Xora 2 - "Dangerous Game"

by Brandy Dewinter

 

Chapter 8 - "Awakening"

Titania woke me from someplace I didn’t want to be anyway. In the ways dreams have, the memory of what had been playing out within my mind vanished almost with my first conscious thought. But the emotions stayed behind. I still felt tired in a way that had nothing to do with aches or muscle pain - tired in a way that all the sleep in the world would not fix.

"Someone’s coming," Ti informed me as soon as she knew my mind was functioning.

I thought about standing up, but it hardly seemed worth the effort. So I suppose it was just was well it was Darius who burst into sight around a bend in the trail.

"Xora," he shouted. "Are you all right?"

Without waiting for an answer, he jumped in the water and waded quickly to where I lay. Just as well, I didn’t feel like answering anyway.

"Are you all right?" he asked again, if possible more worried than before.

 I tried to nod, but just then his arms were around me and all I could do was turn to the wall of his chest and weep into the comforting warmth.

"Xora, please, you have to tell me what’s wrong," he said gently.

"I didn’t mean for him to die like that," I whispered, begging to be believed.

"Like what?" he asked, quiet, and neutral in expression.

"It was all my fault," I said; then, "it was so horrible."

"Are you all right?" Darius asked, returning to his first question.

"Yes, certainly," I said, bitter now. "*I*’m all right. I’m just fine. I killed Sstton, but I’m all right."

"Xora, darling, I told you already that you didn’t need to show him any mercy."

I spat out the word, "Mercy. No, I didn’t show him any mercy, none at all."

"Tell me what happened," Darius ordered, just enough command voice in his tone to trigger my own training.

"I harassed Sstton down the mountain, throwing his own words at him so that he would know that he was the prey now, and that I was the hunter. When I had the chance, I took his weapon, and then used it to scare him into the swamp where I hid the day before. Or is it two days before? I can’t remember."

"Sstton went into that swamp, at night?" Darius asked in surprise.

"I forced him to," I said.

"You mean you held his gun on him, and told him to go into the water?" Darius asked, a tone of horror in his own voice.

"Well, no," I said. "I just repeated his own words to him, and fired that gun to the side, or over his head. He knew what I wanted him to do, though."

"But you never told him to get into the water," Darius said, as though this were important.

"No."

"And did Sstton ever say, ‘I give up’ or any other sort of surrender?

Or did he just keep running until he was in the water?"

"No, he just kept going."

"And after he was in the water? Did he surrender then?"

"No," I said, finally beginning to get a little animation back in my voice. "Look, what difference does it make? After he got in the water he said something about me only catching him because I used Federation technology. I told him that I hadn’t, that the only truly dangerous weapon is the human mind. And then . . . "

When I reached that point in my recounting, the memory of that so-subtle ripple in the water, and then the frothy attack, and then the monstrous roar; all came flooding back into my mind and I buried my head once again in Darius’ chest.

"And then," Darius softly picked up the tail, "a waterwhip got him, or a grunter."

I just nodded silently as both animals were named, my head barely moving against the muscle that was at the same time so hard and so comforting.

A part of me just wanted to hide in that haven forever, but his huge arms pulled my head up to look at him, gentle but irresistible. "Xora, my love, don’t blame yourself. Sstton knew the risks. He should have surrendered rather than enter that water at night. But he didn’t. The fault is his. Listen, please. Grown men have gone into shock after seeing the violence of a waterwhip attack, or a grunter either one, let alone both together. Just from seeing it. From what you said, Sstton had a chance to surrender and get out. That’s all you owed him, maybe more than you owed him. He certainly would not have made the same offer to you, except as a prelude to assault and rape."

His deep, dark eyes had turned black when he spoke of Sstton, but then he looked into my eyes, and that black warmed to show once again the light of joy that made them so wonderfully beautiful.

"Oh, my sweet Xora, I am glad to see that the so-perfect Federation agent has a heart. For my own will get lonely if it is all alone in you."

"What?" I said, trying to dry my eyes with the palm of my hand.

Ti obliged by making my palm as absorbent as a towel, while answering my question herself, "You dolt! He just said that he loves you three times! What more does he have to do?"

Well, to begin with, what he did was pretty awesome. As though he had heard Ti’s question, Darius leaned down and surrounded my quivering lips with the scratchy intimacy of his bearded ones. They drank my shock and guilt and sorrow and every other dark emotion from me like the most potent of elixirs, leaving my heart singing with glorious light too bright for the memories that had so consumed me.

I felt his hand moving down my side even as he pulled his dripping body from the chilly stream. The scouting fingers found hard nubs straining at the simulated fabric of my jumpsuit, and I felt a dampness in a more intimate place that I knew had nothing to do with the water from Darius’ sodden clothes.

*Oh, God, Titty, what do I do?*

For once, she didn’t complain when I blurted out a name she didn’t like. For once, she was silent, though her answer was more clear than words could ever be. My jumpsuit melted into nothingness, leaving flawless ivory to shine in the light of the moons that lit our little glade.

*Ti, please,* I begged. *Help me!*

Her laughter held no sympathy at all. "You’re doing just fine on your own, lady. I’m just here to observe."

Did that make it even more arousing? Some sense of her watching presence seemed to make me feel an even more desperate need. Or maybe it was the tune that Darius was playing with his fingers on the exposed skin that seemed so much more sensitive than I could ever remember, ever even imagine.

And then my imagination was much too busy trying to keep up with a reality that was even more compelling than ancient dreams. Things got pretty intense for a while. Deliciously, ah, that is, um, magnificently intense, and confused though crystalline pure, and then after a while softly languid.

As I felt myself drifting into the rest that had not really come to me before Darius arrived, I sent a lazy thought toward my symbiont partner, "Thank you, Titty."

"Don’t call me that," she said, but her tone held no anger, only amusement, and smug satisfaction.

 

"Wake up, company coming," Ti’s voice whispered in my ear.

I tried to ignore her, snuggling deeper into the warmth that surrounded me. The big, muscular, somewhat hairy warmth that surrounded me.

*Oh no, what have I done?* I cried. Or tried to. The words echoed in my mind, but no sound came out.

"Not a good thing to say when you wake up in your lover’s arms," Ti chided me.

*Lover?* I repeated.

"That’s surely what I would call it. I’m going to have to get on Bee for not sharing just how wonderful that feels."

*Bee?* I thought in surprise. *What has Bee got to do with me, um, well . . . ?* Even in my thoughts, I couldn’t form the words.

"Not much, since he was too tight-minded and selfish to give me any real clue about it," she said with a snort. Then she chortled with her own knowledge, "Just wait’ll I tell him about our man-mountain here - big ALLLL over."

Just then the man-mountain in question stirred, his thick arms first stiffening, then caressing the naked curves that I still displayed. Like a well-trained pet, my body arched into his touch. More visible signs of interest poked into hard relief as well, and I knew other responses were not far behind.

"Ohhh," I moaned, nerves strumming wildly.

"Ummmm," he hummed in return.

Then he heard the sound of approaching men that had alerted Ti while we slept.

"Uh, oh," Darius said, but the grin that sparkled in his eyes showed no real worry. None at all.

He did roll away, though, looking for his clothes.

*Titty,* I said angrily. *You have two seconds to get me dressed again.*

"Or what?" she giggled. "Don’t get huffy with me or I’ll leave you like this all the way back to Earth."

*You wouldn’t dare!*

"Don’t tempt me," she laughed. "Besides, you’re just mad because you were interrupted."

*I was not!* I shouted to my inner partner.

"Oh, you were definitely interrupted," Ti said with an infuriatingly-rational tone.

No, that’s not what I meant and you know it, you, you, Titty! I snapped.

"Takes one to know one," she snickered. Then she replayed a caress that I remembered all too well, with results I remembered just as clearly.

*Stop that!* I demanded.

She tweaked me again, and asked, "Will you stop calling me Titty, Miss Ample Ones?"

*Why you . . .!* Whatever name I might have called her died as she triggered yet another thrilling chill to race through my body.

I gasped, and surrendered. *Yes, whatever you say. Just, let me get dressed.*

She let her pressures trail gently off in a way that did absolutely nothing to settle the shivers that were reverberating up and down my back, but she also restored my dark blue jumpsuit. Just in time, too.

"Where did you get those clothes?" Darius asked, turning around.

"For that matter, where did they go last night?"

Then he answered his own question, saving me from an outright lie.

"More of that Federation technology, huh?"

He didn’t seem to mind, the twinkle in his eye vanished for an instant in a private wink just before he turned to greet our finally-arriving guests.

"Over here," Darius called.

"Ah, Inspector, there you are. We didn’t think it would be safe to follow you in the dark, but we came as soon as we could."

"Quite right," Darius said. "If you don’t know your way around the mountain, there are any number of dangers."

"Miss, um, Commander Xora, are you all right?" the man asked.

"Yes, thank you," I answered. Then, from somewhere came an irresistible impulse to add, "Very, very well in fact." This time it was my turn to send Darius a silent, secret wink.

You could see his blush even through his beard. If you were looking, of course.

There was another sign that was not as subtle.

"Ah, yes," the newcomer said, "Ah, well, I am Officer Helmen, of the Ready Force. We arrived in time to take over your prisoners, but not in time to help with Sstton, it would seem. Did he get away?"

Despite all the pleasant memories that had intervened, the thought of what happened to him sent a shiver through my soul and I clenched my arms around me to ward off the inner chill. Darius’ arms helped a lot more, wrapping me into a cocoon of solid armor against the dangers of the world.

"Hey, what about me?" Titania asked petulantly. "I’m better armor than he is!"

She answered her own question before I had a chance, with a giggle, "Well, maybe not, at that."

Darius was answering Helmen for me, "No, Sstton did not get away.

He stumbled into the swamp in the dark, and was taken by a grunter."

"Oh," said Helmen, turning pale for just a second. "Well, serves him right, I suppose."

Becoming brusquely efficient again, Helmen continued, "Inspector, Commander, we have a copter at the lower clearing. We can send for it if you want. I think they’ll be able to get a line down to us through the trees."

Darius looked at me, and after a small shake of my head, declined the offer. "That’s all right. It’s not that much further to walk, and we can use the exercise."

"I would have thought you’d had a lot of exercise in the last few days," Helmen said conversationally as we started down the trail. I saw three or four men moving through the surrounding brush, both guard and investigators.

"Four, all together, besides Helmen," Titania whispered.

*Thanks,* I said.

"Off and on," said Darius, replying to the officer’s comment.

His arm, still around me, reached down to caress the taut globe of my derriere as we walked along. I should have slapped him, I suppose, for being so familiar in front of others. But I found myself leaning into his arm and purring instead.

"Oh, yes, ah . . . " and Helmen trailed off in embarrassed silence.

As we passed the path to the swamp, I nodded to Darius who had Helmen send some men down that way. They reported seeing a few scraps of fabric floating on the water, and something that might have been a belt buckle caught in some reeds, but no one was particularly interested in physically retrieving the evidence of Sstton’s demise. Just that amount of proof was enough to keep us all silent until we reached the clearing.

Poor Kannda Lanney’s body had already been transported, along with that of the first guard I had encountered in the camp. The other one, whom we had followed back from the swamp, was being loaded into a custody vehicle as we arrived. He still wasn’t standing up straight, but I didn’t feel any guilt about that one at all.

During the last, quiet period of our walk, I had felt Darius becoming gradually stiffer, his arm relaxing its comforting pressure until, as we stopped to look over the bustling scene, it dropped away from my shoulders altogether.

"What’s wrong?" I asked.

Darius just looked uncomfortable. Instead of replying to me, he asked Helmen, "Is there some transportation back to headquarters for us?"

"Take any of the cars over there," Helmen answered, pointing.

Darius nodded and politely gestured for me to lead him toward the vehicles.

"Polite?" Titania asked. "What’s wrong?"

*I don’t know,* I said, frustrated.

We didn’t get any answers until we were in the ‘car’ thing. Darius started up that noisy, uneven vibration and we rumbled our way down a slightly wider trail than we had been walking on, defined by two narrow ruts for the wheels.

Darius didn’t say anything for perhaps twenty minutes, until we reached a more durable, smoother road. Then he turned to me with a very sad expression on his face.

"Please forgive me," he said.

"For what?" I asked.

"For taking advantage of you, in your weakness," he said, as though he didn’t understand why I had asked the question.

"Did I seem weak to you last night?" I asked. I had thought we had shared some pretty energetic moments.

"Me, too," Titania snickered. "If I weren’t in the inside, I’d have been left behind."

Darius shook his head sharply, then nodded, then shrugged, "Well, not physically. I don’t think you ever get tired. But you were shocked by what you had seen, and I took advantage of you."

"Maybe it was me that took advantage of you," I said quietly.

"What?"

"Do you really think you could have forced me?" I said, just a bit of irritation leaking into my tone.

"No! Of course not," he said.

"Then what makes you think I was unwilling, or would have been under more, um, sedate circumstances?"

"Well, um, you’re a, uh, I mean, you’re a Federation field agent. You must have, well, you can choose whoever you want. You don’t have to share yourself with some hick on a backwater planet."

"So you think I choose my partners based on their culture’s level of technology?" I asked.

"No, not at all, it’s just, well, I mean we didn’t hit it off very well the first day, and, well, you were so sad, and . . . "

I decided to help him out a little, "And you comforted me. Oh, I know it felt good for you, too. At least I hope so . . . ," his head nodded so vigorously I was afraid for his neck muscles, "but it was just what the doctor ordered for me."

"Doctor Titania, at your service," she chortled in my ear.

*Doctor Titty, that is,* I corrected her with a snicker of my own.

Her answer was a combination of caress and pinch that took my breath away. I was going to be in big trouble, now that she *really* knew what, um, buttons to push, so to speak.

"You got that right," she laughed.

*Shhh,* I said, turning my attention back to Darius.

"Uh, well, yes, um, I’m ah, glad it had a, um therapeutic effect," he said. Then the little-boy grin broke over his face and he said, "I found it rather, um, refreshing myself."

"Really? I’m glad. I wasn’t sure," I said.

"Fishing for compliments, Shameless?" Ti asked.

"Oh, hush, I’m just trying to make sure," I said. She made an amazingly rude sound.

Darius supplied the desired information, just the same, "Oh, no, you were, well, terrific! But I as afraid I was a disappointment."

"Why would you ever think that?" I asked.

"Well, I mean, everyone knows that Federation headquarters is, well, I mean Earth is, um, well, you know."

"No, I don’t know," I said, getting angry again. "Tell me, just what do you think of me?"

"Well, not of you personally, though, of course if you are, I mean, it’s none of my business," Darius stammered.

"You’re right in that," I said. "But I’ll have you know that I have never been with a man before last night."

I thought we were going to run off the road. He looked at me like I had just spouted another head or something, and his huge jaw hit that even larger chest with an audible thump.

"Never?" he repeated. That earned him a glare that I had intended to save for Jonesy and his "no bondage" promise.

"Oh, no, of course not," he said, cringing. "I, um, oh God, I feel lower than, well, oh God . . . "

"What’s the matter now?" I demanded.

"Well, I mean, if I, I mean, since I was your first, um, well, I’m even more sorry that I took advantage of you."

"Well I’m not!" I said. "I’m sorry if you didn’t enjoy it, but I did and I don’t regret a moment of what we shared last night."

"No, that’s not what I meant at all. I loved it, and I loved you even before I found you by that stream. I mean, you’re just so wonderful and so beautiful and you can do, just, well, anything so well, and . . . "

Now we did run off the road. Darius forced his attention back on controlling the vehicle and wrestled it to a stop. Before he could say another stupid word, I interrupted his senseless babbling and said, "Just shut up and kiss me, you big idiot."

He did.

Titania asked, "Did you mean what you said about not regretting any of it?"

*Shut up, Titty!* I snarled silently, then lost myself in Darius again.

 

(continued in part 9)

 

 

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© 1999 by Brandy Dewinter. All Rights Reserved. These documents (including, without limitation, all articles, text, images, logos, compilation design) may printed for personal use only. No portion of these documents may be stored electronically, distributed electronically, or otherwise made available without express written consent of the copyright holder.