Note: This story was dynamically reformatted for online reading convenience.
 
 The Disruptors, part 2 of 3
   by Nysidra
   This is a graphic story containing several erotic concepts and explicit
sexual descriptions.
   Fantasy Adventure
   <->
   -_ Journeys _-
   Nemanja rubbed his temples, worked down along the front of his ears,
then toward his neck.  His eyes drifted shut, but he stopped and refocused
on the papers in front of him.
   Tamarin often suffered from the misconception that subterfuge was easier
than outright combat.  The least the prick could have done was give him a
heads up.
   Why hadn't he sent word?  When in the lifetime of their fellowship had
Tamarin ever sank too deep into a situation to communicate?
   Not once.
   If not him, then Liam or Kayla.  They called themselves the Jeriwat
after the massive crystal trilateral pyramid that emerged after the Mount
Pierre eruption last century.  People by the hundred thousands traveled to
look at it gleaming in the sunlight.  Four sides, all equal, massive,
sturdy, brilliant.  The four of them grew up in the same home, but made
their way to Midnight Vale as individuals.
   The four of them were a lever, and the world, their oyster.  Whichever
mission they undertook found resolution - by any means necessary.
   And this was long before they became Disruptors.
   "Nemanja," The brilliant, creative, and mystifying side of their union,
Kayla, switched out the folder on his desk.  "Take a break.  I sent word to
Liam.  He needs time, but he's coming."
   He offered her a slight smile.  "You know just as well as I do that
we've already waited too long."
   "Don't dwell."
   "I'm not, but we need to get moving.  He can catch up."
   "We're not moving.  The van needs a new transmitter first.  Liam was the
last person to speak to him, and we won't get far if we don't know where he
was going.  A break.  Now."
   Nemanja saluted her and pushed away from his desk.  All of his doubts
would find their clarity once they were together.  All they knew for sure
was that he was on a mission alone.  Knowing who made the request and where
it sent him would help.
   "Wake me if you learn something."
   "When you wake up, I'll tell you."
   ***
   The medicinal bath set Tamarin's skin on fire and made his aches throb
with searing pain, but it was the best way to heal for the journey ahead.
He ducked his face under the water and took firm hold of each side of the
tub.  He could not breathe to scream, and his heart threatened to give up.
   He lifted his head, but did not let go of the tub.  He felt as if
floating, dizzy and unmoored from the pull of gravity.
   Carina paced the floor in front of him.  Her fury had been at a roiling
boil since the judgement.  She had prepared the bath, given him all he
requested, but she had yet to say a single word.
   What could she think to say?  He had kept to his end of the bargain. 
Her debt to Demarius was clear.  The man would bother her no more.
   He stepped out and she roughly applied salve to his back.
   And then the dam broke.  "Was she worth it?"
   "This has to do with my mission."
   "Bullshit.  I take that bitch to the surface and let her fry in the sun.
Mission over."
   Tamarin winced as her fingers applied heavy pressure to a tender spot.
   "Why are you leaving me?" She rounded to stand in front of him and
frowned.  "You have set my home into chaos.  You could make a life for
yourself here.  You could have claimed citizenship.  You accepted exile. 
You want to leave.  We could--"
   He leaned forward and pressed his lips to hers.  "I have enjoyed being
your prisoner, Mistress."
   She smirked a little at that.  "I will miss using you, Disruptor.  Give
me one last pleasure."
   ***
   Victor gently rapped on the door to Severin's study.  He was only acting
on behalf of the cooperative.  How could Severin blame him for this?  What
angered him more?  That the woman was dead or that he had been robbed of
the deed?
   Either way, this latest news would not be in his favor.  Severin and
Charlene could be heard yelling at each other all of yesterday.  Today had
been quiet, but until Victor made his report, he was still counting the
hours of his continued life as a rare fortune.
   "Enter."
   Severin reclined on the brown leather couch.  His hairy thighs spread on
either side of a very familiar woman.  Charlene's freckled back made a
waterfall pattern that ended at her hips.  She had on no clothes, but the
low table blocked the view of her fabled apple-shaped bottom.
   Victor looked at the interaction and felt light-headed.  He stiffened in
his pants, unable to help envying Severin.  It had been too long since he
had a pair of lips around his dick.
   Severin grabbed Charlene by either side of her head and fucked her face.
She made wet sounds each time his dick went down her throat.
   "Drink love," Severin's strained voice whispered.  He went still and his
eyes closed briefly, then he looked to Victor.  "I see you come when called
now."
   Victor bowed his head.  Fuck.  How had they gone from howling to this?
Did they make up?  Did Severin agree with her decision?
   "Have you found my sister?"
   Victor opened his mouth, but nothing beat the simple truth.  "No."
   Severin hummed.  "I have work to do.  Because you can't follow up on
your stupidity, I must leave my beautiful Charlene dripping wet.  Make her
feel better." Severin stood and fastened his pants.  "Understood?"
   Victor frowned.  He wasn't sure how to answer that.  He glanced down at
the woman kneeling on the floor licking her lips.  He expected to be the
gum under Severin's shoe.  Why would he offer his partner to him?
   "You would like that, wouldn't you, Charlene?"
   The freckled woman nodded and focused on Victor's crotch.  "Yes,
please." She reached up to pull and twist on her nipples.
   Was she on something?  Did Victor ever wake when he fell asleep last
night?
   "See to her, Victor." Severin walked by and chuckled.  The door closed,
then a lock clicked into place.
   Fuck.  Something had to be wrong.
   Charlene sat on the couch and pulled on her tits.  "I told you he was
never to find out."
   "He is--"
   She put one long-nailed finger to her lips.  "Only speak to weep my
name. Undress."
   "Charlene, please."
   She waggled her finger.  "You'll know when.  You won't have to think."
She pat the space beside her on the couch.  "Don't make me come to you."
   ***
   Tamarin met Raven at the entrance to the outer corridor.  The door shut
behind them leaving them in a tunnel filled with the humming of distant
machinery and the scurry of small bodies.  Children of the ghost mother, if
his reading bore any truth.  The incorporeal spirits did more to protect
Lilizen's vast wealth than any guard.
   He took her by the hand they began their journey toward the surface. 
She held his hand, but did not look at him.
   Cold night air greeted them on the other side of the tunnel.  He
followed the dirt trail into the thick stand of alpine trees, but paused
before entering the woods.
   He knelt beside an overgrown bush.  "Go to that end, look for a branch
that has been cut."
   She went to the other end, inspected.  "Found it."
   "Pull."
   They each pulled on their end and set off a mechanical whirring.  A
vehicle rose from the false floor, a small jeep, filled with supplies.  He
walked around the vehicle, inspected it for damage or theft.  Even the
provisions hidden under the tarp remained.  It was enough to get them out
the mountains.  He climbed into the driver side and found the key in the
console.
   The star-filled night cast enough light for him to make good time down
the mountain.  The jeep handled the dirt trail with ease, crawling over
rocks, fallen logs, and crossing muddy streams as they made their way.
   "We should hit the road in a few minutes.  When I do, I won't stop for a
while." He parked the jeep.
   Raven hopped out, took a few steps behind a tree.
   The woman he'd fought so hard to protect and free was now under his
care. He couldn't return her, not until he learned who in Elwood wanted her
dead, why his help had been requested and then sabotaged.
   He pulled a box from the back and pulled out water and food, set her
share on the passenger seat.
   ...and how to thaw the layer of ice Raven had come to wear in his
presence.
   When Raven returned, her face was wet with tears.  She snatched the
provisions in her lap and slammed the door.
   Tamarin waited.  She went from silent sniffles to a torrent of tears.
   "Why won't you ask me what's wrong?!" She screamed.
   "We're still on Lilizen land." Tamarin took a breath.  "You'll tell me
if you want me to know."
   More crying.  "I don't know," she put her hand to her chest, "I don't
know what I'm feeling.  What if I'm dreaming?  What if I wake up in
darkness, starving and hurting?"
   He reached over for hand, then put his hand to her cheek.  "Look at me."
   She sniffled and faced him.  He waited until the hitching of breath and
wounded sounds quieted.
   "I'm sorry it took me so long, that you suffered more for my missteps,
but I will not rest until you are safe.  If you wake in darkness, I will
get you to the light.  If you are lost, I will find you.  If you are
dreaming, then I have taught you how to control it.  We are not finished,
Raven."
   "I don't know if being around you is a good thing."
   He smiled and turned to start the jeep.  A good thing?  He grinned.  "Me
neither."
   They hit the smoother trail that would lead them out of the mountains
and down toward the distant lights of Virkane City.
   Raven fell asleep.  Tamarin rolled the window down so that the wind hit
his face, tousled his hair.  He took a lungful of the earthy scent of dirt,
the herbal musk of the trees that had opened their leaves to the night.
   He looked up at the stars through the windshield and tears ran down his
cheeks.  He knew exactly how Raven felt.  Having brushed so intimately
against death, failure, and ruin.
   And to be so unsure how far it followed behind.
   ***
   Raven stared out the window at the pre-dawn sky until her neck hurt. 
How long had it been since she last saw the open sky?  What day was it? 
What season?
   She leaned back in the car and looked at the man, who beyond all odds,
kept his promise.
   "What are we doing now?" She picked through the box of food in her lap.
Dried fruit, nuts, bread.  Each morsel tasted of heaven.
   "We left the official Lilizen territory half an hour ago, but that's
closer than I like.  They make these roads winding on purpose.  One wrong
turn and we could be another 20 miles in the mountains before we have a way
out."
   "What are you?"
   "A Disruptor."
   Raven held her breath, stared straight out the window.  Any second now
he would say he was kidding, but nothing but that answer made sense.  The
confidence, the eerie ability to kill without any weapon, the way he strung
Carina along.
   "From the Vale, Disruptor?  I heard they could not be hired."
   "It's true.  I took up the mission to find you, but then someone from
Elwood said you were to be captured and killed."
   "If that's what ...  someone wanted, why did you fight so hard to keep
me alive?"
   "Because I don't appreciate mixed messages."
   "I left because of that," she took a long pull from the water bottle. 
Hot tears rolled down her puffy cheeks.  "My brother and his partner.  One
loves me, the other hates me.  When our father died, she accused me of
trying to run Elwood through him.  I only want him to succeed.  He doesn't
need me for that."
   Tears ran faster.  She struggled to contain the rising tide of sorrow.
Did her brother think she sought to betray him?  Did he send someone to
find her only to regret his decision?  She left him everything.  Why did
someone have to hunt her down?
   Why didn't he just let her fucking die?  What did she have now?  She was
free, and for what?  To do what?  To go where?  Homeless, unmoored, doomed
to wander Virkane a pariah to all cooperations.
   "There's a small outpost at the foothills.  We'll stop there and rest."
   "What then?"
   For the longest stretch of time, Raven thought he would never answer. 
He cracked his neck and flexed his hands on the wheel.
   "You need time to recover from what you've been through.  Until then, I
will be with you, watching out for you, getting you to a place where you
can stand on your own."
   ***
   She stepped out the shower patting her hair dry, then stood to the
mirror while running moisturizer through the wet strands.
   Tamarin could not help but stare from his spot on the bed.  She was a
beautiful woman: gorgeous, strong, vibrant: Krasotka.
   She stared at him via her reflection.  "Enjoying the view."
   "Greatly."
   "Uh-huh." She finished working the oil into her hair then turned to face
him.  "Am I safe now?"
   "Safer.  You are safe from Lilizen, and you are safe from me."
   Leaving the massive question mark that was her brother, her cooperation,
her friends.  How would they feel about her return?  She wasn't free yet.
   "This route takes me closer to home.  You said I wasn't safe there
either."
   "Someone in Elwood wants you safe, but someone in Elwood wants you dead.
Until I learn which is which, you're right, home is not a place for you,
but we haven't reached that point.  You are alive."
   "And safer." She turned back to mirror and began twirling strands of her
hair around her index finger.  "I'm okay with safer."
   When she turned toward the bed to grab her shirt, his eyes were still
fastened to her body, healthier and better looking each day.  She was a
gorgeous woman.  The return of her health also returned her lush, feminine
shape, but she was made more so by the strength of her will, honesty. 
Those brilliant, expressive brown eyes of hers had wormed their way into
his fantasies.
   "You're staring."
   "Yes," he mumbled, but did not blink nor look away.
   She tossed the shirt aside and made to lay on the bed.  He moved to make
room for her, but she grabbed his hand and placed it on her belly.
   "Why would you stare so hard at something you are loathe to touch?"
   Tamarin slid over the recently moisturized skin, breathed the scent of
spring flowers.  Even at their worse, when he starved while she ate, he
wanted only to save her.  It went deeper than stubbornness, though Tamarin
had plenty of that.  He knew he would never leave the compound without her,
but also that he would never focus with her presence as a constant
distraction.
   Like now.
   "Each time I have touched you has been a pleasure I will never forget."
He sat up and kissed her belly.  "Thank you for the close up." He turned
away from her and tucked the pillow under his head, turned his back to her.
   "Welcome," she mumbled as sleep dragged her down.
   ***
   Severin struggled to keep the bouncing of his leg quiet.  Anger made him
this way, appearing nervous when he was in fact on the brink of blinding
rage.
   Fucking Raven.  What did she think she was doing?  How did she survive
this chemical hole?
   When he learned there may have been a chance his sister survived,
Severin had to see for himself.  Yes, he wanted the traitorous cunt dead,
but he wanted to speak to her first, to look into her eyes as her spirit
departed.
   "The woman you speak of was sold," the Lilizen representative lit the
glass pipe and took a small puff.  "Ah, here, she entered the service of
The Infiltrator." The woman smirked.
   "Who is that?"
   "Unkown, a non-citizen.  He earned his freedom after attempting to steal
from the head Chemist.  It says he killed the elite guard with chained
hands and blind.  No one knew his name or from whence he came."
   "Enough about him.  Raven, is she alive?"
   "Yes, so it says."
   Severin stood and stomped back to his vehicle.  What use did a Disruptor
have for a simple woman?  Did he think he was going to blackmail him for
her return?
   She must have whispered a mountain of lies into his ear, made him
believe she was worth twice more than had been donated to the vale. 
Severin balled his fists, imagining the sound of her voice in his ear.  It
made a lovely tune.
   Or did she use more than words?  His hands shook so greatly that he had
trouble getting hold of the passenger door handle.  What was she doing to
bargain for her life?  He got the door open and plopped into the seat.
   Charlene pulled away, "What did they say?"
   "Don't do anything like this again.  Fucking ...  I would have taken
care of her!"
   "I was trying to help you, love.  Look how upset you are?  Why give her
the chance lie to you?  No Elwood belongs in Lilizen unless she sought to
ruin what you are working so hard to build with the Vucari."
   "We don't know that."
   "I love you, Sev.  I would never do anything to hurt you."
   "I know.  I know you love me, my rose, but I need you to trust that I
love you, and my sister is no threat to that."
   "It's easier for me to believe this when she is dead.  She poisons your
mind and you can barely see it." Charlene took her hand from the steering
wheel and put it in his crotch.  "You need to relax."
   "Leave her to me."
   "Focus on your cooperative.  Who will you send to deal with Vucari's
emissary?"
   Severin unfastened his pants and guided her fingers to his crotch.  "I
want my sister back home."
   Charlene's jaw tensed, but her fingers remained soft and gentle.  "I
have people watching the Vale.  It seems this one took the job alone, but
this is not always the case."
   "Did you have this contingency in mind the whole time?"
   "From the moment you told me how you foolishly called those mercenaries
in to handle family business.  I am working on a possible lead." Chalene
pulled the car over and unfastened her safety belt.  Cars on the road
whizzed by.  "I think only of serving you, even in my failures." Her mouth
sucked him deep.
   ***
   The world was again warm, bright, and soft.  Raven's mind lingered in
the pleasant landing of what had began as a turbulent nightmare.  She cooed
happily and snuggled against the warm body that pressed to her backside.
   Raven's eyes opened.  How could a dream cause so much anxiety?
   The reality was easy.  She lay in the arms of the man who saved her. 
Why was he still with her?  How much could she trust him?  Who had really
sent him?  Sudden fear blossomed.  How could she say she trusted anyone? 
Her own brother, a man she loved all her life, flesh and blood, had
condemned her to death.
   And here she lay so seamlessly in another man's embrace, a man who
clearly did not want her.  Free from sexual service and she seemed keen to
return.  Memories overwhelmed: shame, violence, worry, hunger, madness.
   "Raven."
   His voice.  Always so commanding and calm.
   "Exhale."
   The wind rushed from all points of her body.
   "Inhale."
   Then back inside.  Ocean waves, languid crashes of oxygen flowing
through her skin.
   Raven woke up.  Wiped her eyes.  The fields passed by on either side,
the mountains in the rear view.  No hotel room.  Even if there had been,
she would never sleep in his arms like that.
   "Sorry." She wasn't sure for what, but given the dream she'd been
having, she wasn't sure if she made any noise, or if he ever actually
called her name.
   "Are you all right?"
   Long sigh.  "I don't think so.  I thought I was awake from a dream that
had been a nightmare.  Then the nightmare started again, but it was ...  I
thought I was awake."
   How could he sleep so freely with that sadistic bitch but turn her away?
Was he disgusted by her?
   If so, could she blame him?  He'd seen her at her worse, torn to shreds.
Maybe all he saw was a damaged girl he had to protect.  Glowing words of
praise, but otherwise, the man had no actions to back it up.
   "The wave effect.  It's common once you learn to alter your dreams. 
Once you relinquish your power, the dream returns to its fretful state. 
You gave up that power because, as you said, you thought you were awake."
   Tamarin reached over and took her hand in his.  "Even when you are
awake, you have a measure of control, not as powerful as the sleep state,
but light years beyond nothing.  Do not give up your power, not when awake,
not when asleep.  Do all things intent on controlling the outcome."
   Raven leaned back in the seat and looked down at their joined hands.
   If only.
   ***
   Tamarin waited in the jeep while Raven walked away to use the restroom.
He knew what he promised her, and what his mission stated.  Each day the
line he walked thinned.  Soon it would become a gossamer web.
   Raven had been through hell, and most of it had been his fault.  Though
she was free of Lilizen, he could not walk away from her.  He wasn't ready
to return home.  He couldn't bring himself to call even those closest to
him and articulate the intricacy of his troubles.
   In many ways, she was just a normal woman, not too similar or different
from the many in his past.  And yet, in all the others she was a rainbow, a
ray of first light, the sparkle of early morning frost.  Plain, simple, and
consistent in its beauty.
   He was drawn to her, and for no clear reason other than she was simply
herself.  He was fortunate that she still had need of him, but wary of how
much longer that would be the case.  No matter the reason or the rhyme,
Tamarin would protect her, get her some place where she would not have to
look over her shoulder.
   Close, but no closer.  She had been abused, taken advantage of, hurt. 
Tamarin knew better to add himself to the specter of her nightmares.  She
needed his help, and nothing but.  His selfish intentions would have to sit
on a shelf.
   "You want anything from inside?" She scowled as she exited the service
station.
   He shook his head with a smirk.
   Everything about her intrigued him.
   She hopped back into the jeep and restocked the cooler.  "Where are we
going?"
   "Midnight Vale." Tamarin kept talking though his heart seized.  Why had
he said that?!  "It's secluded, protected, and you will be safest there. 
We will have to brush very close to Elwood territory, but we won't stop.  I
have others who can help me find out why I was set up."
   "How do you know it's the safest?"
   Tamarin's heart pounded.  He searched his mind for every other place,
even the heart of the city, a neutral center, but no.  There was only one
place he wanted her.  "It's my home."
   "And when we get there ...  to your home.  What happens to me?"
   Tamarin pulled away from the service station and stared at the road
ahead, the massive stretch disappearing under the hood.  How should he
answer?  The way he felt?  The way that would put her at ease?  Could he
begin to betray her by telling her he did not want her to leave him?
   "I will protect you until you have no need for me."
   ***
   Raven turned to look out the window.  Her eyes burned, the view of trees
and farmland wavered behind a thick film of water.  The answer hit her
harder than she expected.  The deeply hidden hope flared like a brush fire.
Why did she care so much that he would stay with her?  Why did a stranger
care so fucking much more than her own brother?
   She sniffled and stilled.  She knew damn well he could tell that she was
crying.  He'd been present for so many of her tears.  As usual, he said
nothing.  He didn't pull her into an insufferable breathing exercise.
   Her lungs expanded.  Not that she didn't need one.  What if he thought
she was upset for a different reason?
   "Just need?" She turned to look at him.
   "When you no longer need me, ask yourself if you really want me.  Then
we can visit that question."
   She cradled her hands under her head and stared up at the blue sky and
high, wispy clouds.  She didn't want to wait until then.
   ***
   The smell of him was like this place.  Woods after a spring rain, soil,
vegetation, and sunlight.  Warm and humid and calm.  She put her arm around
him, around the massive fortress he built around her.
   Awake?  Raven thought so, but she did not want to give away her control.
What would happen next?  Perhaps he'd learn better than to make her think
she could control something as massive as reality.
   She leaned closer and pressed her lips to his.
   His eyes cracked open and he smiled down at her.
   "I'm getting wet lying here beside you." Raven whispered.  "Touch me."
   He palmed her ass, pulled her thigh over his waist.
   It wasn't a lie.  Everything about Tamarin aroused her.  He made her
feel powerful and bold when she was anything but.
   What if she was really awake?
   His fingers slid over his slick labia and his tongue entered her mouth.
   Dreaming.  Definitely.  If she was awake this would never have happened.
   In that case.
   "I want you to fuck me.  You don't fuck me enough."
   "Tell me what you want." He rolled on top of her and twisted his fingers
inside her.
   "I need you, fuck." Tears welled in her eyes.  "I don't want to lose
you."
   "You can't."
   She moaned as he penetrated her, filled her.
   "I will always be with you."
   Time seemed to stand still.  A sense of safety and peace washed over
her, thrust into her by his arrogant insistence.  It sent a hum through her
body.  His strength kept her whole.  No one was around to hate her for
having him.  No one existed to compete for his affection.
   How did she know?
   Because it was her dream.
   He penetrated her, growling low in his throat.  A shiver ran down her
spine.  She wanted him so much, wanted the dream, wanted the reality.  Each
moment, controlled.
   "Fuck me like I belong to you."
   He held her tighter and breathed in her ear.  "Like this?"
   She could only mumble in response.  Perfect position, perfect thrust. 
She was about to lose it.  About to ...
   Raven gasped and blinked her eyes open.  She stared at the dark,
plastered ceiling.  She put a hand to her chest.  Her heart was running a
mile a minute and she did not need to check the source of the moisture
between her thighs.
   Fuck.  Maybe she did.
   Raven tossed the blankets back and locked herself in the bathroom.  She
mouthed the word, 'fuck' as she wiped the blood from between her legs.
   A dream.  Of course.
   ***
   "Thank you." She took the bag from Tamarin and retreated to the
bathroom. She dumped the bag's contents and opened the menstrual cup.  She
hadn't put tea on the list, only mentioned in passing how she missed having
a some around to ease her discomfort.  With a soft, smile she set the tea
aside and looked at the clothing he picked out.  All sensible, durable
pieces.
   When she left, he entered to get a shower.  He emerged ten minutes later
with a black absorbent cloth tied around his waist and a few drops of water
clinging between his shoulders.  His muscles rippled as he used a smaller
towel through his hair.
   Moments like this she recalled their darker time together: the
intensity, ferocity, and skill he used to protect her.  He murdered,
fought, and perhaps fucked his way through their enemies.  Yet, beyond
small conversations about their travels, small parks they stopped in to
exercise, travel plans for the day - he said nothing about then, about the
past, nor about his home.
   Memories of a reality that wasn't plagued her.  Damn, that had been one
hell of a dream.  Was that the way he really felt inside her?  She'd been
wholly insane when he took her.  Robbed.
   "Tamarin?"
   He hummed and turned to face her.
   "Why did you ...  why haven't you been with me other than when you were
ordered to?"
   He opened his bag and pulled out a pair of heavy cotton shorts that he
wore to bed.  Those fucking things drove her to distraction with the way it
outlined the swell of his flaccid cock.
   She waited.  Time with him taught her that he would answer when he was
ready.
   "I enjoy a woman's embrace, greatly.  A woman's value is not in who she
takes to bed, or does not - or in what order - despite what most others may
think.  Your spirit needed to remain whole, and no matter what happened to
your body, I wanted to preserve your mind.  We did as we needed to
survive."
   Raven twisted the end of her sleep shirt around her fingers.  Would she
have been so comfortable in his presence any other way?  Sleeping beside
him, traveling with him, her complete trust in him?
   "Thank you."
   She employed deep, slow breaths as she thought more on his consideration
for her spirit.
   Tamarin sat to the side table and poured over the road maps.  His bare
arms braced the bulk of his weight.
   "Do you find me attractive though?" An ache formed in her chest.  She
chewed on the inside of her bottom lip as she braced for the diplomatic
response.  He'd probably say he found all women beautiful.  Why would she
put him in this position?
   "Never mind, don't answer that." She cleared the bed, set her belongings
aside.
   "I'm going to, but I want to know what prompted the question."
   Raven huffed and closed her eyes.  "I," she shook her head and laughed.
The faster she got this over with the better.  She smiled, maybe it was
because he was as close, if not closer than her own brother.  Seen her at
her worse, almost better, night after night by her side.  "I was dreaming
about you, and wondering why you hadn't slept with me.  I was sure I was
awake until you..."
   "Stop making the distinction."
   "Easy for you to say!"
   Tamarin left the maps and sat on the bed.  "Harder to do.  I've been
working at it a lifetime.  Things are either going to go my way or will, if
I keep trying.  Awake, asleep.  I can't let go of that notion for a
second." He lay down until she could see him.  "Thank you.  I like the way
you dream of me."
   She'd show him.  "Being around you, especially now, drives me crazy.  I
find you so damn attractive.  I want you to want me." No doubt, no
indecision, just the warm haze of insanity.
   She got on her knees and pulled her shirt over her head.
   Tamarin got up and went to the bathroom.
   For a tranquilizer, probably.  This man had to learn the hard way that
wanting something didn't make it so.
   He came back with a towel and pulled the covers back.  He pulled her
toward him and kissed her hard.  When he released her, he brushed his lips
over hers, licked along her bottom lip.  She whimpered as he sucked her
tongue into his mouth.
   "That's what I was waiting for, krasotka." He stepped out of his
trousers and his heavy erection strained toward the ceiling.
   "What did you just call me?"
"Krasotka: beautiful, vibrant, brilliant."
   "Wait," she rubbed her cheek along her shoulder.  "Am I ...  you?"
   "Do you want to take that cup out, or want me to do it for you?"
   "Shit.  This is really happening.  I'll be right back." Raven ran to the
bathroom and pulled the cup out.  She nearly jumped back into the bed.
   "Tell me.  I want to hear it."
   He lay on top of her and kissed her, softly at first, then going deeper
with each passing moment.  He held her tight, cradling her as their faces
rubbed together.
   "I want you with me, Raven, even when you don't need me."
   ***
   Tamarin could not help himself.  He kissed those luscious, pouting lips.
She was so warm and soft, like brushing his mouth against smoothest satin.
Holding her so close he could feel her pulse, basking in the heat of her
body, smell her sweet scent.
   Everything about her was intoxicating, even her doubt and stormy moods.
How much longer could he have waited to hear those words?  That she wanted
him?  Fuck, he never wanted her to regret it.
   He groaned possessively as he deepened the kiss, seeking entrance to her
warmth.  He wanted to make her scream and squeal and melt.
   ***
   Raven reached between their bodies for his cock.  It was this simple the
whole time?  He could have been hers for the mere fucking request?  Her
head rolled back as the head of his cock rubbed up and down her slit.
   When her father left the majority of Elwood rule to her, the derision,
doubt, and envy from Charlene smothered her.  The woman looked at her with
a look of murder.  Raven wanted her brother to lead and wanted to help him
do that, but not at the risk of her life.
   In Lilizen, she became a pack animal, working all hours of the day or
night, or both.  As Sung Li's doll, she was used to exhaustion born from
pleasure.  When she was a prisoner, she had become a pawn in his game.
   Tamarin's game.  Every time he made no secret of the assertion.  He
would free her.  He did free her.  To Tamarin, she was always the point,
the goal.  A focus so fine not even she could distract him from it.
   She rolled him onto his back and played in his hair, caressed his face,
played in the soft hairs on his chest, plucked at his nipples.  She worked
the thick shaft of his erection deeper inside her, working up to the
anticipation of having him - lucid, sane, and a memory to recall in darker
times.
   This was reality.
   "You should fuck me more.  You don't fuck me enough.  I like it." A high
sound left her throat at the admission.  She loved it so much.
   ***
   The tiny sound in the back of her throat put him on edge.  He needed to
hear those words so much.  He needed to be inside her, to have her closer
than merely next to him as he slept.  He wanted to drown in her affection,
to make her convulse with pleasure according to her desire, not counter to
it.
   And she granted him the freedom to do just that.
   His hands circled her hips, hands squeezed and tugged on her ass.  Raven
stilled as he reverently explored her body.  While she seemed appeased with
a quick romp, Tamarin had much larger goals in mind.
   He pulled her down until their noses touched.  "I want you, Raven.  I
crave you."
   She widened her thighs and pressed down onto him.  "I'm yours because I
want to be yours."
   Fuck.  Yes.
   He nibbled along the side of her neck, palmed her breast, grasped her
ass.  She moaned low and deep as he fucked her, worked her into a frenzy.
Memory of fucking her: fast, efficient, his only goal to get her off, to
soothe her pain.  She thought that the best feeling in the world.  She had
no idea.
   Tamarin bucked in an attempt to bury deeper inside her with each stroke,
to reach her soul.  He clasped her tight, and claimed her mouth.  His cock
throbbed inside her.  They kissed, their tongues writhing along each other
as her hips sank onto him.
   She gasped with need, a climax out of reach.  Her mouth fell open and
head reared back as she rode him.  Smooth, confident, free.
   He repositioned their bodies until she lay on her stomach and he lay
over her back.  While kissing and nibbling her shoulder, he pressed the
head of his cock at the opening of her pussy.
   The slick shaft parted her and stretched her anew.  Her breath caught in
her throat as reentered her.
   "I'll fuck you enough," he whispered.  "I don't know much longer I could
have waited."
   "You can have me as much as you want."
   Groaning, he held her tight in his embrace.  His fingers dug into her
shoulder as he rocked into her.  He couldn't get enough.  He kissed along
her jaw to her neck.
   "Yes, fuck me." She arched her hips back to meet his thrusts.  She
balled her fists into the sheets, clenching hard on his cock.  "Please,
yes." She moaned in carnal satisfaction.
   She writhed and gasped under him, propelled by his force, her pussy
squished each time he bottomed out inside her.  She flushed with passion,
beads of sweat rolled down her spine.
   "Come inside me."
   "Not so fast.  You're coming with me." He flipped her over and buried
back inside her in one smooth motion.  He rocked inside her, kissing her,
holding her with his iron grip.
   "Tamarin, take your pleasure."
   He was not one to disobey.  He thrust quick into her warm pussy, and it
was not long until a deep grunt came from his throat.  He pulled out as he
came and shot his ejaculate over her belly.
   Their breaths came in deep gasps leaving them in the wake of a warm
afterglow.
   Raven wrapped her arms around him.  "Thank you."
   He grinned and kissed her on the forehead.  "My pleasure, but I meant
what I said."
   "What's that?"
   "You're coming with me." He shifted down until he was between her open
thighs.
   She bolted upright.  "Hey.  Wait.  You see this towel down here, right?"
   "Right.  That's what the towel is for." He leaned forward and flicked
his tongue under her clitoris, kissed lower, lapping at her.  He focused on
her slit, licking suckling from her.
   He went so slow that Raven wasn't sure of his goal, but she was content
to lie back and enjoy it.  He pushed a finger inside her and she released a
low moan.  He worked one, then two, and then three fingers inside her, but
did not move them.  Her hips shifted of their own volition, a little, then
more, until she was fucking both his mouth and hand.
   She balled her fists into the sheets and her thighs trembled.  "Ugh,"
she attempted to fuck the hand inside her even more.
   He looked over her flushed body, her outer labia wrapped around his
mouth.  He knew what he was doing, what he sought to accomplish.
   Raven grabbed his head by either side and let loose, fed him from her
wet pussy.
   That's when he pulled away.
   She frowned, lay spread on the bed, confused.
   He reached down and stroked his cock.  "Stroke yourself, Raven.  Come
on, don't calm down now."
   She rubbed her clitoris, but it only made her pussy hungrier to be
fulfilled.
   Tamarin sank inside her, but leaned back to give her fingers space to
work.  She was moaning again, and would continue to do so as long as he
continued to target that spot.
   She removed her fingers and grabbed his ass.  "Harder."
   He stared down as he pounded her pussy.  She was the most beautiful in
the throes of passion, especially one denied to her for so long.
   He slipped his hand between their bodies and took over the task of
rubbing her clitoris.  It didn't take much longer for her to reach that
peak.  She screamed as he drilled into her.  She gave herself over to the
purity of ecstasy.  Wave after wave of pleasure ran through her body.  He
kept up with the force of each thrust, pulling out all the way before
ramming into her.
   "This is all for you, Raven." He maintained an even pace until the
moment of his own orgasm.
   She cradled against his chest, felt his heavy breath on her shoulder. 
He brushed her hair back.  Though her eyes were closed, she felt as if she
could see him, as if they were connected.
   "Are you all right?"
   "Mmm," she said in expression of her contentment.
   "My krasotka." He turned them onto their side and tucked her into his
arms.  "I know exactly how you feel."
   ***
   Raven stared at the dark brown curls on Tamarin's chest.  Reality, a
dream.  Strangely, these had become one.  That night marked the best sex of
her life: erotic, passionate, pure.
   And yet, had Sung Li been right?  Did she crave sex whether she wanted
it or not?  Was she depraved in both mind and body?
   Raven had slept with her fair share of men, but nothing compared to
Tamarin.  She ran her fingers through the short hair surrounding his
breastbone.  It had been intense, like a long-felt craving finally
satisfied.
   Isn't that what he said?  That he craved her?
   Goodness, what was wrong with her?  Could she be close to anyone without
sleeping with them?
   "Nightmares or dreams?" Tamarin mumbled.
   "Daymare.  I'm not dreaming."
   "Because you'd be more in control?"
   "I'm not sure what control means anymore."
   "Examine the concept." He shifted and put his arm around her,
surrounding by comfort as he usually did.  "It is what you can control. 
You."
   "But reality is," she sighed.  "I'll examine it."
   "I lay awake some nights wondering if keeping you with me is a wise
decision." He opened his eyes.  "In my dreams, I do everything in my power
to make it so."
   What was happening to her?  She reached up to caress his cheek then
hugged him tight.
   And then with the fucking tears.  They started and Raven didn't know
from where.  The emotion crumpled all her defenses like a wrecking ball.
   He cradled her face deeper into his chest and held her as tears, and
more, wet the space between them.
   "I wish I could go back," she said.  "I want to rewind it all to the
moment I made my brother want to kill me.  My," the sobs took over and she
couldn't catch her breath long enough to complete the thought.  "I've
created a mess."
   He pulled a few napkins over and wiped her face.  "It's good to know
what you want.  You want answers.  Hold onto that.  When the time comes, be
ready to pose the question."
   She took the next few napkins and cleaned his chest.  "So," she drew a
rattled breath.  "Does a disruptor break many hearts?"
   "Not that I know."
   "Hymens?"
   He chuckled.  "More than normal, I'd guess."
   "Don't play shy with me."
   "I've ushered a few flowers into the lush meadows of life."
   "A poet." She nestled beside him.
   He squeezed her tight.  "I don't want to break anything of yours.  This
is what matters."
   ***
   "Where's the fucking fire?" Liam said as he climbed into Kayla's
recreation vehicle.  "I told you I'd be there."
   "Just sit down.  Nemanja was tired of waiting."
   Liam tossed his bag onto the table and slid into the booth.  "Somebody
misses me.  What's going on?"
   "Tamarin.  Whatever it is.  We need to handle this in-house.  Too many
leaking pipes."
   Liam crawled between the passenger and driver seats.  "That explains why
you didn't tell me over the phone.  What's the plan?"
   "We don't know what the situation is.  I was on assignment all winter."
   Kayla said, "I was off shore."
   "Recon.  Got it," said Liam.  "What was his last target?"
   "We were hoping he told you," Nemanja said.
   "The last I heard he was researching Lilizen visitor protocol."
   "Behavioral graphs?"
   Nemanja said, "I've got them under the table back there.  Yellow
folder."
   Liam searched the seats until he found it and flipped through them.
   "I graphed the mission a success.  Lilizen upheaval has been in all the
journals."
   "If the timing is accurate, then it wasn't a simple retrieval mission.
Something went wrong."
   ***
   Outside the jeep window trees, farmland, and fields gave way to general
stores and neighborhoods.  It had been a week since the nightmare that had
been Lilizen, but it carried on in dreams, in echoes.  Her past haunted her
and her future loomed like a dark cloud.
   No one pursued them.  No one knew she was alive.  Their day trips and
their path was leisurely and winding.  He often stopped near trails and
springs where they went walking, sight seeing, took in a swim.  Once they
reached the towns he found a place to sleep by early afternoon and provided
her plenty of time to relax.
   Not this time though.  They'd gone out for a short walk that turned into
a long, muggy hike.  By the time they got back to the room, they were both
worn to the bone.
   ***
   Raven sniffed a little then stepped out of the worn shoes and lifted the
sweat stained shirt overhead.  Both were tired from the day's surprise
heat, but Tamarin could only stare.  She looked so beautiful doing the most
ordinary things.
   He had something special tucked away for just such an occasion.  Tamarin
pulled the long, thin bottle from his bag.  He used two of the paper cups
to pour equal portions of the distilled purple berries.
   With a low groan, Raven flounced on the stiff couch beside him.  She
took the cup in hand, sniffed the contents, then took a small sip.  She
turned to look at him with a half smile.
   Tamarin smirked and took a sip of his own.  It was encouraging that she
knew how to appreciate a good syrup.  "I like to get a bottle of this
whenever I have time."
   "We have the time now?"
   "I'm making it."
   "I like the way you make time." She leaned on his shoulder.
   "Sure you want to get that close?"
   "Oh, I've smelled you far worse."
   He chuckled.  "Likewise, my krasotka." He put one arm around her and
rested on her shoulder.  They sipped from their cups as the sun set outside
the window.  Evening fell on an empty bottle, and with them curled around
each other, half dressed, musky and sweaty.
   Tamarin traced small circles on her thigh, and nudged her head back so
that he could kiss her cheeks.  His cock stiffened to the sound of her low
moan.  His other hand traced the edge of her areola, making tighter circles
around her hardening nipples.
   "I think we should move this to the shower."
   He took in her naked frame, memorizing every swell, every scar.  He
followed her into the bathroom and joined her under the spray of water. 
Both of them silent as warm water cascaded down.
   No words as they dried off, left the bathroom and tumbled into bed. 
Tamarin lay on his back and Raven huddled next to him.
   ***
   Raven traced the scars on his chest with her finger tip.  Some were
pitted, others shiny and stretched.
   Little in the way of fact was known about the 'bringers of chaos' or
Disruptors.  When you had a problem that the authorities or your own
cooperation could not solve, they were the ones people went to with their
donations and packets describing the problem.  When or if anyone answered
the request, or how, could remain a mystery for years.
   Where would she fit into such a place?  Did he even think about that?
   "There's smoke rising from your head." His softly spoken words slurred.
   She crawled on top of him to kiss him.  His hands rounded her body, one
squeezed her ass while the other rubbed her back.  She rubbed her lips to
his, then deepened the kiss.  He devoured her mouth, sucking on her tongue,
penetrating her mouth with his own.  She ground her crotch on him, ran her
fingers through his damp hair.
   "I don't know why I can't get enough of you," she mumbled.
   "Don't know why you'd bother." He adjusted so that he could slip inside
her.  He bent forward and sucked her nipple into his mouth, rolling the
hard nub between his teeth until he had her squirming and moaning.
   Raven rolled her hips, closed her eyes, and luxuriated in the languid
pace of their bodies combined by the fluid state caused by the blackberry
syrup.  She was both filled and surrounded by him: his passion, his body,
his adoration.  His firm hands put her right where she needed to be.
   In their first days together, much of it spent in profound darkness. 
She could sense his presence by scent and sound, later the inflection and
timber of his voice.  She'd thought her motives selfish at the time,
feeding him from her fingers, hungry for the smallest physical connection.
All the time, he never said how poorly he was being treated.
   He guided her up and down, the wet sound of their joining filled the
room.  "How's that?"
   "Perfect." She braced her hands on his shoulders and rode his cock,
squeezing with her vaginal muscles, gripped him tight each time he buried
inside her.  She worked her body over his, memorizing each moment, each
sensation.  She would need to in order to carry these memories into her
dreams.
   He groaned and dug his fingers into her.  "My krasotka," he breathed. 
He wrapped his arms tight around her bringing her flush with his body.
   The skin where their bodies touched hummed.  Her spine seemed to fizzle
with energy.  Her legs went taunt and her body shuddered.  Sensation
overwhelmed her and everything about Tamarin consumed her mind.  She
whimpered and moaned incoherently as she sought more sensation, more
pleasure, a deeper connection to him.
   ***
   Tamarin eased his hold on her as Raven came apart on his cock.  Her
breast bounced, hair tossed about, lips parted, eyes squinted shut as she
gasped for air.  Her skin glistened with sweat and her guttural moans were
music to his ears.
   Long after the fireworks, Tamarin held her wet body to his, relishing in
the mild aftershocks of pleasure that made her shiver.  He rolled over,
still deep inside her, and stretched out with her.  He kissed her swollen
lips, breathed deep the aroma of their lust.
   "Round two?" She nuzzled under his chin and nipped at his neck.
   "Whenever you're ready."
   ***
   Sung Li's fingers had firm hold of her head.  The shaft of his cock slid
in and out of her mouth, saliva dripped down her chin onto his balls.  It
turned cool on her fingers, but she did not let that keep her from
caressing and massaging his scrotum.  Each gentle squeeze had his legs
twitching and tensing in pleasure.
   "Yes," he breathed as she suckled upon him.  "Deep now.  Yes?"
   Raven opened her mouth wider and braced herself as his cock slid over
her tongue to the back of her throat.  He laced his fingers through her
hair and whimpered each time.  He watched as if mesmerized by some magic
trick.  She understood the fascination as she was equally amazed at how
easy it had become to swallow him.
   When he went deep, her fingers quested further back until she teased the
ring of his ass, making him twitch and whimper even more.
   Unable to contain himself any longer, he went back to fucking her face,
growling and mewling.  He muttered in Lilizen, half curses and praises,
pure delirium of lust.  Raven sucked hard on and reached up to grab his
nipples, pulling and twisting while he used her face.
   Sung Li pulled away before he could come and went to his knees.  He
kissed her hard, licking at her lips and chin, tasting what she had become
familiar with.
   It was her fault that Sung Li kept her so close, that he never let her
go.  If only she had not been so good at making him come.  If only she were
uglier, less kind.  Perhaps he would have picked some other woman.  She
made excuses, but the only reason she was locked away as his sex toy was
because she enjoyed it.
   Sung Li tossed her onto the bed and spread her legs open.  His tongue
lapped at her wet pussy.  He hummed as he drank from her.  He never made
quick work of her, always languid, perfect.  He was going to make her come
hard, again, as always, until she craved the sensation of his cock filling
her.
   Raven fisted her hands in her hair.  If she was going to lay here under
him, why not enjoy it?  Why did he have to turn something that felt so good
into a weapon?
   Why did he have to be here at all?
   The door opened behind them.  The light from the room outlined the hard,
lean body.  Soft brown curls on his head.
   "That's enough.  She belongs to me now." Tamarin walked into the room,
naked, his thick cock bobbing in the air.
   Sung Li frowned and went to the floor, but he bowed his head and crawled
away.
   "It will be okay, Raven." He crawled over her body, rubbed the head of
his cock up and down her slit.  "You belong to me." He lifted her head so
that she could watch his rigid shaft slide inside her.  Her pussy swelled
and weeped to have him inside her.  "You can be my fuck doll.  Is this what
you want?"
   "Yes.  I want you." She wrapped her legs around his waist and clung to
him.  She wanted him to fuck her.  She wanted to feel good with him.
   He braced his arms on either side of her head and slid in and out of
her. Under her hands the muscles on his back flexed and tightened.  When
Tamarin's cock filled her she felt nothing but euphoria, none of the
previous doubts or questions surfaced.  Deep within him lay founts of sex,
power, and danger.  That's what Raven wanted.
   She sucked Tamarin's tongue into her mouth.  She would give her body to
this man any time he wanted.  He would protect and cherish her.  She moaned
into their kiss as he filled her.
   "I belong to you," she moaned.
   "Come on my cock."
   Her mind echoed that this was not Tamarin, that she was not enjoying it,
that she was a prisoner trapped under a mountain.
   'I am with Tamarin.  This is the way he makes me feel.'
   "Fuck me harder," Raven cried out.  He drove her over the edge of her
climax set her to moaning and screaming.
   ***
   "What the fuck do you mean gone?!" Severin growled.
   "Liam disappeared before returning to the Vale.  No one knows where he
was headed or aware that he had other plans."
   "What about the other one?  Nemanja?"
   "I've had people trying to find him and ask about Liam.  He's not
around."
   Severin took a deep breath, but it did nothing to ward off the headache.
"You have one day to get a lead and work on it.  I have no more patience
for failure."
   "I will find out who took your request."
   Severin tossed his phone aside and growled.  After all this waiting the
old man was finally out of his way.  He was supposed to be running Elwood
with his sister by his side.
   Victor.  That's where he went wrong.  The imbecile acted on his own
without coming to him first.
   The hinges of his door hummed as someone entered.
   He turned around with a huff, ready to send whoever it was back on their
way.
   Charlene smirked and pushed the door shut behind her.
   Words of anger and irritation stuck in his throat.  She was naked, stark
naked, head to toe.
   "I have news," she kneeled on his couch and leaned over the back rest.
   "Your news makes me nervous." He stood behind her and smoothed his hand
down the backs of her thighs.  Even when he was his most furious, he could
not turn away the promise of her flesh.  If only she could come to love his
sister as he did.
   "All I offer today is for your pleasure."
   He grabbed her by the hips and pulled her wet pussy down on his cock. 
He groaned and yanked her back until he reached her depths.  When had he
taken out his cock?  Some time during the trance state he entered as soon
as she walked through the door.  Severin never liked to have anything
between him and his woman.
   "I am here only to please you."
   "Fuck." He looked down at his dark cock, glistening and coated in her
cream.  He focused on the way her dark lips wrapped around him.  He snapped
his hips faster, drilling deep.  She was just what he needed, the perfect
way to unwind.
   Her pussy spasmed as she found pleasure from his cock.
   "That's it." He dug his fingers into her ass.  "Take my cock."
   She opened her mouth, but for several long seconds no sound emerged, and
then she wailed, screamed as fluid gushed down her thighs.
   He filled her shortly after with his ejaculate, pumped deep inside her,
then rolled onto the couch.  "Please me."
   "Your sister has been found alive."
   Severin jumped to his feet.  "Where?"
   Charlene's serene expression hardened.  "Near the city center."
   Severin pulled up his pants, tucked his shirt in and fastened his belt.
"Who do we have near there?  I want them in position now.  Mobilize the
nearest unit."
   "The nearest flock is in Virkane for negotiations with the Vucari.  This
meeting is too sensitive to--"
   Severin grabbed her by the throat and clicked his tongue.
   "Yes, of course, my love."
   "When they find her I want a full account of anyone helping her." He let
her go and pointed to the door.  "Get to it before I think too deeply about
why my sister left in the first place."
   ***
   Raven smacked Tamarin's hand as he reached for another mozzarella stick
on her plate.  "Stop stealing, damn it."
   He smiled and made another grab for it anyway.  "Come on.  One more,
please?"
   "Told you to get your own."
   "I like yours better."
   She huffed and picked up the fried cheese snack.  "Open up."
   "Ah," he said with a smirk.  Then, "Mmm."
   "Don't steal anymore.  These are my favorite."
   "I count myself fortunate."
   Her lips curled in a tight smile.  Was he teasing her, placating her, or
did he truly mean it?
   She took a bite of her stick and held the other half out to him.
   "I'm good.  I want to watch you enjoy it."
   She giggled and put the cheese stick in her mouth.  "Mmm," she sang with
exaggerated pleasure.  "Ooh, this is so good."
   "Yeah, you look far better than they taste."
   She smiled and sat up, finished her food.  "Thank you."
   "Why the change in mood?" He picked up his spoon and returned to his
soup.
   "Control.  If I took that any further and if you told me to fuck you
right here in this restaurant, I would have, but if I stopped now, I could
maintain control."
   "Whichever decision, if you want it, is yours, even if you share it with
me."
   "Would you do that?" The fried cheese stick wasn't as awesome as it had
been when he watched her enjoy it.
   "Ask you to fuck me, or actually fuck you right here, right now?"
   "Either ...  both."
   "I'd do it, but only if you wanted me to."
   "What if what I want isn't the right thing to do?"
   "That's your call, one I will always trust and support."
   Raven looked around the restaurant and entertained the thought in her
mind.  The scandalous gasps, the authorities taking them to a holding
facility.  Word of her name and organization...
   "I don't want to be interrupted."
   He nodded.
   "People are looking for me, best I not make a local legend of myself."
   He grinned.  "Whatever you want."
   Raven rubbed her fiery cheeks.  She could not tell if he was just
playing, and she never would.
   ***
   "Hey." Tamarin stroked the back of her hand.
   Raven frowned and opened her sleep swollen eyes.
   "We're here."
   She rubbed her eyes and looked around.  "Where is here?"
   "Something nicer than the last one."
   She grinned.  He could have pulled over on the side of the road and beat
that.  The last overnight room was so filthy that they slept in the car. 
The other nearest alternative skirted too close to Elwood territory.
   Though they were staying in the city, they never stayed in the same
place for more than one night.  They spent the day exploring, walking
around - vacationing in the neutral heart of Virkane, each day edging a
little closer to the path that would take them through the city to the far
south region that contained Midnight Vale.
   He grabbed their packs out of the back and walked with her under his
arm. This one was nestled in the parks, away from the main road.
   She grinned as they stepped into the tiny cabin: fully furnished, cozy,
surrounded by trees and wildlife.  "Far nicer." She went through the rooms
and closets.
   When she reached the bathroom, she squealed.  "I feel cleaner already."
She turned the faucets and water thundered into the bathtub.  "Bath time,"
she purred as she untied her dress and let it pool at her feet.
   She smiled and leaned on the door frame down the hall from him.
   "Check the cabinets for salts or oils.  I'll join you in a bit."
   Raven found a restorative salve under the cabinet and added it to the
bath.  She tugged her hair back but huffed as the sides were still too
short to twist into a bun.  Soon though, but years before she regained the
length she'd lost.
   She dipped her toes into the deep bath.  Perhaps a bit too warm.  She
adjusted the knobs and pressed the button for circulating jets.
   ***
   Tamarin locked up the jeep and checked the locks on the cabin doors and
windows.  He undressed on his way to the bathroom, the smell of mint and
lemongrass grew stronger.  He shed the last of his clothes and stood
staring at Raven, up to her neck in warm water.
   He sat on the edge, both his feet in the water.
   She opened her eyes and smirked.
   "Come kneel right here." He angled his cock down and waved it side to
side.
   She shifted in the water and kneeled.  He gasped as she leaned over to
take his cock.  She moaned and sucked him into her mouth, arching her hips
back toward the stream of firm water on her pussy.
   He tugged on the pitiful bundle of hair, sending the strands cascading
down her head.  He caressed her scalp as she worked his cock deep into her
throat and fucked the stream of water at her rear.
   Raven lifted her head.  "I want you."
   He pulled her into his arms.
   She stood and pointed to the back side of the tub that attached to a
tiled shelf.  "Sit there." Once he was in position she sat in his lap and
bounced on his cock.  She growled as her orgasm pulled on her, lustful,
wanton.  Fuck, she needed so much more.  She whimpered like a puppy.
   He stood with one arm under her breasts.  "Kill the jets."
   She leaned forward and hit the off button.
   He pulled out and turned her around.  "Put your legs around me." He held
her by the ass, then slid her down his cock.
   "Fuck," she whined.
   "Yeah, damn right." He rocked her body onto him, picking up the pace a
little more each time.  Her climax was intense and prolonged.  She clung to
him even through the delirium of her orgasm.
   Tamarin drew deep breaths as he held her, as if there were more he
wanted to do or say.  It was as if she could feel his emotion in his body,
the purity of his desire.
   If she was dreaming, then it was a great one.
   ***
   "I don't see how a pile of children's blocks works into this whole chaos
thing."
   Tamarin placed a final block on his lop-sided structure.  "Your choice.
Remove one block and bring all the blocks to the table, or remove three and
have none of the others fall."
   Three.  Easy.  Raven reached out for one, but pulled her hand back. 
Thinking she had the answer, she went for another.  She nibbled her bottom
lip.
   "Okay," she whispered.  "Not so easy."
   "You have to evaluate the ripple effect of every piece.  Easy, given
hours or days." He put a small timer on the table.  "You have until that
runs out to pick a strategy.  Plan quickly, evaluate your options within
the time you have left."
   Her focus kept landing on the diminishing flow of sand from the top part
of the timer.  She pulled a block.
   Nothing fell.
   Beads of sweat formed on her head as the last grains of sand joined the
pile.
   She stared at him through the sculpture.
   "You got one out of three on the first try.  I expect that."
   "Good or bad?"
   "Good.  You're a bright woman.  You wouldn't have gone to Lilizen when
you did if you had no capacity to see the web."
   "The web?"
   "The crossed wires that tie us to others.  Tap one piece of the web and
the energy is shared along the line.  How are you looking for the other
two? I'll talk you through it."
   ***
   Raven considered that lesson as they drove back into Virkane City, the
neutral center of the region and the hub of business.
   Consequences.
   Tamarin had been requested to find her.  Elwood sent word that she was
never to leave.  Either way, her brother did not deal well with delays to
his orders.
   He wanted to work with the Vucari.  The Vucari dealt in side roads and
way stations as their stock and trade.
   Things Tamarin would have evaluated if she had told him.
   "Stop the car!  Stop!"
   He put on the brakes a second too late.  The car rolled to a stop. 
Hissing.  The front left of the car tilted as the hood lowered.
   Tamarin sighed and looked to her.  "Have you scanned your safety
points?"
   She nodded and swallowed thickly.
   "Get ready to run."
   -_ Elwood-Vucari _-
   "Go!"
   She leapt from the vehicle, dodged onto a side street and hid.  It
wasn't enough to cover her, but she could see trouble coming.
   She didn't see where the shot came from, but the dents in the jeep were
large and round.
   "Change.  Now."
   Raven stifled her scream.
   Tamarin dropped the body wearing the Elwood symbol on its sleeve.
   Ducking between him, the side of the building, and the body, she
stripped herself of clothing and removed it from the younger woman at her
feet.  If this was Elwood, why were they attacking?  What was going on?
   The confusion did not slow her actions.
   He looked her over and gave a terse nod.  "They are stationed two blocks
south and closing in.  Take her weapon and shoot her in the face." He moved
the body to the place where she had been crouched, adjusted the details of
the clothing she had once been wearing.
   "I don't understand."
   Tamarin disappeared around the corner.
   "Why?" She frowned as she cocked the weapon and aimed it at the
unconscious, unknown woman she would have considered family.  She squeezed
the release, sending a silent missile into the woman's face.  The face that
would have been hers.
   She shuddered in revulsion.  A knot of anger formed in the pit of her
belly, but she could pay neither emotion due reflection.  Raven never
wanted to take a life, saw no good reason for it.
   And yet, these people who bore the mark of her cooperation had come
after her in violence.  Rage outweighed the guilt, burned away her
indecision.  Her brother would pay for this betrayal.
   In the street glass shattered and flames engulfed the jeep.  The small
trinkets and silly souvenirs they had collected along their exploration,
the evidence of their time together - all in flames, sending the smell of
burning fabric, rubber, and chemicals into the air.
   Beyond the flames Raven made out Tamarin.  He lay on the ground a block
away.  Everything in her wanted to run over to him, to check to see if he
was okay, but the others were closing in.  She could already hear the
plainly spoken order to remain alert.
   Perhaps he was just playing.  Whatever he was doing, Tamarin had a plan.
   She needed to devise one for herself.
   ***
   Raven inspected her clothing, tucked the ends of hair into her cap.  She
pulled up the cowl attached to her jacket and waited for the others to find
her.  She glanced back to see a pale woman dragging Tamarin's body into a
dark corridor.
   She wanted to scream for that person to stop.  Who was it?  Where was
she taking him?  Why did he seem so limp?
   An Elwood member came into view.
   "That's the other one!" Raven pointed across the street.  "Someone is
taking him away."
   "Go." A male voice commanded from behind her.
   The darkness of the alley gave her enough cover for the moment.  Her
heart beat at a frantic pace.  Would this be enough?
   "I found her hiding here."
   "You don't have to guard a dead body.  You did kill her, correct?"
   "Immediately."
   "Good work."
   A gamble that paid off.  The orders were to kill her?  What was her
crime?  That didn't sound like Severin.
   A young man came back winded.  "One of the street collectors.  I lost
the blood trail down the block."
   Blood trail?!
   "Keep looking." The man commanded.  His voice did not sound familiar to
her, but was he familiar to the woman she was impersonating?  He walked
over to the body and stooped down before it.  "Damn it.  The face?"
   Raven said nothing less her voice give away her flood of nerves.
   "I want the other one found or his remains, enough to confirm his
death." He rose to his feet and clicked his teeth.  He looked back to the
fallen vehicle and the crude shelter.  "Back to base.  I'll need to call a
mortician for this one.  The others can find the body." He turned to her.
"Good work, Magpie."
   Magpie was not a name, but a rank.  Entry level, one of hundreds, like
the three grunts sent to find Tamarin.  A good place to gather gossip and
walk unnoticed.
   For this, at least, she was fortunate.
   Raven followed the crew back to a line of vans and piled in.  Now that
she had won her life for a second time, all the tension left her body,
leaving her shaken and cold.
   "First kill?"
   Raven nodded and buried further in her cowl.
   "Come by room 218.  I've got a flask of rye spirit that'll take that
chill away."
   Another nod.  The hard truth of her situation did not work to make her
feel any better.  Raven had lived a life removed from ground operations,
ignorant of Elwood happenings.  The chances were remote that she'd know any
of the people sent to hunt her down or the Jays that issued orders.
   The ride back was a short one compared to long, meandering day trips to
which she had become accustomed.  They piled out of the van and another
pulled up to take its place.  Base, in this case, was the Firebrand Bali
Lodge.  Four stories of overnight rooms, meeting rooms, and dining
facilities.  A favored place for companies and groups to settle or conduct
business.
   A hand went around her waist and ushered her into a lift.  They kept
their hoods up when the others were already shrugging out of their jackets.
He led her into room 218 and locked the door behind him.
   He hung his jacket on the hook and walked over to remove hers.
   Raven's trembling and fear had nothing to do with her kill, but the man
that stood before her.
   Gavin had been friends with her brother, and hence, her own childhood
friend.  They played in the expansive yard of her father's house.  Memories
of their time together rushed back to her.
   Being children of the Elwood leader, they were not sent to grow up in a
group house, but other children of high ranking members visited often,
giving her and Severin the childhood not allowed by being kept apart from
others.
   Recognition did not light his eyes.
   He poured two glasses of pale golden liquid and handed her one of them.
"I made my first kill years ago, no cover of darkness, no spur of the
moment.  I'm not sure it would have affected me any less." He lifted his
glass in the air.  "To death."
   Gavin was not a magpie.  He'd started his own flock years before she
left.  Why was he pretending to be of lower rank?
   "To death," she echoed in a whisper and knocked the drink back.  Her
mind raced with what to do next.  Did she reveal herself?  Wait until he
recognized her?
   She didn't know if she could trust him.  He had been friends with her
brother, but he had been the first boy to kiss her.  He was the one who
pulled her into games more suited to older children.
   She desperately wanted to confide in him, but not now, not yet.
   "You'll want someone to keep you company tonight." He signaled her
closer and held the bottle up.
   Yes, but not because of the woman that lay in the alley, but the man who
had been dragged away.  She accepted the refill, but drank slower this
round.
   He reached for her trousers, unfastened the top button and pulled down
the zipper, filling the room with a metallic hum.
   "The best thing is to forget about it.  You had orders; you followed
them.  Until this battle is over, there will be more."
   Battle?  What was there to fight about?  "You feel nothing for her
death?"
   "I feel too much." He growled and knocked back another shot.  He grasped
her by the ass and kissed, licked, nibbled along her hips and thighs.  He
went to his knees and his tongue darted out to taste between her legs.  "I
knew her, loved her even, before she betrayed the family."
   Betrayal?!  What in the hell was he talking about?
   Raven pushed on his shoulder, trying to ease him away.  She wasn't sure
if she could comfort him over her death, a death that had not taken place.
   He stood and pushed her to the bed, crawled on top of her.
   "Listen," she braced on his shoulders.  "I ...  I need."
   "Shut up."
   ***
   "They found her," Charlene said.  "She's in the Bali."
   "Was she alone?"
   "The Jay said someone else was shot, but they haven't found the body. 
Her body, however, awaits you, though they requested a mortician.  I
disagreed."
   Severin stopped cold and turned to her.
   "A magpie shot the traitor on sight.  This was beyond my control."
   "I want to speak to this impulsive twit and his trainer."
   Charlene smirked.  "Of course.  I am ready to go when you are."
   "Find that damned Disruptor.  If he's somewhere recovering from his
wounds, I want him struck down."
   "It will be my pleasure."
   "Of that I have no doubt." Severin grabbed his coat.  "Charlene."
   "Yes, my love?"
   "If I discover you had anything to do with her murder, there is no part
of your body that will not feel the weight of my wrath."
   "I know this, love.  I promise you.  I wanted her brought to you alive."
   ***
   Gavin pulled her shirt off and reached down for his.  A sudden flush
came to her cheeks from the liquor and the realization that Gavin was a
fast moving train she could not stop.  Perhaps if she had stayed, taken on
the responsibility her father left to her, if she never gave up her birth
right to her brother...
   Gavin kissed and caressed her with a keen desperation that did not seem
connected to drowning the memory of her first kill.
   Raven's skin prickled.  "Gavin.  Stop."
   He put his hand around her throat, but not enough to cut off her breath.
   "Turn me over."
   His drunken face was twisted with sorrow and rage.  "Fine." He pushed
back and rolled her onto her stomach.  His respiration turned heavy,
labored, like that of an enraged bull.
   She looked back over her shoulder and saw the confusion and denial and
he stared at the markings on her back.
   "I don't know what lies you've been told about me, but I have never
betrayed my family.  Not ever.  In these past few months I have only fought
to stay alive."
   He wrapped his arm around her neck and arched her back toward his chest.
"You really think I did not know your face?  Think I forgot the sound of
your voice?"
   He let go of her neck, and before she could take in fresh air, he was
deep inside her.  He grabbed her by the hips and drove into her with rapid,
short strokes.  He grunted as his hips snapped as if possessed, seeking
deeper purchase within, jostling her body with the intensity.
   His cock swelled, twitched, and his thrusts turned erratic moments
before he spilled warm ejaculate along the walls of her pussy.  His chest
heaved in gulping gasps of exertion and pleasure.
   Raven crawled from under him and cradled his head to her bosom.
   "He said you vacated your position, left contracts in limbo, threatened
the secrets of your business by going to the Lilizen.  Charlene made it
clear that you were not welcome and should not be allowed to breathe."
   "I never took the position of leader, Gavin.  I wanted that for Severin.
I never had a desire to lead." She sighed.  "This was going to happen no
matter what I did.  Charlene," another long sigh, "she has always been set
against me."
   "Yes." He readjusted and nestled deeper into her bosom.  "She set up
your fall long before your father's death, hoping the controlling interest
would be left to him, but it was still a betrayal, Raven.  With Charlene in
his ear, he will run Elwood into the ground.  He wants to do business with
the Vucari and compete with Lilizen." He sat up and pointed to the deep
scar along the side of his face.  "Do you remember this?"
   "Yes, you fell while playing in the tunnels."
   "No." He took hers hands in his.  "I told your brother that I wanted
you, that I wanted you for my own.  I asked him for his opinion, and he
gave it to me."
   It made sense, after Gavin's accident, he never came by the house again.
   "You think it's about Elwood, and it's not.  Severin loves you, and
everyone knows it, even Charlene."
   "He's my brother, of course he--"
   Gavin met her eyes and shook his head.  "We know better, Raven.  I was
his closest friend till I confessed my love for you.  You need to leave. 
Get far away from us, away from me.  Severin sent me to find you.  I am to
protect you until his arrival, because he wants to be the one to take your
life."
   Tears flooded her eyes.  "I have never betrayed him.  I ...  will you
come with me?"
   "No.  I know what I need to do to confirm your death.  I just, please
forgive me, I needed a taste of what I could never have."
   She leaned down to kiss his forehead.  "How are you going to explain
me?"
   He sat up and set to typing on his tablet.  "Where were you fighting for
your life?"
   "I was enslaved at Lilizen." Raven pulled on her clothes.  "Why?  How
does that matter?  He knows this."
   Gavin handed her the tablet.
   Raven pulled it into her lap and frowned.  It was a slideshow of
remembrance.  Slide after slide, messages from friends, associates,
pictures and videos.  Everyone spoke of her as if she were dead and gone.
Her eyes burned as she could read behind the messages: the struggle to
speak well of the dead running counter to the reports of her betrayal.
   How could so many believe she would turn on her family?  All Raven ever
wanted for her brother was for him to be happy.  The moment she set foot in
Lilizen, they had turned her into a ghost, a monster, a specter of
something unnatural.
   And now they were all set to return her to that state: dead.  Returning
to the life she left behind was never an option.
   She handed the tablet over to him.  "Thank you."
   He handed her a tissue.  "Do you understand now?"
   She nodded.  No amount of explaining could bring her back.
   "Now." He set the device aside and pointed to the weapon on his side
table.  "You need to take your second life, and many more."
   "No!" Her eyes misted over, but she fit her finger over the trigger.
   "You won't need that for me." He poured another shot and emptied the
vial in his pocket that turned the golden liquid dark down.  "I serve
Elwood until my death, and you were meant to lead us." He knocked the shot
back.  "Charlene controls the cooperative, not you, not Severin.  Take them
out.  It's the only way to leave with your life."
   ***
   Tamarin had been so focused on the plan to keep Raven covered that he
ignored the shot to his leg for too long.  He had been attempting to circle
back and keep pace with their retreat when his knees hit the pavement
followed by the rest of his numbing body.
   Instead of struggling, he entered survival mode: slowing his breath to
crawl, retreated inward.  He took deep, slow, lax breaths and settled into
a place of darkness.
   ***
   This new catch of hers was odd.  The dead did not sweat.  The sweet
scent of blood wafted up from the streets.  She could not have that.
   Helena bundled her catch and hefted it into the back of her cart,
secured the ties, and hopped onto the attached bike.
   Fighting always drew fresh kills.  She had hoped to for more of a
selection, but the explosion dissuaded her from wandering any further from
her zone.
   It did not take long for her to get into the narrow tunnel that led back
to her workroom.  She turned off her trike and detached the cart, rolling
it into the dome of her lab.
   She got him on a table and looked him over.  Curious.
   She placed her head to his chest and waited.
   Thump.
   Over a minute later...
   Thump.
   She smiled and looked his body over until she found the source of the
bleed.  Poison thorn.
   Given the many scars and wounds, this specimen was no stranger to
injury. She knew how to counter the poison.  If that failed, she would
still have her body.  If she succeeded, she could use the living flesh to
warm her bed.
   Helena grinned wide and searched her cabinets for the right ingredients.
   The clothing would have to go.  Using her shears, she was careful to
tear away the fabric and preserve the skin.  The task soon became a
distracting one.  So many scars, so much to read on the storied, yet
healthy, flesh.
   She packed the thigh wound with salve and set a towel under his leg.  It
would suck the poison from the site, hopefully enough to bring him back
towards the living.
   She smelled under his pits, his neck, his scalp, his crotch. 
Invigorating scents, fresh.  She licked along his chest.  The small hairs
tickled her tongue.  She suckled on his nipple hard, pilling at it with her
teeth.
   "Come back to me, strange one." Her fingers probed the thigh wound,
impatient with the speed of his recovery.  "Can we play when you wake?"
   Helena secured the entry of her home, checked the outside portals. 
Black clothed vultures walked up and down the street, trying to find her,
trying to take her catch away.  It was their whispers of violence that led
her to find the spot.
   "Mine." She snapped.  "Not yours.  I find the body; I keep the flesh."
   ***
   Raven rinsed her blood soaked shoes in the tiny sink.  She squeezed out
water until it ran clear then put them back on.  As for her new set of
bruises and wounds, those would have to wait.
   What now?
   She wanted to pose that question to Tamarin, but he was no where around.
Dead?  Disappeared?
   The only next step that made sense was to get to Midnight Vale.  He had
friends there, though she had not learned their names, she knew his.  She
would need to give word of her last moments with him.
   To thank someone for teaching him how to set her free.
   ***
   Silvia ran toward the nearest door opposite the others when the
screaming started.  She rounded the building and huddled into the nearby
shrubs to get a look through the open windows.
   Did Andrei send her all this way just to kill her?  Did he know this was
going to happen?  After all their fighting and bickering, Silvia had been
gullible enough to think their relationship was on the mend, that he
trusted her to act on his behalf.
   Shouts came from everyone, neither voice clear.  To add to the
confusion, warning lights and sirens went off inside and outside the
building, sending people pouring out of their rooms and into the streets.
   A man stumbled around a corner with blood splatters around the collar of
his shirt and pouring down his upper lip.  Two steps more and he collapsed.
Another body followed shortly after.
   Ten minutes?  Fifteen?  Elwood members littered the floor, motionless
unconscious or dying.
   She picked her way from the cover of foliage.  What would she do now? 
Call Andrei and figure out whether he was pissed she wasn't in the pile
with them, or would he blame her for failing to secure a deal first?  As if
it was her fault the Elwood walked away from the negotiating room early.
   Worse, did she hang around and wait for the hours of questions from the
investigators?
   Silvia was still weighing her options when a hooded figure slipped out
the building, dressed like an Elwood, but the only one left well enough to
take off at a run.
   She followed the fleeing culprit's path.  People were going to ask what
happened, and Silvia needed to make sure she knew why, who was to blame,
and keep any of it from landing back on herself.
   ***
   Helena crawled on top of the clean body.  She planted each hand beside
his head and hovered over his chest.  He smelled so much richer now that
the poisons were leaving, now that the nasty hole in his thigh had begun to
heal.
   She swiped her tongue around his dark nipple until it firmed to a point
and moved to the other.  His reaction time to sensation had also improved.
   She moaned as each taste of his skin fed the lust of her body.  Could
she get other parts of him to react?
   Thrilled by the prospect, she slid down his body, tasting each curve,
scar, and swell along the way.  The smell of his crotch called to her, the
promise of stiff, warm flesh.  She licked all around the tufts of hair that
grew above his cock.
   She parted his thighs and settled between them, licking and sucking on
his balls.  She gently set the limp piece of flesh aside and focused on the
tender flesh of his scrotum.  Her attentions did not yield better results.
His member was only slightly swollen.  He would need to recover more before
she could use him the way she wanted.
   Frustrated, she pushed away from him.  She paced the small hovel while
thinking of a way to aid in his recovery.  Living flesh needed food, but he
could not do so in his state.
   Throughout her work day dissecting cold, dead flesh, she pondered on his
ailment.  That evening she created a thin tube connected to a glass.  She
eased the tube past his lips.  Honey water, a little energy and nutrition,
enough to help him, she hoped.
   It took him a while, but his throat worked and he swallowed.  She
cradled him in her arms and watched him drink.  She fantasized about the
pleasure her new bed warmer would bring once he regained his strength.
   "Drink deep," she whispered.  "Build your strength so that you may
wake."
   As if hearing her words, his mouth worked on the flat plastic tube.
   ***
   The long, quiet walk did nothing for Raven's mood.  Her feet were cold,
wet, and the sickening squish of her shoes reminded her of each life she
took.  If there was ever a path of no return, she was on the worse one. 
Even if she had not left home a traitor, how could she ever deny that she
had returned as one?
   Killing another Elwood, her family, evading her brother, the man she
wanted to rule as Elwood's leader.  On what basis could she ever command
the respect of others?
   Raven stopped walking and the cloaked figure several feet back did the
same.  She went straight for another block, took cover around the next
bend, and waited with her weapon drawn.  Despite the burning in her side,
Raven made her stance firm.
   Traffic passed on the street.  The signal light turned from amber to
garnet.
   Raven needed to get some place and clean her wounds.  She didn't have
time for this confusion.  The world tilted and she braced herself on the
nearby wall.
   "Please, let me help you." A voice without a direction.
   "Speak," said Raven.
   "I followed your trail, but on my own." The woman said in a whispered
rush.  "When help arrived, I did not want to tell them anything.  I did not
want to be asked questions for which I had no answers." She rounded the
corner.  "I can help you."
   Raven gave the woman a good look over.  In the dim light, she couldn't
tell much, but no one she recognized.  No Elwood insignia on her clothing.
"What I did back there was unspeakable."
   "Let's not speak about it then."
   Raven let the woman go and holstered the weapon.  Pain seared through
her gut.  "Are you armed?"
   "I am."
   "Good.  Keep it ready." Raven grunted.  Until she was dead, her brother
would always stand in her shadow.  Fuck.
   They passed into a street light and the woman gasped.  Recognition
filled her eyes.  "Oh, I see."
   "And?"
   "You ...  there are so many companies searching for you.  How did you
escape?"
   "I haven't, yet."
   ***
   Silvia managed to get away with enough money to request a room for the
night.  The missing Elwood daughter had lost much of her color, weight, and
hair but none of her beauty.  Silvia would be a fool to let anything happen
to her.
   She tended the wound as best she could, but the woman passed out before
she could get her out of the chair.
   She looked down at the rogue Elwood and worried her lip.  What should
she do?  Call Andrei?  Call someone from Elwood?  Run?  She picked at her
nails until the indecision physically hurt.
   For now, she would help her.  Silvia hooked her arms under the woman's
shoulders and dragged her to the bed.  She'd cleaned most of the wound, but
it still bled.
   She rushed to the washroom and collected the items scattered on the
floor.  She packed the wound with medicinal cream.  The poison looked to
have done its job and put her to sleep.  Silvia only hoped it was not
fatal.
   So this was the Elwood sister.  Andrei mentioned that she wouldn't have
to worry about 'this nuisance' as she would be out of the way.  Did Andrei
have anything to do with her rumored death?
   ***
   Raven's whole torso throbbed with pain.  She rubbed her face as she
woke.
   A heavy sigh behind her, whispered words in another language.  "I was
wondering when you would wake."
   "What's happening?" Was she dreaming?  If she was where would it go?
   "You passed out in the bathroom."
   She looked at the towel wrapped around her midsection.  "Who are you?"
   "Regardless of the answer to your question, we have the same goal: stay
hidden.  In this, I am your friend.  How did you escape the Lilizen?  I
heard you died."
   "It's a frequent rumor, one that has yet to catch up with me." She
winced as she sat up.  "I had help.  He was unlike any man I have ever met,
but I lost him during the ambush."
   "What will you do now?"
   "Survive.  Do you have money?"
   "A little, enough for food and supplies, but not for any more stays like
this one."
   Raven unwrapped the towel from around her midsection and inspected the
wound.  "We need to get out of these clothes and away from Elwood
territory."
   "Here," Silvia handed her a capsule.
   "What is it?"
   "It will make you feel better.  After it takes effect, you should be
okay to travel."
   She rolled the oblong pale blue pill between her fingers.  "Side
effects?"
   "A few, but less terrible than getting caught."
   ***
   Tamarin woke to the sunrise, but not with Raven in his arms.  He looked
around the small grayish green room.  Specimen jars, salves, powders,
gleaming silver tools.  Hanging bones, stretching patches of skin.
   Negating his surroundings, that the woman beside him was not Raven
disturbed him the most.  The memory would come.  In the meantime, he kept
his cool.
   "You wake." The woman's voice wavered with age.
   "Was I out long?"
   She sat up.  Her heavy breasts rested on her belly.  "Near death for
many days, but I know death quite well.  The poison in your body has been
purged."
   He smacked his lips and rolled his tongue in his mouth.  "Honey?"
   "And a few powders." She beamed and a smile curled on either side of her
face.  "You know the mixture?"
   "It works in a pinch."
   "Mine now." She caressed his chest.
   "Ah, so that's why you saved me.  You'll have no trouble from me if I
can place a call.  Until they get here, you are welcome to take my thanks."
   She frowned and scraped her nails down his chest.  "I take thanks for
you life, then I take thanks for your call."
   "Agreed."
   ***
   Raven woke startled and sweating.  She unwrapped from the blanket around
her shoulders and surveyed the shadowed alley they slept in.
   She tried to hold fast to the fantasy that Tamarin lay behind her, but
the memory of his hard body clashed with the reality of soft skin.  She
turned to look at her current travel companion.
   Keeping watch, as she promised.  The strands of her straw brown hair
pulled into a top knot.  The setting sunlight made her blue eyes seem
brighter.
   Raven closed her eyes and tried to return to her dreams, but it was for
naught.
   "Ready to move?"
   They stood, gathered their things and kept to the less traveled side
streets.  They traveled light, no vehicle, no overnight inns, using what
funds they had for food.
   ***
   Silvia lay on her back in the grass, chest rising and falling without a
care in the world.  She had pale pink nipples, pert little breasts. 
Raven's finger hovered over her breast, wondering if she dared to bring the
flat nipple to life.
   She did.  Raven rested her hand on Silvia's chest and brushed her thumb
over the soft areola.  The nipple hardened and began to rise.
   Silvia opened her eyes, looked at Raven's thumb, then at her, but she
didn't say for her to stop.
   "Why haven't you turned me in?" Raven kissed her side.  She smelled like
cheap soap, but buttery soft skin.
   "I can't be sure that would end well for me."
   "I sought to do well by my family, and you saw how that ended." Raven
explored lower until she found the warmth of her pussy.  She cupped the
bristled mound, explored the outer labia, then a single finger brushed
along the inner seam.
   Silvia parted her thighs and offered a soft smile.  "I know how that
ends all too well." She leaned back onto the pillow and she propped one leg
up and widened the other.
   Raven took the passive permission and dipped between the woman's inner
labia, gathering moisture onto her fingers and bringing it back up to the
clitoris.  She circled it a few times and went back for more.
   It was as Silvia achieved orgasm that Raven understood that she was
awake and that something was going her way.
   -_ Searching _-
   "You've been quiet," said Silvia.  "Are you okay?"
   Raven shook her head.  "Empty." She didn't know what she would find in
Midnight Vale or how, but it was the only direction she had left.  She
needed to contact someone who knew Tamarin.  "Better than I was feeling."
   She stared out at the pre-dawn blue-violet of the overcast sky.  "We
need to cover some ground.  Have you ever been to Midnight Vale?"
   "That's no place to go."
   Raven looked at her.
   "You go there if you want to enter training, if you have no other home.
You were born into an organization.  Even now, you have a better chance at
a normal life.  Those people are weird.  Believe me."
   She chuckled.  "Oh, I do, but I need to get some information to the
people there."
   "Send a message like everyone else." Silvia pointed to at the sign for a
nearby bus station.  "That looks like a roomy way to travel.  Want to see
if we can afford it?"
   "Sure."
   It wasn't that far of a walk to the traveling station, but Raven and
Silvia's funds combined could not afford a ticket.  They browsed the nearby
stores and eateries in the hopes of looking for work.
   ***
   Kayla returned to the table and pointed across the room.  "See those two
women?"
   Liam and Nemanja looked up from their plates.
   "Talking to that big dude?"
   "Mm hmm.  I want to invite them over."
   Liam shook his head.  "We don't have time for that."
   Nemanja said, "And I don't have the patience for stupidity.  You can't
literally pick women off the street."
   Kayla grinned and chuckled under her breath.  "But I can.  The fair
haired one might be a bit sheltered, but the darker girl has done and seen
enough to calm her nerves."
   Nemanja sipped his tea.  "Calling the sheltered one then.  I don't want
you freaking her out."
   "Oh, because you're so calm and collected." Kayla pulled a face.
   Nemanja set down his fork.  "I can be if given the chance."
   Liam cleared his throat and popped up from the table.  "Don't be so
quick to walk away."
   Nemanja gestured toward the empty seats at their table.  "What names are
we going with?"
   "First sounds," Kayla whispered.  "Hi.  I overheard you talking with
that rude guy back there.  What kind of work are you two looking for?"
   Nemanja smiled as the 'fair haired' one took the seat beside his.  The
pale curls on her head were the least of her charms.  She had bright,
expressive blue eyes, soft laugh lines at the corners of her mouth, soft,
kissable cheeks.  Not bad at all.  He pushed his plate over to her.
   "Just enough to help us with some travel funds."
   Liam pulled up his jacket.  "Oh, well, if that's all--"
   "Waycross is a better place to get tickets," Nemanja nudged one of the
muffin appetizers in the other woman's direction.
   "That may be so, but it's a day's trip from here."
   "Not the direction were headed anyway."
   Kayla smirked.  "All right then, how about this.  Spend the ride there
with us.  We've got plenty of room.  Keep me and my brethren company for
the evening, and we'll spot you the money you need for the trip, plus a bit
more for comfort."
   The darker woman was trying to get the other girl's attention, but she
was staring at the table, her cheeks slightly flushed as she nibbled from
the breakfast pastry.
   "Talk it over later," said Kayla.  "No need to give us your answer now.
For now, fellowship over a meal."
   "Thank you.  Um, is it ...  okay if we don't tell you our names?"
   Kayla's laughter was effortless and light.  Liam practically giggled. 
Nemanja smiled, but could not help but wonder what she was hiding, though
he would not share the same with her.
   "That's perfect.  How about we pick our own names for the moment?  I'm
Kay."
   "Lee."
   "Nem," Nemanja leaned over to catch her gaze.  "And you?"
   "Ah, I'm ...  Silvie."
   The darker one smirked.  So that name wasn't far from the truth?  Good
to know.  "Call me Tammy."
   The blue eyed Silvie glanced at her companion with an odd look.  That
one must have been miles from the truth.
   Interesting.  Nemanja was always up for a mystery.
   "Then it's settled."
   ***
   Raven and Silvia stood off to the side while the dissonant trio headed
for their brown and silver recreational van.  They acted as if they were
part of a company, but closer, like house mates.
   The man who called himself 'Nem' had an imposing figure: tall, muscular,
heavy with deep brown skin and coal black hair.  He spoke in a low tone
with brief, clipped words.
   Due to the kinship he and Silvia formed, Raven already had a sense for
her answer.  "Well?"
   "I've never done this before."
   Raven nodded.  "I've done worse, for longer.  Looks like you were
hitting it off with Nem."
   She smirked and her pale skin flushed.  "He's cute."
   "Oh, he's plenty of things, none of them remind me of cute."
   "What about you?"
   Raven considered the question.  Kayla had done most of the talking while
Liam appeared preoccupied by his worries.  Kayla, feminine in affect and
appearance, seemed a bit more than androgynous as they talked.  Her
personality was bubbly, positive, and encouraging.  Even if Raven had
doubts, Kayla drowned them with her charm.
   "I know where I need to go, and this is the best opportunity for me to
get there.  You don't have to follow me, you know.  None of what happened
was your fault."
   Silvia shrugged.  "I guess we've hit it off too.  They seem like okay
people.  Why aren't we using our names?"
   "A trick I learned.  Maybe tomorrow, when we get close to Waycross, if
they deserve to know."
   "I'll be glad to sleep in a bed, even if it's a moving one with a
stranger."
   ***
   Silvia figured it was only a harmless flirtation, but mixed with
whatever was in those drinks flirtation turned into much more.  She thought
only of herself, not the one she left behind.
   This man.
   He took her shirt off and kneeled over her body, sucking and nibbling
one nipple before moving onto the other.  The first few bites had been too
soft, then too firm.  He pulled off her with an audible pop.
   He pulled down her shorts and underwear then traced circles and
squiggles along her naked body.
   Silvia closed her eyes.  From the back of the recreational vehicle,
Raven's moans assured her that everything was going as planned.  They were
having fun.  For the moment, she could be a different person, a free
person. She could dedicate herself to this moment, to this man.
   "Your turn." She pushed on his shoulders and sat up.  Using all her
senses, she observed his reaction to her touch, the movement of her
fingertips, the graze of her nails.
   He reacted with mostly surprise by her control, then pleasure.  He
arched his hips as she kissed the tender skin of his neck.  Like a feline
into the stroke, he rose to meet her every caress.
   "At this moment," Silvia whispered in his ear.  "I exist for your
pleasure." She didn't need to whisper given the sounds of pleasure from the
other end of the van.
   He smirked.  "Many have promised, few deliver."
   "Lucky you met me." Silvia rocked her wet pussy lips along the length of
his cock.  Either the drink or the man under her did something that made
her forget her past troubles.  At this moment she wasn't too old or too
familiar to be a symbol of lust.  She leaned forward and kissed him with
the full force of her talent.
   Their kiss was hard, feral, demanding.  His tongue pushed into her mouth
and danced with hers.  He rolled them over and she melted under his force,
causing her body to relax under his control.  Her legs spread to welcome
him into her wet, aching pussy.
   He took up caressing her again, but the press of his palm was more firm,
holding her body close to his.  He had a solid frame, broad and hard.  His
body hair tickled her skin.  She soaked in everything about him into her
memories.
   This man would never cast her aside, Silvia grinned at the thought.  She
knew how wanton she must have appeared - eyes dilated, body flushed,
unabashed vocalizations.  Her body throbbed to experience him.
   "Don't be shy," he said.  "I treasure all you have to offer."
   "Then you have me, anyway you want me."
   His fingers traced her pelvis to play in her soaked labia, circling her
swollen clitoris.
   Silvia rocked against her fingers.
   "That's it.  Show me how you like it." He leaned forward and kissed her
lips down toward his neck.  His tongue snaked out to draw tempting circles
along her sternum.  He continued down her chest, tickling her belly.  She
gasped and jumped, but did not move away.  He spread her thighs and eased
down until he could stare at her pussy.  Cool air licked at her wet inner
labia.
   She moaned in delight as he licked her, teased her.  His tongue thrust
inside her, driving her eroticism higher.
   "Quite delicious," he said.  "I could do this for a while."
   "Take as long as you want."
   "Mmm." He went at her with renewed vigor, including her clitoris in the
flicking of his tongue.  She came hard, whimpering, twisting.  Her back
arched off the bed and she came down with a hard shiver.  He crawled over
her and kissed her, providing her a taste of herself.  There was greater
passion to his kiss now, desire for comfort, a desire to posses.
   At least, this was the way Silvia imagined it.
   She pushed on his shoulders and he rolled, taking her with him.  She lay
on top and rocked back and forth along his cock, let the tip press just
inside only to pull off.  Then she settled onto him, parted around his
shaft and pressed him inside her.
   He ran his fingers through her hair, over her back and got two handfuls
of her ass.  Silvia stilled as she lowered further, her hips joined his. 
He raked his nails down her back and arched upward, putting himself a
little deeper inside her.  With the slight motion of his hands as her
guide, she rode him, starting slow, and building to a momentous climax.
   When it was over, Silvia luxuriated in the pleasant glow in her body. 
Her breath was labored, heart working overtime, but the sense of euphoria
was profound.  She collapsed on his chest and buried her face in his
shoulder.
   His flaccid organ rested within her, his arms wrapped tight around her.
He was exactly what she needed.  This was the experience she craved: being
wanted.
   "You are delightful," he breathed.
   ***
   Silvia's soft moans caught Raven's attention.  She cracked open her
eyes. Two thin legs were in the air, knees bent over broad, dark shoulders.
   Beside her, reticent Lee had opened his trousers, and had his erection
in hand.
   "Would you like to suck him?" Kay whispered into Raven's ear.  "Do you
want to taste his cock?"
   Raven didn't answer verbally.  She lowered into his lap, her mouth open,
tongue extended.  Lee released a held breath and stroked her back.
   "That's nice," he sighed.
   Raven shifted and moved as Kay took off her clothing, though she gasped
around Lee's cock as warm flesh parted the entrance of her pussy.
   "Relax," Kay purred as she thrusted deeper.  "Let me in.  Let me have a
taste of you too."
   Raven let go of her held breath, sank onto the cock in her mouth.  From
the other end of the van, metal springs squeaked, Silvia's moans turned
softer, muffled.  Raven sucked Lee's shaft deep as her vaginal muscles
clamped down on Kay's dick.
   "She's good.  Fuck, suck it." He grunted as his thighs tensed.  "Yes,
yes, yes." He fucked her mouth through the frenzy of his climax.
   "Damn, she loves cock.  Her pussy is dripping wet." Kay wrapped her
hands around Raven's chest and bucked faster into her pussy.
   "You know how to pick them."
   "Damn right I do."
   Afterwards they lay on the couch panting.  Silvia lay half off Nem's
body, both of them caressing each other as if they were long lost lovers.
   Raven pointed to the pitcher of red drink on the table they had been
sipping from since parking for the night.  "What is that?"
   Lee chuckled.  "You liked it?"
   "I did." She rubbed her thighs together, messaged her breasts.
   One by one they showered and cleaned up.  Nem and Silvia took the
smaller bed, while Lee, Kay, and Raven piled onto the larger one.
   ***
   Raven stretched her back and massaged her neck.  The van bounced as it
traversed the road leading away from the campsite.  When they stopped at
the refueling station, she strode out into the early morning air and arched
her back toward the sky.
   Sunlight.  Warmth.  Fresh air.  She'd never take these things for
granted again.
   Silvia stepped out with a thick arm around her shoulders.  She smiled
and chuckled at something Nem must have whispered while kissing her on the
ear.
   "Where are we?"
   "Not far from Waycross, a few minutes up the road," Lee said.
   Raven signaled Silvia over.  "We'll take it from here."
   "You sure?" Nem said.  "It's close, but that's a decent trek.  Stay with
us a bit, at least through breakfast."
   Kay walked out of the station with a tight expression on her face.
   "Where are you two headed anyway?"
   Silvia said, "She's trying to get to Midnight Vale."
   Kay had the money in hand and Raven took it before she could change her
mind.  Silvia didn't notice the shift in their attitude, but Raven had, and
she knew it was time to make a getaway.
   "What's in Midnight Vale?" Kay leaned on the side of the van as if
nothing had changed, but Lee's casual disinterest had turned hawkish. 
Nem's hold on Silvia was less casual and more securing.
   "I'm looking for the friends of a friend of mine," Raven said.  "Someone
important to me.  I've never been there, so I can't tell you more than
that, but I owe everything to him."
   "How does this all figure in to what you did to piss off Elwood?"
   Raven's mouth opened but no words, no sound issued forth.  How did she
know about that?
   Kay nodded her head in the direction of the station.  "There's a
bounty."
   "And are you collecting on it?"
   "Wouldn't have handed you the money if I planned to.  We had an
agreement.  So, this guy you owe everything to, does he have a name?"
   "Plenty of them."
   "Fuck this." Lee put the refueling hose back on its hangar.  "Was it
Orin, Taylor, or Marin?"
   Raven shook her head, but a huge smile strained her cheeks.  None of
those.  Had he really given her his true name?
   "No, I think Tammy knew him much better than that." Kay smirked.
   "I think I did." The happiness faded as she realized she may have met
the people she had been looking for.  Tears misted in her eyes.  "He died
trying to rescue me."
   "You're the retrieval."
   "Her?" Nem exclaimed.  "That's a year's worth of work on her head."
   Raven didn't expect the round of frustrated and angry faces.  Retrieval?
Heart pounding she took in the space around her, the station, the road,
side streets.
   "Hey now," Kay put her hands up.  "We're just having a friendly
conversation right?"
   "Elwood is looking for her, and the job needs to be done."
   Raven dashed for the branch lying on the side of the lot.  She held it
in hand and swung hard for good measure.  "Silvia, get the hell over here."
   Silvia ducked and ran around the van before Nem could catch her.
   "Stop that.  Why don't you put that down and talk to us."
   Lee stepped away from Kay, putting greater distance between them.  Raven
rushed him, keeping them from separating.
   He smirked and signaled Nem.  "Interesting."
   "Silvia where the fuck are you?!  Let's go!"
   Kayla put both her palms in the air.  "Calm down.  Tell me what you know
about Tamarin.  Where was he?  How did you meet him?"
   "I told you.  He died."
   "I don't fucking think so," Nem seemed to grow larger with his rage.
   Fuck.
   Raven's heart dropped to her stomach.  She only glanced away for a
moment and Lee had disappeared.
   "They aren't going to be too pleasant if you don't drop that and talk to
us, darling."
   The van went up in a whoosh of flame.
   Kay screamed a curse and turned.  Raven ran.
   Lee was in her path, but she still had the branch and swung it hard at
his leg.  The blow connected, but Raven did not pause for a second swing.
She'd seen Tamarin fight.  Taking a blow was part of his strategy, part she
did not want to see if his companions shared.
   Raven ducked onto a side road.
   Silvia caught up and grabbed Raven by the hand.  "This way."
   "Where are we going?"
   "Just keep up!"
   Silvia turned into a building with a false wall.  Raven's legs trembled
an they ran down the concrete stairs into the tunnels.
   "Our money isn't going to work with these." Raven sobbed in frustration
as she read the Vucari transport map.  The underground subrails were Vucari
territory, running through Elwood and much of Virkane.  Danger awaited her
on each path.
   Fuck it.  She'd take her chances with her brother.  "We can't do this.
Let's just find another route up."
   Silvia dug her heels in when Raven tried to pull her away.  "We'll take
the Cherry line."
   "Listen, only the--"
   Silvia pulled her along and turned her neck to the guard.  "Plus one."
   The guard looked at her tattoo and allowed them passage onto the rail.
   "I know where we can go." Silvia pulled Raven along, but instead of
boarding the cherry line, they ran down another stairwell.
   "You're Vucari?" Raven whispered.
   "Yeah.  So count yourself lucky and just keep up."
   ***
   "Come on.  They probably went to the sub rail.  We'll catch them trying
to come back up." Liam shouted.
   "Wait!" Kayla said.
   "They aren't going to come back up.  We need to get down there now,"
said Nemanja.
   "Right behind you." Liam rubbed his swelling thigh muscle.
   "I said wait!" Kayla shouted.  "This is more important."
   "What in the fuck is more important than finding that bitch?"
   "Tamarin."
   "No kidding.  She knows him."
   "Let them go."
   "Are you mad?  That is--"
   Kayla held up her handheld.  A single symbol drawn on a cross street.
   Tamarin.  He was alive.
   "Where is it?"
   "North Virkane.  Guess we're going to Waycross anyway."
   Kayla frowned at her smoking vehicle.  "I can't believe that psycho
torched the van.  Who the fuck does that?"
   "You do."
   She chuckled.  "Even if we did restrain her, where in the hell were we
going to hold her until someone showed up?  Better we travel light.  He'll
be able to track her if we need to make her answer for whatever happened to
him."
   "What's she wanted for?"
   "No idea.  The bounty was on Silvie."
   Nemanja frowned.  "That's not good."
   Kayla rolled her eyes.  "Yeah, yeah, well at least you got your fill of
her first.  Let's get out of here."
   ***
   "Were you ever going to tell me?" Raven asked.
   "Any earlier than just now, and I think it would have ended poorly."
   Raven sighed and shook her head.  "No, it probably would have gone like
this."
   Dim blue lights flashed outside the railway windows.
   "Here." Silvia stood and lead Raven out of the rail and near the walls
of a tunnel.  Quick as they could walk, she took a series of almost
invisible hallways until they reached a single-file tunnel.
   Silvia stripped out of her jacket and pants.  "We need to change."
   "How do you know about this place?"
   Silvia unlatched the old cabinet and pulled out a bag.  She tossed a
change of clothes at Raven and put on new clothing.  "It's part of my
newfound business to know.  This time we're getting back on the subrail,
but headed in the opposite direction."
   "Opposite from?"
   "You really want to know?"
   "Yes."
   "Vucari headquarters."
   <->
Written: November 2014
   Contact: nysidra at hot mail dot com
  
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