Love as a Form of Binding Ch. 09

He nodded and leaned against her, cupping one of her breasts very carefully.

Maezou found them at the table when she came up to get some coffee. Zele held him on her lap and his eyes were closed as his head leaned on her chest.

"He's so sweet," Maezou smiled, "May I hold him?"

Zele smiled and nodded as she helped Thiery across to Maezou. Zele poured them each a cup of coffee.

"He makes better coffee than Toby and he will start on dinner soon. He said that he would teach us."

Maezou chuckled "I like him. Can we share?"

Zele nodded, "Why not? That is what Zele had in mind." She looked at him as he sat on Maezou's lap and closed his eyes, feeling a little safe for the first time in many years.

"Thiery has had a long day" the dog-girl said, "He thought that he would be killed but Zele saved him."

He sighed and buried his face against Maezou's breasts.

"Better now, Thiery?" Maezou smiled.

He nodded and she kissed his head softly and then asked him to explain to her what he'd planned for dinner.

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The old demoness sat looking out at the remnant of the storm that she'd caused days ago as it spun itself down. She knew that in the natural course of events, a high pressure airmass would move in within hours, bringing with it pleasant, sunny winter weather for a few days, the sort that most humans don't mind too much and that people who like to ski or snowmobile would rejoice to find themselves in. She shook her horned head slightly, not liking the notion.

Not with a hunter coming to look for her daughter, she thought.

She knew the fool who'd been sent, and killing him would present no trouble for any of them, even Lord Tobias, but she knew that it would be like launching a flare to point right at them.

With a thought from her, wild winds began to blow hundreds of miles away to the northwest in the Arctic. Winds such as this were normal for the time of year there, but she added her will to what she built so that it would gather itself into something known to meteorologists as an Alberta Clipper, a fierce and fast-moving wind that funneled extremely cold air in a south-easterly direction across North America.

But how cold to make it?

She wondered idly as she listened to the sounds of Maezou and her male copulating behind her downstairs for a moment. With a small smile, she determined the measure of the cold that she wanted. She didn't need a number, she just wanted the feel. Soon, thermometers for hundreds of miles would dive down to forty degrees below zero, and it didn't matter whether the weathermen preferred Celsius or Fahrenheit -- at that temperature, the two scales matched.

Automobile windshields would shatter. Thousands of vehicles would refuse to start as their starters groaned over slowly in complaint, and more to the point, she thought, with a wind driving air that cold, there would be nobody about who had a brain and a warmer place to be. Even a demon hunter who loved his soft life wouldn't want to look too hard then. She just needed a bit of time.

Time to find a safer place.

Zele stood watching her male as he mated with her sister. Thiery stood next to her, his hand caressing the back of her thigh. She smiled as she watched, already having had a turn. But she also felt a few of the kobold's thoughts, so she looked down at him.

Thiery stood staring. He'd never seen anything like this. His small phallus stood straight out in front of him. Zele tousled his blonde hair, and he looked at her, turning toward her with a smile and a questioning look.

Zele smiled back and sat down, pulling the kobold to her so that he sat facing away from her between her legs. "Does Thiery like to watch, too?" she asked.

"Aye," he said quietly, not really being able to tear his eyes away from the scene for very long.

Zele lowered her head so that it was next to his. "Zele always likes to watch, and then she likes to use her hands on herself. Here, Theiry, sit back against Zele and look at them with Zele."

She reached her hand to his penis and began to stroke him. After a few seconds, she brought her other hand around to caress his balls for him. "Does Zele do it the right way for Thiery?" she breathed into his ear. He said nothing, but his quiet groan came to her as his answer.

Zele grinned to herself and began to lick her pet's ear. She went slowly, knowing that Toby and Maezou would go a long time now. There was plenty of time for her to please her small friend.

Mother walked down the stairs quietly and knelt on one knee behind Zele. "Do not take too long with him Daughter," she whispered, "I wish to ask him things."

"Thiery should relax and let Zele make him happy," she sighed into his ear and followed the statement with a kiss.

He groaned, "What are ye doing to me, Miss Zele?"

She kissed him and her lips grazed his ear. "Just watch Toby and Maezou, "she breathed, "Zele wants Theiry to be happy, and she knows that this will do that for him. Zele likes this very much and she thinks that Theiry likes this too, yes, Theiry?"

The kobold's eyes were almost glassy as he nodded. Mother pushed Zele's hand away from his penis gently. "Can I ask now?"

Zele looked down at him for a moment, "Yes. Ask now, Mother."

She quietly asked Thiery where he came from, and between his sighs and his soft groans, he told her how he had been snatched away from where he lived by a large imp to be brought before the previous ruler of the hell where Maezou worked. They'd never seen each other there.

"Tell me of this place," the old demoness said, "and tell me why it had an upper hall. Was there a lower one?"

In a few minutes, Mother had all of the answers that she needed. She leaned down and kissed Theiry's cheek. "Thank you, Thiery. Would you like to see it again?"

She could see that he'd have been wildly enthusiastic ordinarily, but he was enjoying the moment and it took a lot of his concentration away from him. Still, he nodded and sighed, "Oh aye, I'd love tae go ... there again to Goblin Ha. I know it well for ... what ye'd like."

Mother reached for his penis to help him, but he cried out and his semen shot out before she even got there. She stroked him anyway until he softened a little. Bringing her hand to her mouth, she licked what he'd left there for a moment before she stood up and left them.

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She felt the approaching cold air as she climbed steadily toward the altitude that she wanted near eighty thousand feet, her great wings beating hard to carry her north and east, heading for East Lothian in Scotland. When she reached the calmer air that she sought, she stopped climbing and leveled out to gain airspeed. The stars twinkled in their canopy above her as her speed increased to the point where the tips of her wings, shoulders and face began to glow softly from the friction of the thin air. The front edges of her horns glowed most of all as she looked down just a little and made her correction for drift.

Nothing appeared on any air traffic controller's radar, but fifteen miles below and many more miles behind her, the edges of her sound pressure wave caused a small double sonic boom. Twenty-four hundred miles an hour will do that.

An hour or so later, she held her wings still as she began her gliding descent just as she crossed the western coast of Scotland.

As she slipped through the cloud layers lower down, she noticed the onset of icing and glanced at her wings. It was beginning to accumulate and would eventually change the shape of her great wings so that they'd no longer fly. It could be a deadly problem for aircraft, but then she wasn't one of those. She flexed her wings periodically before the ice got too thick and it shattered and broke off in sheets to fall away behind her.

The ice in her hair was another matter, and it hadn't thawed away completely even once she was in the warmer air much lower down.

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Illa felt the first of her tears beginning as little stings at the edges of her eyes as she sat cradling the rat carefully. She couldn't believe that at her age she'd feel this way, so there must really be a lot of other things behind it, she realized. She'd found it scratching weakly in a bit of rubble a few days before. Seeing that it was injured, her little heart had gone out to the creature and she'd done her very best to comfort and care for it. She'd gotten it food and water and carried it with her everywhere to keep it warm, as much as she could.

But it didn't eat, and only took a drop of water now and then as it grew weaker. She'd grown almost desperate then. Other than worms or grubs, the rat was the only other living thing there besides her and she didn't want to be alone again, waiting and hoping that the people might come to walk through to see how the place was standing up to the ravages of time. She didn't count the days, but they only came four times a year for only minutes to shine their lamps around at the walls and then leave quickly. There was never any interaction between the people and her, since they never saw her but it wasn't as if there was anything else for her to look forward to.

She hadn't seen a goblin in half a century.

She never thought of it, but she was the reason for that as well.

She carefully carried the little rat to the stairs at the entrance and sat down on a stone in the weakening light of the early evening. The little thing looked up at her from between her hands. It didn't understand what she'd been trying to do for it, but it was long past feeling fear at how it was being held and carried everywhere. It had a sense that it was dying and just wanted to be left alone.

She saw the end as it came to the rodent in one final breath. Her tears began then and she hung her head to weep. She cried for the little thing, and even more, she cried for herself. She wept for an hour or more and felt no better at all afterward.

Finally, she knew the only other thing to be done, given where she was and how she lived.

She said her lonely farewell and ate the rat.

The darkness was almost full, but she looked up and froze as a shadow passed above her. Once it was gone, she scampered back inside and ran down the steps to the back to hide among the broken pieces that had fallen from the vaulted arches above her head. She hardly dared to breathe.

Thirty seconds later, she heard the beat of leathery wings as something slowed to land. The noise was followed by sounds that reminded her of the way that a chunk of the stonework would clatter as it fell. The wings hissed softly as they were folded and then all was silent but for the sounds of water droplets falling to land on the stone floor. Illa thought about creeping to the passageway that led to the well and the bolt hole behind that to make her escape out of the gully outside to run to the forest.

The thought faded after a moment. Something such as this would know and find her anyway, no matter what she did.

She peeked out a little and wanted to whimper as she regarded the tall demon standing there looking around in silence. The deep clatter began again as the thing began to walk slowly around shaking her head now and then to shed a little melting ice.

Illa eased herself down lower behind the stones with her heart in her throat, remembering what her mother had said to her. Her parents had met in an awful place far away, and they'd run off when they'd seen that they had a chance, coming here to hide. Her father had caught something and had taken it back in chains to offer so that perhaps they'd be left alone. Since he'd never returned, her mother had assumed correctly that he'd been killed, so she'd hidden there and had their spawn all alone.

Illa had been raised by her mother there, living on the goblins which sometimes came to the surface in the old hall. It took a lot of effort, since the goblins were all so much larger, but they could be killed one at a time if one was careful, and then they had food to eat for a time. But when Illa was nearly twenty, her mother had been found one day by many goblins and killed as her daughter was outside hunting for food. After that, Illa never let even one goblin live if she could manage it. Even if they came in numbers, she was always sure to reach out and they'd go back down below with one or two less every time. Most of them never noticed the few drops of blood which fell from the vaulted ceiling as Illa kept her prey still while it died. When they were gone, she'd drop the body and land next to it to eat.

But none had come there for a long time now, and she had to hunt outside for every scrap of food that she could find.

She assumed that this demon was here to look for her, sent by that place where her father had gone. She almost gasped when she saw the red of the thing's eyes as they began to glow. There was a flash as the demon's gaze swept past her and the thing walked past a few moments later on heavy hooves fairly close by. She stared at the long and deadly hands for a moment, and decided that no matter how hungry she might be, this was not something to be thought of as game. Illa knew that she wouldn't last a heartbeat in a fight against this.

As though she'd heard Illa's thought, the demon stopped still and the red flare of her eyes swept back to near where Illa hid herself, trying not to tremble, praying that her bladder wouldn't let go in her fear of this thing. The long thin tail flicked very near to her for a moment, and then the thing clumped away slowly on her hooves.

Illa didn't know what she'd do now, but at least she felt a little less terror as she watched the demon look around standing near the stairs once more. At least she could dare to draw breath again.

The tall demoness looked out at the dark countryside and smiled to herself. This would be perfect, she thought. She'd already found the door to the lower levels. She'd felt the small life forms around her in the place, and they were inconsequential to her and what she had in mind. There was one other living thing there and she'd even seen enough of it to know what it was. It might be a little problem, but then again it might not. She'd have to see. She spread her large wings and was gone.

Illa let her breath out fully and drew one in. She'd known instinctively what the tall thing was, though she'd never seen one before.

She just hoped that it wouldn't come back.

She eased herself back to sit down for a moment and found where she'd taken shelter in her unthinking fear. She reached out and picked up what was left of her mother's skull. Even long dead, her mother gave her a little comfort.

She was so alone and afraid.

She sat holding the skull as she cried.

Not long after, the tall thing was back, and Illa's heart rose to her throat again as she saw its dark outline lit a little from behind by the glow of the sky from the almost full moon. She watched the long legs strut directly toward her slowly and she could see that the demon carried something with long legs by one hand. Those legs dragged limply on the stone floor.

There was a long moment of silence as they looked at each other, the watcher hunkered down with her eyes wide in terror and the demoness who stood on those impossible legs as she regarded Illa calmly.

The tall thing laid what she'd been carrying down between them and squatted behind it, still looking directly at the young watcher. Illa looked with disbelief at the carcass of a freshly killed doe.

She saw the red glow in those eyes and knew that there was no hiding from one like this. A little of the red light was reflected back from the stones and though her terrible beauty was evident, Illa could see no malice in that face. Though they glowed brightly, she could see that the eyes which regarded her were in fact golden and featureless orbs. There were long horns there on that head which curled out to the sides.

A very mild scent came to her, a feminine scent which reminded her of her mother and she'd smelled it on herself as well. Her eyes were drawn to the demon's cleft and she felt a strange urge to place her head there against the flat abdomen just above that spot -- the same place where she'd placed her head on her mother when she was little and very young. It was place of warm comfort when she'd been a child, a place where her mother would stroke her hair and ask what was wrong, since she most often sought reassurance at those times when she was small and had perhaps been frightened by something.

The memory faded as she heard the demoness begin to speak to her, the first voice that she'd heard in so long talking to her in the speech of her kind.

"Here," she said indicating the deer, "I bring something to eat, since you look like you need it. There is enough here for you to regain a little strength and more important, to feel better."

The watcher's voice came out hoarsely in reply, since she hadn't spoken in so long. "Are ye here to take me where my father went?"

"No, little one," the rich voice replied, "I know of the place, and I see that you fear being hunted. I am not here to hunt you. No one knows that you are here but me -- and I tell nothing to anyone from places like that."

She reached out her long and wicked-looking hand slowly and touched the small face before her. "Such a pretty thing you are under that dirt and grime. Will you do something for me?"

"If I can," the young watcher said, "for the gift of the food."

The demon smiled, "Good. Please, when you are no longer hungry, please clean this place as you can and wash yourself until you are clean again. I will return with others to live here for a time. Prepare this place for us. I will not tell of you so that you can have time to grow accustomed to us. Only I will know, but the others will feel you here after a time. You need not fear at all. No one will harm you, and you will no longer be alone. Come, stand up and come to me. I want to see you away from old rocks and bones."

The young one looked down around herself, "My mother, ..."

"I know," the other one smiled gently, "I know. You may leave her bones here in this spot if you like. We can eat and then I'll help you to make her a cairn for her bones."

Illa stood up and stepped slowly and hesitantly toward the demoness. When she was close, she gave in to how she felt and hugged her tightly with a sob.

"My thanks tae ye for the food," she said in her trembling little voice, "What should I call ye?"

"Call me Mother," the tall one smiled, "I have daughters myself, and you will see them soon. You don't have to be afraid anymore. Now, take me to where there is water, little one. You smell of this mess. Even in the lowest of the hells, they try to stay a little clean as they can."

She looked at the girl and smiled, "I'm sure that under that dirt, there is a lovely little imp girl, and I want to meet her properly as we eat. I will stay most of the night with you and tell you about the others who will come so that you are not afraid when they get here. This is no home fit for you or anyone like this," she said as she looked around her, "but it will be for a time and we will make it a fine one with your help, if you will give it, Illa."

The imp gasped, "You know my name!"

Mother smiled, "Yes, I'm old enough to have the power for this ability."

The girl looked down, "Then you are not here to, ..."

"I wouldn't hurt anyone who doesn't need hurting," she said, "What have you done to anyone, other than eat worthless ones?" She thought for a moment and looked a little surprised, before grinning at Illa, "I think that there is even a small surprise for you soon, but we will have to see about it. Come, lead me to where we can wash, I wear some of your dirt on me now too. It will be a little cold to be sure, but then we can eat and talk before I have to go."