The Other Half Ch. 25

xxxxxx

The heat coming off the angry djinni continued to eat away at the cement and steel structure of the Observatory as he glared at his elven friends. No! Friend no more! Michael's anger was the only way he could bear the anguish of knowing his mate, his beloved Kristiana, was lost to him forever due to the foolish actions of the elven king. He allowed his natural form full reign and towered over the slim pair at over fifteen feet of living, incensed fire.

"Lord Micipsa, please listen to the Arbiter before doing something you will regret." Lysavar knew stepping between the furious djinni and his liege was beyond foolish but he had his own duties to perform. Allowing his king to be harmed while under his protection and while he still breathed was simply not permissible.

"You dare to defend him?" Michael sneered contemptibly, his voice hissing and spitting like a raging wild-fire.

"Muindor nîn," Urúvion kept his voice calm though his heart ached at the hatred he could see in his friend's eyes, "you know I would never do anything that would risk the ritual or bring harm to your mate. You know this!"

"Then where is she, elf?" The fiery creature cut off his friend's words harshly though anger was swiftly losing the war with anguish. "Where is my Kristiana?"

"The Rebirth isn't always instantaneous, muindor nîn. Your mother didn't emerge from the primordial fire for a full thirty-six hours." As the heat began to subside, Urúvion stepped from behind his friend and approached the distraught djinni. "Search your bond with her, Micipsa, and you will see that she has not been taken from you. The ritual was a success."

Michael held that pale silvery-blue gaze for several more moments before closing his eyes and seeking the bond with his mate. He nearly wept with relief when he felt her there, nestled against his soul, though something still seemed off...different. Though it had been so subtle at first that he'd failed to notice it at the time, the ritual had been changed. He wasn't about to forget that in his joy.

"What did you change?" His voice no longer crackled with anger but it remained suspicious and upset.

"When you notified me that you had found your mate, I pored over the many tomes in our Library as well as consulted with the Marid Chieftess to ensure I had all the correct incantations before proceeding. I had performed the ceremony for your parents, yes, but your father was the one who cast the spell of rebirth upon your mother. I would not risk your happiness, Micipsa, nor the other half of your heart and soul by being ill prepared." Inwardly breathing a sigh of relief that his friend was listening and no longer melting the Observatory's banister, the elven king stepped closer to his friend while shaking off the warning hand of his advisor.

"During my research, I discovered something else. The djinn to be mated must give up some of his life force in order to convert his mate, that is true; however, if another volunteers his or her years in his stead, he need not shorten his time upon this earth in order to extend hers. You see...shortly before you found Kristiana, Hierophant Rumwynsal approached me with a request from one of her Blood Magi. The shamaness in question was no longer able to withstand the unique stresses of the blood magic and requested permission to sever her ties with her physical form. In short, she wished to die to escape the pain and nightmares of her chosen school of magic. I spoke with the shamaness and we entered into an agreement. While you would give of your essence to help in your mate's Rebirth, Shamaness Mereliel would give up her years in your stead."

"Why didn't you tell me, Arbiter?" The king winced at the formality of his friend and prayed to the spirits that someday he'd be forgiven for his actions.

"I could not; the ancient tomes were very clear on this. I believe it was kept a secret in order to prevent the djinn from sacrificing others in their stead. I swear to you, brother of my soul, I swear by the spirits of the earth and sky that I performed every rite faithfully and made all the proper preparations before the ceremony. I would have offered up myself rather than risk the ritual and your mate."

They stood for many long moments simply staring at each other. One prayed that his friend would see his sincerity, hear the truth of his words, and forgive him for his actions that day; the other prayed that his friend was correct and that his beloved Kristiana would emerge whole and unscathed. Both knew that, regardless of the outcome, their friendship would be forever changed by the actions of the elven king. Whether the change would be for good or ill all depended upon the Rebirth of the djinni's mate.

Just then, a rumble came from the center of the lava lake and Michael turned quickly – his hope plain for all to see upon his fiery face. Bubbles began to form upon the surface, growing in strength and speed until at last something broke through and sent a column of fire a good thirteen feet into the air. At its pinnacle was the form of a female Ifrit looking rather wild eyed and desperate.

"Kristiana." Michael breathed her name like a prayer to a heathen goddess as she settled upon the lava bed.

She was slightly smaller than him, even in this form, standing at just over ten feet. Her hair seemed longer, brushing the middle of her back in crackling, fiery waves that seemed to writhe with a mind of their own. Her eyes, like his, bore the horizontal pupils of their kind though hers were the white-blue of the hottest fires rather than the yellowish-orange shades of a calmer, less intense flame. She was curvy and beautiful and all his. Growling low in his throat, Michael advanced on his mate. He wanted her.

"Micipsa?" Kristiana's whisper hissed and spluttered softly, holding a hint of fear in their smoldering depths.

"I am here, mea vita. I will always be here." Wrapping her tightly in his arms, Michael's voice cracked as he wept fiery tears of joy and relief that his mate survived the ritual and was with him once more. Kissing her tenderly, he let his hands wander over her new form and gloried in her beauty. She, too, was touching him everywhere to relearn the feel of his body as well as how it felt against her own. Kris realized the ritual was a true rebirth in more ways than one.

On the balcony, Lysavar pulled an unresisting Urúvion back into the building and up to the monitor room. He understood his king's melancholy for they had been friends with the Ifrit since his birth. He added his prayers that the spirits would look kindly upon the regal elf and allow forgiveness into the djinni's heart for his deception. Jonathan, who'd listened to them through one of the security monitors, assured them both that Michael wasn't one to hold grudges and would see the wisdom of the elf's actions when he was in a more stable frame of mind. Urúvion thanked the man and allowed his words to nurture his hope though he feared he may have irrevocably damaged their close friendship forever.

xxxxxx

"What's wrong, beloved mate?" Kris ran her fingers lightly along his shoulder and down his arm, gazing in amazement at how her flames and his touched and blended and seemed to caress each other.

"Nothing, mea vita, now that I know you are well."

"You were angry earlier; I could feel it. It..." frowning slightly, she tilted her head as she sought the words to describe the experience, "it was as if I'd woken from a deep sleep. I could feel you, hear you in some ways, but...it was like hearing something when underwater. It was distorted and so I came to find you."

"Kristiana," Michael ran his fingers through her flaming tresses and placed a gentle kiss upon her brow, "it matters not. All that matters is that you're ok. You are, aren't you?"

"No." Kris pulled from his arms and placed her hands, now fists, upon her hips and frowned up at him fiercely. "I'm not ok because you're patronizing me. I wouldn't stand for it when I was human and I'm for damn sure not going to take it now that I'm not."

"Mea vita..."

"Don't you dare try to blow me off, either!" She twisted away from his reaching hands crossed her arms over her chest with a huff. "Just answer the damn question, Zakhara!"

"Calmly, mea vita, or you'll cause an eruption." Michael chuckled softly as he managed to capture her in his arms at last. His amusement died as he thought of his elven friend and his deception. "Yes, I was angry earlier. The Arbiter chose to alter the ritual slightly and, since you'd not yet awakened, I was afraid I'd lost you."

"Alter it how, love?" Her earlier anger forgotten as quickly as it had come, she snuggled against his fiery chest.

"It seems one of his blood magi was ready to join the spirits and offered up her years in my stead."

"So...instead of you having to shorten your life, she shortened hers?"

"Yes."

"What aren't you telling me, Micipsa?" Kris could feel his unease through their bond and, though it was slightly unnerving to feel his emotions so keenly, she wasn't about to let him get away with withholding things from her.

"She didn't simply give up a few years, Kristiana."

"She died."

"Yes. It isn't unusual for the blood magi to lead extremely short lives in comparison to the rest of their race. It is a hard and harsh school of magic and few can survive as long as the shamaness who presided over the trial."

She wasn't certain just how she felt about the fact that she would outlive her human years only because someone else was dead. "When did you find out?"

"Just a few moments ago, before you woke." Michael watched her closely. He wasn't pleased about the death of the elven shaman; he could only imagine how his mate felt.

"Is that why you were so angry?"

"I was angry because I felt the change in the ritual and feared it had caused it to fail. When I offered up my sacrifice, my life force, to the primordial fire, I felt it take something but not everything I offered. It rejected my years and...and I was terrified that it would, in turn, reject you as well. Then I remembered a slight change in the incantations that the Arbiter used and knew he was the reason the fire had rejected my offerings." Cupping her cheek in his hand, Michael gently rested his forehead against hers. "If you had not awakened, I would have torn him to pieces and then destroyed this island before giving myself to the flames forever."

"Micipsa!" Kris gasped his name in shocked protest.

"I will not and cannot live without you, mea vita." He placed a tender finger upon her lips, smiling when she kissed it. "You are the other half of my soul and I need you with me. Always."

"And you shall have me with you always." Wrapping her arms around his neck, she pulled his lips to hers. "Take what it yours, Micipsa. Claim your mate."

Growling softly, Michael closed the last few inches of space between their lips and plundered her mouth thoroughly. Fiery hands reached for her hips and pulled her body flush against his while she whimpered her need. The increased intensity of their feelings through the mating bond heightened their pleasure as each built upon the other. When he finally slid deep inside her, she felt not only his hard length stretching her so wonderfully but she also felt her own moist channel gripping him tight. Gasping in amazement, she begged him to go slow so she could experience this new level sharing to its fullest.

Each slow thrust nearly sent her over the edge as she experienced twice the normal sensation. When he nipped at her flame covered breasts, her entire body shook as she struggled to prolong her ecstasy. Fiery nails gripped his arms tightly, as he continued his dual assault on her senses. Michael knew how close she was, he could feel her holding back, and he wanted so desperately to push her over that edge. He wanted to see just how passionate she was in her new form. With a small grin, he snaked his heat tendrils around her waist to hold her in place for his plundering of her delicious body.

"You are holding back, mea vita," his voice rumbled low in her ear as he leaned over her suspended and restrained body, "and that is something I simply can't allow."

His hands and lips were everywhere they could reach as his thrusts grew deeper, hotter, and harder than he'd ever dared to use before. Her nipples were alternately laved, suckled, bitten and twisted. Her throbbing clit, in equal parts eager and dreading his touch, was stroked and pinched until she was begging him to stop even as she was begging him to never cease his pleasurable torment. Michael grinned evilly as he felt her orgasm build and, just before she toppled over the edge, he stopped. Everything.

His hands and lips stilled upon her body; his throbbing member pulsed inside her in time with his rapid heartbeat. But he did not move. When she tried to move, his tendrils of heat held her in place. With a snarl of frustrated anger, she opened her eyes and glared at him.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing, Zakhara?"

"You asked me to stop, Kristiana." His voice hissed and crackled with suppressed passion though his expression was one of pure false innocence. "So I stopped."

"Damn you, Micipsa!" Kris struggled against his invisible bands of heat, her flames blazing along her skin until even her mate felt their heat. "You know what I meant."

"Oh, I'm sure I do, mea vita," he purred softly, pulling his aching member slowly from her body before returning it just as slowly. They both groaned. "But perhaps this time I want you to be the one who demands her pleasure. Don't just ask me or tell me, beloved mate. I want no sweet words of love this time, Kristiana; I want you to embrace your new nature. Take me for your own."

"Then let me go, Micipsa." She struggled against his hold even as her blood sang at his words. Never before had she been the aggressor in the act of love and she wasn't certain she could do it even now. But this time was different. This time, she knew her mate would help her should she falter.

"Make me." One fiery brow arched mockingly which set her blood a-boil for a very different reason. Oooh, he knew how to spark her temper!

With a snarl, Kris struggled against the bands once more, her flames lighting the pre-dawn darkness as her frustration rose. Finally, she felt the first one snap free of her wrist, then the other, until one by one they fell away and she was free. She leapt upon her mate in that instant and instinctually created her own bands of heat and flame. They were weaker than his, of course, for she was unskilled in their creation and Michael could have easily broken free but he was too eager to enjoy this new facet of his beloved to give more than the most basic of struggles.

With her mate captured and restrained, Kris was presented with a unique opportunity in their relationship. His gorgeous body was finally hers to touch and taste with no interruptions or interference and her eyes glowed in eager anticipation. Though his lower body was little more than an amorphous flame, still she trailed her fingers along and through the fire reveling in the sharp heat. His erection was all the more impressive in this form – larger, thicker, and covered in the same flames that made up his body – and Kris wrapped her fiery fingers around him and gave him a single stroke. He moaned; she laughed wickedly.

Leaning over him, she let her hot tongue flick just the very tip of his impressive cock, pleased that it felt the same on her tongue as it would in his human form. Kris wanted to tease him but was more desperate to taste so she wrapped her lips around him and slowly took as much of his length into her greedy mouth. His girth proved a challenge but she no longer had the same limitations in this form as when she was human. She was delighted to discover a distinct lack of a gag reflex and, after taking a deep breath, swallowed him into her throat. The groan that came from her fiery mate had her humming her pleasure around him and he jerked against her weak bonds. Slowly she slid her lips along his length, licking and sucking her way up the velvety soft skin that covered his achingly hard erection.

"Kristiana...you're playing with fire, mea vita, in more ways than one." Michael's lovely deep voice was strained with desire as his hips followed her sucking mouth, trying to create the friction he so desperately needed for release.

"And I'm enjoying it immensely, my mate."

She nipped along his length as she stroked him and then swallowed him to the hilt once more. The fire at the base of his cock was somehow different, shorter tongues of flames that reminded her of the beautiful curls of his human form. She nuzzled them with her nose as best she could with her mouth full of his throbbing member. Michael thrust savagely into her throat as her bonds began to disintegrate with her loss of concentration. When his large hands gripped the sides of her head to hold her still for his assault, she moaned loudly around him and gripped his waist. Not to stop him, oh no, but to ensure she felt that soft fire against her nose with each of his thrusts. He came with a roar, filling her throat and mouth with his hot, fiery seed. The echo of his pleasure shot down their mating bond surprising her with her own intense orgasm. Licking his still-hard erection clean, she cried out in surprise when he pulled her away from her treat to thrust deeply into her body.

Like their mating on the lanai, this wasn't making love or even sex...this was the hard, savage, and animalistic rutting of a creature claiming his mate. Only this time, there was no holding back, no fear of hurting his fragile human partner. No, Michael's fire erupted like the volcano from which they'd only recently sprung forth and was answered by Kris' equally fierce flames. And when they came, it caused an answering bellow from the primordial fire of Kilauea which spat a column of white-hot lava nearly fifteen feet into the night sky.

Exhausted, sated, and with pleasure strumming through their veins, the djinn sank into the lava lake still joined in that most primal of ways. As they rested deep beneath the lake's surface, Michael's hands ran soothingly over his mate's fiery skin to reassure him that all was, indeed, well. Kris captured one roaming hand and brought it to her lips for a tender kiss before nuzzling her cheek into its heated palm.

"We should return to the surface, beloved mate, and home." Her words were muffled by the molten rock that flowed around and over them and some part of her was amazed she could speak at all.

"Why, mea vita?" Michael's petulant tone made her grin and she nipped the hand she held against her cheek.

"Well, we have guests, love..."

"Walter and Jenna have things under control." He interrupted, sliding the hand from her cheek and through her amazing flame curls.

"...and you need to make peace with Urúvion." She continued as if he hadn't spoken but snuggled against him while he petted her.

"I don't know if I can, Kristiana." His hand stilled upon her hair and she felt his anger and disappointment through their bond. She was well aware that it wasn't directed at her but rather his oldest friend. "He risked too much this time; he risked you."

"Did he really, Micipsa?" Kris pulled back to gaze up at her mate, cupping his cheeks with her hands so he could not look away. "He changed the ritual, yes, but did he really take risks beyond not telling you what he was going to do?"

"I don't know! I've never heard of a djinni using another's years instead of his own when taking a mate."

"Then talk to him, love," she urged. "Ask for his research and actually listen without getting all fiery and hot-headed. He is your brother, Micipsa, in all but blood. Don't let this come between you. Please."