One with the Clan Ch. 03

It is getting late...

"Not quite. I want to check in with Leah first."

She looked saddened. For a moment. Before she realized that 'first' meant that I was agreeing to sleep with her again. And soon. I could see the wheels churn as she came to the conclusion that it was practically a promise.

She's too cute.

I took out Aliza's necklace and focused my mind on the image of my friend. Our conversation was brief, just long enough to exchange endearments and declare our mutual weariness, before her parents knocked on her door, complaining about the time of night. I apologized for the call but Leah waved it off, saying she was happy to hear from me. Another round of sickly sweet proclamations of love and I stopped the magic trinket so we both could go to bed.

A pair of shakes woke me softly. My eyes opened to find their mirrored twins leaning over me. Before I could say anything, Mother bid me to be silent with a thin finger to her lips. Those same lips brushed against my ear when she leaned in closer to whisper. "Thought you might want to see this." Then she pointed to Aliza who was still snuggled up into my side. My dryad twitched and twisted as if under the throes of a nightmare.

Or a particularly delicious dream. Only...

That cold place inside of me where my goddess' magic resided told me that she wasn't actually dreaming, delicious or otherwise. It was a purely biological phenomena that had her shivering. The crags on her bark-like skin bulged, the divide growing bigger as muscles developed beneath her skin. Her hair wiggled and experienced a sudden accelerated growth. Even the tiny flower buds that nuzzled up against my skin got in on the action, their white petals darkening like they'd been left too long in the sun until they...

Match my skin tone?

They were now little lavender blooms with a core of a darker purple that complemented each other nicely.

What is going on here?

"She's synchronizing to your desires. Skinwalkers have more mutable forms than most. And, once they bond with someone, they instinctively shape their base form in whatever way their bonded desires."

Like an underground plant pushing the topsoil aside, her breasts and ass began to grow. The transitioned from barely there to nice handfuls of surprisingly jiggly femininity, considering the rough looking surface. I had a hard time thinking of her as young, she now looked of a similar age.

Like a colleague rather than an underling.

"I didn't ask for this."

"You didn't have too. The more you're emotionally connected. The better understanding she will have on your desires. Skinwalkers are excellent companions and minions. You would be wise to cultivate that." She smiled smugly. "Plus you can't tell me you don't like the way she looks now."

I wanted to protest in an effort to save face. Unfortunately, Aliza chose that moment to finish shivering, her body taking the opportunity and automatically pressing up against me, squishing my arm between her breasts. My words petered out unsaid.

"Go back to sleep. I get the feeling that we are getting close and tomorrow will be a long day."

I closed my eyes and took a slow breath.

More changes.

Her flowers now smelled of a sweet bitterness that spoke of a pleasurable long-term sleep to my senses.

Also a paralytic poison, if I'm not mistaken.

My hand made its way past the new swell of her hips to the folds between her legs at it's own discretion and I discovered her dew slicked labia that warmed my fingertips with an unnatural heat.

And an aphrodisiac. Aren't you a veritable pharmacy? Such fun we'll have with these new toys.

With the gifts of my drow body and mind, I slipped effortlessly into sleep, the uneven forest floor and cold unable to touch my rest, safe in the magic of my goddess.

The next day we dined on some surprisingly sweet mushrooms that Shana provided for us and continued on our way. We reached our destination just before noon, judging from the uneven rays of sunlight that trickled through the steep canopy. Shana had been... judicial with the information of the task given to us by the Spider Goddess, but the way she stared at the rocky archway of the natural cave told me that we'd arrived.

"I'll head inside. You two stay here and stay out of sight." Without another word, she spun on her heel and headed for the cavern entrance. As she walked her form shimmered and grew indistinct until I could no longer pick her out from the background of darkness that shrouded the entryway.

I passed the seven minutes she was gone scouting by picking out pieces of bark and failing to keep my expectations low. Returning from her expedition, Shana's milky eyes gleamed with excitement. Her rapid breathing led to rapid words. "The cave was occupied. We'll have to clear it out to claim it for ourselves. It's been years since I- Actually, I should tell you what we're facing."

There was the sound of pounding footfalls of something large and heavy coming our way, interrupting Mother.

"Oh, nevermind. Here they come. You can see for yourselves."

Correction, 'somethings,' large and heavy.

What emerged from the cave were two twelve feet tall, humanoid monsters. Somehow seeming both flabby and emaciated at the same time, their mottled bruised red skin hung off prominent bones in flabby paunches. Lacking all manner of personal hygiene and decency, the slightly taller of the two scratched themself with a three fingered hand the size of . Emitting a noise like a bark, the smaller of the two thumped his fist into the ground in disagreement. The sudden display of strength made me flinch. This earned him a backhand that would've taken my head off, but didn't do much more than turn the shorter one's head.

"I'll take the female, you take the male," Shana instructed before darting at the larger of the two's legs. Bending over, she scooped up an old antler shard that was hiding in the brush. Using the makeshift weapon, she promptly stabbed the troll in the inner thigh while passing under the archway of its legs. Having successfully attracted her prey's attention from Aliza and I, she danced backwards drawing it further from the confines of the cave where the male troll hovered with uncertainty.

How the fuck do I take something that large down?

The troll finally noticed the two of us and decided that we would be a nice appetizer before it finished off the rest of the bloody deer whose coppery blood I could smell from deeper in the cave as well as on his breath. With lumbering, ground-shaking strides it heaved it's bulk at the two of us. It felt like I was staring down the headlights of a semi barrelling down the highway. Fortunately for my health, all that mass worked against it. I dove to the side, Aliza hot on my heels as he stampeded past us.

Lots of horsepower. Poor turning radius. Can probably use that against him.

"Aliza!" I hissed at her, keeping my eyes on the troll who'd lumbered to a stop and was now turning around to make another pass at us, lips curled in a raging snarl. "Find a weapon. I'll get you an opening."

Saying nothing, she slipped out of my peripherals.

Cocking my chin, I spared some attention to my surroundings. Judging the angles, I sidestepped twice, lining everything up.

Come and get me you ugly motherfucker.

As if hearing my internal command, the troll obliged. His ponderous steps picked up speed as he approached. A furious roar carried with it the displeasing scent of rotten meat and teeth that'd never even imagined a doctor. His arms spread out wide in an effort to catch me when I inevitably tried to dodge again.

Only, I had no intention of dodging.

When he was close enough, I sprang from the ground with inhuman strength and grace, soaring upward into the air like a launched ballista bolt. And my knee was the tip of that projectile. Grasping a handful of his matted oily hair, I pulled my knee into the underside of his jaw, forcing it closed with an audible smack. Stunned by my unexpected maneuver, the troll tried to figure out what happened. As he did, his legs continued to propel him forward.

Please let this work.

My silent prayer went out to my goddess, I set my foot on his forehead and sprang off. Arching back and upward I drifted through the air like a trapeze artist, limbs held tight to my body as I passed unscathed through the fork of the tree behind me. Looking down I saw Aliza waiting on the far side of the tree. I was still floating, gravity not yet catching hold of me when the troll slammed into the tree. The branches shuddered around me as a noise like a well struck softball cut through the forest. Looking poleaxed, the troll stepped back and rubbed at the welt on his forehead. While he did, Aliza took the chance to slip around the tree and stab him in the side of the calf with a polished wooden blade that looked integrated into her forearm. A plume of bluish blood erupted from the strike, filling the air with a rotten fruity smell.

Alright. Maybe this won't be as... hard as... I... thought. Fuck.

I landed in a crouch sliding along the ground for a couple feet, watching the troll the entire time. And what I saw skirted the edges of disbelief, even with my ever expanding concept of what was ordinary. The blood coating Aliza and the ground began to rise, ignoring gravity to form tiny blue orbs. After hovering in place for a second, the blood zipped through the air to fill the cut which quickly closed over with a gelatinous boiling motion.

That's not good. That's very very very not good. How do we kill something with that kind of regeneration? That's some serious X-Men shit.

Then, not good went to much worse.

Moving quicker than I would have thought possible, his knobbly hand reached out and caught Aliza around the stomach. Cracking bark sounded as his splintered nails dug into her skin, milky amber blood spilled out around his fingers. Without any gloating, he brought her head up to his mouth and ripped it from her body. Tossing her torso to the side like a bunch of unwanted garbage, he turned his attention to me.

I had a second of stunned disbelief. Then, my entire being filled up with a wellspring of cold rage. It inundated my body in a frozen wave, calming my mind and strengthening my bones. My caution in handling my magic vanished, and my desire for a weapon manifested itself into reality, my instincts handling the particulars. Silvery blades of moonlight materialized in each of my hands, sharper than the reality that held them. Stalking forward like a hungry panther my new claws lashed out when I moved past the troll, carving lines through his muscles and ligaments into his bones. One of the twin wounds was just below his knee with the other down by his ankle. I danced around his casual swipe that would've pulverized my ribs had it landed and lashed out twice more, severing one of his fingers and drawing a line down his forearm. His skin rippled and the sausage-esque digits reformed, blue blood dripping from his arm to the grass. Bulging outwardly like a snake's, his throat expanded as he swallowed his unholy meal. My breathing and heart rate remained even, my body regulating everything to optimal conditions. Leaning forward, the troll took a step back to begin another charge. But, before it could really start, his hand reached up and clutched at his flabby chest. A confused expression crossed his face and his other hand fell to his knee as if to prop himself up. He huffed two snorting breaths but couldn't seem to find his equilibrium, his eyelids fluttering with uncertainty at what was happening.

It's almost like he's been... drugged? Oh Aliza you beautiful girl. Even in death you're helping me along.

The toxins from the flowers in her hair raged through his system, gumming up his reactions and assaulting his balance with vertigo.

But judging by his prodigious regeneration I would guess I don't have all that long to seize this opportunity. Heart or brain would be my best bets. I need to create an opening to strike either of those targets.

Resolved I jogged toward the troll, muscles relaxed and knives secure in my grasp. I started with a stab to the left knee, ripping the tendons free and bringing him lower to the ground.

Perfect.

Using my new footstool, I sprang at his face, pushing off his knee hard enough that the bone bowed under the force. Reactions sluggish but already improving, he turned away from me, leaning back and protecting his head with his shoulder. Still, my knife split his flesh like a shark through bloody water, eager to prove his mortality as it carved a jagged ravine through the uneven curve of his upper back. The blue blood seemed thick and grimy as it rose from my arm to refill the wound, wiping it away like plaster over a hole. Gritting my teeth, I clenched the knives in my palm, trying to figure out a way to sink my moonlight blades into his skull.

I doubt he'll fall for the same trick-

"Thia, knife!" Aliza called out from above, dropping from the branches towards the troll's head. I acted before the words even registered, the knife spinning away from me in an underhanded toss. My risen dryad minion caught it as she fell from the tree, sinking it into the troll's forehead. The troll swatted her off his head. The blow sent her sailing to the ground. She rolled to a stop in the grass, moonlight blade tumbling from nerveless fingers.

The troll blinked.

I feared the moment the small blue rectangular puncture in his face began to close over.

Only it didn't.

The troll swayed on his feet for a handful of heartbeats before toppling like a felled tree. The impact shook the earth and I blinked uncertainly at the creature that lay still on the ground, ugly features buried in the grass and weeds.

The fight had only taken a couple of minutes but it'd felt like so much longer.

We... won?

"Aliza, would you be so kind as to catch her before she falls," Shana's calm voice called out as she walked into view. Her lower side was artfully splashed with a navy liquid I suspected might be the other troll's blood.

"Of course," Aliza responded calmly. As if she hadn't just had her head ripped off or eaten a backhand that would've had me spitting up shards of my ribcage.

Why would...?

The energy that'd sustained me up to this point abruptly vanished and my legs went out from under me, collapsing like a pair of paper stilts in the rain. The surprisingly spongy arms of my dryad skinwalker cradled me before I could hit the ground.

Oh. That's probably why.

I looked up past her expanded boobs to her more humanoid features- Damn she really is beautiful now -marveling at how she was still alive.

"Thought you were dead," I said huskily, my voice thick with emotion and tiredness.

"It will take more than that to pry me from your side mistress." She lowered the both of us to the ground, her thighs cradling my head as she arranged my arms comfortably for me. I didn't know what to say so I didn't say anything, content to simply exist in the moment and contemplate our victory. Aliza was happy to seize the opportunity to brush the bits of twigs and grass from my hair, tidying up my appearance while also helping to make me comfortable.

Shana, having easily dispatched her target, had energy to burn and didn't need to waste her time recovering like me. Instead she went about the messy task of exsanguinating both trolls that had the misfortune of crossing our paths. Somehow Shana managed to string them up by vines and, after a few delicate slices with her nails, began to collect the blue blood that dripped off them into wooden bowls. They were then thrown into a pit that opened up at her command just outside the cave, along with a few more unsavory corpses of animals she retrieved from the darkness. The whole sordid thing was then covered up by topsoil that blended seamlessly into the surroundings, guided there by a few simple gestures from Shana. The effort finally seemed to make a dent in Mother's seemingly endless stamina and she wiped a thin patina of sweat from her forehead.

Aliza turned to see what I was looking at, waving her blossoming hair across my face. The smell trickled into my nose and I found myself ravenous. With a shaky hand, I reached up and plucked a few blooms, tossing them into my mouth. I chewed and swallowed, my body's cravings driving me before I could think about what I was doing.

Delicious!

Seeing my reaction, Aliza smiled and plucked a few more, offering them to me in the palm of her hand.

I took them cautiously. "That... that doesn't hurt, does it?" I asked, nibbling on one of the petals.

"No, it is quite hard to harm my body, as I'm essentially a shapeshifting plant. It would take a tremendous amount of fire or dissolving in acid to truly kill me. Other wounds can cause me pain. But, let's say the crushing of an arm," She mimed a chopping motion onto her forearm. "Feels no worse to me than a rug-burn would to you. Harvesting these blooms would be comparable to a pinch."

"Oh. That's not so bad. Thank you," I said with a far off voice. My mind was currently reliving the moment where her head was torn off and her body discarded. Tears filled my eyes and I turned my head to the side to hide them. I could feel my energy return, the cool pool located near my lower spine filling with a steady trickle. My equilibrium returned. Magically speaking at least. My emotional state was still far from stable as I grappled with Aliza's death and subsequent unlikely resurrection. Grabbing hold of an impulse, I used my newfound energy to twist my body around, setting my chin in her lap. Using my elbow, I pressed at my dryad's stomach until she fell back onto the grass, staring down at me between her breasts.

"There's an inequality between us," I said, injecting as much confidence into the words as I could manage considering my distress. Reaching down, I parted her thighs with my hand, revealing plump green labia.

"Mistress, you don't have to."

I hesitated.

This is supposed to be a gift. What if she... I don't want to force...

"You don't want me to?" Shaky as a newborn fawn, I showed Aliza entirely too much vulnerability.

Seeing that, Aliza did a one-eighty spreading her legs wide, stretching her lips and revealing her core that had only just begun leaking a thick nectar. "I'd love you to. As long as you do too."

I nodded, swiping away tears with the back of my hand.

"I'd heard it described as a chore by others. And I didn't want you to feel obligat- Oh. Ohhhh. That's nice. That's very nice."

I stopped my exploratory licks, rising to meet her eyes. "Wait. What you said... Then earlier, did you not... Cause it seemed like you...?"

"Oh no!" She waved her hands wildly in front of her chest while shaking her head. "I enjoyed that quite a bit. But you seemed to want it and it wasn't nearly as bad as I'd heard described. Plus, you are fun to please and I do not know if I will be that for you." She bit her lip in a shy way that made me want to pounce all over for her. "I've never had anyone do this for me before."

"Then let me be the first." After that, my tongue was far too busy with more important things than words. Lashing to and fro, I sought to pour all my uncertainty and grief into life affirming orgasms.

Two or three should be enough to convince me she truly is fine.

"You girls go ahead and have fun. I'll get to cleansing the cave and getting the preliminary foundations laid to consecrate our new den."