A Demon's Child Ch. 01

Saban shook his head. "You didn't have to hold on to the command. You could have trusted me."

I snorted. "Fat chance."

Saban sighed. "I could have taken advantage of you when you passed out under the tree, but I didn't. In fact, I moved you away from the tree so you didn't panic when you woke up the second time. And am I taking advantage of you now?"

I looked down at my chest. "You're squeezing my boobs."

Saban looked down, startled. Then the tentacles around my breasts flicked away. "Nervous habit, I assure you."

I sniggered, then sobered as I considered his point. "You're right. I probably should have trusted you."

"And you don't need to put up wards to keep me away from you when you sleep," Saban continued.

"I'll consider it," I told him.

He raised an eyebrow. "You'll have to do more than consider it tonight, little one. You couldn't put up wards even if you wanted to. Not in your current mental state. And speaking of tonight..."

We both looked up. The sun was already starting to set. "Shit," I said. "How long was I out?"

"About half an hour, the second time. Shorter the first," Saban said. "You had me a bit worried, the second time."

"Sorry." I remembered the vision the spell had given me. "Um, Saban?"

"Yes?" he said, still looking at the sunset.

"The identification spell... I didn't lose my hold on it until after it had started working," I told him.

He looked down at me. "And?"

I told him what I'd seen.

"So he used a virgin sacrifice to get the first tree he summoned to breed?" Saban asked.

I nodded. "It looks like it. I'll have to investigate for the enclave, to see if he killed anyone else, or if he left behind any more demons."

Saban snorted. "Why did he use a virgin? We demons generally don't care. And they're probably pretty hard to find."

I yawned. "Personal preference, maybe? We'll probably find out when we read his notes." Wizards always kept extensive notes. Myself included. "Let me up, so I can lay out my bedroll."

In the end, Saban hadn't let me up. He'd layed out my bedroll himself, and carried me over to it. He'd also insisted on sleeping under the tree. For protection, he said. I didn't like it, but the parts of my mind that dealt with magic were still too damaged for me to force him to do otherwise.

I also was unable to keep him from curling up in the bedroll with me. I fell asleep wrapped in tentacles, held tight against his chest.