A Demon's Lust Ch. 08

Anita

My belly aching and heavy with eggs, I struggled to stand, but was unable to do more than flop about uselessly, bound as I was in spider silk. I looked imploringly up at Saban. He was bent over me, hand resting lightly on my cheek, feeding on my pain and terror. He laughed and, leaning close, he began to whisper in my ear, describing exactly what would happen when the eggs began to hatch. I whimpered, helpless and frightened. Behind him, the spider lay, bleeding and twitching feebly.

With a gasp, I awoke, drenched in sweat and tangled up in my sheets. Automatically, the lights came on. I was in my room at Rowan Castle, in my own bed. Safe. Thanks to Saban, the spider was dead, and the eggs were gone.

I managed to rip the damp sheets as I fought my way out of the tangle. Soon, though, I was sitting naked in the middle of the bed. I drew my legs to my chest and wrapped my arms around them.

My nightmare was no surprise, not with what had happened on the way back from the capital. What was surprising was that real life hadn't ended in exactly the same way. Saban was a demon. Looking out for number one at the expense of others was what being a demon was all about. And yet, in real life, Saban had saved me from the demonic spider, and removed the eggs, all without taking advantage of my weakened stated in any way. Killing the spider made sense; the binding would force him to protect me. Afterwards, however...

Afterwards, I would have been bound in spider silk, helpless. The silk and the eggs were too indirect a threat to trigger the binding. Saban would have been free to feed as he wished. Instead, he had gone out of his way to save me.

The only logical reason for him to act like he had was the binding. It must be stronger, and more sensitive, than any binding ever laid before. However, in the testing I had done since arriving at Rowan Castle, I had seen no evidence of that. No evidence, that is, aside from Saban's undeniable actions in the forest. And even then...

In the forest, Saban hadn't acted compelled to save me. He had acted concerned. Gentle. Kind. No level of binding would explain that. Perhaps the binding had forced him to save me, and he had been trying to manipulate me into thinking otherwise? No, that didn't make sense either. Saban had admitted, when asked, that the binding was what had made him save me. Or, rather, I thought he had until the test results had picked up no evidence of an unusually strong binding. Had he been lying? Why?

I sighed, and glanced over at my demon in his cage. He looked back at me. Between the noise and my fear, the nightmare would have awoken him. He looked concerned, and was shifting uneasily in his chains, not quite fighting them, but close.

Knowing it was silly, and wondering why I was doing this, I told him, "Go back to sleep. I'm fine."

He gave me a disbelieving look, and held up his hands in an obvious request for me to unchain him.

"No," I told him. "I'm fine."

He glared at me.

I pointedly turned my back to him. Fishing a book on demon bindings out of the stack on the bedside table, I began to read.

Saban

Angry now, and mildly concerned, I fought the chains. Soon, however, I had to admit that, when combined with the cage, the chains wouldn't be breaking anytime soon. Then I just sat on the cage floor and sulked.

I hadn't realized there were ways to test a binding, aside from viewing its effects, when I had lied about why I saved Anita. After a long nap, she had spent significant time testing the bindings on me, and was now thoroughly puzzled. I saved you because I love you, I wanted to say. But I couldn't. For one, was it even true? What was love, when you got right down to it? I felt possessive. Protective. I wanted to hold her, to please her. To just sit and talk to her. But was that love?

For another, she would never, ever believe me. And what if she did believe me? What would she do then? I knew her well enough to know that things she couldn't explain freaked her out. Would my revelation, if she believed it, freak her out enough that she would dismiss me? The idea of being dismissed filled me with despair. Odds were high that, if she dismissed me, I would never ever see her again. And that was unthinkable.

Anita

I awoke to the sound of the morning bell. Blinking blearily, I wondered why I was at my desk, with my cheek plastered against the page of a book, instead of in bed. Then I remembered. I glared over at my demon. "You," I informed him, "Might just be more trouble than you're worth."

I decided to feed him this morning, instead of in the evening. For one, that meant I could spend my evening in uninterrupted study. For another, I was rather horny. Without bothering to dress, I unlocked the cage. "Get out and kneel," I told him.

When he was kneeling before me, and I had removed his gag, I spread my pussy lips, pulling aside the hair to reveal pink flesh. Before he could do much more than lean forward, I raised a hand. "Wait," I told him. "When I ask you to, not a second before." For a moment, we just waited. For once, the demon didn't appear angry about being stopped. He looked content to wait as long as I required. Finally I nodded. "You may begin."

Instantly his nose was pressed up against me as his tongue delved deep. I gasped as it rubbed against my clit, and then pressed my g-spot, both with pinpoint accuracy. Soon I was swaying gently. I gripped the cage to keep myself upright. He pulled back just a little, and blew on my engorged clit. I shivered. I was close. "Ok, that's enough," I gasped. "Get back in the cage."

Saban's eyes widened. "But I-"

I shoved the gag back into his mouth, and swiftly secured it before he could force it out. "You heard me. Get back in the cage," I ordered. He didn't move. For a moment, as my head began to ache, I wondered if I could force him to obey. In the end, however, he broke first. As he settled onto the floor of his little cell, I slammed the door shut and locked it. Then I fished my vibration stone out of a drawer.

Saban

She had been close. I had felt it. But, it appeared she was not kidding when she said it would be some time before I would be allowed to bring her to orgasm again. I wondered how long she could keep her vow. Lust was, after all, a kind of hunger. It would build and build until- I blinked as she fished a rock out of a drawer. It had a number of runes carved into it, and was obviously charged with magic. It didn't look like a light stone, and, anyways, the room was already bright enough. What was it, then? And what could she want it for?

I got my answer quickly enough. Anita laid down on the bed, closed her eyes, and activated the stone. It began to vibrate. She pressed the vibrating stone up against her clit, and moaned softly.

My first reaction was fascination. Who knew simple vibration would have such an effect on her? I vowed, then and there, to give it a try myself when the binding inevitably broke, and she was in my power. I could vibrate much, much harder and faster than that little stone if I put my mind to it.

My second reaction, as her moans turned into pleased gasps, was rage. How dare she? How dare she replace me with- with a rock! My eyes flared red, and I fought the chains, but she didn't even notice. She was close now. I could feel it through the bond created by the pledge. She was close, and I wasn't the one bringing her there, bringing her to orgasm. Jealousy flared within me. I imagined, with great pleasure, crushing that little palm sized stone.

Then Anita came. The bars of my cage crumpled within my grasp as I fought to be free, free to touch her, free to feed. Unfortunately, while I could mangle the bars, I could not force them apart enough to let myself out, and I could not break the chains. Furious, but impotent, I stewed silently as she came down from the high of orgasm.

Anita opened her eyes. She blinked once, and then focused on the bent bars of the cage. She glared at me. "Did you really have to do that? I'm going to have to spend all evening getting them, and the spell, back into shape."

I schooled my own glare into an imploring plea, and then held up my cuffed hands.

Anita sighed. "I suppose, although I am tempted to let you just sit there after you damaged the cage." Standing, she added, "I will need your protection today, after all. If Trev could manage two attempts on my life- the archers and your faulty manacles- while I was away, who knows what he'll try now that I'm back."

Let him try, I thought, remembering what I'd heard about this rival of Anita's. He cannot stand against a demon lord for long. And, I added in the privacy of my own mind, neither can you, my dear.

Anita

Aside from another combat practice, which Saban again ended almost before it had begun, the next two weeks were uneventful. My worry for Marian was steadily increasing. She didn't have much time left before the trials. In fact, I realized as I woke the morning of the fourteenth day, the trials were five days away. Marian would need to start for home today with or without her journeyman status. If she didn't arrive before the trials, the master wizards might declare her rogue, and rogue wizards, ones who didn't obey the Council of Masters and the King, were killed on sight. I decided to contact her by mirror. If she hadn't gotten her journeyman status from the king, we would need to discuss our next step. It could be that the risk of being declared rogue was the lesser of two evils.

After dressing, I sat in front of the large mirror on my vanity. After incanting a short spell, I leaned forward and breathed on it. The entire surface immediately fogged up. "Marian Dayasauder," I whispered to the mirror. The fog cleared to show the underside of the lid of Marian's handheld mirror. I sighed, and, with a gesture, increased the volume of her side of the connection. "Marian!" I called. "Marian!"

The lid lifted, revealing a close up of Marian's nose. "Pull back so I can see your whole face, please," I requested.

"Only if you turn down the volume," she countered.

"Can't you?" I asked.

"I never got the hang of the mirror spell," Marian admitted. "Please?"

With a gesture, I lowered the volume. "Better?" I asked.

Marian set the mirror down where I could see her whole face, albeit at an angle. "Much better," she said. "So I see you got home safely." Now she sounded a bit piqued.

I winced. "Sorry, I forgot to mirror you then."

"But I see you remembered now that it's time for me to head home?" Marian pointed out, still annoyed.

"I'm sorry, I was just worried-" I began.

"So was I!" Marian snapped. "It's been over two weeks!"

"Marian, I'm so, so sorry," I apologized frantically. Marian being angry was like a sheep salvaging a wolf. It happened, rarely, but it was always a shock when it did. "Is there any way I can make it up to you?"

"Next time, mirror me!" she snapped.

"Okay, okay, I promise I will!" I said. There was a pause. "Better?" I asked.

Marian sighed. "Much. Just so you know, I didn't spend the whole two plus weeks worrying. Papa contacted the council for me."

"Good," I said, relived. "Now about your journeyman status-"

"Oh, I got that a week ago," she said, shrugging.

"Marian!" Now it was my turn to be annoyed. Then my mouth quirked up in the corner. "I suppose turnaround is fair play."

Marian grinned. "Yes, it is. So, other than alive, how have you been?"

Marian wasn't the only one making the journey from the capital to Rowan Castle. People had been arriving for a week now, filling the inns and the taverns surrounding the castle, as well as the castle's guest quarters. The Trials were always well attended. In fact, the day before Marian was due, the king himself arrived with his entourage of servants, courtiers, and knights and settled into the royal quarters in Rowan, as well as half the guest rooms. Everyone enjoyed the trials. Well, everyone except for the prospective journeyman wizards.

The morning of the trials, as I entered the hall, I could have picked out the 12th level apprentices by their pale faces alone. None of them were eating much. Even Trev was barely picking at his food. I sat with Saban beside me, and just looked at the plate of bacon and eggs Marian pushed in front of me.

"You need to eat," she admonished when she saw me staring at my food. "You'll need your strength."

I pushed a piece of egg around with my fork. "Marian... " I started.

She looked up. "Yes?"

I sighed. "Nevermind. Just, I can't eat."

She looked at me, concerned. "Are you feeling well? Perhaps I should-" She reached toward my forehead, hands glowing.

I dodged the diagnostic spell. If I was ill, it wouldn't do me any good to know about it. It wouldn't get me out of the trials, and even Marian couldn't cure me quickly enough. Besides, it didn't feel ill. Not exactly. "I'm fine," I insisted. "I just don't feel like eating."

Saban looked concerned. He opened his mouth as if to speak, and then closed it again.

"Why not?" Marian asked, brow furrowed.

"Marian..." I felt like I was going to cry. "The thing is, if everything goes as planned today, I'm going to kill someone."

"Yes, you'll kill Trev," Marian said, with a certain amount of satisfaction. "They already put up the lists of matchups. Not that there was ever any doubt you two would be fighting."

"But I don't want to kill him. I don't want to kill anyone." The faint whine in my voice, as I fought not to cry, irritated me. I sounded weak.

Marian took my hand. "He's a bad man, Anita. Very bad. He's tried to kill you three times over the last month, and you know he's killed others. I, at least, won't mourn him."

I sighed. "I know. But-"

I stopped as Saban bent over my plate, frowning. He sniffed my food.

"What is it?" Marian asked brow furrowed.

"Poison," he said. "A very subtle poison."

I looked down at a ring I wore. It should have begun to glow in the presence of poison. I glared at Saban. "That's not possible," I said.

He raised an eyebrow. "You doubt me? Then eat it. It isn't enough to kill you. If I'm right, all this dose should do is make you a bit dizzy. Just in time for the trials."

I frowned. I couldn't waste magic on the kind of detailed scan required to confirm this, not right before the trials, but it was possible my ring wouldn't register a nonlethal dose. "Why are you telling me this?" I asked suspiciously.

He raised an eyebrow. "Don't you remember? I'm bound to protect you."

There was no way a dose of poison that couldn't kill me could set off the binding. However... The incident in the forest... The silk and the eggs shouldn't have set off the binding either.

Marian laughed nervously, and pushed her food away. "I guess that makes four murder attempts."

I shrugged. "I guess it does."

And now I had an excuse not to eat. Just as well. Killing Trev still didn't sit well on my stomach.

Saban

As my mistress pushed her food around on her plate, trying to make it look like she was eating, I puzzled over her reluctance to kill. It made little sense to me. I didn't hesitate to kill anyone who tried to kill me, or harm me in any way. Or even mildly offended me, come to that.

If she hesitated when the chance to kill arose, well, that would make keeping her alive just that much harder. Still doable, of course, but harder. I wondered, now, if I would need to reveal that I was a demon lord in order to keep her safe. If it came right down to it, and taking command of Trev's demon was the only way to save her life, I would do it, potential dismissal be damned. I would rather her be alive and not mine than dead. In life, there was hope that we could be together. I thought briefly of the demongate in Cendan. If she died, there would be no hope at all.