03 Atavism of the Ifrit Read online

  On and on Floa’s words added to the ever growing spell. Dallare had no trouble keeping up, but Kira began to sweat as the hanging letters took much from her rather than the warmth of the fire. It seemed forever that Floa added stipulations, leaving no way to make a loophole. It was ironclad. Even with his new mind, Ethan found no wiggle room the more she talked. When she stated a vow, she closed it with another condition down the line, making a loop without exit. Power built till the air hummed and could be tasted, like a tangy sugar.

  Then after thirty difficult minutes Floa came to a close. “…until the end of End.” And stopped entirely, removing her hand from their cheeks.

  As if using one voice both Kyoko and Kanade softly said “I swear it all to you.”

  With those words the hanging spells drew in on themselves to create an orb the size of a marble over the lips of both women who leaned closer with Floa ducking under and out from between their arms.

  They kissed and the touching of the spells flared brightly in a purplish color before being absorbed in both their connecting lips to make their bodies lightly glow as if a radiance covered the edges of their body like a ghost. The hum of power died in the wind and so did the glow of their skin as the curses integrated. The kiss ended as Kanade drew back and touched her own lips.

  “Mmm… cinnamon.” Kyoko said as she licked her lips.

  “What?!” Ethan and Kanade said together the moment the meaning sunk in.

  “Oh no, did I do something wrong!?” Kira yelped frantically, looking at the sheet again.

  Kanade, eyes full of wonder came closer and asked “Say that again.”

  “You taste of cinnamon. Did you suck on a candy?”

  “Shit, she does… She can…” Rumbled Ethan.

  “Can anyone follow this?” Vitally scratched his head.

  “Only my soul mate should detect my scent and taste.” Kanade said, not realizing anyone else spoken. “How is that possible? You have no soul… and still don’t.” She said after a closer examination. Kyoko hadn’t truly changed in any fundamental way.

  “Probably because this binding has never been attempted on your kind.” Floa assumed. “Spirit Guides and demons never mixed before. If she can taste your flavor, it is likely a byproduct of the union spell.”

  “Then it is good I like cinnamon.” Kyoko said and winked “I cannot wait to truly kiss you in my true form. It seems there was more to taking you as my wife than I intended. Your taste and scent now are delicious. I must go prepare for your studies before I rest. Find me when you are ready. Dallare-chan?”

  “Yes, Mistress.” Together they disappeared.

  “I can’t believe it.” Kanade said as she got to her feet and turned. “Looks like you’ve got two wives now, Darlin’.”

  “Never mind that, how are you feeling?” He took her arms, fussing all over. The joke went straight over his head.

  “Fine mostly. The spell tingled, but felt good.”

  “And kissing her?”

  “Nada.” She admitted. “It was like kissin’ a tree.”

  “I resent that!” Nell declared with a huff.

  “You know what I mean… more like kissin’ a snowball. It wasn’t fourth of July fireworks like you give me, Darlin’. But it’s done. No turnin’ back.”

  “I don’t know about you folks, but I’m hungry. Let’s turn in after.” Baldr said, supporting an exhausted Kira.

  “Good idea.” Magnus said and then the group split up.

  Floa lingered to say “Love you, Love.” She winked.

  “Give Blossom a hug and kiss for me.”

  “WAIT! Hold up!” Ethan said and all stopped to look back. “If you guys need me, call me Volorum. Ethan is too common a name and I’m having a headache responding in finding out what someone wants and come to realize it’s someone else they are talking to. I now see why Spirit Guide and Transcendent beings have unorthodox and unique names.”

  “Thanks for the tip! I’ll certainly do it because we’ll all be talking about this tonight. Hey stop by later. We can do a movie night onboard. I’m thinking something fun… a Loony Tunes marathon ought to be a riot.” Baldr invited. “Better than sitting alone while Kanade’s going to lessons with her new lover.” He winked as she blushed and they walked away with Blake wanting to persuade Baldr to instead run a mixed martial arts marathon instead.

  “Oh, before you go Floa, when you come back, please bring our points card. I want to buy things… souvenirs and things. We left them behind.” Kanade asked.

  “For my new little girl, sure.” She touched her hip and clapped her hands.

  Alone, except for Panther who watched the retreating figures carrying torches from the bonfire to return to the yacht, Ethan took Kanade’s hand and asked “Are you…”

  “For the billionth time, Darlin’, yes, I’m fine. I’m more worried now what I’ve done to you.”

  “How do you mean… Uh, Panther, go rest for the night. You’re off duty.”

  “Thank you, Ethan.” And Panther stretched before touching the symbol upon the center of his chest. “Un-equip.” The armor opened up and folded neatly in his hands, leaving him naked as he walked to the tree line and disappeared in the brush.

  Truly alone again, Ethan slid off his gauntlets and red forearm shield, hung them off the belt and waited for her answer. It wasn’t much of a long wait. “Darlin’, I’ve just guaranteed you to have sex with her. I’ve just pimped out my own angel.”

  “Yet you bonded to your own enemy, cold. You hate the cold. Kyoko’s normal temp runs thirty degrees.”

  “At least I won’t ever get hot and sticky. She’s a natural air conditioner.”

  “I’m serious, Angel.”

  “Don’t I know it.” She touched his cheek. “But if it will help keep you alive, I’ll marry every female demon there is to make sure you’re never taken from me again. What I’m worried about is I felt nothin’ from Kyoko’s kiss and that will be a hurdle I didn’t consider and is a major problem with the vows I took.”

  “What do you mean?” she smiled as his tail protectively wrapped around her waist and drew her flush against him.

  “You heard how Floa said we have to give each other orgasms… well I can force myself to do her, but if she can’t get my motor warmed, it’ll mean her part of our union is in danger. I thought the spells would change that, but it didn’t. Only you makes me wet, hot and bothered, like I am right now.” She smiled sadly and wryly.

  “And practice won’t help?” He suggested.

  “She’s confident and a real beauty, almost as pretty as me, but I don’t think so. We need to fix this soon. Is there a spell you discovered to make me desire her like I do you?”

  He closed his eyes and rapidly went through all his discoveries and shook his head. “Nope. When Fate made your kind, he did something I can’t undo without causing excruciating pain and likely kill you as a result. If you were born to a different race, yeah, no problem. Sadly, there is no spell yet that can override Fate’s meddling… but…”

  “What was that idea?” she asked as it crossed one of his further back thoughts.

  His lip curled and muscles in his jaw jumped. “What if there is a simpler way?”

  “Go on.”

  “What if I’m the key.”

  Kanade rolled her eyes and sighed. “Good grief. We all know I’m goin’ to let her fuck you silly. I don’t need to hear a key and lock joke. Yeah you’ve got a key to my ‘box’s’ lock and…”

  “No, no no. Not that.” He hastily backtracked. “I mean me, my scent. My blood.” She blinked. “Remember after I woke from being shot in the shoulder by the Elf?”

  “Yeahhh…” she drawled out.

  “Well before Morgane made me take the potion I had to breathe, we made love for the first time by biting and exchanging blood. That was the day Nell and the others started backing off. It was gradual till I was strong enough to bite and break your skin.” Kanade touched her heavily scarred pale neck that had bee
n bitten so much it was a seamless scar choker, a replacement from the gold one she originally had when she first mated. “After that our scents mixed and the girls stopped hitting on the both of us. Since it doesn’t repel demons like them, what if Kyoko had my scent? It could trick your reaction or lack thereof, on someone other than me.”

  “So if she had you and I smelled you on her, I could feel something more?”

  “Pretty much the best I can come up with.”

  “I’ll have to give it shot, but you still haven’t told me how you feel about me bringin’ her in.”

  “Right now I’m far from happy, but I do understand why you see this is our best option. And you are right, she is pretty. But like you, she did nothing for me. But I think I’ll try to understand what Magnus once explained since he and Nell often sleep with her sister. All I can say is I’ll give it a try. For you though. Not for her. My biggest worry is if I get her pregnant before you.”

  “Again, Floa covered it. I’ll support her just as she will with me. But I think I should at least try your idea tonight. She won’t be expectin’ it.”

  “Don’t be too long studying.” He rumbled and hugged her close, resting his chin atop her head. “When you told me you were wet really got me horny.”

  “Why do you think I did it?” She offered a cheeky grin. “But I think I want to dance in the sky with you before I wash up and go to her. You game?”

  “Better believe it.” He grinned.

  Up in the air was their first aerial dance no mortal eye could follow. There were sparkling blurs of blue and chasing sparks of silver. Sometimes they flew so close all that remained of space was but a strand of hair thick space. Ethan was always awkward upon the ground, but airborne was poetry in motion, complimented by the blue winged beauty. He chased her and would reverse without any announcement. He would catch her easily since he was bigger and faster, but she was much more nimble and knew how to free herself, if she wanted to. Her feminine wiles were his kryptonite and nothing could be denied to her. They laughed and enjoyed the breeze caressing their wings. Sometimes she’d hang off the sharp ivory claws on his wings and would mess his flight up by throwing him in a spinning flip. Neither could truly hurt the other, but that didn’t mean they didn’t like it a little rough. Neither were human and they enjoyed being so much more.

  A nice sheen of sweat built up and Kanade called it quits before her mounting desires took over and they made a costly mistake. So they angled and lazily glided back to the island. Up top were two dwellings, one very much alive and looked like a giant blue-green rosebud just beginning to bloom beside the rustic shack that was now a temporary home. Inside the plant from Demon World was a petal aglow in twinkling firelight, making it a door one must peel back. It was a pretty dwelling, delicate and yet robust at the same time.

  Feet and hooves landed without much noise, great wings though were much louder as they folded up before going inside the tropical house much larger inside than what the outside told of. Panther lounged in the hammock, talking to Dress. It was a momentary quiet, but Ethan and Kanade headed back for the shower in the corner where the next half hour was spent cleaning up.

  After a thorough steaming to get dry they pulled the plastic curtain away and Dressor already spat out fresh clothes. Kanade donned another flattering nightdress, a pale gossamer that swirled as she walked. Ethan slid into a pair of pants.

  Then she said “Dress, do you have one of Ethan’s old nightshirts he used to wear? Before he started changin’?”

  “One moment.” The cabinet took on a vacant look as he searched his inventory and returned a few moments after. “Sorry, Sweet Thing. All Handsome’s old clothes have been donated or been repurposed into cleaning rags. You told me I could do as I saw fit since he got so big so quick.”

  “That’s fine.” She bit her bottom lip, thinking. “Then can I buy a flannel nightshirt in let’s say, Kyoko’s size?”

  The gold lines of his face changed to make lips purse in consideration. “Hmm, she’s bustier than Kira, inch taller, round hips, narrow waist… without measuring her properly I can’t give her a perfect one, but sure. I can do that. Let me find something appropriate.” Another pause. “Ah, this should do it.” Doors split open and out shot a sexy flannel shirt. Roomy, soft, floral scented and comfortable.

  “Thanks!” Kanade cheerfully offered, turned and held out her hand with the shirt. “Darlin’.”

  He grabbed it and began scrubbing it all over his bare torso, around his neck and breathed hot breath into the cotton thread, making sure his scent of sun, hickory, musk and man had saturated it completely. Sweat would have helped, but would have been the wrong kind. To Kanade, sex sweat was profoundly different than exercise. When he returned it she buried her face and inhaled, instantly aroused and calmed by it. She smiled, nodded and said “This assumption might just hold credit.”

  “Then let’s increase the odds.” He went to a cabinet and with extreme care lifted an empty mason jar, unscrewed the cap and stabbed his forearm in the claw of his wing to break his tough hide. The pain made him wince, but the wound made his hot, steaming blood run into the glass jar. Kanade winced, feeling his pain slightly, but grateful he was trying to help her get through a hard ordeal. As the jar got full he pressed a thumb over the wound and a bit of pressure stopped the flow. Kanade screwed the lid on and ran warm water to clean up the mess and not shatter the glass by running cold. As she turned around, his bleeding had stopped and would be gone long without a trace before she saw him again. “All set?”

  “See ya’ll later.” She kissed him and took the shirt and blood out the door hearing Ethan ask Panther and Dress if they wanted to go to the yacht and take Baldr up on his offer.

  She made way to the only other dwelling on the island and rasped her knuckles on the flickering flower petal front door. “Kyoko, Dallare, it’s me.”

  A small silhouette darkened the front and a yellow hand drew back the petal to show a smiling Elf saying “Kyoko-hime is ready for you. Come right in.”

  Kanade had to duck inside deeply so the tops of her wings didn’t wreck the plant. Honeysuckle permeated the lavish room. Soft carpet laid over the floor with a central hearth crackling away merrily. Two unrolled futons were set against the wall while a line in the back held up several outfits belonging to the Demon Lord. What looked to be a flower from an Angel Trumpet grew from the wall off to the side had a shallow tub that made it a shower. A plant petal appeared wrinkled, but was in fact the curtain, drawn back. A wooden toilet sat in a far corner, furthest from anything.

  Sitting in a traditional Japanese fashion was Kyoko in a silk yukata, a customary robe worn after a bath. In her hand was a steaming cup of a pleasant smelling tea. Those lovely snowflake eyes softened. “Welcome. Care for some tea? Dallare makes the finest I can guarantee that will leave you calm and relaxed in the first sip… and I promise she uses no drugs or magic… not that drugs would affect your kind.”

  “Truthfully I’m a beer sorta gal, but I won’t refuse the offer.”

  “Good to know. Ever try sake?”

  “Yes, but I like my alcohol cold.”

  “As do I.” She winked. “I like warm tea after a filling meal, but a cold heat from a strong drink is best.”

  “I think we’ll get along quite fine.” Kanade came to the fire and sat cross-legged, much better with wings and it wouldn’t make her feel so gargantuan as sitting on her heels would make her taller.

  Dallare knelt between the two powerful women and began making Kanade’s tea, infusing the hot water over the hearth with perfectly aged leaves out of an ornate tea box. While waiting, Kyoko sat her tea in her lap and asked “What is it you bring? I expected just your pleasant company.”

  “Truthfully… despite your beauty I’m not attracted to you in that way. I’ve never been aroused by anyone other than Ethan, but he came up with a suggestion that may help rev my motor. This shirt has his scent and this…” She began unwrapping the shirt from around the mason
jar.

  Kyoko’s half filled cup of tea spilled when she jerked in surprise as if she were stabbed the moment her eyes fell on the bubbling crimson jar. “His blood!”

  Dallare and Kanade were shocked still. “Um…”

  “He gives his blood?” Kyoko rubbed her now stained yukata and the wet floor around her knees. “Doesn’t he know how valuable it is?”

  “Yes, he does. It’s more valuable than your tears. It’s also a gift to allow you to at last use Blood Speak too. I found out I can use it too.” Kanade let known she wasn’t ignorant. “When you let me read you, I gave him what I learned. I kinda snuck in what you knew of Ifrit too, not just about yourself. He knows a Yuki-onna’s tears are Demon World’s royal currency and your kind cries so rarely. But Ifrit blood has mystical properties in that fire and heat are temporarily useless and is good for only as long as the blood boils. It’s why I wrapped it in the shirt so it stays hot.”

  “Put the jar in the coals right now.” Kyoko hastily said, not wanting to ruin the gift by having it cool.

  Kanade did so quickly and then said “We have made so much love, I’ve ingested and bathed in more than a full tub of his blood… and my needs will make it so I’ll always have his heat resistant ability, but you’ve tasted but a drop. Since I carry his scent I’m in a constant state of arousal too. You don’t smell like him even remotely, but if you drink and coat your whole body with this, maybe, just maybe… I can… enjoy bein’ with you.”

  Deeply touched, Kyoko asked “Before I go further, may I learn of you as you did of me? I’m not upset you went further in my mind than to know me for I will share it all with you. But for the moment, I would like to have a deeper understanding of your core, just as you’ve seen mine.”