Love as a Form of Binding Ch. 20

Everything that she saw of him, everything in her view, ... He was beyond massive to her, and whether she liked the idea of it or not, he was beautiful to her even with his thoughtful goat's eyes and even with the little tuft on his chin. Even that he stood closer to eight feet tall than seven.

She was sure that she did moan a little as he removed the short wrap from his waist which was the last garment that he wore. Ylva tried to avert her gaze, straining to keep her eyes on his face.

"That's a little better," she nodded, desperate to make a little conversation and suddenly realizing that her timing or her choice of words couldn't have been worse from the way that his head snapped up to look at her.

She blushed furiously and decided to press on before he asked her just what was a little better.

Though she felt stupid she tried to sound a little conciliatory, "I know that you don't know all of the pretty words. I have the feeling that this is a new language for you. I'm sure that I couldn't speak yours to save my life. Now, how did you bring me here?"

He looked startled, wondering if she'd just wanted to win the point or whether she was trying to teach him her speech. "I made certain that you were unharmed. I washed the blood from you with what was in the blue casks. I wrapped you to keep you warm and carried you here with a bag of your things."

Ylva had forgotten about her things. She hoped that he'd brought her laptop. All of her work over the summer was there.

"Are we still there?" she asked, "Or is this another place?"

"This is another island," he said, "Far away and you are safe. That is what I went there to do."

She shook her head, "And did you walk all the way on the water?"

He looked at her, wondering if she was always this stupid. But then he had a thought and reasoned that she likely didn't know much about his kind. An instant later, he shrugged and Ylva's eyes widened to see the large wings which he held out from his back. "We hide these unless we have need of them. I am sorry. I thought that you knew."

The sight of that took her eye to what she'd tried not to see. What hung there was as dark as the rest of him, darker possibly. She looked away and wanted to curse.

He was hung like a mule. She looked again for just a second and groaned inaudibly, she hoped.

Like a fucking stallion, she thought.

"Go on, look." Zele whispered softly from beside her ear, "Look at that male, a wonder among all males of any kind. There might be a few larger, but Ylva, none that I have known taste better, and I add my own lord to that heap and he is a sweet one to suck on."

Zele would never tell anyone, but Ulfr was bigger than Toby and it had taken an age to get him into her small opening. But he'd been willing to try when she'd asked him to and he'd been so nice about it. She wanted Ulfr to have someone, sensing that he didn't like the brash and loud slayer females that she'd met.

To Zele, Ulfr was special and she cared for him. That's why she was here, ready to help and a little scared to hurt things if she got it wrong.

Ylva tried to shut out what she'd heard. She didn't need the sounds in her ear. Her own eyes worked just fine. She was a little relieved to see him step into a pool to bathe. Then she saw a different problem.

Oh just fucking great. Now he was attractive and wet.

She was still feeling cold. Not as much as before, but it had been a long flight through damp air and the moisture had gotten through almost everywhere.

Ulfr was washing his armpits when he suddenly looked at her and saw that she was shivering. He strode out of the pool to stand before her. Ylva didn't know where to look.

"You are cold," he said, sounding concerned. She thought it sounded nice on him.

"I wanted to take your dress off when we came here, but I had to see to everyone's safety first. I asked –" He turned to look but saw that Thiery had mounted Illa from behind.

He sighed, "But they were doing that.

Please stand up. I will remove your dress and you will feel warmer."

She thought that he was nuts, but she saw the degree of his concern for her when he waved his large hand at the fire and it roared to life, becoming three times as large in an instant. She could feel the heat of it on her face almost instantly.

She sat like an old woman, hoping that he would forget her. She doubted that he would, but it was all that she had.

"Please stand, Ylva."

The voice wasn't flat or hard. She had to give him credit there, but it did sound implacable.

"Among humans, " she said, "there is a thing called respect for a female's feelings."

He bent down a little and nodded, "I think that I understand. I want to improve a female's feelings by allowing her to get warm before she grows ill from the lack of it. Please do not make me feel worse that I have left something undone, Ylva.

The dress must come off, and you can get warm by the fire or sit in the warm water there. Please do not make me remove it from you by myself. I am large and clumsy and I would only ruin it." He looked down and pulled her boots off, both at once.

"I would not hurt you."

He fought with it, wanting to say that he'd seen all of her before now, but he had a sense of how that would go.

He lifted her to her feet and had the hem of the dress to her waist in an instant.

"Hold onto me if you need to so that you do not fall, but Ylva - the dress comes off now."

She didn't intend to touch him, but she looked down meekly and worked at pulling her dress off with his careful help. Despite her thoughts, she wobbled forward a little and found herself leaning against him.

She didn't even know when it had happened, but she felt her breasts pressing against him a little and her arms were around his ribs - and that was a long trip to her surprise.

Then the dress was off and she stood before him, still not lifting her gaze. She wanted to cry.

"What about my feelings?" she asked his hooves, "Maybe I don't want to be seen by you while I'm naked."

"Then I will not see you naked," he said with a smile, that she could hear and the next thing she knew, she was in his arms and being carried to the water.

"This isn't what I meant," she said frowning up at him.

But he wasn't looking at her.

She remembered what Zele had told her and she wanted to just reject it.

But he was there and she was in his arms, Ylva almost smiled, but, ...

She put her arms around his thick neck instead.

The next instant, she as sitting across his lap, still looking up at him with a new struggle underway inside of her now. She was looking at his ears and wondering why they looked a little like the ones on a horse, though they were bare and a little smaller. She thought that she must be losing her mind now.

She wondered what they tasted like.

"You said a thing about being among humans, "he said, smiling a little. "But I am not among them. I am here with one human who confounds me and yet, I must take care of her and respect her strange feelings while I do not understand them completely.

"Why are they so hard for you to understand?" she asked, "I just want to keep my dignity."

"Just as you wanted to throw it away when you shouted, and when you took everything off? Can you see how I am confounded?"

She had to give him the point, but she rolled her eyes to show that it was a reluctant admission.

"So here you can feel warm and the cold will leave you faster. I wish that I had seen it sooner. Are you afraid of water? You cannot drown here and I will not allow it."

"No," she said, shaking her head a little, "Why?"

"Your arms are still around my neck."

Ylva blushed again and removed them, trying to cross her arms over her breasts, which were just in the water and visible to him. But she couldn't for the way that he held her.

"May I ask some things?"

He nodded, "I will answer if I can."

"Why is your skin so dark? Are all of you like this? I mean, are there other kinds?"

He looked down, "You mean all demons or only my kind?"

"Well just the kind that you are, since that seems to be separate in a way," she said, still looking up and liking him more – whether she wanted to or not – every moment. In many ways, he was fascinating to her.

"We are not all the same, though we are the same inside. There are many shades of skin. I think that it is from the spawn –"

He smiled then, "I mean the way that we are bred. My , ... parents are like me and the ones before and before. One way or the other, we are all the same. I was to be a heavy fighter, but I was pulled out to begin among the slayer scouts. It is why I am large for one of them and a little small for the heavy fighters. If there is a purpose to it, I cannot say. We all come from the same places."

She nodded, and then she asked, "Why will there be a war? I don't understand. Who will you be fighting, angels?"

He smiled at that, though he made sure that it came out as a smile and not the smirk which he felt coming to him. "We do not fight those ones. We rarely even see them. This war will be between demons. And before you ask it, I will say that there are many kinds and not all have the same wants.

Why? Do you want to know of it all?"

She nodded, "If I could hear it, and if it isn't too much to ask of you. I don't know much of anything, but you were sent to get me away from Staffa, and I think that to send someone like you, there had to be a reason. I'm certainly not important to your war. Would you tell me?"

He chuckled a little and she liked the way that it felt to her, "How much do you want to hear of a love story? I do not know it all, but I think that I know enough to string together a good tale out of it."

Ylva was surprised and delighted. "I love a good story!"

She explained what it was that she did in her research and why and how she loved to read stories of loves which were entwined with historical events.

Ulfr turned his head to look back and ask for some of the food to be brought to them, but he sighed and shook his head, "Never mind. They go on still."

He raised his hand and the large platter came to him. He caused it to set down at the side of the pool and he made a motion with his hand. An apple appeared and he held a blade in the other hand. He cut pieces of it for them and they shared while he spoke of hunters and one in particular and the way that she'd left her employer. That turned into how she met her lord and bound herself to him, before raising him to a powerful demonlord.

The tale went on, relating to how they lived in a large hall underground and finally, he told her about the lord which he served.

Somewhere in it he stopped and seemed to be staring at her. By then, Ylva had grown a sense of trust in him, reasoning that if he'd wanted to harm her in any way, he'd had many opportunities by now.

She'd also forgotten about feeling uneasy in her nakedness and had quite forgotten about covering her breasts. She wondered if she had to do that again for a moment. "What is it?"

He kept looking and then he smiled, "The hair at your eyes, .."

"Eyelashes?" she suggested and he nodded, smiling, "They are the same color as your hair. Is this usual among humans?"

She shook her head, "It goes with the hair color and my pale skin and freckles - the little dots on my skin. Why?"

Nothing," he smiled, "I just like them."

Something changed for Ylva then. She looked into his eyes and she reached up, "Would I die if I tried to kiss you now, Ulfr? Like, is that sort of thing permitted?"

Zele almost fell into the water from where she'd been perched and listening all of this time.

Ulfr smiled, "I have been wondering the same things."

Ylva moved to sit a little higher so that she could change her position. Ulfr wasn't sure what was wanted.

"No, stay just like that," she smiled as she pulled herself up and then swung out a leg. She looked him right in the eye, loving the look of surprise that a human girl like her could put there on the face of a creature like him.

She moved to straddle him so that they could converse at a more even height for her, but for now, ... for right now, ...

Ylva groaned and she grabbed his horns, pulling them together as she kissed him. She didn't give it a thought, knowing that if she did, she'd lose her nerve and this feeling.

She slid her tongue between those fine lips and searched until she found his.

He tasted wonderful and she hung on tighter, needing to kiss him and press herself against him even more.

The dark heat of him rose from between his thighs to press against Ylva's bottom. She felt a sense of ... wantonness and it came as a welcome surprise to her. Such a delicious sense of peril somehow.

She moaned and pressed herself against him while reaching back to hold that thing against her and run her fingers along the thick underside.

She knew herself. She knew that she was nearing the end of her self-control.

She didn't care.

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

When they emerged into the main hall again, Grrta felt better. The time with the two demons - as tense and silent as it had to be most of the time, had at least gotten them to feel a little relaxed in each other's company. Grrta saw Brin and waited while the general issued one command after another to different individuals. Grrta knew that there were far more important things to be dealt with that the request that she wanted to make.

After a couple of minutes, she noticed a different-looking slayer watching her from not far off. While Grrta had gotten used to the presence of the large demons, she wasn't particularly smitten with them. The only one that she liked was Brin. This one was near to the same height, but he was thinner and not as muscle-bound as the rest. He seemed to be almost on the verge of having to hold back a little smile as he looked around.

But then he was looking at the three of them again and he stepped over, his smile definitely friendly now and not as driven by sardonic humor perhaps as when he'd looked around him.

"You must be Grrta," he smiled and even bowed a little, "I think you'll wait a long time for Brin to have a moment. Maybe I can help. What did you want to ask her?"

Grrta looked up, "Er, hullo there. How is it that ye know who I am?"

That smile widened even more, "I know because it's my business to know at least a few things. But more importantly to me, Brin has spoken to me of you. I'm Kerry. If it's not a personal thing, I can see that you wish to make a request and if I can help, well, I'd like to."

Grrta's jaw began to drop, but she caught it in time, seeing that nothing stopped the mouths of her companions from falling open. She didn't know where it came from in her, but she was able to stop her normal shyness for the moment at least.

"Pleased te meet ye, Kerry," she smiled, "I just wanted te tell her generalship that we're back and that she needn't be wonderin' what's happened te us. That, and well, I see that she's busier than a one-armed goblin in a roomful of midges. I was just going to ask if she might know where I could find a pack te haul my old things in, that's all. I'd be for askin' Mother, but I imagine that she's even busier.

D'yer know where I might find one?"

Kerry was charmed instantly and he grinned, "Here, you can have mine," he said as he shrugged out of it. "I don't have anything to put into it anyway. I'm more than comfortable living out of Brin's pack. She has half the world in hers, I think."

He made some quick adjustments, taking all of the slack out of the straps and he got to one knee as he helped her to try it on. "I think it will fit like this."

"Oh, aye," Grrta nodded, feeling honored and pleased, "It does."

She laughed a little, "And if I'm needin' a good tent fer the night, I can just crawl inside too."

She bowed low, "Many thanks, yer lairdship. It's pairfect."

Kerry nodded with a smile, "Good. I think you'll find the Old One up in the hall above near the well and the bolthole. She's not there at the moment, but I know that she'll be there in a few moments so why not meet her there?"

Grrta nodded, "It's said that yer one what can see a little inte the future, Kerry. I think that must be a good ability te have."

He began to laugh then, "I imagine so as well, but I only know it because she was here a moment ago and said that it was where she was going to look for you. She said that she only had to use the privy pit first."

Grrta laughed and nodded, thanking Kerry again as they set off.

After a moment, she looked at the others, who were still looking back. "Did I say something wrong? What's the matter?"

Aram finally found his voice, "Do you know who that was?"

"Aye," Grrta smiled cheerily, "That's the laird Kerry. I've seen him around a little. Nice enough fellow – and very generous."

That was all that she said, though inside, Grrta now knew two of the large demons whom she liked. She thought that Brin was a lucky girl, not knowing the story. She just looked at things rather simply and knew that she liked them both.

"Aunt Lilitu said there was an Appolyon here," Isis said in a little awe, "The last one. I'd have wet my feet just trying to say hello to him and you just asked him to find you a knapsack as though it was nothing."

Aram was a little thoughtful, "So that's why there are all of these beasts here."

"I don't know about any of that," Grrta said, "I just know that there's lots of them and a small girl like me has te watch that she doesna get flattened down here. Besides, I was needin' a pack te carry my things in. Ye don't ask, how can ye get anything?"

They walked on, Grrta in the middle of them, each one wanting something, and not knowing quite how to get there or even the things to say in small talk. After a minute of it, Grrta felt it as they took her hands, still walking in silence.

She thought that she should say something, but she didn't know what she ought to say and most of all, she was terrified that if she did, they'd let go of her hands.

Finally, she just said, "Thank you."

When she looked, they only smiled very shyly at her. But it was enough.

It hit them all a minute later. The pair weren't young, but they were in young bodies which still carried the sort of pure emotions possible for one like that. Grrta had never been anything other than alone almost all of her life, other than when her mother had been alive. They didn't know this, but they felt something and wanted to tell her a thing which they had no words for. And in a situation like that, they did the same thing that a trio of children might do.

Isis and Aram had lived their lives wandering with their parents. While they knew that they were loved, it was past time for them to be allowed to make their own lives. Long ago, they'd decided to make their lives together. While it was enough for them and while they were not shy to anyone and were bold in a confident and understated way, there was something about Grrta which stripped all of that away.

Near her, they were a pair of shy young demons again and while Grrta herself wasn't a bold sort of person in any way, she did have this one thing. She needed someone and she knew that, but she had no way to ask it of anyone, and no one to ask it of – and no worth to anyone, other than a little sex.

She hadn't been anyone worth much to anyone else for longer than a short period of time and only recently and that was apparently gone now anyway. She was a little used to that.

But holding their hands in hers, Grrta felt something.

Mostly, it was that she'd been accepted at face value by a couple who held out their own childlike hopes of acceptance to her in only their touch. In the face of what they felt, all they had was the purity of that.