. She can hear his murmurings of encouragement, the lift to his voice that has not been there before. Feels the release of tense muscles as though set free from within a terrible bond.

He cradles her beneath him in his big arms and she sighs. Lifting her head, she buries her face deeply into his chest, fighting back the tears of release, relief and something else, something she does not dare put to words.

 

[Svenski]

Marcus holds her close for long minutes, his eyes drooped tired in the calm after such an onslaught of effort and emotion, from both of them. Over time, he softens inside her, enjoying her warmth, the smoothness of her skin, her scent, the sheer beauty of her all spread beneath him.

Even overcome, face buried in his chest, he murmurs soothing nothings, just holding her close, quite tenderly. His heart beats as though his chest is some great drum, strong, steady, but calming with his slowing breaths, each taken deeply and more steadily than the last. Still he holds her as though there is nothing else more important in the world than being right here, right now, with her, inside her, sharing the moment.

He forgets the violence that lead to this sharing. Even the she-demon within coils up at the back of his mind and drifts off to sleep, leaving him finally in peace once again, no snide comment to break the sensations he enjoys.

It seems such a long time he stays there, just so. As his relaxation becomes more complete, he slides to the side, gently pulling her with him so that they lie side by side on the floor in front of the fire. His manhood slides out of her and he sighs in a final pleasure. He curls a few locks of hair back over her ear so that he can better see her face. There are things he might say, questions he might ask, but he so rarely finds a chance for peace than he makes no move to break the quiet, letting her find her own thoughts and bring them when she is ready.

 

[_kyrie_]

Danni snuggles deeper into his strong arms, pressing her face into the breadth of his chest. She feels his shaft as it slips from her and gasps out loud at the feeling of loss. She is wet between her legs and sore yet feels wonderfully, whole.

The man shifts a bit to pull her deeper into his arms. The peace between them is fragile and light. Danni wishes to keep this between them always. This understanding, this bond that has been forged by something bigger than both of them.

This then, is what it means to belong to someone. This is completeness. Sighing with contentment, Danni slides into the blissful sleep of innocence lost within the arms of the warrior that claimed her.

 

[Svenski]

He lies there beside her for a long while, cradling her close, gently stroking her hair. His mind drifts this way and that, though not in any hurry to go anywhere in particular. He thinks of their coupling, the sense that as he pressed into her he tore something, and he realises that she was almost certainly a virgin despite her protestation to the contrary. He wonders why she'd lie about that but he does not feel angry or disappointed, merely bemused, curious.

As he wanders around his mind, Marcus realises he does not know her name, or at least thinks he does not. That realisation sits poorly with him, so much so that the coiled serpent in his mind wakes up in disgruntlement, <Can't you see I'm sleeping! You must be more of an idiot than you look. Think! A guard at the gate called out a greeting to her in passing as you left, remember? Princess Danni, he called her. Remember? No, of course you don't, you dimwit. Well, that's her name and so stop ruining my rest!> Petulant, the voice drifts away again.

"Danni..." he whispers to himself, trying out the shape of her name. She stirs a little as he speaks, curling in closer. He realises she must be cold, that the floor is really quite uncomfortable. He is used to the hardship, to making his bed in the most inhospitable places, but a princess is highly unlikely to be used to privation. His eyes find the bed and he resolves to move her there. Making what passes for soothing noises from his baritone voice he untangles himself from her for long enough to get his feet under him, then he lifts her into his arms. Quietly, "Shhh, it's okay, just you rest there." As though she is only a child, he carries her easily to the bed and gently settles her down on its straw mattress, pulling a blanket over her to keep her warm.

For a few minutes, he pads round the cottage, cleaning himself up, righting the few things that were knocked aside in their earlier scuffle. But he feels drawn to her side, misses her warmth against him, so much so that he leaves the food she made for him despite his hunger. At the bedside, he slips quietly out of his clothes then slides into the bed beside her, sliding now cooled hands around her, eager to bring her warmth close to him again.

 

[_kyrie_]

Even in her sleep, Danni felt the loss of his presence when he left her side. Her thumping heart woke her, as if it could no longer beat without him near.

She felt him lift her easily, as though she weighed nothing. His voice was soft, gentle, easing, warm. His touch brought a surge of strange feelings to the surface of her skin.

He left again, only briefly, before returning to the bed. His long legs curled around hers, bare of the pants he had worn earlier. Somehow, it felt right, their lying together like this.

The heat of his body washed over hers. His hands stroked her long hair and she thought she heard him say her name.

Turning her head to the side, she opened her bright green eyes, heavy with sleep and fullfillment.

Blinking, she looked up into the eyes of the mighty warrior that had changed her. Yet, had he actually changed her or had Danni done it herself? Her mind twisted around that question until she dismissed it, for now.

Nodding her head very slightly, she smiled up at him. A sweet, innocent, trusting smile filled with warmth and something much, much deeper yet to be named.

"Yes... my name is Danni. And yours is.. Marcus.. yes?"

 

[Svenski]

He finds himself renewed in the glow of her smile, as though her guileless expression could wash him clean of all the hurt he has lived these past years. That is his hook, the thing that reels him in towards her, and without him realising it she becomes his hope, his dream of a better future. A future where her innocent green eyes and sweet smile call to him. Not yet understanding the fullness of this turn, he takes hold of this new hope and guards it, cherishes it, possesses it in its entirety.

He rumbles in reply, "Yes, I am Marcus." He smooths his curled fingers across her cheek, carrying a stray lock away from her face. He marvels at her beauty, marred only slightly by the injures she received in her fights, first with her possessed uncle, then earlier at his own hands. He gently strokes a thumb over the bruise on her forehead, then the cut at her lip, wishing he could impart his ability to heal over to her.

"How do you feel, Danni?" He feels uplifted by such a simple thing as to call her by her name, as though by its use it draws him closer to her. A shaman once told him that true names impart power if one knows how to use them and though he has no skill over their mystical properties he finds this knowledge makes him appreciate names more than most.

 

[_kyrie_]

Danni trembled at his light touch, the look in his eye taking her breath away. Her smile brightening as she sees the true man looking back at her behind those steel blue eyes.

Her brow wrinkled slightly as he touched the bruise on her forehead. The dull ache of it brought a sharper ache to her chest. Reaching up with a slim hand, she touched the dark area herself.

"My...my Uncle. My Uncle Jobe." Shaking her head sadly, Danni fought back the tears that had yet to fall at her sweet Uncle's death.

"I don't understand. None of it makes any sense to me. He .. He is.. He was not like that. Not like the way he was at the end, when he... "

Danni's entire body shuddered involuntarily.

"He would never have.. touched me like that .. never, I know it. Marcus, what happened? Please tell me... I .. have to know."

Her green eyes grew troubled, distant as she fought to turn what had happened into something logical.

"Was it my fault Marcus? Did I.. did I somehow.. make him.. make him behave like that?"

Danni's eyes stared up into those of the warrior, filled with doubt and self-recrimination over those things she could not understand.

 

[Svenski]

He holds a finger to her lips delicately and he shakes his head. "No, Danni, it was not you and not your fault. There was nothing you could have done that could have made things turn out any different for him." He does what he could not do earlier when she asked him similar questions, what she would not have let him do; he holds her close to him, lets his strength reassure her, for in this thing he has unsurpassed experience, a clarity of understanding that only personal involvement can bring.

He explains what he can slowly, as sensitively as he knows how, "I'm sorry for your uncle but it wasn't him who you met last night, no matter how he looked and sounded. Your uncle was already gone." He thinks to tell her how her uncle felt no pain, didn't realise what was happening, but he knows those things to be untrue but he does not need to say that, does not need to give her thoughts of that suffering and so he spares her the worst; after all, there is so much else to be said that might help that he does not want for either of them to waste precious life in mourning a loss that neither can now affect.

"Perhaps he took a trip away outside the city. Perhaps he met with someone he didn't know. I can't say for sure but whatever the case he was taken by a lesser demon, one in service to a greater evil, and that servant was what you saw wearing your uncle's skin, using his voice, and that's what we fought and, after a fashion, killed in the cellar." He knows that these memories are fresh and painful so he acts as her shield, a safety she can wrap herself in.

"Knowing that, you know that your uncle did not hurt you because he was not there. Your uncle doubtless loved you, wouldn't hurt you, so separate your thoughts of the cellar from your thoughts of him. They are different people. Completely different." He takes a pause, stroking his hand through her hair, comforting her. Then, "If it is understanding you seek then ask me anything you want. I will do my best to answer."

 

[_kyrie_]

Danni listened carefully. She heard the things he said, and the things he didn't say. She had held out a small sliver of hope that her uncle was dead, dead beneath the puppet strings of that thing that welded his body over hers. Danni squeezed her eyes at the thought. Her uncle had known it had been her that killed him in the end. She would never be able to think of her uncle in any other way, except dead at the end of her sword.

Marcus' arms tightened around her protectively. He knew. He knew what she felt, and she knew he had felt the same. Perhaps not last evening, but in another time and another place. He carried the same pain in his heart as she now did in hers.

His heart. Her head came back up, she pushed the light quilt down from their shoulders, displaying his heavy chest. Her knife had seared through the middle of the tattoo that was already healing itself, from within.

She looked back up at him, his eyes held a veiled look. Not the look of the creature she had seen within, but the look of a man tortured beyond endurance who would brook no ill move from anyone, including her.

Slowly, tentatively, Danni extended a small finger to trace the dark edges of the tattoo. It lay dormant, still. She raised her eyes in question to his, watching his face carefully.

"You did not ask me.. how it was that I knew your name.. Marcus."

 

[Svenski]

It is his turn to show pain, it seems, and in that his verbal response takes a few moments to form. In his heart, he already knows how she knows but the manner of her discovery hides behind a darkness in his mind that he cannot penetrate, that no soul searching will reveal to him.

So he tells her truthfully, "No, no I did not... but I think I know who told you even if I don't quite know how." What had she done, his demon inside, that Danni should bring it up now? Doubtless cruel words were spoken, dripping with insidious venom. How can he recant that which he does not know, though? Inwardly he curses because it is in her power over him that Danni must realise, if not now then eventually, that her uncle was alive inside that shell albeit trapped and caged in a corner, left only to watch in sobbing agony. More than anything, Marcus wants to protect her from that pain but he has offered her answers and he will not fall short.

"The demon... my demon, she spoke to you? Whatever she said, she meant it to be hurtful. And I'm sorry for that. I..." he breaks off, comes back at it from a different angle, "When I draw on her power as I needed to in the cellar, as I needed to in order to survive the wounds, she can get control. Just a little. Maybe more than I realise, sometimes, but..." What can he say to make Danni understand that it was not him, it was the demon?

"What did she say to you, Danni? It must have been more than my name." He cannot recant that he does not know, so it is time to know.

 

[_kyrie_]

Danni hesitated, the she-demons words forever engraved in her memory. Yet, she could not hurt this man with words he could not remember.

Danni drew a deep breath, averting her eyes for a brief moment.

"She... she spoke to me while you were injured. Healing. She said you...you had, umm.. " Danni's face flushed red with the memory of the demon's words.

"She said you had caged her inside of you. She asked if, if I liked her cage. Then she told me that I had to help you take care of me."

"Marcus," Danni lifted her small hand, placing it on the side of his cheek.

"Please tell me, what it is that is inside of you? I want to understand."

 

[Svenski]

"It's not a pleasant story," Marcus cautions, "Though I don't think you expect it to be..." It's an old pain, that is obvious, but unresolved and as such it still hurts him deeply. Encouraged by her contact, the touch of her small, warm palm to his cheek, he tells his story anyway.

"The creature inside me is another servant demon, though her service was owed to a different master than the one who sought you out," he begins, innocent enough, his pace steady, factual, though his eyes are distant as he reads off pages of his own history. "It was a different time, a different life for me. Back then, I had little knowledge of demons and sorcery, just folk tales and myth and a good dose of superstition. It was in that naive state that a great demon began its stealthy assault on my homeland. I guess that, in many ways, the circumstances now are not so different to how they were for me, then."

He remembers the high walls, the hanging baskets of flowers, the artfully sculpted fountains and pillars and towers, banners flapping in the breeze that cool autumn morning when it all began. "It seemed so peaceful," he continues, "But things were unravelling beneath our feet. The servant demons and their familiars take control of key people in positions that can help them undermine the strength of a nation they want to pull into their dominion. The servants..." he breaks off, dryly swallows, then pushes on, "They take over the minds and bodies of people close to the ruling line, even in it, but no one of ultimate importance. Just close to them."

His pulse quickens, expression taut, pained, "I... I found one of them..." The pain is in here, the old memory an unhealed wound on his soul. He dry swallows again and finds he has to step around this wound for now, "Sh... It died but it escaped into me." He presses on, wanting to finish this telling so that he can let the pain subside again, "A hunter found me; a demon hunter. He made the binding that holds the monster inside me. That's why it can't escape. It's bound to me, I'm bound to it, though most of the time I have control. So she has to help me or she dies too." Grimly, determined, "And she doesn't want to die."

 

[_kyrie_]

Danni stroked his hard face as he spoke, as one would stroke a foal newborn in the spring. His eyes looked to the past, lost their focus for a moment then turned back to her, seeming to drink in the site of her.

She blushed hotly as his eyes raked over her face. His hand continued to stroke the soreness of her temple, as though he thought to remove the pain with his touch. The touch of a gentle giant, his large fingers reaching deep within her, touching her heart causing irrevocable feelings of loyalty, passion and a much deepr emotion Danni could not name.

"They take over the minds and bodies of people close to the ruling line, even in it, but no one of ultimate importance. Just close to them."

Her hand halted its soothing motion, moving to rest at the top of his chest. Danni's eyes took on a troubled, introspective look before she spoke again.

"I...there are things about me I'm not sure you know. I ..." Danni took a deep breath, dreading the admission she knew she had to make. She felt a deep need to bare all to her great warrior, he was doing the same for her and she could do no less.

Still she hesitated. Finally, there had been a man that had wanted Danni for Danni. Not because of her status within the Kingdom or the perceived wealth she might bring into a marriage. Not because the power bestowed on her husband would be great, making him one half of the ruling party of Sessalie when the present King passed into the next world. Not because she was a prize to be taken and paraded throughout the Kingdom as though a wild horse caught and broken, displayed on the arm of a some pompous ass.

This man had wanted her, Danni, as a woman and she had been unable to deny him that. She had not wanted to deny him that, yet now she hesitated, afraid of loosing that very thing.

Danni's body took the choice from her as he lowered his head to listen, she stole the moment with his movement, raising her head slightly from the bed to touch his lips tenatively with the soft, swollen lips he had laid claim to so forcefully before.

 

[Svenski]

Ambushed in the most pleasant possible way, Marcus is slow to respond to her searching lips, their delicate, moist brushes distracting him from his intended assurance. He wants to ask her, "Why are you kissing me?" but the words do not find voice. Instead, he softens into her advance and returns in kind but so much more gentle than before. His kisses demonstrate a tenderness that one could not guess lived within such a man, his life surrounded by such violence. But he wants to show her that he is not always so forceful, that he appreciates her for sharing this expression with him, that he can find a kindness, a caring for her.

He slips an arm beneath her, curling around her waist, to pull her a little closer to him, ever so gentle while being insistent at the same time. His other hand slides from her temple to tangle lightly in her hair at the back of her head, not pulling but cupping, holding as though she is some delicate thing to be treated with great care.

He returns her kiss for many moments, not wanting anything else in the world. Then he withdraws, as much just to look at her as anything else. His fingers trail from her head down her back, slowly tracing a line down the sensitive spots either side of her spine. It's an idle motion, not done with design, just an easy sharing between lovers if such a word could be applied to their circumstance.

She was saying something, he is sure of it. But her kiss washed away his train of thought and, for that, he is exceptionally grateful. With her close, with her attention on him, he feels a little lighter, a little closer to the world. He feels that this is a good day to live. But she was saying something and he feels it important that he listen. That's what he's supposed to do, isn't it: listen? In an encouraging tone, "Danni, you were saying something...?"

 

[_kyrie_]

"Danni, you were saying something...?"

Seperating their bodies slightly, Danni turned onto her back. She did not want to feel his withdrawal, whether physical or mental as she spoke.

Unconsciousy, she reached up to massage the wound on her temple, suddenly throbbing underneath the bruised and discolored flesh. Her chest tightened, her heart beating painfully beneath the pale skin of her chest.

There could be no lies between them, no facade. He had opened to her, told her his secret, his pain. She could do no less.

"Marcus, you said this ... this demon goes after those of royal blood or of some other importance within a ruling Kingdom, yes?" She turned her face for a moment, to watch his head nod in affirmation.

"Then you must know that I am a... that I... Marcus, my father is the King of Sessalie." Danni held her breath a fraction of a moment before continuing.

"I have never had someone speak to me, treat me... look at me, as you do." Danni closed her eyes, she couldn't bare to see his eyes cloud and change as he looked at her in this new light.

"It has always been, 'Yes, Princess Danni.. of course Princess Danni...you are so... " moving irritably beneath the light quilts, she continued, "Marcus, I have never known how someone truly felt about me before. I have never been just... Danni. I have always been Princess first. But... when you speak my name," finally she turned her head to gaze up into his eyes, "when you speak my name, it's as though you speak to the woman, to me, here." Danni pointed with a finger from her left hand to the center of her chest, where her heart threatened to pound loose from within its ribbed confines.

Looking away again, gathering her thoughts, she continued quietly, "Your touch, even when rough with... with something I don't understand yet.," a soft blush returned to her face, highlighting the light spread of freckles across her nose, "is a touch for me, for the woman ... not for the Princess."

It seemed as though an eternity passed before she continued, her thoughts jumping from one thought to another without conscious guidance.

"You said this... these Demons go after those of... those that are priviledged within a Society..." Danni stopped here to gaze intently into the steel blue eyes of the man who's face hoovered mere inches above hers,

"Marcus, who are you?"

 

[Svenski]

As she speaks, he keeps his contact with her. He feels the nervous tension in her belly as he rests his hand there, senses the beat of her heart and the same nerves evident there as well. He lets her talk, make her confessions of rank and status, of other things she has not yet come to understand. Her blush he finds intensely attractive and he almost moves to stroke the flush in her cheeks but he resists, lets her continue her spoken stream of consciousness and he listens quietly.

Marcus does not flinch nor turn greedy at her admissions though he appreciates every ounce of open honesty she offers him. He simply remains lain on his side, watching her in quiescent regard for the closeness he feels building between them. Wasn't it only recently that he forced her to the floor intent on taking her willing or not? He dwells on that thought only briefly, pondering her tentative confession to liking some element of that encounter, before pushing it aside to focus on her right here and now.

He keeps his regard clear and calm, let's his appreciation show through his expression, the set of his eyes, the slight smile on his lips. His hand remains settled on her belly, thumb absently stroking along the line of her diaphragm, just below her ribs, as if his light touch might massage her anxious thoughts away.

And then her question and his face takes on a thoughtful aspect. He opens his mouth to reply but closes it again when he realises he isn't sure how to begin. After a further hesitation he decides that he isn't sure what she really asks of him so he starts with that.

"I guess there might be a lot of different answers to that question," he begins, formulating his reply as he goes. "I'm not sure which answer you're looking for. Maybe if I answer in the ways that just leap to mind then that'll help?" Seeing no resistance to this approach, he continues.

"Once, I was a guardsman charged with the protection of the Effandi royal family. Not just me, of course, as I was one of many. But that was long ago, now." Whenever he speaks of his distant past he cannot help but sound quite sad, distant, almost adrift from a time when things were better for him. "Then the demon came with its servants and, well, I told you about that bit." He slides his hand from her belly to tap on his chest in the centre of the almost imperceptible tattoo inscribed there though, as he does so, it is somehow clear in the way he speaks that there is more to be said; he steps around whatever it is quickly, carrying on with his story of self.

"Then, the demon hunter that made the binding took me in for a while, taught me a few things, showed me some others, but it was clear that he had no particular wish for me to stay with him. When I had recovered enough, he and I parted ways. I couldn't guess where he has gone." Clearly he has wondered about the whereabouts of that demon hunter as even now his eyes flick off to a place of consideration and memory. He does not spend long on that, realising the futility of such mental searching.

Marcus slides his hand back under the sheet to find her warmth, the comfort of feeling her close, skin to skin, "And so now I guess I'm a demon hunter too. Send a demon to catch a demon or something like." He shrugs, taking up a lighter expression, "But no Prince sent to rescue you. What you see is what you get, Danni, nothing more. Does that answer your question?"

 

[_kyrie_]

Nodding slowly as she listens, she finds her hand stroking the side of his strong jaw. Danni feels the pain within him, the torture. She wishes she could release that pain and torture somehow, to bring him peace.

She nearly uttered those very words, only to stop and realize how frivolous they would probably sound in the light of things.

"You have answered my question, Marcus." Turning to face him fully, both hands on each side of his face now, she continues.

"Had I wished for a Prince, I could have had one Marcus." Shaking her head, rolling her eyes heavenward.

"I could have had several. And not one of them ever looked at me like... like you do." There was her blush again, the heat traveling across her cheekbones.

"I asked not who you were to gauge your status in life but to know the man and how he feels about himself." Nodding her head again, eyes still locked on the steel blue of his,

"And you answered as a man with honor, integrity and truth. You are not ashamed of who you are, nor of what you did or do now." Danni hesitated, licking her lips tentatively.

"Marcus, this woman. This ... thing that dwells within you now... do you... do you love her?"

Knowing she should not ask the question and keeping herself from asking it, were two very different things. She did not understand her need to know this, and the reason did not matter... right now. The desire, the need to know was more important to her this minute, than anything else.

Unknowingly, she held her breath tightly. The soft rise and fall of her belly stopped beneath the gentle strokings of his big hand.

 

[Svenski]

He was trying to shield her from this but he realises now that his story is incomplete without the full telling of it, that a big part of him cannot be understood without the piece that he has deliberately left out. But he feels drawn to her in a way he has not felt in a long time, perhaps not ever, and he senses that she feels the same. He has already gambled the part of him that is dangerous and she has accepted that in him. He takes a breath and gambles the other part of his story on her acceptance, on the tentative bond they share. He gambles his hope, what little of it he has left.

"That is a difficult question," Marcus admits quietly, but before she can retract it he asserts, "But if you'll bear with me I'll answer it."

He takes a deep breath and releases it again in a ragged stream. His eyes narrow, but not dangerously, more a defensive reaction, set against a suddenly stiff featured face as he holds in the emotions that are bottled behind the memories that he starts to describe, "Back then... back then the demon would have had no interest in me at all. Didn't have any interest in me. I would have been just another casualty in a war I didn't understand. But..." his narrowed eyes close, brow furrowed, pained, "But it chose a handmaid to the Effandi Princess."

Nothing for it, just keeping moving ahead, "That handmaid was to be my wife." He swallows down the pain, "She... I found her spying on the Princess but... but even as I realised that she wasn't the woman I knew inside she somehow took over my body, stopped me doing anything, stopped me raising the alarm."

His eyes remain firmly closed, as though he can keep his past bottled by preventing it escaping into the world through their steely blue. "The demon hunter found us. I guess he knew where we were in the same way I knew where the demon inside your uncle's body was. He... he killed her but the demon inside escaped... into me."

He sighs raggedly, letting his eyes open just a little, "I think he only intended to bind it to me so that he could destroy us both but he changed his mind or... or something, I don't really know why. He let me live, with the servant demon bound into me." He finds Danni beside him, looks for understanding as he finally answers her question, "Do I love her? The demon? No, no and no. But... but sometimes..." his voice breaks. He's a giant of a man, powerful, dangerous, imbued with a dark, deadly power, but this final confession gives him terrible pain, a sadness that has not healed despite all the time between now and then, "Sometimes the voice inside sounds like her, like a piece of her is somehow still in there. And so I can't quite hate her either, just in case..."

His face is etched with this old hurt but his eyes seek only Danni's understanding, "I don't know if that even makes any sense. I guess I mean 'no', that I don't love the demon... but..." he shrugs, at a loss to explain further.

 

[_kyrie_]

"That handmaid was to be my wife."

The pain was swift and sharp, thrust into Danni's heart. Her gasp was audible and visble to his eyes. Perhaps, if the person from his past were gone, it would be easier for her to bear, but the knowledge that one lived within him that he had wanted to marry was excruciating.

The pain in her eyes mirrored his own. She could not fight the ghost of a love from the past; but she could fight the ghost of a demon from the present and that is what she intended to do. She would force that from within him, she would find a way.

"Marcus, you are a strong, brave man. I see you carry the burden of guilt in your heart, though I don't understand it. From your words, I see you did everything in your power to prevent what happened. It was not meant to be."

Danni turned to her side, her long, auburn tresses spread out on the pillow behind her.

"You saved me Marcus. You saved me, not because I am Princess of Sessalie, not because my father is a King, not because you hoped to gain great wealth from the deed... " Danni shuddered with a deep emotion, the light of it shining through her brilliant green eyes.

"You saved me because it was the right thing to do. Because you are good and true. I feel your spirit within you Marcus, marred by the Demon but still there. We will find a way... together. If you will .. have me."

Danni lowered her eyes, her fear of rejection reflected in the set of her jaw, the coiled muscles of her arms. Her small teeth worried her bottom lip, pulling on it though still bruised and swollen and she waited.

 

[Svenski]

At some level, he knew it would hurt her, his admission of his long lost love. But he told her anyway and she returned his words with kindness. He sees her flinch, sees her turn away, worry at her lip, and hold herself in check. He realises that he doesn't want her to hold herself away from him and so he takes charge once more.

He slides his leg over her then rolls himself so that he is crouched long and low over her on the bed, looking down to her in a way that cannot be ignored. Despite the pain he has pulled up in both of them, Marcus finds her eyes and holds them in his most earnest and intense gaze. "Danni, the woman I loved is long gone. Only her memory really remains. With you, here, I'd want nothing else than to continue to be with you. That you need me, in a practical sense, is unfortunately clear. But I feel... something more than that. I haven't felt so clear, so free of the demon inside me for so long that I cannot begin to remember. And that, Danni, that is because of you. So together, if you'll have me, we can get through this. Yes?"

His palms press into the straw mattress either side of her, knees planted either side of her hips. His shaft brushes against her belly, partially aroused but without any immediate intention. His face hovers above hers by just a few inches. To reinforce his words, he decides he also needs clear, unambiguous action. Without waiting for her to reply, he lowers his lips to hers and kisses her insistently though careful not to hurt her further.