Corruption

[VampiricTouch]

"Abarai"

The command automatically forced her eyes to close and blanketed a sense of softness over her.... no... don't leave me... not yet. The words spoken in her head... never reached her lips as sleep fell over her.

For the first time,the barrier did not rise. With sleep... having attained so suddenly... The glass between both women did not appear as the aching remnants of poison bled into both of their beings. Slowly she - they moved, perfect mirrors of each other as elegant hands came together to brush a soft cheek, trailing with knowing grace along the lengths of an ear.

Twining movements as they tilted to the touch, drawing that sharp gasp of breath in perfect symmetry as their lips came together, hungrily devouring the other... It was a taste she'd crave for the rest of her life... Hands dropped to cup a full breast, the gentle squeeze, the feather light touch of fingertips around nipple, drew a muffled moan against linked lips and twined tongue...

Bodies came close and made the radiating heat build upon itself. Her - their hand dropped, tracing the flat of their belly to the smooth mound of their need. A need that they both felt... one and the same... It was a taste she'd crave for the rest of her life... Light fingers traced the lips of their sex, dipping into the honeyed depths ever so briefly before returning to it's aimless dance. The kiss broke as the disarray of ebony locks were thrown back and the pair sank to their knees.

Her - their hands lifted to touch the other's lips and with feverish eyes they watched as lips opened to receive and sample the sweetly stained fingers suckling and licking each clean... It was a taste she'd crave for the rest of her life... The pair came together once more as lips paused a hairsbreadth apart...

"This is your fault you know..."

"Is it now... can you say that you don't enjoy it?"

"I never said that..."

"And things were out of my control... there was nothing I could do."

"Then it was his fault for not making sure that bitch of an apprentice wasn't going to touch you."

"He didn't know. "

"He should've known better."

"He didn't know"

"Where was he when you - we were handling that bitch?"

"He was working..."

"Exactly. Where was he then? Where is he now?"

Where is he now... The sleep dissipated from Alyssia's senses as her eyes opened. Where is he now? She rose from the bed and dressed. The supple leather left very little to the imagination. The front laces bringing out the valley of her breasts and the bottom line of black falling just below the curve of her derriere. She tucked her blades away into their customary hiding places and went searching for her Master.

When she had exhausted all other rooms she thought to find her Master, she stopped just above the landing of the dungeon she had left... Where is he now... Did she really have to go back into that room to find him...

 

[dryfter]

Exactly where he thought she'd be.....

He could feel the tension in the air.....feel her hesitation as she reached for the door's handle with a sluggishness that belied her inner turmoils. Darius could feel the sharp edge of the blade pressed to his neck as the lovely assassin spun at the barest of touches on her shoulder......

Eyes widened.....cute little mouth dropping suddenly at his roguish, apologetic smile.

"You're awake, I see. There's no need to go in there again. I assure you, everything has been taken care of."

---------------------------------------------------------------

And what a mess it had been...or perhaps.....should have been.

For all the struggle.....and the garishness of the wound that had supposedly ended the life of his dark elven apprentice.....it didn't take more than a moment's notice to see that something was wrong. It was something that wasn't meant to be hidden.....blatant and challenging in its own way......

Despite the ragged hole where Tamara's slender and lovely neck had once been......

There was no blood.

Not a drop stained the floor.....nowhere could it be found on the dark robes she wore......

As if deliberately cleaned......or rather.....sucked clean.

"Shiress."

So the bitch hadn't left his tower after all. Just what did that mean? And what had that meant for poor Tamara? Sure, the nasty little bitch had gone behind his back.....had attacked his prized accomplishment....his very heart. And yet, Darius had a hard time convincing herself that this is what the girl deserved. Death perhaps......but not this.......

Servants came and went at his command, straightening out the shambles of the girl's laboratory. There was nothing missing of course.....Darius doubted Tamara even knew a spell powerful enough to pique the vampiress' interest. Instead, his one time elven love had wreaked havoc on her surroundings out of spite alone.....

"Burn it. To ashes. Until there is nothing left."

Silently, he watched as unseen hands slowly bore Tamara's limp body from the room.......

-------------------------------------------------------------

The girl had done well.....even for a useless bit of lunch. While she was terrible at subduing onyx haired assassins.....Tamara had made for quite an interesting distraction. And in his haste to preserve his pathetic love.....

Pale lips curled upward.....the sharpened tips of her fangs just visible......

"How nice of you to let me in, Darius."

He had forgotten to restore the wards on his own laboratory.

"Now let's see what you have here....."

Pale and willow thin.....her robes barely stirred the dust on the floor as she moved like an evening breeze towards the room's lone tome. It was hardly her choice of victories.....she'd have much rather had a look at the interesting main laboratory that he had used to enslave Alyssia's very soul. Perhaps then she could have learned a way to warp those enchantments.....or better yet.....break them. Sadly, that room was quite well warded......and under construction. Not that she couldn't break those wards.....she just couldn't break them without alarming him.

The fanged grin widened. Yes...how fun would that be? Releasing the true Alyssia that no doubt lay dormant now as this loving imposter fawned over the very man that had shamed her.....

It might even be more fun than having her in the fold. Less tasty....but perhaps more fun.

Thin blonde eyebrows furrowed in concentration as the tome's cover lifted at a silent command.....a sudden and windowless breeze stirring the dusty pages of the archaic text.....the papers yellowed to the point of almost crumbling. And with every page that passed her gaze.....those dangerous orbs narrowed just a little further......

"What is this....."

Her once elegant smile....if one could call it that.....disappeared in a mercurial flash of temper, the hulking book slamming shut with brutal force at her mental command, billowing dust and paper fragments......

"Why can't I read this?"

It must be magic......and yet she too was a wizard, schooled in reading such things. And yet......

"Divinus temporum."

Her mind expanded at the utterance of her own spell. A simple thing, one of the first magics taught to apprentices of any talent. And yet.....the spell that should have translated any and all magic writings into complete comprehension......

Revealed nothing.

 

[VampiricTouch]

She spun in retaliation at the barest touch, the coil of tension only tightening that she had not notice another person's approach. It was... her Master. The tension in the air dissipated... with him. She lowered her head with shame, as her hand dropped, returning the knife to its hiding place. She had lifted a blade against her Master...

"I'm sorry..." Her soft voice stung with her shame.

"You're awake, I see. There's no need to go in there again. I assure you, everything has been taken care of."

The words brought a wave of relief over her as she nodded, thankful that she wouldn't have to return to that dreaded room. But... now that he'd said all this... was she to return to her room? A tumult of thoughts crowded into her mind as she flitted from the need to practice and hone her skill... to the question of whether she too would be like Tamara some day, a corpse that her Master didn't even mourn in her passing...

"Taken care of... Will I be like that some day...? Once I've exhausted your favor? When you have no more... nee- " The tumble of questions came out before she had the chance to stop its outflow.

"Forgive me... You've promised... and that should be enough for me. That is enough for me." She lifted her head with a tremulous smile, repeatedly berating herself in her mind, and repeatedly telling herself to trust her Master.

She took a small step inwards and wearily rested her head upon his shoulder, her body instinctively conforming to his as she breathed in the masculine scent of her Master, taking comfort in the security of his proximity. Her stomach growled to remind her of the weight of her weariness, and hunger.

"Can we eat? and may I stay with you... please? I won't disturb your work... I'd just rather not be alone to muse.... "

 

[dryfter]

"Taken care of... Will I be like that some day...? Once I've exhausted your favor? When you have no more... nee- "

A sudden frown......a look of ill disguised horror as his gaze descended upon her even as they began ascending the tower steps. Alyssia had to have seen it......halting her musings almost immediately to bow her head once more and continue forward. When the assassin spoke again, it was with a measure of humility and apology.

"Forgive me... You've promised... and that should be enough for me. That is enough for me."

Yet it wasn't enough to fool him when she turned her gaze upward once more, dressing her hauntingly beautiful face with brave false smile. Not when the tremor in her voice had simply shifted to her eyes instead.....

"I've given you my heart....."

His steps paused, legs already beginning to ache like they always did when he decided to manually ascend the multitudes of starcases that wound throughout his tower.

"Cherish it.....and keep it safe.....and it will always be there for you. Destroy it, and you'll never find another like it again."

He shouldn't have to.....didn't want to.....say what Tamara had done with it. By now, Darius was pretty sure Alyssia could figure that one out on her own. So instead, he fixated on her earlier request.......food.

Thin soled shoes slammed to a halt on a small landing, every muscle in his body tensing, even beneath her touch.....as thin elven eyebrows narrowed dangerously.

"Stay here, no don't. I'll not be leaving you alone right now. It seems we still have a guest in the tower."

When he started forward again, it was much quicker, his face a well kept mask of offended fury as the two of them stalked forward. It would be so much easier to just whisk them to their destination using his magic......but he had a feeling he would need all of his formidable powers when they confronted his.....guest.

Penumbrus!

The last barrier between them exploded inward with his wrath, and yet.....even before he entered, he knew she was gone. Shiress would have been able to sense him just as easily as he had her, and after their last encounter......was perhaps just a little more unwilling to underestimate him.

"Arm yourself. She's gone, but there's no telling what she might have left behind. Be thankful I don't make a habit of leaving corpses around or we might be in real trouble."

A quick scan of the room showed a bare minimum of rifling, there truly wasn't much here to pillage, most of his valuable ingredients and magics safely locked away in his summoning chambers. And yet.....

Moving towards the book in the center of the room.....thin fingers gently reached out and closed it once more.....a soft puff of dust and loose fiber escaping from the ancient text.

"Well no harm done here. If there were anyone in the world incapable of reading this....it would be her......"

---------------------------------------------------------------------

He could see the askance in her gaze, even as the two of them dined finally atop the tower beneath a glowing sunset. How the questions must burn at his lovely pet......

"You're wondering what that book was, aren't you?"

A long moment of silence as his eyes drifted off to gaze at the myriad of azures and crimsons as they blended themselves into nature's last perfection of the day......

"Its a tome of summoning. Shiress couldn't hope to understand that manner of text. She practices a completely different school of magic. Even if she could read it, I doubt very much it would interest her. Still....that doesn't keep her from snooping around."

That would be good enough for now. He didn't have to tell her that the school of magic used had nothing to do with why she couldn't read it.....certainly he had no intention of letting Alyssia know that he himself had only barely begun to decipher it.....his own curiousity driving him to great lengths to discern what secrets lay hidden within its archaic parchments.

Truth be told, he knew exactly what it was......had selected this text very carefully before stealing it away in the hopes of mastering its magics. But that was decades ago......and he was only now beginning to translate it.......why now of all times?

Chewing on a soft roll, the warlock brought his attention back to his lovely companion, smiling as he watched her devour the cheese and fruit his servants had brought them.......the freshly caught halibut having long since been devoured.

"Do you miss your home? Was I wrong in taking you from the ones who care for you?"

It was a strange question, but one that had been bothering him......and a man such as he.....didn't enjoy being bothered when he was trying to concentrate on other, more important things.

 

[VampiricTouch]

"Do you miss your home? Was I wrong in taking you from the ones who care for you?"

The question left her surprised and touched that he considered her opinion.

"Do I miss home? I am home Master. My home is with you... and taking me from the ones that care for me... do they? Even if it were planned... for them to relinquish my place so easily... stricken from the annuls was what Espeon said wasn't it? " She looked up at her Master with her uneaten fruit resting in her hands.

"How long did you work to gather those ingredients for me? I'm sure the nymph wasn't easy to capture from her grove... The souls of a full score of paladins... Something like that can only be procured once every few centuries... and it'd likely be something practically impossible to convince another to give up. And... the incubus..." her voice trailed off as she shuddered, remembering the demon's effect upon her.

"That must've taken a lot of planning to control him... just to obtain... " She went silent again and bit into the fruit at hand, too preoccupied with her thoughts to notice the trail of juice trickling down the side of her lips to cling precariously to the edge of her chin.

"Even when I tried to take your life... Even though I've done nothing for you in return... For all you've done... I'm grateful. I doubt anyone in the Caelum would be willing to do so much for me... " Another bite into her fruit sent the droplet of juice splattering down the front of her chest and slowly making its way to the valley of her breast.

"I know that you love me Master and I have never been happier with another. Though... sometimes I wish... I had the choice to love you in return... as opposed to the magic you've instilled in me that leaves me doubting whether my affection is genuine and of my own accord." Her eyes trailed to the distant horizon as her mouth opened for another bite, savoring the view she shared with her Master while the succulent fruit left its honey careening down the side of her hand and winding down her arm.

"Do I miss the Caelum... a little bit. I miss having the purpose of a future to work for... There are times I wonder if I truly have a place in your tower... whereas in the Caelum, there was always a defined purpose and need. There are times when I think I might just get in your way with the work you need to do..."

Her face brightened with a smile as she met his gaze, "But no matter... Even if I could turn back time, I'd still accept that mission to come here. "

 

[dryfter]

"Do I miss the Caelum... a little bit. I miss having the purpose of a future to work for... There are times I wonder if I truly have a place in your tower... whereas in the Caelum, there was always a defined purpose and need. There are times when I think I might just get in your way with the work you need to do..."

His head snapped back up at that, Darius beginning to realize just how unintentionally seductive the lovely little assassin could be with just a simple peice of fruit. How enrapt he had been in watching the sweet nectar course down her pale chin to pool invitingly between her full breasts.....

"You have a purpose here as well, Alyssia. And I'm sure you'll be pleased to know that you're more than just a fucktoy I intend to bed on lonely nights."

A wry grin spread across his face. No....no if he fully intended on continuing down the path he had chosen for himself.....he would need her help. And that entailed buying time.....precious time for him to discern all the secrets of the book Shiress couldn't begin to understand.

"Love."

Was that it? And had he really spoken that out loud? Glancing towards her, he could see the question in her eyes, mixed with concern and more than a little confusion.

"If you were wondering why Shiress couldn't read the book in my laboratory, I'm guessing its because she lacks that element. You see.....the strangest thing happened not too long ago, Alyssia. The moment I took you in my arms, the very day I inducted you into this tower......I stole away for a bit as you slept, bent on furthering my studies. And somehow.....the book that had stymied me for decades with its silent, brooding power......"

His face pursed in thought again.

"I can make out bits and pieces of it now. I know its a spell of some sort, and a complicated, extremely powerful one at that.......yet the only thing that changed within the tower, Alyssia.......is you."

Dreamy eyes.....focused on the future......and the most certain demise that came with it......drifted towards the midday sun.

"I've decided I'll help the Caelum again when this century is over. I want you to know that much at least. It most certainly means that a lot of Avernus must perish between now and then.....and it definately means that those who don't die are going to try and come after me for cheating them out of their potential reward. Such is the way of my peers."

For someone who seemed to have a death sentance, Darius smiled towards the horizon, completely calm and composed.

"You're skilled at dispatching them, and you'll prove yourself to be a valuable asset to this cause. I know the Caelum gave you up too easily, love....but they're a people worth saving. And there are many who would demand a much higher price than what I did for 100 years of protection."

 

[VampiricTouch]

She caught the enraptured stare her Master had been gracing her with and as his head snapped up to assure her of her place besides his bed, a gentle smile dawned on her face. Yet as his words became serious, her smile faded...

For the first time, he laid out his plans before her and she drank it in with avid attention. She would return to fighting the Avernus? The thought struck a chord inside as her eyes lit up with a strange sense of purpose.

"Thank you Master. I will prove myself valuable to this cause and I'll not allow anything lay a finger on you." Her words were fierce as she reviewed her plans to refine the edge of her skills.

"Besides me." Her voice turned impish as she brought a juice drenched finger to tease his lips, purposely not coming close enough for him to capture it before bringing it back to her own mouth to suckle clean.

She grinned as his eyes narrowed. "The juice will dry and it'll get sticky if it isn't cleaned off. "

 

[dryfter]

Tiath 12, 3rd month of Flameborn in the year of the Diseased Oxen.

How long has it been since that day we shared blissfully upon the roof of my tower? Before the first droplets of blood shed at my command stained her clothing? When it was the nectar of the sweetest of libations that directed my attentions to the fullness of her womanly swells and demanded the diligence in their cleaning?

10 years. And not one bit of the naughty mischief I saw in Alyssia's smoky elven eyes has dissapated, not even a little.

10 years to the day since my apprentice was brutally slain. Funny that I should think of her now for how little I've missed her this last decade. My sacrifice has rewarded me a thousandfold in the addition of the assassin to my household. Even now, my enemies quiver at the shadows that threaten their own bedsides.....never knowing who is next to fall......or even.....who is killing them.

This is good progress indeed.

The sharpened tip of the quill pen settled gently back into the smudged and stained crystal of the inkwell, similarly stained fingers settling peacefully upon his writing desk as his own keen sense of hearing brought footsteps approaching to his attention.

"Good morning, my love."

He didn't need to turn around, though turn around he did.....with a wide smile of appreciation and true amore lightening his countenance. Slowly, he closed the binding to his private journal.....choosing instead to turn back to the much larger tome she was much more used to seeing him poring over. Over the years it had become a rather time consuming task.....an obsession....though nowhere near as strong as the one he held for her.

Tender lips sought her own as he immediately reached for her, giving Alyssia's supple frame a sudden jerk forward as the assassin found herself perched rather primly on his lap. They had both had battles.....some more fierce than others, Darius coming to the defense of both tower and elf maiden in the rare case that one of his Avernus peers actually made the connection as to what might be happening here......

All the more reason to enjoy the few moments of peace that they found.

"My heart sings at your return, and in seeing you well once more."

A soft, kind frown as he looked down at her impish face.....knowing the look came from knowledge of her own.....the knowledge of feeling a hand slowly creeping up her flat midriff to gently cup a firm and womanly globe of flesh even through her assassin's garb.....

"Have you any injuries I should worry about? Should I be concerned about healing my precious little pet before I find other....rough....strenuous....activities that might further a threat to her health?"

A wide flash of teeth, a twinkle of mischief in his eyes. Alyssia had been away from home far too long this time......

 

[VampiricTouch]

Ravno's tower had been... odd. There had been no visible guards that she could see when she'd scouted on the walls and yet there were no illusions or any traps of any kind. For all appearances the tower seemed unguarded. When nothing stirred, she slipped over the walls.

The moment she had stepped foot onto his premises, the earth itself had turned against her. The foliage on the ground, twined rapidly around her ankles and feet as she bit back a curse. She had been able to cut free and run when a branch lashed out to grasp the air where she had been standing. She cut down the brush that were in range as she danced in and out of reach of the tree that was now harassing her.

Her ticking mind quickly identified the magic and struggled to accept the pieces the puzzle presented. A priestess of the Mother Astraea?! What would a Caelum priestess be doing defending an Avernus' tower?! But... there was no mistaking the Magic of the Harvest. She ducked just as an apple came whizzing past her head. If the fruit hadn't punched a sizable dent in the stone wall behind her, she might've found it amusing that an apple could be used as ammunition... no matter. The Priestess had to be within the range if she were to call on the aid of an actual tree...Most likely on the tree itself...

She darted in, using the moving weave of branches as leverage to move deeper, sighting the hooded shadow and closed in. She would've killed the priestess had not a branch snaked in from a blind spot and caught her legs just as her sword slashed at the woman. She had been so close... the blade having sliced the hem of the woman's hood, and yet, too far. Her thoughts were broken by the sudden moan that escaped her adversary's lips. Alyssia watched in wide eyed amazement as the woman rolled her head back, and sagged down on her perch in what could only be a sudden climax.

~||~​

She'd sat in the cell for hours now, and despite the relaxed pose she held herself in, her eyes were busy watching the other prisoners behind their own respective cages. She started when every person in the room curled into themselves, gasping and crying out in agony... Her eyes narrowed uneasily. There had been nothing done to cause the sudden chorus of pain, just... what was happening here...?

"It's in the food." Came a rasped murmur from a man in the next cell, not affected by the sudden onslaught of pain. Alyssia turned sharply to stare at the rail thin of a man before he continued. "I don't know what it is... but it's connected to his mood. When he is pleased, the victim will experience pleasure... and when he is displeased... excruciating pain."

"Most of the people here are from the village a little ways away... Famine. He came to hire servants, choosing only the beautiful and promising a salary and meals. They were merely toys for him to play with, used to test the effectiveness of his poison. When my little girl, Katja, had not returned, I came here in search for her... and found them all... docile little pets so caught up with the desire to assuage his displeasure that they saw nothing else."

She whistled softly at his story, was that why Ravnos had been so confident, to not even search her body for the hidden weapons? Was he so confident that she would eat and become like them? Or did he plan to keep her there until she had given in...

Hours wore into days as she waited in her cell, drawing distasteful sustenance from the soulstone she kept lined in her uniform. She threw out the bread, pretending that she indeed had eaten, and feigning both pleasure and pain when the cells erupted with the cries of her inmates. She continued the miserable facade, waiting for the chance that Ravnos would enter and lower his guard.

~||~​

The doors were flung open as Ravnos stalked into the room, muttering angrily about bad timing and bad company. A quick look around the groaning room, he spotted Alyssia and unlocked her cage door. A hard yank on her chain pulled her to her feet. Alyssia had been about to draw one of her blades into cuffed hands when another voice rang in through the open door. Her eyes narrowed as she recognized the other Avernus, Arram.

"So this is where you keep your toys Ravnos? You've even kept them in the same uniforms they came in! Is that your way of flaunting to the Caelum that you control what used to be their own?" The elf spoke as he appraised the harem of elves and humans that writhed in the agony of their master's displeasure. " And this one... Oh... you do know my tastes so well..."

Another tug on the chain and she found herself in Ravnos' dungeon. If she attacked now... the other would probably contain her... She had to wait. The lead in her chain pulling tight as it reeled her into the room, onto her toes, and soon completely suspended by merely the cuffs on her arms.

"She is quite the prize Ravnos, she's also smart enough to not fall for your tricks... I'm almost certain I want to keep her, but of course... it's only courteous to try her out... if only so that you can taste her wares before she's gone." Arram spoke softly as he circled her. His fingers traced lightly around the leather that covered her, slowly unlacing them to let it fall to the ground.

Alyssia shuddered as the man touched her. Sickening. Her body lusted, it was what her Master had desired of her... and now, another man was here stripping her down. It was galling, when the man drew a lazy finger over her nether lips to return wet with her need...

They took her... Arram her front while Ravnos pounded into her ass with a vengeance, bent on relishing in the pain he caused her with every thrust as he awarded her the brunt of his annoyance. Her cry of pain was set in the background of moans of pleasure, escalating into screams as even the dungeon filled with the smell of their arousal.

It was after the ordeal that Ravnos lost his calm, the exercise having only darkened the anger on his face as he tackled Arram. Alyssia coiled into herself on the cold stone, semi conscious of the men that grappled with each other for their lives. It... had to be now... She choked back a sob, swallowed the indignant violation of herself and pulled her blade from her clothes on the ground....

~||~​

She had returned to his tower, with two soul stones. Indeed... she had been gone, far too long.

His words and his touch as it crept up to cup a firm breast brought a smile to her face. She was home. With a loving Master that loved and cared for her... She dropped the two soul stones on the table, the relief at seeing her Master once more came over her as she pulled him in to kiss with feverish need. It wasn't just the yearning for him after her absence... it was to wash away the bile of another's touch, the taint that had been on her body even after she bathed...

"I'm not hurt Master... though I've missed you." She murmured between kisses, the urgency between each gasping breath rising as she courted his body with her own... with her need.

 

[dryfter]

Master.

It had been weeks, and yet, it never failed to thrill him...hearing her call him that. Arram and Ravnos had been the first time she had been sent out on a double execution. Most Avernus preferred to work alone, trusting only themselves. Yet when these two had fallen from the ranks of the Caelum, they had been brothers.....

Expelled for sexual deviance. The creation of sex slaves, and the turning of those slaves into mindless puppets that would do anything for their next climax. Such a thing took time, magic, and a hell of a lot of research. If Alyssia only knew how much that research had helped in her creation......

Yet he hadn't wanted a mindless puppet, and that made him different from them, at least in his mind. What good was a broken and shamed woman other than to breed senselessly until she died? No. He had a tool, a weapon sharper than any that had been in their arsenal......and now they were both dead as a result.

He could feel her need as her lips reached for his own, as her lithe elven body and all its supple curves pressed insistantly against his own robes. Could even feel the heat emanating from the apex of her thighs as a leather clad leg slid its toned surface slowly up one thigh to press her need against the swelling she knew had to be there......

A soft sibilent hiss of victory escaped her as the first buckle that held her armors to her lovely curvature came undone beneath his fingers. Darius could already feel her own hands eager to slide beneath his robes.....to pull them away and let them pool at his feet......

They wouldn't make it to the bedroom. Not at this rate. Not that he cared. The hand on her breast had told her all she needed to know.....and Alyssia was quite willing.....eager even.

He said nothing, though he suspected. Just as he knew she would find some way to perfume herself to disguise the scent of sex, he knew she had been taken....and probably by them both. It was ok.......they had paid the price for her violation with their lives. If they hadn't.....Alyssia would never have returned to him.

Still, it rankled.....even more so as her pale flesh became visible once more to awaiting eyes. Even now it amazed him....the pink flush of her body's more intimate places contrasted against a moonlight backdrop.....to think that she had to endure something like that......that another had been allowed to touch her, to drive themselves into her and enjoy that which was his.

"Welcome home, Alyssia....."

Fingers aided by her own, eagerly sought out the hidden clasps and buckles that held the tight leathers against her womanly frame, until his pet assassin stood before him once more, hiding no secrets.....not even that of the shame he knew she had been hiding.....reflected now keenly enough in her eyes that she dared not meet his gaze for fear of his disapproval.

Bruises. Ugly purple things that held testimony to her rough treatment at the hands of the Avernus brothers. Each one marred her flawless skin....yet in doing so, reminded the warlock of her....mortality. Leaning forward, he could hear her sibilant hiss as tender lips brushed softly over one such place.....a pink and teasing tongue sliding over the ridge of bone that comprised her right hip. Alyssia had indeed been taken hard.....and most likely from behind......her captor's hold on her having been tight enough to leave its mark.....

His lips dragged intentionally across a rigid nipple as he rose to claim her lips, denying her sex any closer contact for now. Only fools rushed such intimacy......

And as her own parted eagerly at the touch of his kiss......his true welcoming of her began in earnest........

 

[VampiricTouch]

Alyssia hissed as his lips ghosted over the aching bruises that bloomed shamefully across her body like flowers. He knew. Knew that she had been tainted by another's touch... Would he still love her? Did she deserve it? She almost flinched at how intimately close he was to her... As much as she wanted him, the bruises were a keen reminder of the brutality she had experienced.

Her hand lifted to cover the ugly blossom of purple that colored her... only to make evident her pain. Her hand was dwarfed in the ugly flower and the smallest breath of relief left her lips when his lips drifted away. The escaping breath stealing away only to be caught when they grazed the sensitive peak like an accident in the making.... caught and contained in his kiss. Light, tender kiss. Easily imagined, but no. She would not allow it to be left in between the ghostlike limbo of reality and imagination. She responded to his claim, tasting fully of his mouth as it fired her imagination... and sparked her need.

Her hands reached out to touch him, tracing the contours of him through her memory, and finding his warmth, his touch tangibly present at her fingertips. following the embroidery of his robe, she found and began to undo the clasps and buttons that kept her hands from his skin, yearning for his flesh, his warmth... to feel him. She left provocative touches across every bit of slowly exposed skin... until nothing stood between them.

She stepped closer, conforming her body to his as his warmth washed over her. The groan of grateful pleasure was captured between their lips and stilled there as they parted for breath. She allowed her need... the overwhelming need gnawing through her to guide her. Her hands wrapped around him, feathering along the full length of his back as his decadent touches flitted aimlessly across her skin, leaving the gentle reminder that she was indeed home...

Fingers grazed a fresh bruise, causing her to stiffen as the sting jarred her memory of the mission like a sore reminder. She stepped back, the gap between them held at arms length as she struggled with herself and searched hard for the self worth she had to be in his arms. Her hands rested over his heart, feeling the thrumming of his life as she questioned her right to hold a place with him, beside him. Soiled.

"Do you... will you still love me.... even though.... they - I ... " whispered words were almost incoherent as tears threatened to fall.

 

[dryfter]

"Do you... will you still love me.... even though.... they - I ... "

The words muffled softly....onyx locks tumbling over his shoulder as Darius made haste to take her into his arms, silencing her tremorous words through embrace alone. He had felt her quiver in response to his touch, and not just from pleasure, the wounds of her body were deep......no doubt matched, if not surpassed, by the ones on her heart and soul........

"Always."

He was slow, painstaking in his building of her lust. Soft touches, indiscriminate of her bruises, soothing as they danced across her pale yet mottled skin, seeking out and finding the tender delights hidden amongst the pain......never more than a ghosting across her body, teasing, encouraging......

Even pain could be used in lovemaking......

He teased her sore spots.....kneeling before her to trace the deep bruise on one perfectly sculpted hip with the very tip of his tongue.....pressing just enough to ensure she felt a twinge of discomfort.....the warlock slowly letting a free hand curl inward and around the inner thigh.....holding her in place as he continued his torment......

He visited them all.....each and every purpled blotch diligently kissed and tended to, careful to avoid the assassin's sex in his ministrations.....content to drink in the scent of her arousal instead......

Rising once more, he stepped close.....the air between them vanishing in an instant, Darius feeling her flinch once more as his own manhood brushed against her. She was scared now.....and rightly so.....worse still, was that he had nobody but himself to blame for sending her. Yes, perhaps he could blame her for getting herself caught, that had certainly had something to do with it......but in reality, he had known how dangerous and risky the mission had been, would always be....when killing an Avernus was concerned.

Thin fingers reached for her....quelling her immediate flinch, warm emerald eyes smiling into her own as his touch ran across her scalp.....silken hair delighting his senses even he did his best to thrill her own, his movement continuing fluidly down Alyssia's slender neck......across her broad, muscled back.....and lower still to give her cute, heart shaped ass a sudden firm squeeze. The latter motion easing her forward enough to bring her in direct contact with his own rigid arousal once more.....

"Shhhhh."

Fingers curled inward. It had been a long time since he'd allowed himself to risk deliberate physical exertion....Darius simply wasn't built for such things. But now seemed like such a perfect time......

Cupping his lovely creation's ass flesh firmly, Darius lifted slowly.....gratified to hear a sudden gasp of surprise.....a warm wetness pressed so delightfully against his lower abdomen as coltish legs parted to splay about him, hugging his own wiry body for balance even as he turned the two of them back towards the awaiting bedchambers......

They could go at her pace, if that was what it took to calm her sudden and well understood fear......or they could go at his. Either way, the warlock was going to make it his personal mission to ensure Alyssia....never....flinched from his touch again.......

 

[VampiricTouch]

Words were silenced in the warmth of his embrace and tears fell despite the control she'd tried to exert. The simple affirmation was laid like a salve on her aching heart. Laid over with the bandages of his meticulous affection as he kissed and tasted her skin along with the salty droplets of her tears.

She flinched at the touch of his lips on her skin, the warmth of his breath heralding the pain that was sure to come with touches so intimate... She cringed and had his hand not stilled her retreat, she would have shied away from him, the very Master that had completed her. The twinge of pain flowered with the blossoms of pleasure and slowly the fine line between them was blurred past what she could discern.

Slowly he savored her body. Proving with tenderness the validity of his word. The gentle indiscriminate touch slowly stole her fear away, it was a touch that made love to ever aspect of her without regard to the past she'd experienced... and slowly deliberately found purchase in her heart and trust in her body. She swayed to the manipulation of his touch, pulling from the twinge of pain and pressing forth at the footsteps of pleasure, until every aspect of her remembered what it was like to lust for her Master.

All of that fled when she felt his thickening member brush her. The carefully paved reassurances crumbled in the face of her body's memory of thoughtless brutality that came with the organ pressed between their bodies.

Despite the open display of fear and desire that was blatant on her face, he still smiled. Still smiled with those dancing eyes that strove to convey the extent of his love for her....

The surprise pulled the fear from under her feet as her legs wrapped around to his body. The light grazing of his arousal against the moist lips of her sex ever so briefly reminded her of what it was like to want him. Her arms rested on his shoulders as she took that respite from fear to kiss him. Shared kisses as lips met and parted in delicate tenderness, parting only after she felt the satin sheets against her back.

They laid, side by side, as her hands reached to touch him. She searched for those places she remembered that made him ache for her... the way she did for him.... and in her reminiscing, she waged the war between desire and fear.

Her hand splayed wide as it traversed his side to cup the firm ass in a returning gesture. From there it followed the corded muscle of his thigh until only fingertips wafted over his skin and she returned upwards once more... the intimacy of her touch lacking only in the obvious avoidance of his organ, as if a barrier stood in the way of her hands.... an open declaration of the fear that twined in her mind.

 

[dryfter]

He asked nothing......demanded nothing of her......and spoke nothing as she touched him. And yet, when she dared to look at him, her tender frame trembling in fear at the memory of the pain violation had brought her.....a warm and loving smile......a gentle caressing touch.......

Theirs was not a relationship of taking.......but of giving of each other. Yet she had been taken.....in the most violent......humiliating way imaginable to her. And while she had done her best to mask her humiliation from him......it had shown through in the haunted look he had seen in her eyes......

Slowly, so as not to alarm Alyssia, Darius moved. Another quirky smile in response to her look of sudden askance. The warlock hadn't missed her avoidance.....her unwillingness to even so much as brush up against his arousal. But again......he never asked her to.....nor would he demand such a thing.

Yet the pleasure he took in easing her pain from her many injuries was only the beginning for both of them. If she didn't wish to touch him, so be it.....he could bear that burden.....but Darius was almost certain that the Avernus brothers she had faced wouldn't have bothered with a selfless act such as this......

He was fully aware of how almost unescapably close his cock was to her now.....just as aware as she was that he had crept stealthily between her moonlit thighs even as she trembled beneath what certainly had to be a sudden desire to close them before him.....

Yet it was all worth it, the moment his head lowered, his breath hot and teasing across her glistening flesh. The lightest of touches from the tip of his tongue as he traced her womancleft in its entirety.....

"Alyssia....."

No demand.....no statement really......Darius just hoped that she could still hear the love and admiration he held for her in the utterance of her name as it breathed warmly across her moist slit.....the heat of his mouth descending to engulf her with all the tenderness he could muster.

She would squirm no doubt, though if he had anything at all to say about it.....his mouth tugging softly at her labia, suckling gently before returning to lap at her.......it would be from the sensations he wrought in her rather than any perceived fear she might yet cling to.......

 

[VampiricTouch]

It took all of her willpower to not close her thighs at his approach. The painstakingly slow movements as his face slid between her parted legs and his organ approached hers. Her body tensed at the nervousness that pounded in her head as her eyes squeezed shut.

His breath wafted along her skin, eddying in teasing curls to warm her tension wrought body. Tension that snapped taut at the first wet path drawn across her sex. It's grazing touch stole her whimper away as she found herself dangerously close to his engorged organ. The cold fear that trickled up her spine met its match as his lathing tongue started to overwhelmed her reason.

She writhed. Struggled to resolve the imprinted pain that had violated her… and now the overwhelming pleasure he wreaked upon her squirming body. The simple reaction to his patience paying off the debt that stained her.

It took time…. As hesitant fingers found their way in the haze of her pleasure to return her affection for her Master. Between the soul deep groans that shook her body, fingertips lit their trail along his inner thighs.

At her own pace, she explored him, the trickling steps teasing up his thighs to their apex. She ghosted over his balls with touches so light they were more imagined than felt… and there she lingered as her body left another shuddering moan that resonated through her body.

It was with reluctant trepidation that her body released the fear of his touch…..no. It wasn’t a release of fear but rather the stripping away of doubt… of the forced recognition that she was safe in the hands of her Master…. That she would receive no harm at his hand.

Her hands closed over the pulsing member, more as a need to find some means of anchoring in her rapidly collapsing reality… and from there, as the driven instinct of his creation, she started the languid strokes. It was clumsy, spoiled by the hesitance of lingering fear as even that fell away in the face of his persistence.

 

[dryfter]

It took time.....but fortunately for Darius, time was a luxury he could afford right now.....especially for one as important to him as she was.......

It had taken all the right teasing, coaxing, and tantalizing just to get her to open thighs that had once spread lustfully for him. Had she really forgotten his touch? Had she come to loathe him?

And then she shivered slightly, the tiniest reaction to his breath as it moved warmly across her sex.....and yet, she was nowhere near moist enough yet to have been chilled......at least.....not until he had begun in earnest......

He could feel her shudder as he retreated from the lavish attentions he showered her sensitive flesh with......yes, yes she was coming along nicely now. The pink flesh so carefully hidden away, now completely exposed and glistening with the makings of arousal. Slowly, he peeled off to one side, again to drag heated lips across the inner thigh of one leg.....his tongue flicking out to gently tease the crease betwen her uppermost leg, and her femininity......

The quickening of her breath was a good sign, the rise and fall of her hips as she began to writhe.....as if begging to cease his gentle teasing and return once more to where he belonged......

And so he did.....yet not with a passionate vengeance, but with every bit of gentleness and loving care that he had displayed so far. Yet gone also was the teasing, as the warlock let Alyssia feel each lengthy stroke of his tongue as it slowly parted her folds to thrill her senses and dance across her flesh in all its writhing glory......

He found her button peeking from its hooded place just as her fingers found him tentatively. Yet he didn't moan.....no encourage her in any way......this wasn't about him......not by a long shot. Still, it was hard to keep his own traitorous heart from racing as he felt thin strong fingers slowly begin to stroke the hardened length.....

Suckling gently, he pulled the sensitive nub into his mouth......eager to hear and feel her response. A moment's breath later, and he was bringing his teeth against her in tiny playful nips, teasing her thighs further part once more......making her bare her flesh to him if she wanted to feel its consumption......

Smiling from his vantage point, he could only wonder how long she would last against an assault like this.........

 

[VampiricTouch]

He created her for this. Created her as she was to be his perfect companion.... The singular thought that burrowed through her mind and found its way into her pleasure saturated senses... She was his perfection.

Hips rolled in her confusion. The imprint of violation conflicting with the unnatural lust, first shying from the nips that tease her thighs open then chasing after the loss of his baiting kisses.... Fear lost its hold as she fell, fell into the open arms of her Master as the fear bled away through her fingers.

She lost herself in his ministrations, the graze of teeth making her shudder to his pace, to his call, to his touch. Her thighs parted for him. Parted to the way he made her want him, want everything and anything he'd bestow upon her.... as her body lifted to him for more. She called for her Master, begged with the open plead from her body as he drew the tension in her taut.

"Master... I need..." Words were left broken in the shuddering moans that rocked through her.

She ground her sex upon his mouth... or tried to. Her body remembered the rush her Master was much too skilled at bringing her... Remembered the completion she found only with her Master as her hand stroked him with the pure want he brought forth in her being. With his own patient urgency, he found in her body the wellspring of unbridled desire, until all that possessed her mind was her Master alone.

It had been much too long...

The motion was quick. The way she pulled herself free and rolled him on top of her with an urgency of her own. She watched him as her hand poised the velvet tip of his organ at her drenched sex. The plea was unspoken. It was a question, a request made with her entire body in the way she pressed towards him despite the tiniest twinge of fear.

Her eyes closed as he pressed in to hide the flare of her discomfort that somehow still found it's way to rise in the midst of her high strung need. He filled her with a painstakingly slow gentleness that made her only want more, at a pace that purchased the grounds to make love to her Master as the groan of their completion rumbled through her.

 

[dryfter]

The restoration was going well......of faith......trust.....and so much more that had been taken from her.

And then there was this.

She was much stronger than he was, and always had been. Her physical training had honed her body into a toned instrument of death whereas his powers had always come to lie in the colored corridors of his mind and the inkstained pages of books long penned.

And so he was taken quite by surprise as the docile little pet beneath him suddenly showed flashes of the tigress that perhaps she really was.....slipping away from him so suddenly it left him confused, until the second the moved again, pushing him forcefully down towards the bed as he watched a lanky thigh slip over him.

And yet, even the tigress had a collar.....halting despite the need he had stirred in her to pause in silent askance.....his throbbing manhood pulsing in her hand, her own sex hovering less than an inch away. A silent nod was all it took......

Darius hissed as he felt her slowly lower, tensing beneath the slow engulfing of his cock as she took him in. Though he went in easily......she was tighter than usual, her walls already beginning to ripple and tremble around him, even before her hips had made their first movement. Gentle hands reached up to cup her firm buttocks, providing her with the barest of support......

"Take what you need, love."

He kept his actions, his every movement gentle yet firm, lifting just enough from the mattress to meet every lusty gyration of her body.....stroking her as deeply as her movements would allow......

 

[VampiricTouch]

Her whole body purred her satisfaction as her sex quivered around his length. Her kitten begging for the attention, the completion only he could give.

That which she denied herself. She didn't deserve it.

She kept her pace, the slow agonizing, tortuous rise and fall of her hips as her sex gripped him, stroked him and lathed him with the honey musk of her arousal. As if she were remembering, reminding every fiber of her being the joys of making love with her Master.

Two fingers lifted to silence his own groan of pleasure as she bit her bottom lip to quiet her own. Instead, allowing her face, the arch of her body, the fluttering clench of her kitten to be the words that described her enjoyment of her Master. The sheen of sweat was evidence of their exertion, as her lips parted in a silent moan, tossing the damp black hair back as stray strands clung to her face.

She watched him through half lidded eyes, her hands resting over the ripple of muscle at his abdomen as she rose and fell. Two bodies collided in a joining of wet friction, further tightening the knot of tension that threatened her control. It took everything to hold back her own release, despite the slow driving towards the brink of her own limit.

Until that was all she had on her mind. Forgotten were Ravnos and Arram's violation, they no longer mattered in the face of her Master and her place by his side.

It surprised both of them when she pulled free. The feat of denying herself just before the crest of her orgasm broke the enforced silence as she groaned her loss.

Alyssia shifted, until her face was just before the throbbing bob of his arousal. She could smell her own musk as his prick brushed her cheek, staining herself with her own juices before her lips captured his velvet crown. It was erotic, tasting herself on him like this. Almost enough to push her over had she not kept the reigns of her control. Dancing so close to the brink as she buried her face to his groin, her eyes watching him for the signs of his approval...

 

[dryfter]

Darius' moan was stifled instantly at the touch of her fingers. Silently, he watched.....as the sexual creature he'd created worked to please him. It was erotic to be sure.....so unlike their first time when he'd taken her chastity at the temple of her own goddess.....

Gone was the blindfold, and the shame of having her purity taken from her, replaced instead by pure sexual energy as she arched and ground over him, denying herself the pleasure of vocalizing her lust just as she had done with him. He could feel her milking the thick, throbbing veins of his manhood, her body needy with desire and heedless of the erotic sheen of sweat that her vigorous movements were creating.....

And then she was gone....returned again before he could even come down from his soft arch to look for her, his cock sliding almost forcefully down her throat. He could smell her.....Alyssia's scent.....all about him, the juices of her arousal moistening her thighs even now as it had his cock just moments ago......

The warlock gritted his teeth against another moan.....nodding in wide eyed approval as she glanced hopefully up at him......could she feel the trembling in his thickness......the raw energy she coaxed in him, her throat muscles closing tightly about him as she gagged only slightly beneath each fervent dip of her pretty elven head......

"Come.....here....."

The words were barely audible through his racing breath, yet he reached for her....thin fingertips brushing against her silently as he moved towards what he wanted. She was close...he had no doubt of that....and yet this had been all for her, not him.....damned if he was going to finish alone. He hadn't had his fill of her sweet moans just yet.....

Fingers hooked the delicate cleft of her buttocks, her look one of puzzlement for just a moment as he actually had to move somewhat upward to even reach her. But as he began to direct her movements......the assassin seemed to know exactly what he wanted.......

Her pale, shapely thigh, couldn't move over him fast enough.....his tongue, no, his entire face rising to meet her eager sex. And moan he did finally, the vibrations of the sound stirring her quivering petals and reverberating deep within her flesh......the sound of his pleasure......

 

[VampiricTouch]

They were both at the limits of their control. Pushed over, no, thrown over the edge at the barest touch. The humming was excessive, she required far less for the chord to snap as she arched to it's call. His organ pulling free from the possessiveness of her own lips as she screamed the release he granted her.

Too consumed in the orgasm she had so desperately needed, to notice the explosion of his, as ropes of his release arced in the air to paint the canvas of her face and breasts. The coils of muscles in her legs tightened, as her toes curled to the impact that had hit her... blind sided her.

She crumpled over him, too consumed to realize that she'd left the strands of his seed to smear across her face and between their bodies. The haze slowly faded away as she lifted herself on shaking hands around him. For the first time noticing the results of his release.

The softest purr rumbled through her as she bent to lath her tongue across his skin. Her eyes darted towards him between the pendulous sway of her breasts before she continued. She bent forward again, this time the curve of her breasts pressed to his body as she took the time to pick up the stray streaks of his seed along with the faint salt of their sweat, working her way towards his organ as she lathed her appreciation.

Only after she had been satisfied did she roll off of him. Removing from his eyes the pouted pink of her drenched sex. Curling into the crook of his arm, her fingers drew whorls through the milky white pearls that still adorned her neck and upper breasts. It was the slow exultation of her satisfaction as she wore the mark of her Master.

 

[dryfter]

He watched in amazement as she slowly recovered. He barely noticed how his own fluids were trapped between them, had certainly not been able to see how and where his seed had flown, and definately didn't care as she brought him to soul crushing climax. Every muscle in her legs, her thighs, her hips and back, stood out in perfect definition as he watched her cum hard for him, her loud and aching cry all he needed to be driven over his own edge.....

And yet if for a second his body had begun to show fatigue, his member softening almost imperceptibly.....such things vanished as she finally stirred....turning just enough that he could see the pearlescent strands of his seed lacing vibrant trails across her pale face, contrasting violently where it had spilled across a few matted locks of her hair.....could feel it pooling where it now settled in the warm valleys and hollows of her neck and breasts.....

Hissing softly, Darius arched his pleasure once more as Alyssia returned to him, her tongue bathing him gently.....ridding him of the seed that was rightfully hers to claim. And in return, she felt his hardening cock pulsating its pleasure, a pleasure made ever more vivid each time he watched the muscles of her delicate throat move and work, leaving no doubt as to her personal preference of disposal.

And then she was gone.....her own sex disappearing from his reach even before he realized how much he was going to miss it, turning instead to curl next to him, dampened hair full of his musky scent as her lovely head settled on his chest....

Still....she could hardly lick her own neck.....and his blood raced at the sight of the smallish collar of creamy pearls he had given her.....already moving once more to drip languidly down her perfect frame, pausing only at the small resistance her breasts presented to gravity.....

"Mmmm.....you look so delightfully dirty, my pet......"

A fingertip teased the remnants of their coitus.....stirring a small pool hidden within the hollow of her collarbone, lifting ever so slowly to press against rubied lips all too willing to part for him.

"Only you....Alyssia.....only you could wear such a look so proudly and not be ashamed or at least bashful. And that confidence.....that hunger.....only adds to your allure."

He smiled as he felt her curl against him a little more. He wouldn't say it. Wouldn't spoil the moment by saying he was sorry for the last mission he sent her on. She didn't need to know how much it had grieved him when he had found out about her violation.....made even more so as she refused his touch.

"You're perfect. Everything I want....need you to be."

Instead, he would let her bask and heal, take comfort from his love and his close proximity. And most of all....he would never.....ever.....allow her to be assaulted like that again.

A soft haze, pleasant and warm in nature, settled gently over him then.....as if the thought of his looking over her in the future finally cleared the guilt in his conscience. He had her back.....and she still love him and only him. That was all that mattered. And as the ache in his heart faded.....fatigue rushed swiftly in to fill the void.....

"Tomorrow....I need.....your help......research......book......"

Exhausted despite the level of arousal his lovely creation had once again blessed him with.....Darius finally succumbed to slumber......the scent of his own musk mixed with something softer, delightfully perfumed and alluring, filling his senses and dragging him further into the blackness......

 

[VampiricTouch]

Darkness was a common companion now. Ten years. Ten long solitary years where she stirred only in the shadows of her dreams. Stirred enough to rattle the cage she'd been confined in, the cage of her reflection as this creation, this being he created puppeted her body. Luxuriated in the abilities, the knowledge this body contained, and assaulted her...

Memories came in fragments. Not that she didn't remember, but she didn't want to remember. Those moments where she watched through the eyes of her other half, a marionette without say or will to the occurrences around her. The splatterings of his seed over her body, soiling the once pristine canvas with his mark, were far worse than his taking. They left mottled cracks in her pride, humiliated her that she should be so stained, and that the other half should find so much pride in it. She did not want to remember.

There were moments where even her ethereal consciousness could not deny the rush of ecstasy, the blinding pleasure she had felt... only at his hands. Moments like those shamed her. Shamed that she could enjoy something she should loath. Shamed her that if she were to be honest with herself, she had enjoyed the touch of an enemy. She did not want to remember.

Broken pieces of memory only served to berate her, lash against her until even her form, the image she had maintained of herself faded away. What use was there in holding on to such things? Remembering her body only meant the reliving of her hell during the hours of her dubious freedom. It was easier this way. She did not want to remember.

But she still did. Ravnos and Arram. Brothers whom she'd only heard whispers of during her life with the Caelum. The disgraced pair who'd been shunned, and soon removed from the ranks of her life. It was the pair, the despicable pair that forced her to remember that she, even the caged self had form, and still did. In that eternity of tribulation, she suffered with her other half, broke with her other half. Their deaths did nothing to assuage the violation upon her body, physical and mental....

How could her other half still desire the touch of a man? It mattered not. She didn't have a say in it anyway.

Downcast eyes stood before the man that had made her what she had become. Fear was no longer there. All emotion, anger, hate, sorrow... faded to nothing as she stood there. Her impending violation was obvious. He never touched her for any other reason. Only to satisfy his needs. After all, the caging of her original self was for his ideal perfection....

Ghostly touches fluttered over bruised skin. It was the embodiment of sincerity as lips gently brushed against her like that of a butterfly's wing. Kisses that tenderly apologized, and made amends for the battering upon her body as if he could kiss them away. It was impossible to not be moved to tears. The way he adored her, worshiped her body despite the brokenness, the tainting....

Tears fell. She knew this moment was hers. It was a slow tango focused completely and whole-heartedly upon her. Her wounds, her wants, her needs - Her.

"Darius... Why? Why do you not try to know me... Me as an individual outside of your imposed perfection..." It was the strain of whispered words as consciousness illuminated her body and she returned to the shadows that was once again the lock on her chains.

 

[dryfter]

"Darius... Why? Why do you not try to know me... Me as an individual outside of your imposed perfection..."

He felt her pain. Even in the depths of slumber, he heard her cries....could taste her tears. Though neither knew what this was......or what it meant.

Raven tresses windswept and lovely.....her face shadowed and pale, the assassin stood, dressed head to toe in a lovely dress that he had made for her.....and the chains he had imposed upon her......

Reverie. The deepest of elven slumbers, and one he'd not experienced in countless decades. Avernus did not reverie. Their souls, tainted as they were, could never be allowed to mingle with those of their peers.....with those of their ancestors.

His reply cut through the darkness, stabbing at her like a knife. He felt her pain so clearly, but could she bear his?

Why? Why did you not try to know me? Why did you follow blindly like so many others? Killing just because someone ordered you to?

He saw her eyes widen in realization as the bonds that held her in place tightened once again. And yet....in that moment, she saw......all the years he had watched her from the shadows......

The longing. The admiration. And how it had all meant nothing. He was supposed to be a corpse. Just another Avernus dead on her blade. And yet....he hadn't wanted to die.....but neither could he bring himself to end the life of Alyssia ShiRien.

He saw her too. The shadow that even now smiled at him lovingly, the shadow he had created. Yet for some reason, the sight of that Alyssia saddened him in light of the question he had been asked. And somehow.....he knew she could feel that sadness. Just as clearly as he could feel hers.....and the soft sense of inner horror that swept across her now. What would come next? Anger? Self loathing perhaps? Not even Darius could predict the trappings of the female heart.....he had a hard enough time soothing the ache in his own......

And yet there was something else.....something he hoped she could feel......could sense if only just this once. His mistakes, his sins were many, and yet he had always loved.....even after Shiress had made that love a cruel game for her own enjoyment, he continued to risk his heart. He had watched over her.....her development, her training, and he had come to admire.....respect......lust.....and yes, perhaps......love.

It was deeply hidden in the mixture of sadness and failures he considered himself to be....a sadness the "other" Alyssia drove away from time to time, but always returned eventually. But those feelings were no less real.....

They just took a keener heart to find.

 

[VampiricTouch]

Consciousness returned with a vengeance and all things within the shadows of her slumber were sealed away once more. Alyssia's eyes opened to the heaviness that permeated the room. it was almost palpable, the dark welling of sadness that she couldn't seem to define. Not realizing that the source came from her own tortured dreams.

Light footsteps of fingertips traced their way over the sculpted smooth ridge of his chest, drifting upwards to float over the lines of his face. It was a simple gesture of affection, as the fleeting touch brushed aside the stray strands of blonde before following the upward curve of his ear.

Her lips followed after, the ghosting of her breath heralding the gentle steps of kisses over the column of his neck, then cheek, then eyes then lips. She shifted in the crook of his arm as her breasts pressed against his body, the warmth radiating from her Master more than sufficient to place her in a state of arousal.

As lips drew back, she watched his eyes flutter once, than open. "Good morning Master." Came the whispered greeting, before the smile faltered, "Are you... alright?" The concern flitted across her face as she queried for his welfare. Certain that if he was well, there would be nothing to worry about.

"Would it please you to bathe with me? or should I do so myself and you watch?" She baited him to smile, unsure of what the change in atmosphere was and from whence it came. Even as the sun filtered in through the window, it was much too bright a day for the darkness inside.