So a Crusader Walks Into a Tower Ch. 02

The first thing Jamie noticed was that her back didn't hurt. The second was a clawed hand gently carding through her hair. She took a sharp intake of breath at the realization and pulled away from him with a surprising lack of resistance.

He watched her, apparently unbothered, as she tried to redress in what was left of her clothes. If possible she felt herself scowl even harder while she felt his gaze follow her admittedly shaky movements. Boots, underwear, pants, and a torn shirt were what she had to settle for. She tied the shirt together so that at least her breasts wouldn't be constantly exposed although it ending up not much more cover than a bra.

"I have to say I was planning on offering you some of my clothes, especially given that I was the one who ruined yours, but I do prefer your idea," he said while openly appreciating her and only once she was done redressing did he move to do the same.

Jamie didn't dignify it with a response and made her way towards the door. Which opened easily enough. The corridor it led to had dozens of identical doors which she began to briskly walk down hoping that she could find a stairway and that she wasn't also trapped in an infinite hallway on top of everything else. Much sooner than she had hoped she heard Thane call to her as he caught up, "So, would you like some breakfast?"

She quickened her pace slightly and managed a bitter laugh, "What I want, is to get the hell out of here, not play house with my rapist."

Thane reached the door at the end of the hallway slightly before her and held it open for her in an exaggerated gesture. She scowled but entered nonetheless. It was thankfully a stairway as she had hoped and she began her decent. Thane, unfortunately, right behind her.

"As understandable an impulse as that is, where do you plan on going now?" Thane asked her just slightly losing some of his previous nonchalance.

She doesn't answer him and only then registers that he only bother to pull on some pants and has forgone any other clothing. She stares down the stairway adamantly refusing to look at him again.

Thane seemed to wait for any response from her before continuing, "Because I highly doubt the rest of your little club is going to welcome you back now."

Without thinking Jamie turned and violently shoved him into the wall, unable to hoist him by his unpresent shirt, she settled for pressing her arm against his throat and finally getting a satisfying reaction as he yelped when he made contact with the wall.

"So that's it then? You hoped to just ruin my life and with nowhere else to go I'd fall right back into bed with you, live happily ever after, ignoring the rest of the world, killing farmers or whatever the fuck it is you do with your immortality?" She barked at him feeling her eyes stinging with angry tears that she was fighting down.

"No," he responded unfortunately without having to struggle for breath as she hoped, "No, I have no interest in ruining your life."

She shook her head as if to agree, "But the rest, sure that's all fine to you."

He gave her what he clearly thought was a charming smile, "I hardly think I've been unclear in my intentions for you, my love, ideally we could go back to our bedroom and in a few hours start our first day together a little more pleasantly."

Jamie felt him shamelessly grab her ass and pull her flush against him, allowing her to feel how hard he already was.

Not having any of it, she pushed herself away and continued down the stairs, "If you like being pushed around so much you should have just let me finish my job yesterday and saved me the grief."

He was suddenly in front of her, clearly having used the unnatural speed he displayed the day before. He didn't look angry but a seriousness had replaced his previous demeanor, "Let's just sit down and talk, alright?"

She moved to walk around him but he grabbed both her hands and kept her in front of him. In a quieter tone he added, "If you still want to leave afterwards I won't stop you but I spent centuries waiting and I just found you, I have to know you'll be safe."

Feeling as though he was waiting for a response despite also making it clear he wasn't giving her an option she replied with a clipped, "Fine," and continued her trek back down to the first floor.

After making it down far more flights than she realized she had been brought up in the first place Thane led her to what was apparently a dinning room. It contained not one table but many smaller tables, a large number of them with their matching chairs stacked on top of them. It reminded her slightly of the cafeteria at HLS albeit much quieter and cleaner.

"Do you like strawberries?" he asked once more in a conversational tone.

She squinted at him, "Where did you get strawberries?"

Thane smiled at her and gestured for her to sit at one of the tables, "You'll get an answer as long as you wait here until I get back."

She sat at the table without any further argument and watched him disappear behind a door, presumably a kitchen or pantry. Left alone with her thoughts the idea of simply making a run for it was shot down quickly. It seemed he had been telling her the truth that he would still be stronger and faster than her, at least for now. It was clear that if he wanted to force her to stay he could.

Being alone for the first time since she woke up she took mental stock of how she was feeling. Mentally; distressed, but that was obvious. Physically however, she hadn't felt this good since she was a child. The near constant low level back pain was gone along with the ringing in her ears that nearly never stopped ever since she had assisted in a fight with a harpy as an initiate. Also, despite the rough way Thane had decided to introduce her to sex, she didn't feel sore at all either. In fact the only difference she felt at all was as slight stickiness she blushed to realize could only be his spend slowly leaking out of her and collecting in her panties.

More disturbing was the sudden spike in arousal as this occurred to her. Forcing herself to focus on literally anything else she took the time to study the room more clearly. There were some unidentified machines next to what she guessed were coffee makers. Each of the tables set for use had a small white cup filled with what turned out to be sugar when she read the tiny packets. The walls were uniformly white with geometric paintings hung in a few places. This was not providing the level of distraction she needed at the moment. She was almost relived to see Thane return with two plates.

He placed one down in front of her and then took a seat across from her. Strawberries, bacon, and a small stack of pancakes sat enticingly before her. Once again she looked at him suspiciously, "Maple syrup, fresh meat, fruit that doesn't grow in this season, you wanted to talk so let's start with an easy question; where are you getting this?"

He chuckled and took a bite of one of the strawberries on his own plate before responding, "A simple question with a complicated answer."

Seeing him begin to eat and figuring that he had little to gain by poisoning her anyway she began to eat as well.

"The entire building and almost everything in it has been held exactly as it was, just before the reckoning," he told her simply and waited for the inevitable follow up questions.

She processed what he was saying, "Alright, so the food hasn't gone bad in over a hundred years and that's the reason the tower looks so out of place now."

She considered the fact that the bacon she was eating came from a pig that was slaughtered before her great grandmother was born and decided that she had eaten far more revolting food when she was far less hungry.

Thane nodded, "There were others like it, but the food is only partly correct, the building is essentially in a stable time loop, every night, its reset back to how it was 182 years ago."

"Basically the only things that aren't affected are the things I use day to day, clothes mostly," he adds.

"Why is that?" she asks back.

He laughed light and genuine, before responding, "Because, I don't really have any interest in having the clothes I'm wearing suddenly reappear in my closet."

Jamie fought the urge to laugh with him and instead asked, "So you control it?"

"Well, yeah, I am the one doing it after all."

She choked a little at the implication of his words. The tower was massive so to do any supernatural manipulation on it would be incredibly draining and he's claiming he does it everyday. While apparently not considering it a great exertion on him, and displaying other minor abilities with ease on top of that.

The smug look on his face had her immediately regretting her own lack of a poker face. He leaned forward and rested his head in one hand, "Admit it, I'm impressing you, in fact you already changed your mind and want to stay, it was the strawberries wasn't it?"

She took another bite of pancake to give herself a second to think before responding, "So, anything that's eaten or leaves the building is replenished the next day?"

He simply made a noise of affirmation and popped another strawberry in his mouth.

Her thoughts were racing at the implications. First and foremost being that he could at least fix part of the problem that the miasma protecting the tower caused in the first place. Which brought her to her next question.

"Why the miasma anyway?" she asked him.

He shrugged, "Its just to disincentivize anyone from setting up homesteads here."

"Why though?" she asked honestly.

"Humans haven't exactly been known to be the most accepting of demons, yourself included, I have no interest in trying to make nice with them or hiding what I am anymore," he told her, clear she had found a topic he didn't want to get into.

Finishing the last of her breakfast and deciding to dig at the clearly sore topic she began, "Well, it kind of seems like you're contradicting yourself there."

He leans back and with a sharp toothed smile asks, "And what do you mean by that, my hunter?"

"Well, you seem pretty intent on making nice with me, not to mention if the miasma is supposed to keep humans out then your whole 'waiting patiently for me to eventually find you' shtick is-"

He hold up a hand to stop her and then folds all but one finger down, "Firstly, you aren't human anymore, you're a demon now as you were always fated to become."

He added a second finger to the count, "And secondly I had no way of knowing that you would be born human in the first place, most demons' fated mates are simply other demons, its exceedingly rare for them to be born anything else."

He looked at her sternly and she felt the scowl return to her face as she was confronted with what she already feared was the case.

"What did you want to say when you demanded to talk?" she asked not bothering to hide the defeated tone in her voice.

All she wanted now was to leave. Even if HLS would never trust her to set foot anywhere near an outpost again she could return to her remaining family, they would never blame her for what has happened once she explained it to them. She suddenly missed her sister with an intensity that she hadn't felt since she first left home.

"I wanted to know what you planned to do now that you can't return to HLS," he states plainly, "Because if your only plan is to wander I want to make sure your prepared, it would put my mind at easy if you would let me show you a few minor incantations before you left, and obviously supplies, as much as I appreciate your fashion sense I think you could stand to take some of my shirts, maybe a coat or two as well."

She mirrored his own gesture with one finger, "Firstly, I don't give a fuck what would make you feel better about me leaving, secondly I -"

Jamie took a steadying breath, everything about this situation was starting to catch up to her and being near him right now suddenly began to feel like yesterday. Oppressive, dangerous, far too intimate.

As it should feel she reminded herself.

"I did all but beg you not to do this to me and now you're fine with just letting me go?"

Thane cocked his head to the side, "I wasn't bluffing yesterday."

"About what?" she asked not willing to replay the recent conversations in her head currently.

"You can already feel our fated bond, I know you can, you wouldn't have become a demon if I was somehow wrong about you," he spoke gently but his expression schooled to impress on her the importance of what he was saying, "I'm your mate as much as you are mine."

"Hate to break it to you, but the only thing I've been thinking about since I woke up was getting out of here as fast as possible," she told him with a cruel smile.

He matched her earlier scowl, "Lie to me again, and I'll bend you over the nearest table and show you just how much our bond affects you whether you like it or not."

She tensely chose her next words carefully, "You said yesterday that a fated mate was supposed to be a partner and I'm pretty sure most people wouldn't consider someone who decided to force themselves on them whenever the mood strikes much of a partner."

Thane held her gaze but slumped his shoulders slightly, she almost convinced herself she saw a faint embarrassed blush on him, "You're right, I'm sorry."

"I don't regret yesterday, even if it takes years for you to forgive me, this way I know we'll have those years," he paused before continuing, "But I have no excuse now, so you're right, I'll be a partner to you, next time we sleep together it will be because you want to."

Jamie felt the anger and fear drain away from her, aware that she had no reason to let her guard down given he's only shown proof of his willingness to ignore her protests yet, she couldn't help but relax ever so slightly anyway.

"Why don't you have a bath and I'll find you some clean clothes, we can have yours clean and dry tomorrow."

She allowed the slightest bit of a laugh to escape her, "You just want me to have an excuse not to leave yet."

"Mostly, yes, but its still not an unreasonable excuse," He told her as he stood from the table.

She sighed but agreed. She honestly did feel disgusting and at least internally she would admit to herself the bond was affecting her. Not enough that she wasn't disturbed by the out of character feelings but enough that every time she remembered that she was literally dripping with Thane's seed she had to suppress the idea that it wouldn't be so bad if he made good on his threat.

It was a relief when he left her alone in a clean bathroom with a large tub. She adjusted the nobs and eventually when the water was to her liking got in.

Rinsing the grime from travel as well as evidence of yesterday off her body was a very welcome luxury. As she continued she took note that her multitude of scars were gone and she felt a pang of loss for it. She had never considered herself beautiful and every scar collected was evidence of a challenge overcome. Or at the very least a life lived. A human life, until now.

She sighed and continued her ministrations. Finally she cleaned the mess that had been leaking out of her with a washcloth but once she was done she paused in thought. She wasn't sure if she should be concerned. Demons couldn't transmit any natural disease and and least she had that to thank but as for pregnancy? She felt a chill to think about it and at the same time she once again blushed at the way her body betrayed her to the thought. She never wanted kids, life was already so damned hard just taking care of yourself, to add more to that toil seemed awful. And yet, now for the first time in her life presented with the possibility of it she resisted the urge to run a had over her still entirely flat belly. She shook the thought from her mind and stood from the tub. Obviously this was evidence of their connection playing tricks on her. Obviously. She wasn't about to let it get to her or do anything stupid because of it. She dried off and wrapped a towel around herself right as she heard a knock.

"I found some clothes that might fit you, I'll leave them hanging on the door for you," Thane told her.

Jamie wrung out her hair and replied, "Alright."

"I'll be waiting for you in the last door on the left of this hall, whenever you're ready," he added, punctuated by the sound of his footsteps receding from the door.

To her relief she found the clothes he left were simple soft pants and a warm shirt and not something revealing. They were matching blue with little swirling patterns. Looking at herself in the mirror wearing them it reminded her suddenly of pajamas from a old worn children's book she had seen at some point. It didn't escape her notice that the comfortable outfit he left for her included no shoes.

She walked into the room he had told her to meet him in without knocking and was greeted with floor to ceiling windows that overlooked the valley.

"I have more clothes for you, assuming those fit," Thanes voice called to her from behind a desk nestled in the corner of the fairly large room.

"Yeah, these fit fine," she affirmed while somewhat hesitantly walking over to him.

On the desk in front of him where two large very old looking books and another relic from before the reckoning. It was mechanical with a screen display and apparently operated by numerous buttons.

Not sure how to proceed she waited for him to continue, feeling awkward standing in front of him in the clothes he had picked out despite their modesty.

He turned the screened thing towards her to show her the text he had been looking at and rose to stand next to her, "Like I said earlier, if you really intend to leave tomorrow then I want you to know at least a little of what you can do with magic now."

"And this is going to teach me?" she asked hesitantly nodding at the device.

He smiled at her fondly, "No, I'm going to teach you but I figured you'd like to see the evidence behind some of this before you just took my word for it."

She felt herself smile back before she could stop herself, "I suppose I would but if you can really preform magic like you say then your so called evidence could be just as suspect as anything else you tell me."

He sighed in exaggerated resignation and walked away to pull a second chair closer, "I'll have to leave everything up to your final judgement but I'm sure you'll want to hear at least a few of these explanations."

Sitting and finding it disturbingly easy to talk to him hours of technical explanation and demonstration passed by quickly. He guided her hands and described different costs doing magic can require. Before long she could do a jerky approximation of what she had misinterpreted yesterday as supernatural speed and what she was surprised to learn was short range teleportation. The process at first made her disoriented but as they practiced she found fun in it, unabashedly enjoying the way she could tell Thane actually had to put effort into keeping up with her.

Feeling confident she began a quick chain of jumps tapping him on the shoulder twice in the middle to end behind his desk and with a laugh she called out, "And what was that about needing 6 or 7 decades?"

He smiled returning her playful energy with a mischievous look of his own. She predicted him and teleported away only for him to match her and circle his arms around her torso. Still mostly chaste he pressed a kiss to her clothed shoulder. Still having fun but not feeling like letting him continue she teleported away again. Right away she could feel something was different this time and while she was in a different spot Thane had come with her.

He chuckled warmly at her confusion, "Sorry love, but less than a century really is a compliment just so you know."

"Obviously, I have a lot to show you, a lot more than I could show you in just one day," he began while sinking deeper against her and shifting his arms to hold her more comfortably, "No reason you couldn't stay here longer."