The Gift

By: Bookwolf and Bre Quintana

Sintan!

Ahzek's voice boomed her mind.

Sintan moaned and rolled over in bed, scooping up her pillow and cuddling it a little bit longer. She wasn't ready to leave the lovely dream with her wrapping her arms around Ahzek's trim waist and her head resting on his taut stomach. Feeling his warm, strong arms around her.

Safe.

Sintannn! Another loud, irritated cry waffled in again, sounding more like a whine. Obviously, he wasn't in mortal danger. Not if he had time to sound like a child.

Sintan ignored him, trying to settle back into dream Ahzek's arms. Her full, heavy breasts, bare and pressed on him. The sensation sent tingles up and down her body, from her horns to her tail.

Dream Ahzek gave her a sweet kiss, his dark eyes not filled with their usual sarcastic look, but with affection. A beautiful smile tugged at the end of his full lips.

Sintan, come now!

A shimmer of anger rolled inside as dream Ahzek disappeared into a fog and Sintan stumbled through him, landing hard on the floor.

She shot up in bed. The thin gold chain around her neck felt hot.

The bastard actually activated the spell.

Her amber eyes narrowed as she threw off the sheets and noticed it wasn't even dawn yet. Annoyance and anger licked under her skin.

The wizard better have a good reason for waking her up this early.

Stomping down the hall of the second floor of the penthouse, Sintan ignored the glittering sight of Paris at night. Her dark brown hair flowed behind her, cracking energy snapping off her tanned demon skin. Her heightened sense of smell alerted her that Ahzek was in his workshop downstairs. She stomped down the stairs barefoot. Not really noticing the elegant furniture and priceless antiques decorating the tasteful apartment.

After all, objects were just that, things. Only valued by humans. Demons had no use for objects. Not when everything you needed you could create with your mind.

An ability which humans obviously coveted and tried, time and time again to replicate.

Not with much success.

Sintan slammed open the door to her master's workshop. The heavy wooden door bounced off the wall and she stopped it from hitting her face.

"What!" She howled back at the man currently occupying the room.

Ahzek's Elbon, Europe's premiere wizard gave her a quick look and returned to tinkering with the small cauldron in front of him.

"Ah, you're up. Good, finally."

Energy sizzled from her, causing her little baby doll nightgown to flitter around her bare legs.

"Ahzek..." her voice held a warning. However, the human didn't appeared fazed in the least to have a pissed off demon, literally ready to spit fire all over him.

At thirty, Ahzek was still a man in his prime in human terms. But in demon terms, he was less than an infant. Average height, trim, lean build. His dark hair and eyes complemented his tan skin. Nimble fingers moved with a grace rarely seen in the human realm. He muttered something and the contents of the cauldron popped. Grayish green smoke bloomed in front of him.

Without looking at her, he said, "Sit."

The command slammed into her through the chain and even though her anger seared in her mind and she wanted to disobey, the power of the spell forced her to move and sit down in the chair next to him.

For the first time in recent memory, Sintan was shocked into silence. The fury she felt only moments before dissolved into uncertainty, confusion and not a small measure of hurt.

He continued to work as if she wasn't there.

Twice tonight.

Twice he used the spell.

Chaos rioted in her mind, trying to understand.

Sintan sat, dumbfounded. Not because of the spell, though she knew she wouldn't be able to move until he commanded it, but because he had used it.

She could count on hand how many times he had in the past. Once it was to stop her from killing another familiar who had tried to harm Ahzek. Another had been when she fell into a heavy spell by a rival wizard and almost ripped off the chain around her neck. Ahzek's voice had cracked like a whip then, "STOP!"

Her fingers had released the chain. Thankful beyond words when the spell clouding her mind cleared. She was made to be a familiar. And because she was made to not really exist in either world, her chain was her only tie to the human world. Remove it and she would disappear back to the demon realm, lost and without form.

In Sintan's hundreds of years of existence, her purpose had been to be an object. A fountain of power. A gateway between the moral realm and the demon world. She was made to corrupt, to bind the souls to hell as payment as much as she was bound to them. Darkness and pain, those had been her constant companions. There had been times she wondered if an eternity wandering the netherworld would be preferable to obeying the whims of humans.

Many of her masters had been cruel.

Many used her in ways she would never describe.

But after her last master had been destroyed by Ahzek at the tender age of fifteen, she saw something in his dark eyes she had never really experienced before.

Kindness.

She remembered that moment crystal clarity. Her body had been bloody, naked on the floor. Quivering from the battle and Eldritch using her as a shield against his apprentice, Sintan couldn't move. Her powers drained.

Then she felt it.

A hand stroking her hair away from her battered face. She looked up and saw Ahzek's dark eyes, serious but full of an indescribable emotion.

"Wait here," he whispered to her. His voice fluctuating between that of a man and a boy, but warm and compassionate. Eldritch's promising apprentice went up to the defeated wizard.

"Never again," he said to the older man, and quickly motioned with his hands as he spoke the spell.

She remembered Eldritch's eyes grow wide and a silent scream just about to escape his body when he burst into flames. At the moment of Eldritch's death, a golden chain appeared in the air from where his charred body lay.

Ahzek took a step toward it and Sintan braced herself to for the pain of the bonding, knowing as soon as he put it on, it will fuse with his skin and she would be his familiar.

But instead of touching the chain, he looked at her. His gaze serious and steady.

"Would you take me as your master?"

Even in her weakened state, shock reverberated through her.

None had ever asked before. They only took.

"Yes," she said. Ahzek gave her a wry smile and grabbed the chain. The pain of the bonding seared through her, but unlike in the past, most of it was dulled by a soothing sensation washing over her. She actually felt wonderful, excited as Ahzek's mind bond with hers. As his essence curled around her chain, tying them together.

And even though he often insulted, and was brisk and never complimented her, Sintan didn't mind. Ahzek had been the first master she actually wanted to be with--in every way.

She shifted in her seat in silence, playing with her fingers and the end of her tail. What had changed? What was wrong?

She tried to think back to the last few days, but nothing in Ahzek's behavior indicated anything had been amidst.

Granted his latest lover, Mercedes, left him in the middle of his party the night before. Cursing his name in French as her long, shapely body stormed out of the penthouse.

The only indication Ahzek had been bothered was the twitch of his left brow. But he returned to the party without skipping a beat and Sintan didn't think twice about it. Women and Ahzek never lasted long. Wizards, especially one of Ahzek's caliber, were often sought out by the members of the fair classes. Powerful, wealthy, due to his connections with several governments and magic inventions, Ahzek was never without a willing partner on his arm.

They just didn't last long.

Sintan tried to suppress the inner glee to see another one bite the dust. Because even though she had spent years lusting after her own master, something which she had never experienced before, Ahzek never touched her.

Never commanded her to touch him. Never forced her to service him in any way-magic or sexually.

In the beginning, it confused her and when she tried to show her appreciation to him for becoming her new master--Ahzek rejected her.

It stung for a long while. But over time, Sintan and Ahzek fell into an unspoken understanding.

They were bound. Having a connection deeper than any mortal could understand. Deeper than family, than friends. But they didn't cross that invisible, but impenetrable line Ahzek forged in those early years. And over time, it simply became the way things were between them.

She sometimes would find a random human unable to see beyond her glamour and Ahzek had his endless parade of women.

Now here she was, sitting next to him at his command unable to look at anything but his jean clad thighs, and the t-shirt spilling from the back.

She wanted to tuck it in. Ahzek always liked looking presentable. It may have been a reaction from growing an orphan on the streets of Cairo, always ragged and alone until Eldritch found him trying to steal his wallet and sensed the boy's innate abilities.

Then Ahzek turned to her. Sintan looked up and into his serious brown eyes. None of the usual mockery and hardness in his glaze.

He muttered a word under his breath, and instantly the hot weight of the chain cooled on her neck.

He had stopped the spell

For some reason, that thought ripped into her heart and tears welled up in her eyes.

Surprise colored his expression.

"Sintan-" he started to say, but some other force swelled inside her and she toppled the chair backwards and ran out of the room and away from his eyes.

It had been years. Years since the last time she sobbed.

Sintan huddled in the corner of her room, letting the cool shadows cloak her. She called on a little of her magic and let herself melt into it.

What was going on with her?

Ahzek wasn't cruel or mean. He never beat or abused her. So what if he used the spell to wake her up and make her sit down? Those meant nothing.

But deep down she knew why it hurt so much.

Hurt worse than if he took a knife and cut out her heart.

Tonight he treated her like a familiar.

For the first time, he treated her like an object. A thing at his command.

And in that instant, when he let go of the spell, she knew the horrifying truth in its full glory.

She loved him.

Loved him beyond a master. Beyond a bonded. She loved Ahzek and he saw her as a thing.

She toyed with her chain, letting the cool metal slip between her fingers, rolling it back and forth. It would be easy to rip it off. All familiars were created with the knowledge.

So simple to do.

"Sintan," Ahzek's rich, deep voice said. His familiar body stood at the entrance of her room.

With him, she always had a room to herself. Always had clothes and freedom to move as she liked. Another wave of misery hit her and she bit her lip, trying to stop another wave of tears.

She saw him look at her direction but knew he couldn't see her. He walked into the room and sat on the edge of her bed.

"I'm sorry," he said and ran a hand through his thick hair.

Sintan sniffled. He rested his elbows on his knees and looked out the large window in her room, overlooking the Eiffel Tower.

"I didn't mean to--" he broke off and shook his head, taking in a breath and trying to speak again, "I wasn't thinking and didn't mean to hurt you by using the spell. I actually just wanted to mess with you a little bit."

The thin smile pulling up his lips seemed full of self-deprecation.

Looking into her corner again, he slipped off the bed and knelt in front of her.

"Why?" she whispered from the dark, her voice sounding like a wisp of smoke. She hated sounding so weak and small, but she couldn't get her walls back up. Couldn't hide behind them.

The look in his eyes devastated her. They looked like liquid pools of dark water. The regret and apology so apparent in them, she could almost hear it again coming from his lips.

Sintan let the cloak of darkness slip from around her. Ahzek let out a small breath. And then just like that day they bonded, he leaned in and brushed back a lock of her hair behind her ear. His fingertips skirting by the bottom of her horn.

Instant heat scorched down to her depth. Her breath hitched and she could only look at him. Transfixed by him.

Now and always.

"I-," Ahzek rubbed her earlobe between his fingers, taking in another breath as if trying to find the words.

"Happy birthday," he said finally, pulling his hand away.

Sintan shivered at the loss of contact and moved closer to him, desperate to feel the touch of his warm hand again. Then what he said registered and crinkling her brow she said, "What? What birthday, you know that-"

The smile grew on his face and now, it turned sad and soft," Today is the day we bonded. Fifteen years today."

Sintan sat back on her legs, her little baby doll nightgown barely concealing her massive breasts, she took in a deep breath.

"I know, but why are you calling it my birthday?"

Ahzek reached into his jean pocket and pulled out a golden chain, the mate to the one around Sintan's neck. A flutter of panic raced inside her.

"Are you getting rid of me? Or you dying?" Without thinking, she grabbed his other hand and brought it close to her chest. His pulse grew more erratic as soon as his fingers touched her flesh, but still strong. Still very much alive.

He gave her a short, hard laugh, "No to either. I am really messing this up." He let out another sigh and said, "Sintan, you are my friend. My family. You have never been just a familiar to me. I used the spell tonight to remind you what it felt like to be forced when you didn't want to be. I needed you to remember so when I gave this to you, you would make the right choice."

She kept his hand on hers. The words theoretically made sense, but she didn't know what he was talking about.

"Ahzek what are you saying?"

He sculled closer to her, their knees touching. Lowering his head, he pressed his forehead to hers.

"Today's your birthday because today you are free."

A cold shiver exploded through her. He moved his head and his lips pressed a kiss to her forehead.

"I found a way, Sintan. I found a way for you to be free from the bonding. A found a way for you to remain on earth if you wish or return back home."

Sintan pulled back, stunned at the words coming out of his mouth.

"How?" the question ripped from her throat. And this time, his face reminded her of her dream Ahzek, his expression full of affection and care.

"Doesn't matter how. Just matters you have your freedom." He opened her hand and spilled his golden chain into her palm.

She started at the chain, at him, not knowing what to do or say. None of this should be possible. The master chain only appeared at their death and Ahzek was still very much alive.

He lifted her chin in his hand and place a sweet, chaise kiss on her lips.

"Thank you, Sintan."

Before she could respond, he rose from the floor and left.

The golden chain didn't disappear in her hand.

How did he do it?

No, better yet...why did he do it?

Was he unhappy with her? A part of her whispered. But at the expression on his face, one she rarely ever saw grace his features, was not one of anger.

The chain bunched in her palm as she closed her fist. Rising she looked out into the sunrise starting to break over the horizon. The city flood in a wave of light.

He wasn't lying. Even though she didn't feel any different, she knew the chain in her hand belonged to him. She could still feel his essence throbbing in the links. A stranger, otherworldliness surged around her heart.

She could leave. Could pack up her bags and walk out the apartment without him being able to stop her. Could spend the rest of her existence doing all the things she wanted to try and do but had been afraid to ask.

She could leave Ahzek and he would need to find another familiar. While still able to practice without one, his spells would be as powerful without her demon magic to augment it.

She could.

But she found herself silently walking through their apartment and stopping at his bedroom. She opened the door and found him there. Sitting on the edge of his bed, his head in his hands.

A wonderful calmness came over her. Freedom surging within her in a way she had never known. Her love for this man, this mortal swelled so fast and so hard, tears spilled over her face unable to contain it.

"I've chosen," she said. Her voice husky and firm. Ahzek looked up stared. Never had she seen so much on his face. So much. The pain there strengthened her decision. Yes, she thought to herself, this is right.

Without taking her eyes off him, she raised on of her fingers, imaging the tip as sharp as a knife. She nipped the top of her nightgown and did a single slice to the bottom.

The nightgown fluttered off her body and drifted to the floor. Bare, she walked to him taking in his wide eyes and shallow breath. She stood in front of him, standing between his legs.

Then with infinitesimal care, she tipped his head back so those beautiful brown eyes stared into her amber ones.

There would be no confusion on this.

"I, Sintan, take you as my master. I willing bind myself to you. Completely. Do you agree to take me as your familiar, Ahzek Elbon?"

Joy leap into his expression and his hands shook as they gripped her hips.

She felt them on the precipice of something amazing and new. Following her instincts, she bent down and pressed her lips to his.

Wild need burst inside her and she moaned into his warm mouth.

Ahzek groaned as her tongue touched his. Pulling her closer into his embrace, he rolled her to the mattress.

"Yes," he said. His body spread over her, his hard length rubbing on her inner thigh. His mouth and hands were everywhere. Licking and sucking on her large, hard nipples. His fingers trailing downward, spreading her, moaning on her sensitive skin when her wet heat coat his hand.

Sintan's tail curled around his waist and slipped under his shirt, tracing his spine as he explored her.

Ahzek pulled back a moment. His face hard. He let out a clipped command and his clothes disappeared.

She couldn't help it, Sintan giggled, and Ahzek gave her a wry grin, "Sorry, too impatient. I've been waiting for years for this."

She took in his beautiful male form, sighing as he dipped back to capture her breast. Thinking was difficult to accomplish, but she finally found enough breath to ask, "Years? But--"

He pulled back and looked at her. Unguarded, his eyes blazed, "You had enough of wizards using you. I wanted you to choose. I couldn't-"

She stopped him by grabbing his cock and stroking it. His eyes fluttered closed and he didn't protest when she pulled him closer to her entrance.

"I've wanted you for years," she whispered. "I choose you then as I do now."

All around them, the energy surged. Sintan felt it licking at her skin. Felt Ahzek's magic rise up in response.

"Take me," she begged and Ahzek captured her mouth as he drove hard into her.

The sensations were like nothing she had ever experienced. Ecstasy exploded through her body, her magic blooming around her. Ahzek grabbed her waist and quickly turned them. Sintan found herself riding him. Frantic lust and love demanded more as she increased her pace, his hands gripped her breasts while hers landed on his chest.

Harder and faster they went. She felt his hard cock slamming against her clit and spreading her until she couldn't tell when she ended and he began. Her palm became almost unbearably warm, and a glow surrounded her hand holding the chain over Ahzek's heart.