Love as a Form of Binding Ch. 20

The whole episode was curious to him, but though he knew little about humans in general, he was beginning to like this one, and he knew that he didn't understand all of this – or her and her sudden want to be naked.

Ulfr didn't have much of a grasp of the modern English lexicon, but if it were to be explained to him, he'd likely nod and smile and agree that she was fucking awesome to him just for this and her smiling laughter at herself for doing it.

And the longer that he watched, the more intrigued he became with her body. He was looking at it from the viewpoint of one intelligent creature regarding another. They weren't exactly made for each other quite obviously, he thought, and he had no mating interest in her - that he was aware of.

He just liked her.

But something else came to him then as a sense of foreboding.

They weren't alone here on this rock.

There were hunters here.

At first, he didn't know which lord had sent them. He wasn't up on these things, after all. He wished now that the one called Maezou were here now. She'd have been able to tell him this in a heartbeat.

But she wasn't and his task had been to keep this human girl safe, getting her off the island being part of the process.

Julia knew nothing of all of this. She decided that she'd had enough of the nudism for the moment after a little while, the chill having gotten to her at last. So she went to her sleeping tent to towel her hair dry and put on a simple and spacious dress. She'd planned to have a little bit of an early supper, and then she'd read a little and shake the cobwebs out of her pocket rocket. She hoped the battery still had a little life left in it.

For the second time, Julia didn't see the slayer as he passed by not far from her. Like the first time, if she'd known that there was a being like him nearby, she might have heard the quiet rush of his wings. The place always seemed to have at least a slight breeze. She'd thought that was what she'd heard.

If she'd seen him, she'd have run.

It wasn't immediately apparent to Ulfr that this was actually a lot worse than it seemed to him at first glance. Due to his relative position in things at the outset, Ulfr missed the first pair of hunters. They were a lot closer than he'd have imagined. He only noticed their presence after he'd passed the tent. But he picked out the others in the fog a few heartbeats later as he began his own hunt, and it wouldn't take very long.

When Julia stuck her head through the zippered tent flap, she'd been seized and pulled inside.

Ulfr knew it was getting worse for him when he felt the second pair to be behind him just as he heard Julia's startled scream, but he couldn't be in two places at once.

The male-female pair in the tent were amazed at their luck. They hadn't been sent to seek out naked human females on this windblown stone, but they hadn't been instructed to leave any that they might find alone either. Finding her was just a stroke of great entertainment value. They'd made it here and there was no sign of any demonic force here, militarily speaking. So their task was done. But why would they want to return to Gorek now, this soon after, when there was this one to be played with?

Julia couldn't understand what was said between the pair and it was just as well. Especially when the female suggested to her male that he fuck her until it came out of her eyes, just as an opener. Julia found herself pushed to her knees, the female's hand on her head as she pulled the human to her belly and moved her feet apart.

Julia didn't understand and she was terrified, but she found her head pulled so that her face was somewhere where she'd certainly never have wanted it to be. When she resisted, she felt the claws against her scalp.

The huntress hissed at her in English, "Lick, fool. And it had better feel far past only nice."

Julia began to whimper as she was pulled even more forcefully and her neck felt as though it might break for the angle. She gagged, but she began, hating the sharp taste. She felt the other one's hand on her hip and she knew what would happen. She could already feel the way that the male was trying to find her opening. Julia began to cry, and it made the female laugh quietly.

But things grew a little tense for the three when a thin squeal came to their ears, followed by an agonized shriek.

One hunter looked at the other, neither one releasing the distraught Julia - who was screaming herself now in her struggles with her face still against the labia of a demon.

"Go and see what happened," the female hunter said in their speech.

"Fuck you," the male responded, "You look. The ones we were sent to meet here are dead, can't you feel it? They no sooner get here and they die. What do you suppose caused that, a sheep?"

The female dragged Julia by the hair struggling and fighting desperately as they left the tent. Julia was on her knees, trying to catch up so that she could try to duckwalk wanting to ease the tension on her scalp.

The pair thought that she might be useful as a bargaining chip. Maybe whoever was here might want a little fun with a human, they decided. It was better than nothing.

There was a sound a little like a roaring wind off in the distance and then there was nothing to be heard for several moments. Other than Julia's, the heart rates of the hunters had begun to return cautiously to normal. They whispered between themselves, cursing their employer for confusing hunters with spies.

A body landed near them, bloody, torn and looking as though it was a posterboy for the term 'violent end'. Julia screamed a little involuntarily and wherever he was at the moment and unseen, Ullfr was pleased. Since he knew that she was where the hunters were – exactly.

The body hadn't been on the ground in their sight long enough to have completely come to rest on the wet and slick grass when a second one arrived in much the same fashion and condition, though this one was torn almost completely in two and lived still, shuddering and twitching in a paroxysm of agony.

"Shibola!" the female cried out as she stepped forward, "Can you speak, sister? Who did this?"

The second female was shaking, well into her death agony now, but she managed a name, and in plain demonic, it bore the same root as the old Egyptian term for something far removed from what she wanted to warn her sister about. To them, it had another connotation entirely.

"Abū al Hūl!," she hissed violently in her rapid gasping way, quivering even more as her blood ran from her to soak into the grass.

The unhurt female groaned and the male had no clue.

"Abū al Hūl?" he repeated, and then he said it in the English that he knew, since it made more sense to them in the translation, "The Terrifying One?"

"No," his partner whispered as she noted the passing of her sibling, "One of them."

He gaped and together, they peered out into the fog, and while any demon can see through fog far better than any human, they can't see through almost a kilometer of thick and heavy fog such as was evident here.

It wouldn't have mattered anyway. Ulfr wasn't there. He was above them and now dropped from the sky to land on one knee with a crash near the bodies of those that he'd slain. Julia screamed and tried to struggle to her feet and run, but the female held her fast.

What knelt there was over seven feet of dark terror to any living demon. It was something not known to humans at all.

More than seven feet of demonic might, clad in coal black light armor. What musculature was evident to their eyes was thick and corded, and it wore a glossy back helm with spikes protruding from the mouthpiece like teeth only a little lighter in tone than the rest. There were thick hooves mostly covered with shiny black fetlocks and the tail was as a horse's tail, other than the demon tail which twitched slowly while long hair settled around it. One fist was curled there in the earth beside it to steady itself a little in this position.

From this view, the thing was obviously a male by the heavy bulge which was visible and that male was looking down for the moment, as though either recovering from the fall for an instant – or remaining in this posture while listening and gathering his thoughts. Julia gave a little cry as she struggled and had her hair yanked again.

The head looked up then, directly at the three. There were eyes there in that helm and they glowed a deep red as he regarded them all.

He'd heard the English and he considered its effect on the human for a moment, since Mother had ascertained that it was a language which she was fluent in.

The hunters stood behind Julia now as they held her up – still by her hair as though they tried to hide behind her a little and the sight was ludicrous to watch. It was clear that they wanted nothing more than to be gone with their lives.

"Holding that one out before you will buy you nothing from me, " the beast said, "Unless you wish to seek your own passing soon."

"Look Slayer," the male said, unwittingly angering the dark beast before them, "We do not wish for trouble. We were about to have a little amusement with this human. There is no one here, and no one will know. I doubt anyone would care.

If anyone cared for her, she wouldn't be all alone here and asking for it. We heard her cry, so we came to, ... , you know. Here, take her for yourself with our best wishes, of cour-"

The rest was an unintelligible gurgle and he fell over backwards, grasping at his own throat as though trying to pull an invisible hand from it.

The eyes in the helmet glowed only a little brighter as the voice slid a little lower and the malevolence in it left little doubt as to his thoughts of these two hunters.

"Release her, huntress – or you join your male."

The female's hands flew from Julia's hair and body and she stepped back, almost tripping over the struggling male there in the grass. Julia's feet weren't responding to her intense want to be gone herself. Her legs felt as though they'd barely hold her up and she hardly felt the warm trickle down her thigh.

"He is not my male," the demon said, trying to contain her fear and distance herself a little, "I barely know him, Slayer. We only work together sometimes and, -"

"For whom, liar?" The question came out flatly, "Which lord owns you?"

She seemed to find a little courage then and she tried to raise herself to stand a little taller. It was all just a desperate ruse and fooled no one; other than perhaps the human, "We were sent by the powerful demonlord, Gorek. He is mighty and will not like the way you interfere with his servants."

"You think to cow me with threats?" he asked as his eyes glowed hotly.

The huntress began to back away, her terror of him plainly evident, "No, I, ... Slayer, I meant no –"

There were two hunters hanging onto their own throats then and Julia's eyes almost left her head to see the beast stand then to walk over a little slowly.

"Perhaps you are correct," he said and Julia saw her first glimpse of the little to be seen in the helm as she saw the long teeth slowly form a smile. The smile itself was striking to her and not all that threatening. But the rest ...

The size, Mother of God; the size of him as he stepped nearer. She was certain that she could even feel it through the ground whenever he took a step on those hooves. Amazingly, she felt another trickle down her leg when he spoke again. She backed up slowly until she stood next to the struggling female.

"He would most certainly not like what has befallen the four fools that he sent here. But he will know nothing, other than they are gone and lost to him. It would go better if he used hunters who HAVE souls instead to trying to substitute the mindless for the skilled, and then use those for the wrong thing. He should teach his fools better. I know what you are, and I am aware that you know only rumors of my kind."

She was shaking her head, still trying to speak when he nodded with an expression which might be read as disgust. The pair of them became simply clouds of screaming red mist the next instant. Then Julia was alone with someone who defied her knowledge of any of this.

The beast's head turned to regard her for a moment.

The nerves which commanded her legs seemed to have re-connected at least a little and she stepped backward and slipped on the bloody grass. The next thing that she knew, she was on her back, still naked but for her boots. She was shaking in terror herself as she tried to get to her feet with wild eyes, pushing backward with her heels and clawing with her hands.

"Stop."

It was all that he said and it was spoken quietly.

She stopped.

"You can run away if you like, Yulya" he said in a much softer tone, though still in a low voice, "I will allow it for a little time if it is to make you feel better, but first I need to know if you are unhurt. Did they harm you, either of them? I can aid you if they did in any way."

Julia shook her head, in more than a little terror of him herself, and yet surprised at the change in his demeanor, speaking to her in a different tone, "N-nnn-nn-n-...o".

It was the best that she could do.

"That is well," he said, uncomfortable with the speech. "We must leave, you and I, and it should be sooner than ... after. No," he shook his head a little and looked down, "Later."

He looked up a little pleased that he'd found a better term.

But he saw only her abject fear, once she understood that he intended to take her somewhere. She didn't know who or what the four things were that he'd killed, but she'd seen that the last two plainly feared him.

Ulfr was about to try to calm her, but he gave it up, doubting that he could convince her no matter what he said or tried to tell her. He'd already been here too long. He had to keep her safe and it had almost gone badly in only minutes. He sighed and raised his hand wearily.

Julia would have screamed, thinking that he was going to do what he'd just done to the others, but she fell into darkness instead.

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In the hall under the ruins of the old castle, many miles away in Scotland, another pair of eyes opened wider at having a thought and a realization. The eyes belonged to one who had mated with Ulfr twice only the night before, having chosen him out of the thousands there and she liked him very much. She saw him as young and so serious in the way that he performed his duties, but she also loved his sweet nature, once you got close enough to see it and were given the chance to.

She knew that in other circumstances, she'd have loved to keep him as her mate and she knew that she could please him. That wasn't in question, but there was the matter of who they were, so it wasn't something that they could have gone on with.

Besides, it wasn't her way.

Any need in her to have a fine mate for herself was already well looked-after and she was such a lucky girl to have the ones which her heart needed.

She'd just had the want of it and the permission of her lord, that was all. It had been good, and she'd developed feelings for Ulfr from it.

Those feelings had caused her to think of him and the thoughts had ...

She saw something of a chance for him with someone else and she saw nothing odd about how they were different. She was different to him as well and that had gone so nicely. She smiled and looked around a little, seeking for a reason. The reason came to her and she went to make her request. She'd thought of a valid concern which would suffice. But her own concern was actually about Ulfr and the human. She knew nothing about the girl who had been mentioned as being at risk, but she knew Ulfr.

A few minutes later, Zele was in the air, with Thiery clinging to her back and Illa flying beside her as they climbed and turned toward the island of Alsay.

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

Grrta wasn't happy.

She wasn't particularly unhappy, but she was stuck here in Lewis Crowe's cottage – a little out of harm's way, as it was pointed out to her.

That was all fine and good, she supposed, but she didn't really want to be here.

Grrta still thought the world of Lewis. He'd saved her life for one thing, and he'd treated her so well. But he and Miss Sharon had sort of found each other and Grrta knew what that was - or she could make her surmisal.

For whatever reasons which were likely far above her head, Grrta guessed that Mother's focus had shifted. She really knew very little about the now-revived ancient love between two demons or what lay behind the mating aerobatics the other night. These things were far beyond the knowledge and understanding of a girl like her.

She only knew that now, the two humans were building a relationship and a lot of that had to do with Miss Sharon's books and Lewis knowledge of the arcane.

She didn't want to be here to see the way that she wasn't needed or wanted particularly.

Grrta wouldn't really care much, she supposed. She'd thought there was something there between her and Lewis, but she guessed that his interest had waned and why not? Grrta wasn't his kind where Miss Sharon was. It was natural. She didn't really blame him – she couldn't. He'd saved her life.

Grrta had been happy with Thiery and Illa and they'd made her feel welcome. It had been a lot of fun as well. But they'd gone with Miss Zele somewhere and with Thiery being carried on Zele's back as she flew and with Illa carrying some provisions, there's been no room for her.

Grrta could even handle that – if all that she had to do now was miss the two. They seemed to be important here, from what she could tell, so it stood to reason that they could be needed elsewhere. That was all fine too.

But it hadn't taken long for Illa and Thiery to notice that someone like Grrta did need to eat and she had nothing. Grrta had been saved and all, but there was no way that she could contribute. She'd never learned to hunt. They said that they didn't mind, but Grrta knew better. She felt bad enough about it anyway. Actually, she felt less than useless, so she didn't blame them.

It hadn't escaped her notice that when her cousin and his imp left to go with Zele, neither one of them had even said goodbye.

That had been the thing that had hurt.

So here she was, in a cottage with a couple of humans who kept looking at each other and then at her while Grrta felt slowly worse.

As though someone had somehow known of her plight, there came a polite knock at the door and General Brinack walked in. The general was someone who Grrta knew and respected. She felt in a bit of awe whenever she saw the tall general, but she liked her and this was a welcome change in her day, even if she was only here for a visit.

But no, she'd come for her!

"Hello, Grrta," the general said, "Do you have a bit of time for me? I need you to come with me to speak with the goblin women again. It seems they've gotten wind of the changes in our stance here in preparation and they have some idea that we'll leave them for some reason. It's not true of course, but, ...

Well, could I ask you to come along and have a word with them all? I want to offer them some reassurance, but I think it would go better if they got the news from someone who doesn't scare them to death when she speaks."

Grrta jumped up and said that she'd be delighted to help. As Brinack walked (and Grrta trotted), she explained her position and Grrta knew that she could help things. Other than the walking, it only took a minute and Grrta was happy to see Thiery's mother again. The older female asked about her son and Grrta told all that she knew, and then they were on their way back.

"I may be an old soldier, "the general said gently, "but I don't need to be bashed over the head to catch the wind, Grrta. Something's bothering you. Can I ask what it is?"