Love As The Darker Binding Ch. 06

Reed's mind answered that he was out cold -- colder than he'd ever been in his life before. He knew that he'd been injured, but he admitted that he didn't know the extent of it. He was only thankful that the ones whom Abi had spoken of had come when they did, before the bear had done too much harm.

Abi looked uncomfortable for a moment.

"I'm afraid that what was done was pretty catastrophic, Reed. I won't go into too much detail, since it's a long list and I know that I wouldn't want to hear much of it in your place. What we were left with once we got you here was trauma from one end to the other. I'm just happy that your neck wasn't broken worse than it was, since the brain stem was intact enough to keep passing signals to your heart and lungs."

He sat back, "I'd like to show you two outcomes, not that it matters anymore, I'm afraid."

Reed asked if he was dead. Abi shook his head, looking a little surprised. "No, you're not dead, but I'm afraid that your body is.

It wasn't my plan, but when we came here to see what could be done to help you, the best surgeon that I have told me that at best, you'd be a horrific-looking cripple for the rest of your life, though she expected you to die soon after life support was removed. It's a sad truth that I'm not in the business of providing life support.

Through an unrelated occurrence, I found myself with a soldier demon whose mind had been removed. Everything was there and unharmed, but there was nobody home and there wouldn't ever be again. It's not a big deal to me; I have many thousands of them. But that one had hands which aren't often seen in that kind. What I saw there were perfect for the kind of work that you can do."

Abi sighed, "But he was mindless and breathing and you were, ... well likely not to be very soon. I made arrangements for a swap. Your soul came with your mind."

He stood up then and smiled, "I'd like you to wake up now. We need to talk in person, not with me here in your head."

He held up his hand, "So on the count of four. One, "

He snapped his fingers, "Wake up."

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

Reed opened his eyes, still wondering what had happened to the rest of the count.

He inhaled in alarm and sat up.

It didn't work, since he found himself being held and wrestled back down by two large frighteningly scary creatures, and that just opened his adrenal glands wide. They were holding something attached to his head as well as trying to get a wrestling hold on his arms.

Evaine almost shouted at them, saying that he wasn't to be treated that way, that they might injure him. He thought the one there almost howling was about the worst nightmare that he'd ever seen on legs and began to struggle harder, in terror now.

Then he saw her, the same one who'd carried him from the lodge. She was in his view, looking a little smaller somehow, but he was glad to see that one thing about her at least hadn't changed.

"You're hurting him, you FUCKING ASSholes!" she yelled, punching one and then the other of the things which held him.

Everything stopped then and Abi -- at least something which looked and sounded like the guy who had been in his head stepped into view. He looked at the large creatures and told them quietly to leave. As they did, he smiled down, "I'm sorry. As you are now, you're, ..." he chuckled, "You're really rather strong. I just didn't think that they were absolute idiots. I probably should have explained things to them better.

Do you think that you could try to speak?"

Reed made an attempt at it, but nearly frightened himself with his own sounds. The voice that he felt and heard was lower, far lower, and his words came out slow and somewhat slurred.

The inside of his mouth felt huge and there were large teeth everywhere that his tongue probed.

"Wha ...? I dohn no," He looked up at the female and tried to smile -- even trying very hard not to look at her breasts, "Tha -- thaaankh yoo."

It got him a smile in return, though she looked at Abi after a moment, "He doesn't understand infernal."

Abi nodded, "I know," he said in English, "I'm just happy that he can speak. The rest will smooth out in a little time, I think. I'll try to help a bit."

Reed saw Pob a second later as she landed to stand beside him on the table, "Hi. My name's Pob. You should try to sit up, but this time, be slow. Ouna and I will help."

He felt her take his arm and struggle with it. Ouna seemed to have more success with his other one. He was about to try to sit up when he noticed what they were pulling. He felt their efforts, so he reasoned and thought that it felt like they were pulling him up by the arms.

But those couldn't be his arms.

Ouna looked at Abi,"Does he know yet, lord?"

Abi nodded, "I've begun to tell him, but he hasn't seen yet, this is his first look."

Ouna's face grew concerned, "It's alright, Reed. This is going to be a shock, but you look different now. It's all they could do for you, so you'll have to get used to things being different. Please try to sit up for us?"

"Theesh aren' my armsh!" Reed said in shock, "Wha did jou do to my armsh?"

"Nothing," Pob said, "They're over on the other table, still attached to your old body. You're inside your new body now and we're here to help you. What you're looking at are your arms now."

He looked in the direction that he'd seen her eyes look as she spoke and he looked. All that he saw there was a human form under a sheet. "Who'sh at?"

"I'd hoped to avoid this," Abi said, "but I can see the denial already coming around the bend. So we'll do this graphically, I guess."

He stepped over to the other table, "Here Reed, let me show you what the bear left us to work with."

He pulled the sheet away and Reed saw himself, hours dead by the look of it and he saw the beginnings of Abi's truth. The side of his skull was laid completely open from scalp to chin, ear gone and everything.

"Your impressions were a little wrong from what I saw in your memory, but given the trauma of the attack, and trying to factor in for shock, it makes sense. The bear hadn't REALLY gotten started on eating you, but ... "

He pointed to the ruined leg and the almost completely torn--off arm.

"The other side is worse."

"Whad am I in now ven?" Reed said, trying to raise his hand.

"You're in a demon trooper's body now," Pob said, "The same kind as Ouna, only you're a boy. I think it'll take some getting used to, and you might not see it at first, but you are pretty good-looking -- at least to us."

Ouna allowed him to raise his hand and he stared at what he saw. After flexing his hand a few times and seeing it respond to his thoughts, he tried to lift his arm straight up.

"You're much stronger like this," Ouna smiled, "And I can finally say that I like it -- and you. My big problem with working with a human was that humans are just weaker than we are, and you're prone to catching every bug going. That won't ever happen to you again, Reed."

While he'd been listening to her, Reed thought of the little one calling him a boy. It made him realize that he could feel the breeze, so to speak, and he moved one hand to cover himself.

"Try to forget about your shame," Ouna smiled, "That's a human thing. You might not feel like one yet, but you're really a demon now."

"Like us!" Pob smiled.

Ouna nodded, "I hope that you can get past it without too much trouble, because demons don't feel shame over their bodies. Unless we have a reason to need protection or anything we never wear clothes." She grinned a little and pointed.

Reed looked over and Pob was holding her hair up smiling as she wiggled her hips back and forth to make him smile -- which he did, surprisingly.

"The lord is gonna tell you what he thinks you need to know -- as soon as I shut my yap," Pob said, "But starting last night, I guess, your mind is in the body of a really gorgeous soldier demon, those are horns on your head just like Ouna's and you're gonna be a tech like we are.

If you look over now, you'll see that we're all here, all the techs so we could meet you. You've probably forgotten already, but I'm Pob, that's Ouna, over there is Tozama -- she's the female on the left and that's her brother T'maz next to her. At the end there is somebody who's really hoping that you might remember him.

He's the hound that the young trooper adopted as a pup and always kept near him. The trooper used to call him Sandryah. We call him Sandy.

Sandy looked across the room with a little hope in his eyes for a long moment. But then he looked down, "He does not know me."

He got to his feet and turned to walk out.

"Waid, ... wait, ..." Reed said.

Sandy stopped and looked back, thinking that Reed was probably speaking to one of the others. He saw Reed looking directly at him with a confused expression.

"I, ... I ... don't recog ... I don't know you, but... some-something, ... I f-eel that something in me does." He looked at Ouna, "I cann't s-say it bet-ter. "

He looked at Sandy again, "I -- I do know you, I ju-ust donnnT remember you much."

Sandy had no words for a moment. Finally, he smiled and nodded, "It is enough. I can hope that I still have my friend even more now. I want to jump on the table there to be close to you again, but I cannot.

I will wait," he smiled, "I will see you in some time. Thank you."

He walked out, trying not to cry again, but very, very happy.

"He wanted to jump ... what is he? He's somebody that I seem to know, but I don't know what he is."

"He's a hell hound; big, strong, hard to kill, he says and very happy now. But it's a good thing that he knows not to jump up anyway," Ouna smiled.

"Yeah," Pob said, rolling her eyes, "Three hundred and ninety-four pounds, you know?"

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

Reed still had to go through some denial and he had a lot of trouble over finding himself being groomed to work for a demon. At least his speech was smoothing out.

"Think about it this way, "Abi said, "We didn't have anything to do with the bear attack. We just saved what was left of your ass. You've never been the slightest bit happy with your life, and I can see why, obviously. You played by the rules, worked you bag off, took huge loans out for training and still couldn't get a job.

And hey, let's lay the cards out here on the table, alright? Without a good job, I think you've already seen the kind of love life that awaits you. No harm you Reed, but holy shit, buddy. A virgin at twenty-seven?"

He thought for a moment, "I'm trying to figure out your memory of the one who finally did take pity on you so that you could bone her. There are things there of interest to me. From what I see in your memory, she wasn't human -- or really the other shapes as well.

Anyway, I guess it doesn't matter.

By the way, I'd like to point out that the hell hound that you saw today is a male, so it's not her, ok?"

"I know that," Reed nodded, still staring at his reflection in the mirror and watching what his new face did to follow the expressions that he was trying out, "I meant what I said to him. I don't know him, but I have sort of memories of feelings for him. Was he a friend of mine? I mean uh.."

Abi shook his head, "No. He's a hell hound who has shown you more devotion than any one of his kind that I've ever seen. Every one of them is beyond selfish, though they'll work for pay. The demand for them comes because they're vicious, smart, cold and cruel, and Ouna wasn't kidding. They are exceptionally hard to kill.

That one spent the whole time that you were on the table but for about thirty minutes outside the glass watching. Over twelve hours. Trust me, NO hell hound I ever met would have done that, other than for pay and a bonus at that.

I'm hoping that you can see it soon, but you're now a kind of demon who I treat really well. You're not a slave to me, but I expect some service, since I didn't just say , 'Oh, he's being eaten by a grizzly, oh well, I'll just find me somebody else'. I did this hoping that you might see a few of the advantages. As you are now, you've got a lot of charm to quite a few female demons, including the two that you'll be working with the most.

They've got a nice love thing going on between them, but I don't think that either one would throw you out of bed for eating crackers. Your big friend is already playing with the two furry techs who were with him earlier. They were what he asked me for, since it's always best to get a deal in place with a hell hound. I doubt that you'd need one, though. Just try to be his friend and remember him if you can.

All of you have double duty. When we go someplace and I'm off the craft, it'll be up to you six to protect yourselves and the craft. Sandy will be a huge asset and I'm hoping that once you see it from my side, the soldier that you once were will be an asset as well. I figure that you, Ouna and Sandy could hold the fort against about anything I can expect you to encounter. Just protect the small ones too. You all have value to me."

"Do I have any choice in this?" Reed asked.

Abi nodded, "Sure. It can go three ways. You work for me as a tech. You don't like that, then you work for me as a soldier again. Or if neither one suits you, I give you the third option and pull your soul. Your mind shuts down, the body dies, I sell your soul for dirt, since it has no value on the market -- there's billions like it, after all.

But I'm hoping that you like teching, seriously. The hours can be long, but you knew the business going in. This way, you get real friends -- in case you didn't know what you were looking at in their eyes. My techs are the only ones who live on this tub and they're tight together.

I -- uh, try to get ready for this -- I PAY you, feed you, and you'll probably get to have at least some fun with two of them, I figure at minimum. Oh, let me point something out to you here.

ALL of them like you. My techs eat together, work together, protect each other if necessary, and somehow -- and I'm too busy to watch -- they play together as well.

And I ought to mention that you're a lot harder to kill than you were before. If you were used to that body at the time, you could have stuck a finger into one nostril each and rolled that bear's ass off the mountain like a bowling ball."

As what you are now, you're strong, fit, damn near immortal, and sexy-looking."

He smirked, "Even to human women -- for damn sure you look like you could attract a lot more of them like this. You'd be surprised how many of them have a little thing for us, way down deep, of course."

Abi leaned forward a little, "Just what the fuck more could you want here?"

"Well, maybe real love, at some point," Reed said.

"I didn't think that body had hearing defects," Abi said to himself. "What the fuck did you think I was talking about? You can have that. Ouna and Pob already like you. You just have to try to fit in with them. I'm pretty sure they'd make room. I already know that you might want kids.

So get used to what you are and have them with Ouna. Pob will be out of her mind happy and I'll put in a nursery for pity's sake. Just think a minute and tell me yes. I've got a shit-ton of other things to do here. Take a day to think about it and learn a bit. I won't mind, since this is serious stuff.

Oh, and at some point, you'll have to do without Sandy for a little while. The mage who put you into that body for this is the same one who took the original mind out of that body. Our good luck, I think, but I'm still pissed over a few things. Depends how I decide, but Sandy wants to kill him for what he did to the soldier that he loved so much.

If you have any questions and you can't find me, ask the rest. They're waiting for you. I try to take care of my people."

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

There was a quiet knock on the door and he got up to answer it.

Pob was there. He guessed that she hadn't thought of it, but her long hair was tied back.

"Hey T'maz," she smiled, but he could see something there.

"What is it?" he asked, "You look like there's something wrong."

Pob shrugged and let out a sigh, "Ouna's having one of her headaches. I know it's an old joke, but she gets these really bad ones and has to lie with the lights out and not move so they might go away."

She leaned against the door frame, "When it gets to that point, I can't do much of anything, but I'm not tired enough to sleep. I don't want to go look at wiring drawings and I can't even put on an old movie. If I forget and it makes me laugh, she looks like she wants to kill me then, though she never says anything. Are you doing anything now? I asked her, so it's ok if you want to fool around."

T'maz leaned on the door frame too and let out a sigh of his own, "I'd love that, Pob. I've wanted to ask you before, but I never got up the nerve. So you're sure it's ok?"

She nodded, "Yeah. She moaned in her agony -- which I'm actually not trying to make fun of because I know she really suffers then -- and told me to go diddle myself. I told her that I didn't want to and that I might wander over here to see how you guys are doing, now that you've got Sandy. I told her that I didn't know, but I might want to jump into the puddle with you, and she said that it was fine with her, so here I am."

He reached out the short distance and gently rubbed the fur on the back of his hand over her nipple, "You forgot about your hair, Pob."

She shook her head, "No I didn't. I tied it back before I knocked. I'm hopeful. So I figured that I might as well look the part."

She reached to take his sheath in her hand, "Besides, we love each other a lot, but, ... well, I'm an imp. Ouna knows what I am.

So do you need to ask or anything first, T'maz?"

He chuckled as he slid his arm around her waist, "You wouldn't believe it. We were talking a while ago and I blurted out that I'd really like to play with you sometime."

"What did they say?" Pob asked smiling.

"They said that they would too. Sandy said that he likes you a lot."

Pob looked past him and sighed with a smile, "I sleep with a big girl and when we DO make love, it's great, but you know what I miss? I've never told her, because it's just not possible for us, but ...

I miss having a lot of bodies around me. When I eat or sleep or, ... or even when I fuck -- especially then. Imps live in colonies and they do everything like that together. I never let a girl do anything to me back then and now I think that I missed out on a lot. I really miss that."

He reached to hold her and they began to kiss. Pob really liked the way that his fur felt against her and the way that he held her made her feel really good too.

He took her hand and led her inside. They found a spot right next to the others and a moment later, Pob felt him slipping inside of her. She raised her legs with a sigh and held T'maz as they began.

"Pob's here," T'maz said quietly and Tozama smiled down and reached for her hand.

Pob almost cried then, because it felt so much like the home that she'd left behind her when she'd left to work here. She'd forgotten how it felt to have other bodies close to hers when she fucked.

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

Pob was on her side, hours later. The T's had finally been fucked out and were asleep. Pob was a lot happier than she'd been when she'd come to the door. Tozama was great in a bed and Pob had finally learned the joy of 69 with another female.

When it was over, Tozama turned herself around and they were lying spooned to watch as T'maz got his courage up and Sandy fucked him. The two females were surprised at how seeing it made them feel. "They go on and on," Tozama whispered as she reached behind her for Pob's wet lips.

"I know," Pob whispered as she reciprocated. "I know they'll probably speed up at the end, but so far, this is great just like this."