Ice and Fire Ch. 01

Suddenly her long, pointy ears twitched. Ah! A familiar sound, and just what the knight needed right now.

"Come on," she said. "I think I know where we can find water."

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The corridor led down. The walls grew green with lichen and glow-worms coated the walls, lighting the way with a ghostly blue gleam.

"Beautiful," murmured Vervain.

Euphoné cursed under her breath. She flicked a finger-full of slime from her scarred cuirass onto the ground beside her.

"Gross."

Vervain rolled her eyes. This knight really was a goblet-half-empty kind of person!

"You're lucky that slimes prefer to eat metal before flesh," she said. "At least you're alive."

"Not for long," said Euphoné grimly. "My armour is ruined."

"Well," said Vervain with a bow. "I, of course, will be here to defend milady."

"Oh shut up," said Euphoné.

They were soon greeted by the sound of running water. The corridor grew lighter, the yellow brightness of the surface, and they burst out into a great sandy cavern. Sunlight spilled down onto the sand in a great column from a hole far above their heads. A sinkhole!

Vervain, the light sparkling about her, fell to her knees with a cry.

Euphoné ran to her. "What's the matter!?"

"The light!" gasped Vervain.

Euphoné placed herself between the demoness so that she was partly covered by her shadow. "You're allergic to light? Why did you not you tell me?"

Vervain's panting became a low, bubbling sound. Euphoné's heart turned to ice, but then she recognised the noise for what it was. Laughter.

The demoness looked up at her, her cat-irised eyes alive with delight. "Of course I'm not allergic to light. That's vampires, not demons!"

Euphoné stared at her. She ground her teeth, but then she shrugged and walked away.

"Oh come on," Vervain called after her. "You've got to admit, that was pretty funny.'

The knight made no reply.

Vervain hopped up to her feet and followed her. "Look, I'm sorry for pranking you. But it was nice of you to be so concerned about me."

Euphoné came to a halt at the water's glittering edge. "I still have need of you, remember."

Vervain stopped a few feet away and crouched down. "Yeah," she said. "I remember."

Euphoné stuck her sword in the sand and began to strip off her acid-pitted cuirass. She'd loosened the second thong when she stopped and turned on Vervain, eyes flashing.

"Turn away," she said.

Vervain blinked up at her from where she was crouched. "Excuse me?"

"I am undressing," said Euphoné. "And I demand privacy."

Vervain rolled her eyes. "I'm a demon, milady. You have nothing I do not have myself, except perhaps a soul, but since that's not visible on the outside, you and I are--"

"Just keep your eyes averted," said Euphoné.

"But I must guard you," protested Vervain. "What if the water is infested with giant leeches?"

Euphoné tossed her cuirass aside, grabbed up her sword and stabbed it into the water over and over.

"See?" she said. "No monsters." She pointed the sword at the crouching demon. "Now give me your word."

"You have my word," said Vervain, a hand on her chest.

Mollified, Euphoné tossed the sword on the sand beside her and went back to undressing.

Vervain chuckled to herself. Naive, even for a knight. She looked up through her dark lashes and watched as Euphoné undressed. Like she was going to be told what to do!

It was true. She had seen it all before, on herself and succubi and other female demons. But when it came to human women--

Wait, were they really the same?

Vervain was intimately familiar with the body of a human man. How many had she harvested of their orgone over her hundred years of life? Thousands? Tens of thousands, surely. There was no type of man she had not encountered. Of course, there were some she preferred -- the orgone of a young virginal cleric new to the cloth was easily the most delicious -- but all of them were familiar to her.

But the body of a human woman? Her curiosity was piqued.

Euphoné tossed her arm-greaves next to the cuirass, then bent over and stripped the greaves from her legs. After that she quickly undid the laces of her doublet and pulled it up over her head. She was wearing a tunic underneath.

Ah. Stripped of her armour, her slim body was revealed. Toned more than slim, really. Her tunic had ridden up as she pulled off her doublet and Vervain was given a good view of her long legs. Yes, well-toned, not over-muscled, built for speed and grace in fighting rather than just hacking and slashing.

Vervain's heart skipped. Her legs were so white! Were all human girls so pale? But no. Humans came in many different colours. Euphoné's snowy skin was so different from her own, and yet it suited her platinum-blonde hair and blue eyes well.

Euphoné half-turned and Vervain dropped her gaze quickly, her heart racing at almost being caught. After a few heartbeats, she dared to lift her eyes again.

Euphoné had stripped off her tunic and was washing it in the water. She was clad now only in her underwear. Ah, so it was not merely her legs which were pale! Her slim shoulders and arms and back were, too.

Euphoné put her dripping tunic aside on a rock and began to pull down her underwear.

Vervain dropped her eyes. A strange guilt poured through her. She had promised the knight she would give her privacy and she would, for these few moments of taking off her underwear.

A splash. Vervain knew she could look up, now. The waterfall, the pool-- but no Euphoné.

Vervain's racing heart skipped, this time in fear. Where had she gone?

But the fear dissolved in relief as the water surged up and Euphoné exploded out of it. Vervain's heart surged with it.

The knight flicked back her hair, let the water sluice from her upper body. The water was up to her waist. Stripped of her breast binding, her bare back glistened, caught by the fingers of sunlight trailing down from the blue gap far above.

In the sunlight the paleness was almost too bright to look at, and all of it topped by that beautiful halo of short white-gold hair.

Vervain began to breathe again. So this was what a human woman looked like? She willed Euphoné to keep facing away so that her eyes could delight in the slender power of her form, but she also wanted to see her breasts. How busty was she? In her armour it had been hard to tell.

Some god heard her plea. Euphoné turned part way around so that her body was in profile, but with her face still looking away as she gazed up at the shimmering veil of the waterfall. Ah. Her breasts were high and proud, but not overly large. Vervain would be able to cup one in each hand comfortably.

In each hand? Vervain felt herself flush. What was she thinking? But wasn't it just like when she harvested human men? She delighted in their bodies, too, her hands slipping over the smooth, near-hairless chest of an acolyte as she drew his spurting energy inside her.

Vervain fought back a laugh. So that was the problem! She was just hungry. It had been a while since she had fed. That explained these strange thoughts.

But still her eyes desired more. Alas, Euphoné had turned away, now, and her breasts were no longer visible. She was wading through the water, her muscles rippling with powerful grace.

Soon the water grew shallower again and Vervain, in delight, saw for the first time the high, pale roundness of Euphoné's buttocks. Ah, but it had been worth the wait. Curved and feminine, but not overly so, her lower half matching her svelte top.

Vervain slid a hand over one of her own breasts. Yes, like most demonesses, her own form was over-generous, and for a moment she envied Euphoné the slim elegance of her body.

Euphoné let the water from the falls crash over her body. The days of sweat and dirt and ichor poured off her and she ducked her head under the water, gasping at the cold. It was then she remembered Vervain and glanced back at the shore. The demoness was still crouched there, scrawling something in the sand with her forked tail. Euphoné watched her, but only from the corner of her eye. She knew the demoness would not keep her word and would look at her sooner or later. She scrubbed the days of combat from her skin. She would smell much fresher, at least.

Her hands slipped over her breasts. Ah, but the water was cold! Her nipples tingled, hard beneath her palms. A single hand easily covered each breast and Euphoné snorted. No doubt Vervain pitied her her small breasts. But they were perkier than the over-abundance of the demon's, which were designed with pleasure in mind. Euphoné was happy she did not have such large breasts. Some of her sisters at the Chapter House had been busty and it had always seemed a chore for them to strap their breasts down before they put on their armour.

Euphoné's mind drifted to Luella. Her breasts, too, had been big. She'd often slipped her arms around Euphoné's chest, teasing her for being so flat. Euphoné had struggled and laughed, but secretly she'd enjoyed the girl's warm hands, the feel of her friend's ample breasts pressed up against her back. But it had all been innocent play on Luella's side. Euphoné had made a few stumbling attempts to take things further, but Luella had always taken them as a joke, and not long afterwards she had left the Chapter House to marry a young nobleman. She'd just been playing at being a knight, after all.

Ah, but the water was cold. And Vervain still gave no sign of looking at her. Euphoné snorted. What was so interesting about that sand, anyway? Surely the demoness was interested in seeing what she looked like. Euphoné knew she was no uncomely. Many men and women had found her comely.

Euphoné scowled. Vervain was able to annoy her even just by crouching there and doing what she had told her to. Typical of a demon!

Euphoné leaned down, took a scoopful of water, intending to splash it across her face. But the water before her exploded upwards and something emerald green with a dark maw darted at her face.

Instinct and training kicked in. She grabbed the creature around the neck, feeling steel power beneath its moist scales as it twisted to free itself and bite her. A water serpent! It had been hiding under the veil of the waterfall, covered by the foaming water. It hissed and bit at her and she stumbled backwards. The snake was heavy, a coil of pure muscle.

As they struggled, its tail whipped out and found purchase around Euphoné's leg. It curled around her calf and squeezed.

Euphoné bit back a cry and stumbled out through the sluicing water, water spilling into her eyes and burning them. Blinded, she fell back on her sense of touch, feeling the coursing of the snake's body, trying to predict which way it would twist next in its attempt to free itself from her grip and strike.

Vervain heard splashing. Was Euphoné trying to get her to look at her? Why was she so determined to get her to break her word? To prove that all she'd said about demons was right? It was true, Vervain wanted to see that pale skin, that cute set of dimpled buttocks again. But that would mean a scolding from the knight and the demoness' pride would not allow it. She returned to her drawing.

The snake did not let up on its attacks, its white fangs flashing as Euphoné wrestled it back and forth. The wedge-shaped head darted again, but it was a feint this time. Euphoné over-compensated and the snake, feeling her grip slacken, slid from her grasp and lodged its fangs in her thigh.

Euphoné screamed.

Vervain looked up and saw the emerald green of the snake wrapped around the knight's leg. She leaped to her feet and ran pell-mell into the water, tearing off the blanket. With a deep sweep of her wings she took to the air.

Euphoné felt hot venom pour into her. With a surge of desperate strength she grabbed the serpent's jaws and pried the creature's maw open, pulling its fangs out of her naked thigh. Black venom pooled from the twin holes with blood mixed in. The snake hissed in protest and Euphoné pulled its jaws further apart. There was a crack as its neck broke and it bubbled one final, dying hiss.

The head fell from her hands. Euphoné slid down into the water, but someone was there to catch her. Vervain.

The demoness dragged her from the water, the dead snake still wrapped around her, its lolling head floating behind them. When they reached the shore Vervain lay her back on the sand and with her demonic strength unravelled the snake's coils from her leg.

Euphoné gasped in pain. Her heart raced. The venom! The venom was spilling through her!

"Shh," said Vervain. "Try not to panic. The venom will spread."

The demoness tossed the dead snake aside and her fingers quickly found the wound on Euphoné's inner thigh.

"The venom must be drawn out," she said. She fell on all fours, lowered her face to Euphoné's thigh and kissed it.

Euphoné gasped. Despite the pain, she felt those burning lips on her wound. Was it the venom that made that place burn so, or were the demon's lips always like that, a ring of tender fire?

But it was not a kiss. Vervain was sucking on the wound, drawing the venom from her. It was just as Euphoné had been trained to do in cases of being envenomed, to draw and spit the venom out. But Vervain did no such thing, sucking the blood from her and swallowing it straight, venom and all.

Euphoné felt the poison losing its grip on her heart, but still the demon's lips burned on her skin. Gasping, the knight looked across at the demon, lying there on all fours with her wings furled. Her shapely bottom was in the air, her forked tail dancing back and forth, her breasts hanging free. Ah, they were so much bigger than hers! Euphoné felt an urge to reach across and cup their weight in her hands, to feel how soft the demon's skin was.

Foolish thoughts! The venom must be addling her brain.

Vervain broke away, gasping, her mouth streaked with blood.

Euphoné watched in a daze as the demoness lifted her face from between her thighs, her forked tongue licking at the crimson smear on her lips. Vervain's eyes were hooded, her chest heaving.

Euphoné felt a familiar heat between her legs. Oh god, really? At such a time? What was wrong with her!

Then Vervain's face darted back down to her thigh and Euphoné gasped. The demon's hot tongue lashed at the wound, licking it clean. Euphoné flooded more. She wished the demoness would not stop, would draw that licking tongue higher and dart it into the heat between her legs.

But she did not.

Vervain fell back. The knight's blood, spiced with the venom, was beyond delicious. And that scent she had smelled the second time she had lapped at the wound! She was not so familiar with that smell. She knew her own, knew the deep richness of that feminine scent she gave off when excited from drawing the essence of a human. So human females shared that, too. She had wanted to savour the novel delight longer, but shame had flickered in her heart.

Shame. Strange that that alien emotion should show itself right now!

She sat back on her haunches and swallowed the last mouthful of Euphoné's blood. It was so hot, and made her feel hotter still.

Euphoné was staring at her, exhausted by her struggle and by the drawing of her venom. Her blue eyes held some strange light. What was it?

Ah. She looked thankful. But there was something else there, too.

But just as quickly as it had appeared, the flame flickered out and Euphoné's face hardened in a frown.

"You are naked again," she muttered.

"Well," said Vervain with a sigh. "Is that what counts as thanks from a Knight of Aeovel?" But she was not truly angry. In fact, the swiftness of the knight's change in attitude was like that of a child and had delighted her.

And that scent. Had her lips really excited her so?

Euphoné shivered suddenly and Vervain giggled.

The knight's eyes flashed at her. "What's so funny?"

Vervain covered her mouth with a taloned hand. "Why are you doing that?"

"Doing what?"

"Jiggling like that?"

"It's called shivering," said Euphoné. "I-- I am cold."

Vervain clicked her fingers. "Oh yes. Humans feel the cold, don't they?" She glanced across at the knight's clothes. They were still wet, of course. She went and retrieved the blanket. "Here," she said. "This is yours, after all."

Euphoné frowned, but she took the offered blanket and wrapped it about herself. It was warm with the ghost of Vervain's heat.

Vervain went over to the knight's tunic. She lifted it in one hand and with the other she kindled a gentle flame in her palm.

"What are you doing?" Euphoné demanded.

"Drying your tunic, of course," said Vervain. "You don't want to wander the dungeon draped only in that blanket, do you?"

Euphoné said nothing. She drew the blanket closer to her. It was cosy and there was a scent she recognised. Vervain's scent. She smelled of some warm spice Euphoné struggled to remember. The demoness was still busy drying, so she risked bringing the hem to her nose. Ah yes. Cinnamon. The one luxury she had enjoyed with the other knights at the Festival of Midwinter, mixed with milk. It was quite pleasant, actually.

And so Euphoné was more than a little disappointed when Vervain returned with her tunic, now dry. Euphoné took the blanket off.

Vervain noticed she did not demand privacy, this time. Her skin was still wet and the demoness placed a hand over the knight's stomach.

Euphoné, startled, looked up at her.

"I'm just drying you," said Vervain, amused. She willed her hand to grow warm and she drew it quickly and methodically over Euphoné's body. The knight let her, but looked away while she did it.

As soon as she was finished, Euphoné slipped on her tunic and then laced up her doublet. With her hair still wet the knight seemed younger, less fierce, more fragile. But when she went and examined her armour, she gave it a sharp kick.

"Useless," she muttered.

"You don't need your armour," said Vervain. "You have me, remember?"

The knight glanced at her. She did not smile, but the earlier irritation in her eyes did not return.

"We should get going," she said.

She retrieved her sword and her blanket, but did not give it to Vervain and merely rolled it up and tied it to her pack.

Vervain got up and brushed the sand from her buttocks with a quick one-two sweep of her tail. Had Euphoné forgotten about the blanket? Well, it did not matter. She was happy to be free of the scratchy thing.

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The stirge fell twitching to the ground. Euphoné drew her sword out of its body and Vervain doused it in fire.

"That's the last of them," said the knight, drawing a hand over her glistening brow.

Vervain bent over, panting. "Carrion crawlers, shambling mounds and now stirges. Can't there be at least one room without any monsters in it?"

"Come on," said Euphoné, clapping the demoness on the shoulder. "We have to keep going. The exit must not be far away, now."

Vervain grinned. The exit. Soon she'd be free!

But as she watched the white-gold haired knight sprint ahead she felt a twinge of regret. Soon she'd be free. Was that not what she had wanted?

With her armour discarded, Euphoné had taken to running everywhere and Vervain had to fly to keep up with the knight's limitless energy. But now as she flapped her wings she felt a terrible languor fall over her. She flapped harder, rose a little into the air, then suddenly fell to her knees.

Euphoné stopped a short way down the corridor. What on earth was the demoness doing now? But when she saw Vervain slumped on the floor, she ran back, her face a mask of concern.

"What's the matter? Are you wounded?"

The demoness shook her head. "No," she muttered. "I'm just... drained. The fire... it takes a lot of my energy."