Chapter 15: Dark Bet

"I thought so," Sirix said, tossing the knife away.

"What the Hell, Sirix?!" she shouted, backing all the way up to the edge of the bed.

"Sorry, it was just a test. I wanted to see if your abilities would kick in and block the knife."

"And what if I failed it?" She was not calming down.

"I knew your powers wouldn't."

"And if they had?"

Sirix raised his brows. "I would have stopped. It just had to look real."

"You would have stopped when? Before it cut into my heart? It certainly didn't feel like you were stopping when you hit my arm."

He smiled winningly. "I have more control than that. What do you take me for?"

"A man who tried to stab me in the heart while I was cumming!"

"I promise I'll make it up to you."

"And how will you do that, exactly?"

"I have a few ideas." He leaned in to her.

"Oh no! I think you've lost the right to do that!" She scooted further back.

He crawled toward her. "And how do I regain that right?"

"For starters you can tell me what you were testing."

"I thought your abilities might be heightened by your emotional states, when your body's nervous system goes into some form of arousal it stimulates your cognitive abilities."

"You sound like a scientist."

He gestured to the books. "My father was one. He taught me everything he knew before he was killed." He lay down and gestured for Lindsay to lay down. She was hesitant.

"Don't worry, I don't have another one." He held up his hands. "Search me, yourself, if you doubt what I'm saying."

She let her legs slide down, Sirix stroked them. The rest of her body followed. He wrapped his arms around her, though she still had no intention of going easily.

"I'm more concerned where that one came from," she said.

"Under the cot, like always. I don't want to be caught unprepared. Unlike you, I can't anticipate danger."

"So why right when I was about to cum? Why not when I was training or eating? Oh crap! Training! I'm going to be late!" She made to get up but he pulled her back.

"They can go one day without you. Besides, if last night was any indicator, Nol will give them the day off to recover. Now, to answer your question, if it was during training, you'd be expecting it. I needed you to be in a state of high emotion where being stabbed was the last thing you'd expect."

She frowned; her brow furrowed. He had a good point. "Jump out of a tree, Sirix. Into a river and drown in a whirlpool."

"I'd love nothing more. Is that an invitation?"

"You tell me." She parted her legs slightly, turning so her breasts were facing him and giving him a seductive gaze.

"So, I'm forgiven?" He reached out to stroke her thigh.

She caught his hand, holding up two fingers. "On two conditions."

"Name them."

"You never try to stab me again and..."

"And?"

She leaned in close. "You don't stop until I tell you to."

"Done." He leaned in.

"And!"

He stopped.

"I teach you how to kiss."

"That's three things-" Any more of his words, if indeed there had been more, were cut off as Lindsay's mouth covered his. Her lips open, then closing on his, over and over until he began doing the same, almost.

"That's open-mouthed kissing," she said, pulling back. "You take your open mouth and you pull it together, like this."

She put her open mouth on one of his spots and gently pulled her lips together. His body jerked.

"And, then, if you're feeling particularly into it, you might add some tongue."

She moved down to his goncer, lips covering it. She slid her tongue into the slit, running it across the soft internal flesh, and flicking it back into her mouth, she softly closed her lips and then repeated the kiss a few more times, ostensibly to make certain he got it, but more to hear his appreciative moans as her tongue slid in and out.

She slid back up to his ear, placing a small open-mouthed kiss below the lobe and running her tongue in a gentle circle inside of it. "Do you think you have it?" she whispered.

"I'm not sure. I might need another demonstration."

She pushed her fingers into his slit as she kissed him, roughly. Kisses he returned with much more skill than he'd had a minute ago, though still far from perfect. She felt his rough hands sliding down her back, around the curve of her hips, to her butt where they grabbed and pulled her up further. She cried out in pleased shock.

She kissed him harder, slipping her tongue into his mouth, seeking his. She found it and gave it a teasing flick. She brought her lips together and went again, this time her tongue lingered on his, twisting with it, massaging it. He pulled her in harder. She could feel his claw-like nails digging in.

"Slap my butt," she gasped.

"What?"

"You heard me!" She felt a tentative slap on her rear. "Harder Sirix! Like you mean it!"

He slapped her again, much harder. She shot up.

"Too hard?" he said with a glint in his eye.

"Perfect," she said. "Again!" She buried her tongue inside his mouth as he struck her again, harder. "Mmm, yeah. Just like that. Come on Sirix, you promised you'd ravage me! Stop treating me like a porcelain doll."

No sooner had she said that then she was on her back, on the ground, with Sirix above her, his claws digging into her shoulders. He grinned, showing his broad canines. "Be careful what you ask for; I might eat you alive."

"If you're going to bite me, you'd better do it hard. I want to feel it. Oh!" She cried as he sunk his teeth into her shoulder so hard it risked breaking the skin.

The next one on her bicep did. She dug her nails into his back as he pushed three fingers inside of her, hard. He sucked her nipple with enough force she was sure it would be red the next day, his other hand no longer gently massaging, but groping, pulling. He was all over her, showing no restraint with his strength.

She felt like a rag doll being thrown around from the bed to the floor to his desk to the table. Biting, sucking, scratching, slapping, spanking, teasing. He was pushing her to orgasm, withholding after one, waiting and bringing her there again. And she was loving it! He was doing everything she told him as hard as she told him to. She was almost blinded by the pleasure, numb to the passage of time.

Above her head, she gripped the tent post as she swayed back and forth, her thighs on Sirix's shoulders, held by his hands as he shifted her this way and that, licking furiously at her vagina as she moaned and writhed five feet above the ground in the late afternoon sun.

"Don't you dare stop this time," she moaned, eyes shut. "I want to see if we can get to three."

"If you promise to focus."

"Mmm... I will."

He shifted her down, licking up through her labia. She jolted hard when his tongue struck her clitoris. She cried out. He gripped her butt and pulled her into him, his tongue lashing so fast she couldn't tell where it was, she could only feel the growing ecstasy, then a few long, slow circles.

"Ohhhh!" She moaned, her body twisting, his hands slid to her thighs, running back and forth over them. "Ohhh! Ohhhhhh! Sirix!" She arched backward, head tilted as far as it would go, her long hair flowing down unhindered. She screamed his name again as the flaming rivers of pleasure flooded through her veins. "Sirix!"

Her grip on the pole was no longer voluntary as her body arched and swayed in the throes of orgasm. He pushed in and licked harder, faster, her whole body tensed, her toes curled tight, eyes clenched shut as she screamed. Oh hell yes! She focused on him, on his tongue, on how tight her muscles were.

"Oh God!" she ejaculated.

He took the sensitive little mound of flesh between his teeth and began to nibble and suck. It was too much! Her body jerked about like a flag on a windy day, held up only by the sheer instinctual tension in her hands, no longer by any conscious thought. She couldn't hold onto her mind. It was as though she had been surfing the Jersey winter heavies and now she was staring down the bomb and she could either bail or shoot the barrel. She let go of her mind and let her consciousness soar.

It was the most intense pleasure she'd ever felt, for the moment she felt it, the eternal and yet eternally insufficient moment before she was somewhere else. A dark room made of grey stone. Columns led to arches across the high ceilings, far higher than seemed necessary for what appeared to simply be sleeping quarters. The shape of a bed, a dresser of some sort, a desk, no mirror, oddly enough.

A dark shadow filled the room, it took a step and its body jerked hard. It was the same creature as before! The lights came on, confirming his identity. He limped in. She could see now his skin was mottled grey like the others, his eyes, large and milky white, had a blue cast to them, like a deep-sea predatory fish.

He sighed heavily as he ran a hand over what she could now see was some sort of computer tablet. It lit up. "Confirmed: Flying Phalanx Twenty-six, all lost. Presumed dead," he said. She could see his long, needle like teeth as he spoke.

He walked over to the window, gazing out. "Fifty-three dead," he repeated in a low voice, shaking his head. He turned away, unwrapping his toga-like robe from his shoulders. In the pale reflection of the window, Lindsay could see a massive scar crisscrossing his heavily-muscled back and two bony lumps, like handles, jutting from his upper back where wings had probably once been.

And the world fell away to white. White and long, drawn-out screams of passion filling her ears. Her screams. She could feel the explosion of pleasure and screamed louder as she returned to the tent, Sirix between her legs, his nose nuzzling through her hair, as his tongue whipped her clit mercilessly.

Three long, loving strokes with his tongue and he traveled back down to her vagina, licking around the edge, just enough to stimulate. Her breathing began to slow, her body swaying gently, once again, to the music her nerves were making within her.

"Are you ready to come down?" he asked.

"For now," she answered.

He took her by the hips as she swung her legs from his shoulders. She loosened her grip and he slowly lowered her down to the ground, gazing into her dark brown eyes with half-closed gold rimmed indigo ones. She hadn't even realized, until this moment, he was shorter than her. In her mind, he seemed to tower over her. But no, he was at least two inches shorter. Not that she minded a shorter man, especially a man who could do that. She kissed him.

"Did we make three?" he asked with a rakish smile.

"Yes."

"Was it everything you hoped for?"

"And so much more." She sighed, looking over her body covered in bites and hickeys and claw marks, as well as the odd bruise and red mark. Not that Sirix was immune, his entire back to his neck was raked with scratches, his shoulders were heavily bruised, and a large bite mark glowed golden from his chest. "We may have gone a bit too hard. I'm not sure how they'll look at me in the shower tonight."

"I can take care of tonight, and tomorrow and the next week if you like."

She smiled, raising a brow. "You can't lick me clean, Sirix."

"I would be willing to take that challenge. But I was thinking maybe something a little different." He kissed her. "Why don't you lie down while I get everything ready?"

She heard him pouring water and moving things around for a few minutes as a pleasant scent wafted through the air - something floral that caused her muscles to relax as she breathed it in. Sirix returned to her side with a large pot full of steaming water just as Lindsay was beginning to drift off. He dipped a cloth in the water and wrung it out. A burst of flowers filled her senses. He began wiping her arms. Carefully. Tenderly. Moving to her stomach and breasts. It was wonderfully warm.

"What kind of flower is that?" she asked, vaguely.

"Asperoo, it relaxes the muscles and prevents infections."

"I don't think I can get infections." Her mind felt as loopy as her words.

"Of course you can. Given enough time, any disease can adapt."

"I guess I should do you next."

"I'd like that. I can't easily reach my back and I know you can. You proved it many many times." He grinned, turning slightly to show where her nails had raked him.

She blushed. "Sorry about that. I got a little lost in the moment."

"Don't be sorry. If you're sorry you might not do it again, you might hold back. And that's the last thing I want." He trailed a line of kisses from her elbow to her shoulder. She moaned at the feel of his lips.

"Sirix, I'm still sensitive!" She twisted away as he went for her neck.

He chuckled and kissed her lips. She reached up, her fingers brushing through his bristly hair to his ear. Finding the tip, she stroked it as their kisses deepened.

He pulled up, nuzzling her cheek. "Indsayee, if you keep that up, I won't be able to finish."

"Mmm... I don't care if you do, so long as I do."

"The water will get cold and I won't spare you from it."

"Fine." She puffed out her lower lip.

He gave a smirk, showing his large canine. "Don't worry, I'll make the ending memorable."

She didn't need any precognitive ability to have an idea what he was intending. She submitted herself to his care, making happy grunts as the warm cloth swept over her skin.

"So, where did you go that last time, Indsayee?" he asked as he ran the warm cloth between her breasts.

"You caught that, huh?"

"It was hard not to."

"I was in a room with the creature from before. One of those Children of the Immortal. I guess it was his room. It was huge! Like Mary our Queen! Oh, sorry, that's my parent's church back home," she responded to his quizzical expression. "He used a computer tablet; he reported fifty-three dead. He seemed so very sad." Her expression softened.

"I love that you can feel for one of them, but remember, he would not have mourned a single moment had it been fifty-three Bonat killed. Never forget that. We are nothing to them but vermin to be wiped from the face of Okeshi."

"I know."

"But it still bothered you to see him sad." He smiled kindly as he ran the cloth over her thigh.

"Maybe it was just because it's so weird to think of a monster being sad about anything. Or... I don't know. I wish there wasn't a war! And I wish I wasn't part of it! I mean, I killed them, too. And I didn't think anything of it anymore than deer hunting with my mom."

"And you feel guilty that you did," Sirix said.

"Yes. I wish I could be like you and Nol, but I can't."

"Let me tell you something, whether or not you choose to believe me. We all feel guilty about it. We don't want to kill them or anyone. If anything, we feel sorry for them."

"How do you do it, then?"

"We remind ourselves they are here to kill us. We tell ourselves it's a mercy. They have no power, no choice. They're bred for this. From the moment of conception to their deaths, they are slaves of the Nobillo. At least, in death, they are free."

Lindsay thought about the creature staring out the window, of his horrible scar and stripped wings. "That's terribly sad."

"I know. I wish there were some other way. But if it's between their lives and ours, I have to choose ours."

"I do, too," she said quietly.

"Hopefully, you won't have to for much longer."

"Yeah..."

They fell into silence. He stopped washing her thigh and took a quick bite. She jumped in the bed.

"You aren't exhausted yet, old man?"

"Old man?" He chuckled. "I'll make you take that back." He slid the warm cloth between her legs and began to rub, swirling it around her redder hair as she gave a low purr. "That's a new sound."

"It feels good."

He dipped the cloth back in the water and squeezed it out. "It's about to feel even better."

"Oh Sirix!" she moaned.

She knew what was coming, and she wanted it. Her body begged for it. She felt the pull of her vagina dilating to receive him. The warm circles began again. Then the cloth slipped between her labia, sliding to her clit where it began the circles again, this time to a rising chorus of moans growing louder and more intense with each passing moment.

"Go inside me, Sirix."

"What was that? I'm a bit hard of hearing in my old age."

"Dammit Sirix! I need you inside me!" she said through gritted teeth. "Huhg!" she gasped as his cloth wrapped fingers drove inside of her. The thick fabric added a shock of sudden girth.

"Focus, Indsayee, or I'll pull out."

She grabbed his arm with both hands. "No! Don't! Don't you dare!"

"Look me in the eyes."

She stared into the gilded indigo pools as his other fingers began their circles around her clit. She felt the tension building. She needed more! Needed it more than anything else in the world! Faster! She gyrated her hips up and down on his fingers, he pushed in and out with her, never fully leaving. She felt him go out far and shove back in.

"Harder!" she screamed.

And then she was lost in those pools as her body exploded around her. She wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling herself up to kiss his lips as the tension ebbed. Her fingers curled, tightening as another wave carried her. She pushed up into the kiss, feeling the scar, tracing it with her tongue, parting it and finding the warmth and welcome within.

His back arched under her arms, but he didn't cry out, only kissed her more forcefully as his fingers coaxed her, again, to his paradise. Then they slowed, his palm leaving her clit and snaking up to her shoulder, gently pulling her back down. Inside her, the thrusts slowed, finally stopping as he pulled out.

"Three." He grinned.

"Three," she confirmed, chest heaving.

He swung his leg over her, straddling her as they began kissing again. Her fingers searched for the slit. She felt his body tense as they penetrated, felt it grow tenser the more she teased.

"Focus, Sirix, or I'll pull out."

She pushed him forward so his hands were holding him up on the ground and wrapped her arms tightly around his waist as she pulled him down onto her mouth, relishing the victorious feeling of hearing his howls.

As the last howl left him, he collapsed forward, rolling over onto the ground, panting. He reached over the bed and found her hand, holding it. She turned on her side to see him. "An hour." Her eyes sparkled with mischief.

"An hour," he said, perspiration speckling his pale brow. He pulled on their joined hands and she followed down, lying on top of him.

She nuzzled into his chest. "I love you, Sirix," she whispered.

He stroked her naked body. "I love you, too, Indsayee."