A Big Shiny Blue Marble Ch. 59

You know what's really strange?" she asked him and he looked over.

"I get the sense -- and I can't say how I know -- that she isn't fitting in with my sister and brother and that's a little odd to me if I'm right. "

She lifted her head and kissed Talon for a moment and then she said as she looked down at him, "I had issues because you and I were just starting then, but I think that now, she'd fit with us in some way. She'd need to be protected for sure, but if she likes girls even a little bit, I think she'd fit right here with us. "

Her hand slipped down low on him and in a minute, he gasped and she smiled at the way that she'd caused him to raise his knees involuntarily. Katje pulled her hand back and slid her finger into her mouth for a moment to wet it. It made a little side-trip into her for more slickness and then she had him groaning in a few seconds.

"What if she was just like us, Talon?" she whispered as she untangled her tail from his and brought the end of it up to his lips. He began to suck it instantly and she kissed his cheek before she lowered her head right beside his ear and her words came out like a soft breeze to him.

"Roll over, baby."

A few minutes later, it was Talon who had no mind as Katje clenched her thighs together, holding her tail between them as she lay on his back, hanging on while she worked it so slowly into and out of him.

He was listening as she fucked him and she was still whispering.

"She's a half-demon, Talon. What if she was like us? Half-demons have tails too, honey. I'd give a lot to see her do this to you."

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The next day, Talon was just doing odd little jobs and he stopped often to think about a few things. Katje had gone early in the morning, off to her sibling's place to check up on Ellie. To his mind, the little interlude the night before was just something that they often did for each other and her words about Ellie were just that. It was just something that Katje had said as a nice but naughty little thing to spur them both while she made love to him.

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Katje was on her way home, more worried now than the night before. Sonja hadn't said much, other than a very brief statement that Ellie had gone. It was Cor who told her that no matter what had been said, intimated, done -- anything, there was nothing that would get that girl to even think about mating with them and, he said, there was nothing under the sun that would make her lift her hands from her own genitals or take off the coveralls that Talon had given her.

Katje had said nothing about it, but she saw something during her morning with them that said so much about Sonja to her. The 'Talon' haircut was starting to grow out and she hadn't shaved the sides again, so that was either because of Cor or, more likely, it was just that Sonja's interest was passing.

Now, Katje couldn't even begin to have the slightest idea where she might look for Ellie. It really bothered her. Ellie could probably get herself into something right over her head and not know a thing until it was already far too late.

The only thing that she could think to do was to fly home to Talon. He needed to know and then they'd try to figure out a search pattern for her to fly, since he knew the area around where they lived a lot better.

But in the end, Katje didn't have to really do much at all. She saw a flock up there ahead of and about a thousand feet below her. What drew her attention was the ragged way that they flew. Demons don't usually fly in organized groups, but they don't fly as though they were trying to claw over the backs of the ones in front of them either.

That was when she saw the lone flyer way out in front and fading. She could see it from all the way back to where she was flying. It was the sandy-blonde hair that caused her to want to pour on the coals as she accelerated and shifted to the shadow form and she wasn't after stealth here, either.

Katje wanted nothing more than the shape which would allow her to do the most damage in the shortest amount of time.

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Ellie was frantic after her last look over her shoulder. She couldn't tell for sure, but there must have been twenty of them at least. She didn't know why they were picking on her, or why they'd want to hurt her, but she knew that they weren't flapping that hard just to stop and say hello. She knew that now.

She looked ahead and she could see the flat place where Talon and Katje lived and she tried hard to get just a little more speed out of her tired muscles. If she could have just the tiniest bit of luck now, she might make it to the gatehouse.

But she had other thoughts which almost took the wind out of her sails. What if they weren't there? What if the door was locked? She almost faltered then, but she had nothing else, so she just went on, trying not to fly too raggedly and wishing that she had better than the weaker wings of a half-breed.

She looked behind her and groaned.

They were gaining on her so quickly that she'd probably be overtaken before she was over the remains of the rusted-out fence.

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Talon hadn't been watching. He hadn't even been looking up. He'd just been walking back from the end of the runway, finished with the task of clearing it finally. He'd walked all the way back to the hangar and then he'd had a drink from his water bottle and then just sat down to roll a smoke.

He was halfway through it when he heard the fury in the shrieking cry and he snapped his head up to look, squinting into the bright sunlight above.

Ellie heard it too, but she mistook it for the sound of a demon not all that far behind her and it caused her to redouble her failing efforts to get to what safety she prayed might lie there for her on that flat ground, The beginning of her flapping decent allowed her to gain a little more speed at least.

But neither of them had been the ones who were supposed to have felt much of anything from that cry. It had come from Katje during her plummeting drop into the front few demons in the ragged flock and she'd timed it just right.

She'd left them little if any time for any of them to look and react. The sound had been to make them uncertain.

And in that, it had succeeded magnificently.

She'd just blasted almost straight down, killing two of the three that she'd collided with and leaving the third crippled as that female fell to earth just barely conscious. As Katje extended her wings to peel around under them, there were seven mid-air collisions in the confusion as the front runners slowed and the ones behind overran them. That resulted in two more fatalities.

As she rocketed over the remains of the gaggle from behind, she saw that she had two on her tail trying to catch her and she had to fight off the desire to kill them first. She did it by forcing herself to think of Ellie and she came in lower this time in a slanting attack from left to right.

It had the desired effect, but it also caused her to slow. Before she lost all forward motion to the arms which reached to seize her, Katje just pulled her arms and legs together, pulled her wings in tight and dropped away, turning over to point herself head-first at the ground, knowing that she'd be followed down.

Talon was onto things now and he'd grabbed his CAR-15 and almost shot Ellie, not recognizing her at first. But then he wondered why that demon was out so far in front of the rest and yet obviously wasn't a better flyer. He recognized her at the same time that he saw the pandemonium in the flock which was pursuing her.

He called and waved to Ellie and when she sort of semi-crashed near him, he was there in seconds, helping her up and getting her into the hangar through a man-door. "Hide in that corner, behind those red chests." He told her, wanting to hold her until she'd at least found the strength to stand on her own before he dealt with the weeping.

"I've got to go help Katje. Here," he said, handing her his carbine, "Try not to shoot us. If you have a little time, there's a pair of coveralls over there on the bench. I don't think they're too dirty."

She gasped and wheezed, her sides feeling like they were in fire as she looked at him, "T-Talon, ... Demons, ... following me."

"I know," he said, his shape changing to something hard and gray, his voice along with it.

"Hide!" and then he was gone.

Talon was out front when Katje sailed in across the edge of the concrete with several demons trying hard to catch her.

Katje saw him and she veered off to the side as he began feel his breathing shifting. He was looking forward to this now.

The ones who had followed Katje down were already coming for him when she appeared beside him. She asked, and he said that Ellie was in the hangar behind them and she nodded, pointing to the rest of the flock as they approached.

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Talon felt strange -- that is, even more strange, he supposed, as he walked to the hangar man-door a few minutes later. He was thinking about having another mess to clean up. Katje had flown off after the three demons who had finally figured out that they might not be up against someone who was easy to kill.

He hadn't walked seven steps when the gunfire erupted and he felt an impact against his shoulder. He dropped to one knee and looked around. A demon was curled in a ball on the floor, wounded and snarling. He jumped up and ran over, tearing the demon's head almost right off while he screeched.

There was silence then and he looked up. Ellie was pointing his rifle at his chest. It looked as though if she held it any tighter, she'd either break it or it would squirt out of her hands like a wet bar of soap.

"Ellie!" he exclaimed, "Christ, you've already shot me. Relax. Ok? It's me."

Ellie looked as though she was about to cry again, and wasn't sure if this were a trick. Talon changed shapes to the one that she'd seen the most and she relaxed visibly. He supposed that he might have faulted her for her lapse in judgement, since she had seen him like that before, but she was obviously at the long end of her tether. He looked at his shoulder and saw only what would likely become a bruise.

He looked back at her, "Are we ok now, you and me?"

She nodded and then she did begin to cry. He stepped over and took the carbine from her. She just wailed into his chest after throwing her arms around his neck. "Thank you," she sobbed in a voice so much smaller than the one that he'd heard from her before.

"Come on," he said quietly, "Let's go wait for Katje. It's her you need to thank more than me. Try to remember that if you see me or Katje and we're gray and have NO horns, that it's us, ok?"

She nodded and he asked her what happened.

"I didn't want to be with Sonja and Cor anymore and I , ... I just, ... "

Talon looked over, "Wanted to come home?"

She nodded eagerly, not catching what he'd said, "I wanted to go home, but I haven't really got one anymore so I thought that I'd come here to ask you if I could still have that gatehouse and, -"

She looked up a little searchingly, "What did you say?"

"Welcome back home," Talon smiled, "but you're not going to the gatehouse until we all have dinner. We can talk then. Whatever we come up with, Katje and I have missed you and we have to come up with some way to keep you safe."

He chuckled, "I dunno, you seem to have a knack for getting demons to follow you."

She nodded, "I do, somehow. I want to get some kinda start where I don't have them trying to get me every day. I had to hide and dodge like crazy yesterday."

"Sounds like you're learning," he smiled.

"I don't know why they're after me," Ellie said.

"I think it's a couple of things," Talon smiled, "They're after everyone, Ellie, not just you. The ones that you seem to attract are probably interested because they see you when you fly and hair that shade isn't natural for any demon but a half-breed, I don't think. Other than that, it's probably your cute butt or something. Look, there's Katje now."

Ellie looked a little nervous again, "Hey, Talon? I wanted to say that I'm sorry if I made you nervous before I left. I don't know why I did that," She looked down, "I don't really know how to act around guys and I tend to make a fool of myself."

The statement was only partially true. Ellie didn't really know how to act around anyone. It was what caused her to withdraw and stay there.

It took him a second to get what she was talking about, but then he nodded, still smiling, "It's ok, Ellie. The only thing wrong was that I was really nervous, like you said, because Katje and I had just gotten together and I didn't want her to think the wrong thing and we've been talking and we think it was just kind of your way. We've been together for a little while now and we've figured it out.

We're both glad that you're here and that you made it. We really did miss you. You kind of grew on us or something."

Katje landed and almost ran to them. When she got to them, she threw her arms around them both and looked at them grinning.

"Katje," Ellie began quietly, "Thank you. Thank you both for saving me again." She sobbed a little and began to cry again.

"Oh no," Katje grinned, "You're just trying to deflect me and keep me off-balance, hoping that I won't ask just what you're doing there in a flightsuit with the zipper most of the way down and you got my boyfriend out here naked. I'm no fool, Ellie."

The blonde looked up in a little horror and was already shaking her head when she saw Katje's laughing grin.

"Kidding," she chuckled, "just kidding. I'm so happy to see you again!" She hugged them both as much as she could and then she kissed Talon and then Ellie as well. While Ellie stood in a little shock, Katje said, "Thanks, Talon. You wasted about as many as me that time. You're getting better."

Her expression changed as she looked at him a lot harder.

By that point, Talon was fading out and they eased him onto the concrete in a bit of a heap.

"I must have shot him!" Ellie cried, "He said I did."

"Where? Was he like this then?"

Ellie shook her head, "No. He was like that way that you guys can look, all gray and mean-looking. When he changed, he was looking at this shoulder."

Katje reached over, looking," No, Ellie. You might have hit him here, but it's only gonna be a bruise. If he was gray, you can't kill him with a gun. But I see the problem right here," she pointed to his back.

"His wings are coming out. We'll need to get him into bed and I can already tell that he's gonna smell pretty bad before it's done. Can you help me? I hope he doesn't make either or both of us barf."

They couldn't drag him, so they found one of the flat trailers and laid him out there on his stomach, grabbing the tow bar to pull him along until they got to the shelter. From there, they moved him inside and to the spare bed.

Katje was right, though, it took most of the night, even with her making little incisions to help ease things and with them both cleaning away the mess which seeped from the places where the wings sought to emerge now. He smelled awful.

Ellie didn't understand, so Katje explained as they worked, why it was that he even had wings. She supposed that if anyone could understand, it helped that Ellie was somebody who had a pair herself.

"He was supposed to get them like everybody else, but they stayed inside. Now they're coming out and his body's made fluid as though the wings don't belong. But they do belong. He won't smell at all after they're out and we've washed the junk off them."

Talon had found a means of temperature regulation which could be used to turn small amounts of thermal energy into enough mechanical energy to run a smallish generator.

Katje knew how to make it all work, but there wouldn't be enough to run much of the ventilation system, so they had to use a small fan to help the odor and the drying of his wings.

Ellie was a great help when it came time to ease the wings out slowly so that they could clean everything themselves and dry them a little bit. Talon was out through it all and Ellie was a real trooper.

Later that night, they sat drinking a little tea which they'd found there in one of the cupboards.

"I don't really know what I'm going to do now," Ellie said at one point, "and I'm very thankful that you said that I could have the gatehouse and all, ... "

"Are you still afraid to be there alone?" Katje asked, "And I'm not saying it out of looking down at you. If it was me in your place, I'm sure I'd be shit-scared to live alone."

Ellie wanted to protest and shake her head, but she hung it instead, "I'm still afraid, but if you and Talon show me how to keep myself safe, I'd --"

This time, Katje was shaking her head, "You can do that if you want to, Ellie, but it's too far away for us to even know if you're in trouble. Look, there's enough room in here for us all. We just have to re-arrange things so you can have your own room. I'm saying that we'd like you to stay here with us -- at least until we can teach you --and even so, we'd like you closer. I'm sure we can get along."

Ellie had an objection then, squirming rather uncomfortably and apologizing all over again to Katje about the way that she'd acted.

Katje said the same things that Talon had, "We think that we can handle it now. We were too new and shaky before, but we're ok now.

They talked a lot more; Ellie feeling a lot better. Eventually, Katje carefully asked Ellie why she was so shy and always seemed to be so nervous and withdrawn.

She sipped her tea, "I mean, you can be anyway that you want to be, but I know that I'd feel a lot better -- and I'd feel a lot more like I had a friend if I could see you loosen up a bit. If you can accept a little friendly criticism, Ellie, you've always got a look to you like you're afraid that everybody is trying to get into your pants."

She laughed a little, "Hell. It might be so, but if you're going to live here, it would go easier if you could relax. Talon and I tend to joke around a lot and it would be easier for us to include you in it that way."

"It's always been my trouble, "Ellie said a little shyly, "But I'll try, Katje."

"That'll be good enough," Katje smiled, "I'd take that."

Ellie smirked, "I doubt that anyone's trying to get into my pants, though."

Katje chuckled, "Why not? You look awesome enough to get heaps of demons to chase you. They can't all be wrong.

Talon likes you. Heck, I like you. But let's get off that topic before you feel like you've gotta zip up that flightsuit. It's not going to get any cooler in here before tomorrow."

"But you meant that, um, didn't you?" Ellie asked and Katje nodded.

"Sure I did," she said, "but that's not something to talk about while my male is lying there like that. I've got too much on my mind. But I can tell you, Ellie, if you ever want an honest opinion, well, neither of us would joke then, ok? I was being honest there."

While Katje got up to wash Talon and his wings down again, Ellie tried to think about what she'd heard. But there was only so far that she could go. She'd always been the way that she was for a reason and she kept that to herself. It was lonely, but it was the safest -- and the only way that she knew.

"I'll sleep in that big old chair," Ellie volunteered and there was a brief half-hearted and joking argument from Katje over it. And then she put her hand on Ellie's. "I know you're shy. That's ok. I think I'd like it if we could share that big bed, since there's room and you'd be cooler if you slept like me, but I understand about being shy."

They tried to get some sleep and after a while, they both drifted off, though not at the same time. Katje was a plenty weary after the struggle and her worry over Talon and she fell asleep first.