Chapter 13:
Bad Dreams
Nameless was lost in a swirling maelstrom of pain. While some of it was his, most belonged to the poor creature he now clutched to his chest.
The agony within her threatened to consume him and her darkness held up a mirror to his own, swirling together in a maelstrom of despair.
He remembered Sophia and her friends stealing his clothes, he remembered the sting on his cheeks as they slapped him over and over. He could taste the blood in his mouth.
He shook it aside.
His pain was nothing compared to hers. He tried to cast it away and focus on her, but his memories merely took a back seat for now.
He remembered being fucked.
He remembered when the heat took him and all that a man had to do was grab him and say ‘let’s do it’ and he would. He remembered his owner, his pimp, fingering the coins he earned from the countless johns that got off on his breasts, his pussy, his ass, and in his mouth.
He remembered the taste of their semen, and remembered liking it even as they degraded him with their words. He remembered the feeling of shame when the heat passed, sobbing in the bath while trying to scrub the stink off of himself and never quite managing it.
Always it lingered.
He remembered Milly, but she looked weaker, and had several bruises on her face. He remembered her smiling at him through a split lip, as she drew him into one of her busty hugs when he couldn’t stand the sight of himself after the heat had passed.
He remembered singing to her, cuddling with her, purring deep in his throat while he kneaded her breasts contentedly with his claws. He remembered licking at her sensitive nipples to get at what little milk that she could produce for him. She only did it for him, just a little, a precious few drops. Just for him.
He remembered showing her all the different ways he could braid his hair. He taught her braids so intricate and strong that they could never be undone.
He remembered all of this with an aching sorrow, knowing that Milly was gone forever. Her smell, the warmth of her smile, all of those things that brought such joy turned against him with her absence, the memories bringing nothing but pain now.
Nameless sobbed as he held the cat’s face close to his own, tears of agony streaking from her blackened eyes as her voice rang out in his mind.
NO!! Don’t make me remember! Don’t show me her face!
She began to struggle in his embrace, further scratching his chest, his arms. Frantically trying to get away from this man who forced her to remember how horribly she had failed.
Please no!! Anything but that!! Don’t show me that!
The more turbulent her emotions became, the easier it was for Nameless to slip past his own baggage, dropping deeper inside of her. He shook his head slightly to clear the cobwebs of his memories, casting them aside altogether, and as he did he began to forget who he was.
Dangerous.
Somehow, he knew that this was incredibly dangerous…and he didn’t care; this pitiful creature in his arms needed him. Her pain was beyond anything he felt, because her pain was wrapped up in a singular emotion that Nameless had never known in his life.
Shame.
What are you ashamed of kitty? Don’t be afraid, I can help you if you just show me what it is that frightens you so.
His thoughts were kind, warm, loving. He emptied himself of everything but love for her, nothing else mattered. His life was nothing, hers, everything.
The Tenebrae’s eyes widened impossibly as she felt his thoughts. Invasive, yet gentle…The thoughts of a lover, not one of the bestial half-men who she had been forced to rut with by her own nature. Her mind clung to his, a lifeline in her turbulent sea of pain.
Show me.
He didn’t command, but he didn’t ask either. He knew that she needed to show him, that the guilt was eating her alive, consuming her; a poison that could only be expressed if she laid her heart bare to him.
It was agony for her, like exposing and licking an open wound with her rough tongue. She resisted him, fought his mind with hers, threw mental daggers of hate and rage at him; anything to get him out of her mind.
She didn’t want him to go. She needed him to see, and she couldn’t show him.
Her mind was shattered glass, churning in on itself over and over.
Show me. Let it go. I don’t know my name, but I want to know yours… because I love you.
Her mind froze in its turmoil.
She basked in the warmth of his thoughts; his light drove away the ice cold shards that shredded through her soul.
Love? What is that? It’s warm… so very warm
Her mind calmed, her memories flowed. The shame returned but the pain of it was blocked by his warmth.
You want to see?
Yes, show me.
You want to see why I deserve this pain?
No, I want to see so that I can help you be free of it… Show me?
It was a request now, he wouldn’t force her. She knew he wouldn’t somehow. His scent filled her nostrils, a familiar heat returned to her groin. But this time it was different, not a pitiful torch in her belly that drove her into the arms of any man that demanded it.
This heat was the sun.
And it burned only for him.
Never again would another man touch her. Only him… the thought of him, his scent, his voice, his warmth it made her so wet. She could smell her own musk, even trapped in her mind as she was. She could feel his surprise. She liked that he was surprised.
But the shame still lingered in her soul, slowly killing her.
“NO!!”
A voice.
His voice.
He screamed in her mind and right in her face at the same time. She felt his determination, his love. He would not let her die. She whimpered, in her mind and in reality, a plaintive yowl of pain and fear. And desire.
Show me, please!
The pain in his thoughts, the worry for her, tipped the balance. Her shame meant she deserved to suffer, but he didn’t. With a cry she surrendered. For him, she remembered the worst day of her life.
The day she betrayed her sister.
__________
“Urgh, Milly… stop pouting at me, Brant will be here any second.”
She could feel the tightness in her loins, her accelerated heartbeat. She knew that within a few minutes she would no doubt be underneath whatever sweaty john had the bits to pay Brant for her time. The thought sickened her, but she knew once in the moment she would be enjoying it. She wouldn’t have a choice.
“I’m not pouting! I just think that you need to eat something, you’ve gotten so skinny…” Milly had one hand on her hip and was doing her best to look stern, she held an open can of sardines in her other hand.
She didn’t get it.
The thought of eating made her sick to her stomach. She was eating less and less. The more sex she had, the more frequent her heat came and it was out of control. Brant was quick to capitalize on it. This had been her life for nearly five years, the bastard was making money off of her hand over fist.
He was a ruthless fucker.
One message to the Aegis about how she was treated would result in her rescue; of course, trapped in the roaming tent town there was no chance of that. The place moved every month or so to keep the Aegis from finding them.
Every crime that could be committed against a monster girl was committed there. Some fought in the arena, never to the death because no one could profit that way, but always within inches of it. Others were sex slaves.
No owner could order a monster girl to have sex, with them or anyone for that matter. But many monsters needed it, craved it, and a canny individual with no compunctions could easily capitalize on that.
Every monster in the tents was ordered not to leave. Don’t go anywhere, seemed like a harmless order and as such it was the kind that the monster girls’ hearts just had to obey.
She dreamt of nothing but escape for three years.
Until the day that Brant decided to diversify. He bought a powerful monster, intending for her to fight in the arena, to earn him yet more money. He had spent a fair amount of bits on her but it turned out she wouldn’t fight. Every time she went into the arena she just stood there and took whatever beating her opponent could dish out.
At first he was furious, he could order her into the arena, but he couldn’t make her fight, no matter what rewards he promised her. But then he noticed that his little whore had taken a liking to the cow. So he told her that she could keep Milly, as a reward for her loyal service.
Really it was another means of controlling her. Milly was so very sweet and innocent. The cat couldn’t help but love her.
And Brant held her heartstone.
At any time he could sell her, take her away. Whenever her heat started, if she showed him any sign of resistance, he would throw Milly into the arena as punishment. All he had to do to keep her compliant was show her Milly’s heart and promise to not sell her if his slutty Katje just went with these nice men for a few hours...
For two years this continued, but she had convinced herself that her life was better now. Sure she was in heat half the time, slobbering, greasy creeps getting off on her and filling Brant’s pockets with coins.
But she had Milly.
They had so many sweet moments together. Like the day they decided to be sisters. They had each used the tip of one of Milly’s horns to cut their thumbs, and they had made a pact; to always look out for one another, to take care of each other, and to never stay mad at each other.
For two years, Milly was the only bright spot in her life.
But Brant’s greed was endless.
She was in heat nearly constantly towards the end and was seeing less and less of Milly. The cow girl was worried, and rightly so, she had lost so much weight, her womanly curves were fading. What little milk Milly was able to produce for her couldn’t keep her healthy, not with the amount of time she spent having sex.
Too much sex could kill you. She wouldn’t be the first monster girl to go down that road. She felt the light of her heartstone, clutched in Brant’s greedy mitts, fading more and more each day.
The sardines were the latest of Milly’s attempts to get her healthy.
She found that she couldn’t care less. What did this stupid cow know about her life anyways? She didn’t even have the stomach to throw a punch in the arena let alone deal with the pigs that pounded their little dicks inside of her on a nightly basis.
She found the more Milly talked the angrier she became. Her head hurt, she was sick to her stomach and that stupid cow wouldn’t stop waving those damn fish at her, making her nausea worse.
She snapped.
She couldn’t help herself; she started to scream incoherently, hissing and spitting as she struck out at the surprised Minotaur, slapping her across the face over and over.
Like in the arena, Milly just stood there and took it.
Eventually, her frail body unable to sustain her rage against the Minotaur, the cat girl broke down and sobbed.
“I hate you! I just hate you! I wish I never met you!”
Milly tried to gather her into a hug. She would have given anything in the world to go back and accept the warmth of that hug; to apologize for hitting her, to beg her forgiveness and to try to explain why she couldn’t stomach even the thought of food.
If it weren’t for Milly she would’ve been either dead or a Tenebrae long ago.
Before she could come to her senses though, Brant was there.
Shouting at them for making a scene, he dragged her off into the night and she spent the next two days underneath one man after another.
When she finally got back to her tent, her battered body barely able to support its own weight, her only thought was of making up with her sister. They would have a long bath together, she would drink whatever milk Milly had, and eat whatever she put before her.
But Milly was gone.
Brant had sold her.
He told her this, his tone matter of fact, without any hint of remorse as he counted his fucking money.
He had snuffed out the only light in her life.
He told her that she had been sold to a man even worse than he was. That she would spend the rest of her life being beaten and tortured in another arena. There are many who would bet on a Minotaur, he said, not knowing that she would refuse to fight, so she would lose over and over and over. He twisted the knife in her heart telling her all of the different ways that Milly would suffer.
All because she failed, she broke her promise, to always be there for her.
The shame was unlike anything she ever felt, she would rather face a thousand johns, without her heat to protect her, than to face what she had done to Milly.
All she could see was Milly’s face when she was slapping her, calm, her eyes sad but patient. Those blue pools an endless font of love that demanded nothing and offered everything.
And she took it all from her.
She remembered all of the times Milly had been forced into the arena, the blood on her face, the bruises. Not many monsters could really hurt a Minotaur, but those that could were invariably found in the arenas. That would be her life now.
And it is all my fault.
Her memories became jumbled after that, she could sense the wave of shame consuming her, the last vestiges of her soul broken. She could feel the light of her heartstone dim, and an inky darkness swirling into it.
She remembered the look on Brant’s face when she pulled out his tongue. She remembered the taste of his flesh as she ate his penis, his testicles. She had tried to beat her shame into him, to transfer the darkness over to the one who had created it in her.
All she managed to do was let it take her over faster.
She resisted for an age, somehow recognizing that when she killed Brant she made it worse, so she avoided people as best she could, while at the same time she was drawn to them by the dark hunger to spill their blood.
After that her memory became hazy, days or years passed, she didn’t know. She tasted blood on occasion, but never like she did with Brant.
She remembered scenting those that stalked her, the woman and her dog. She didn’t hate them. But she thought that maybe she had found another way to rid herself of the darkness so she began to stalk them, her feral instincts making her cunning…
Stop.
That warmth again...
Enough. Please, enough.
She shuddered, falling out of the darkness of her memory and into the light of his vacant mind.
Now do you see? Do you see why the darkness, the shame, should be with me always?
No.
???
All I see… is a vibrant and wonderful woman, one so full of love. Who fell prey to a wicked man and was gravely hurt as a result.
But… Milly.
Ask yourself, would Milly want you to punish yourself forever? Would she want this pain, this darkness, for you?
…...
Well?
…No… Milly would never wish that on anyone…
What would Milly want for you?
She would… she would want me to be happy.
If that is what she would want, then that is what you should do, Milly forgives you, forgive yourself.
…Who are you?
I… don’t know… I was someone I think, who was I again?
His warmth faltered, the heat of it dimming as confusion set in. For the first time in a long time she felt afraid. She feared for him.
Are you okay? You seem confused.
I, I wanted to help you... I think… I think I gave everything that I had to help you… who are you?
…Erica… my name… I think my name was Erica.
Erica… such a pretty name… do you know… do you know who I am… Erica?
Yes… yes I know you…
Who am I?
You are… my master! I know your scent, and I know your heart!
Your master?
Yes… I feel, so very warm. I feel the sun on my face... you are the sun… you are my world, my master… I… I love you!
But… what…
If you don’t trust your own thoughts then trust mine! Please Master?
…Okay.
I will help you, just like you helped me!
Okay… one question…
Anything…
Who are you again?
__________
“They’ve been like this for nearly an hour…” Jan hovered over the pair as they clutched each other tightly on the ground, he had cried out a few times and she whimpered a bunch but otherwise they were still; “What is happening to them?”
Miranda was knelt at Milly’s side, a wet cloth held to the jagged cut on her head, the blow had glanced off of her horn, she was lucky.
After applying the poultice she stood. Her own wounds already tended to, her arm in an improvised sling.
She felt far older than she was as she responded, her voice grim.
“He’s an Empath… I should have seen it sooner. He will reach her or he will lose himself trying.”
“An Empath? I’ve heard of them before but what-”
Jan gently brushed at the cowlick on his forehead. He had saved them both. He had saved her bond-mate; whatever he was, she wanted him to be safe.
“It is a rare and dangerous gift. I know of only two others, and one of them is in a coma.”
“A coma? Why?”
Jan looked up as she felt a spike of apprehension from her bond mate.
“Because he tried to do exactly what this boy is trying to do right now, he tried and he failed.”
Jan’s eyes widened.
“Can we help him?” Jan was hopeful but Miranda shook her head.
“No, only another Empath could, all we can do… is wait.”
__________
What a trio of rampaging thunder-cunts!!
The intertwined minds were working their way back through his fragmented memories and Erica did not like what she saw.
The poor boy was huddled in a corner, mostly naked as the three girls loomed over him, taking it in turns to slap him and poke at his crotch with their toes. Her master felt the slaps as if they were his cheeks…
I wonder who he is?
I think that is you Master… and if I ever meet any of those bitches I will rip their…
They’re dead.
What?
I think… they were swimming… Mistress… Ophelia… she told them not to, but they went anyways. The current in the river was too strong, there was a flood. They all drowned.
Oh… well… good.
She felt a stab of pain from him. He didn’t want them to be dead. They were his friends. Weren’t they?
Master, anyone who strips you down to your undies and smacks you around isn’t your friend I don’t think…
There was another memory, the three girls and him. They were much younger; before they were old enough for school, before the social cliques, the makeup, and the boys that they had to impress somehow by being terrible to each other. They played together in the dirt. They dug trenches with their hands, played with wooden toys and laughed for no reason at all, innocent still.
Huh… well, they grew up to be bitches, it happens.
…I guess…
Master?
Hmmm?
His thoughts were bemused as he watched the four children playing. It was such a lovely sight.
These are only two memories… where are the rest?
I…I don’t know…
Well, let’s find them!
…Okay.
Darkness swirled around their shared mind.
She was at peace, happy to help someone else for a change, someone she loved.
He was mostly confused.
There was a whir of sensation, distant memories he didn’t like, bitter ones. Memories of when he didn’t do a good enough job of hiding and the bigger kids found him and hurt him; emotional pain, worse than the physical kind, akin to what the girls had inflicted but in smaller doses, a lot of doses.
He remembered crying a lot. He remembered Ophelia holding him to her soft breasts, the brilliant purple of her wings made him feel safe, blocking out anything that could hurt him. But there were so many kids to hold and only one Ophelia…
He remembered that he was an orphan.
That’s it!
Mistress Ophelia’s Home for Lost Children. He was raised there.
Wow, you got beat up a LOT, are you okay Master?
At her words another memory swirled around them. He was stacking firewood, when a haughty girl came out with food for him.
Erica snarled at the baker’s daughter’s unkind words.
What a stuck up little princess! If I ever meet HER I will definitely fuck her up! You had a lot of shitty days Master.
He felt a sharp pain, or rather the memory of pain, on his chin and across his chest. There was a memory attached to it but he shied away from it. The pain was pretty intense.
Come on Master! I’m right here; nothing can hurt you as long as I’m around! I promise.
Okay…
Another memory, this one teeming with a different emotion, there was fear but mostly there was anger. How could that bastard do that to her in public like that? A man, a whip…
I have to help her!
There was that terrible pain again. He could feel the blood on his chin, his chest. He heard the man shouting at him to get out of the way but he wouldn’t, he’d sooner die.
Wow, you were so brave Master!
I had to be, he was humiliating her…
Who?
The image of a beautiful blue crystal falling towards the ground flashed into their mind.
I have to catch it!
Why?
But he didn’t answer, his focus on the crystal, he remembered the dive; the air leaving his lungs as he hit the ground, the desperate grab.
He felt the precious stone nestled safely in his hand.
Thank goodness, I thought she might have been hurt.
Not that that wasn’t totally badass but…who?
…Milly…
What?
Her name… is Milly… that… is her heartstone… It’s near… I can feel it!
He felt steady warmth nestled below his throat and heard a shocked gasp echo through their mind.
You know Milly? MY Milly?! You know my sister?!
Images of her flew through their shared mind, each a different moment with a different emotion tied to it, but always they glowed with love:
Her face when she first held him after he caught her heartstone.
Her eyes when she kissed him for the first time when he accepted her bond.
Her nipples, dripping with cream, a balm for his wounded chest.
Her butt, wiggling deliciously while her head was buried in a bag of feed, munching happily.
Her smile while he gently tended to her hooves.
Her arms as she hoisted Clint in the air and tossed him off a bridge.
Her lips wrapped around his cock while he thrust into her mouth.
Her eyes again, this time when he thrust himself into her moist pussy.
Her face again, now dripping with his cum.
Stop!!
What?
You gave my sister a facial? Twice?!
Er, yeah… I guess.
…I’m going to rip your dick off.
With their minds shared he could tell that she didn’t really mean it, she was in shock. He tried to explain.
I think she wanted me to.
…Well shit.
With greater and greater ease they examined his memories and Erica was awestruck with what she saw: Milly was not only safe, she was happy! And they had bonded to the same man! They were sisters for real now!
She sobbed inside their mind as the implications hit, combing through every memory, desperate to join in every tender moment that they had shared. Wanting, needing, to be part of them.
The cottage! I want to see it! Can I see it, please?
Bemused, Nameless tried to picture his home… Nameless!
No wonder I couldn’t remember my fucking name, I don’t have one!
Yeah that’s neat, show me the cottage! Show me where Milly is!
Another image popped into his mind instead.
Milly bleeding on the ground, having been struck down by the Tenebrae in her rage.
NOOOOOO!!!!
A mutual scream.
With frantic effort the shared minds sought to regain consciousness, desperate to reach the side of their fallen love.
__________
Jan gave a great yelp of surprise when the pair on the ground leapt upwards and bowled her over, as they cried out in unison.
“Noooooooo!! Milly!!”
Miranda’s head whipped towards them, her reflexes kicking in.
“Jan!”
The Wolfen leapt back to her feet as best she could but before she could grab hold of her target the pair were at Milly’s side, both crying out in desperation.
“What have I done?! Not again! Please Milly! Please be okay!” Erica sobbed.
Miranda and Jan loomed behind her, both in shock at her sudden coherence.
“Milly are you alright?” Nameless hovered over her, desperate to comfort her but afraid to jostle her.
His own fears were compounded by the fears radiating from Erica’s emerald green heartstone clutched in his hand.
“She’s fine! She’s a Minotaur for fuck’s sake! She’ll be fine!” Miranda had found her voice, eyes narrowed she took stock of the unusual pair before her as they fussed over Milly’s unconscious form; “Which is more than I can say for you two if you don’t start talking.”
“Who is this old lady, Master? Ugh, she stinks like a wet dog…” Erica crinkled her nose as she looked up at Miranda, who rapidly lost her cool.
“Old lady!? And you don’t exactly smell like a rosebush yourself you little… wait… MASTER?!”
“Master, she’s really loud, I don’t like her.” Erica pouted as she clung to Nameless’s arm.
He looked trapped, three different things vying for his attention: Miranda’s ire, Milly’s injury and Erica calling him master. It was one thing in the vague fog of their shared consciousness but out in the real world it had more of an impact.
A fourth thing rapidly attracted his attention.
Jan was snarling, a murderous glare fixed on Erica.
“O-okay, let’s all just calm down for a bit and not do anything rash.” He held one hand up in a pacifying gesture.
Miranda ground her teeth for a moment.
“Jan! Heel!” The snarling stopped; “Her heartstone, let me see it. Now.”
Despite Erica’s plaintive meow, he outstretched his hand and dropped the precious crystal into Miranda’s palm.
She acted like it might explode at any second.
She examined it intently for several tense moments. Finally she let out an awed breath.
“It’s gone! Completely gone! The darkness, there is no trace of it!”
“Of course it’s gone, Master drove it away! Now give him back my heart you bitch!” Erica protested.
Miranda drew herself up. Her nostrils flared for a moment before she quickly calmed down.
“I’m afraid I can’t do that. By the authority of the Aegis I have to confiscate this heartstone until such time as it is deemed-”
“BULLSHIT!! Where was the Aegis when I was getting my ass pounded by fat slobs every day?! Where was the Aegis when Milly was thrown into the arena to get beaten half to death over and over?! What fucking good is the Aegis if the only time they step in is to take me away from the only decent man I’ve ever met?! NOW GIVE HIM BACK MY HEART OR WE ARE SO GOING TO THROW DOWN!!”
Erica was on her feet, clawed fists balled at her side, her ears flat to her head and her tail puffed up many times its normal size, her fury more than a match for Miranda’s.
Jan was ready to pounce, broken leg or not. No one talked to her mate like that.
Miranda took in the furious cat girl, sizing her up. She pursed her lips as she thought about the situation, and then wordlessly handed the heartstone back to Nameless.
There was a beat.
Then they all turned as Milly groaned.
“Milly!” Erica’s fury vanished and she was back at the cow’s side in an instant, both she and Nameless imploring Milly to be okay.
“Milly please say something, anything!” Nameless begged.
Her eyes fluttered open.
“Um… fart?” Nameless and Erica were both taken back a bit. Milly looked at them, shifting uncomfortably; “You said to say anything!”
“Oh you humongous goof ball!” Erica threw her arms around her.
“Wait… Erica?”
“Yeah, sister it’s me, and I am so sorry!” Erica sobbed into Milly’s ear.
“But, how did you get here? The last thing I remember, Master and I were…” Her eyes shot open as her memories caught up to her; “There’s a Tenebrae out here somewhere and she is really strong, you need to run!”
Erica cried harder, then laughed, then cried again.
It took several moments to persuade Milly that they were safe, and once Erica was convinced that her sister had suffered no real ill effects from her assault she wiped her tears away and abruptly turned and pounced on Nameless.
He collapsed under the Katje’s sudden weight with an unmanly squeak.
Milly watched in confusion as her sister bathed her master’s face with her tongue, purring intensely and grinding her mostly naked groin against his crotch.
“Um… Erica? Master? What is going on?”
Milly wasn’t angry, only confused, what she saw made no sense.
“Mmmm… Master you taste so good, I can’t wait to taste all of you...”
Milly’s jaw dropped.
“M-Master?!”
“That’s right Milly, we’re sister for real now: we share the same master… this gorgeous hunk of man-meat pulled me out of the darkness… I… I was lost, Milly, I was a Tenebrae.” She paused in her face grooming long enough to look sheepish; “I’m also the one that dropped a boulder on your head. Sorry about that.”
“That’s alright I guess… wait… so… you bonded with my man?” Milly’s tone had shifted dangerously low as she took in the situation.
Everyone but Erica paused as they watched her face in apprehension.
Erica rambled on excitedly, still grinding against Nameless.
“Yeah, not sorry about that though. The way I see it, we can do all sorts of fun things together now! Like, I know you got a couple facials already. We could swap cum together. You could sit on my face while he fucks you from behind, your fingers rooting around in my pussy. Oh! I could slurp his cum out of you when he finishes! Or we could just fuck each other’s brains out while he watches, jerking himself off until he sprays all over those perfect tits and then I could lick it all up like a good kitty-” Her voice faltered as she finally noticed that Milly was looming over her, face hidden in moon-lit shadow; “Er… Milly?”
“Master… my sister and I need to have a long talk… about her taking my things without asking… COULD I BORROW HER FOR A SECOND?!”
Nameless swallowed and gave a short nod, as if she was really asking…
Milly scooped Erica up without breaking stride and stomped off into the bushes, the cat girl yowling from under her arm.
“Milly! It’s not like that! He saaaaaaved me!!” Whatever else she had to say was lost in the crashing of the agitated Minotaur plowing her way through the undergrowth.
“Well kid, you have a knack for stepping in it. I’ll give you that. That’s twice now you’ve violated the charter.” The other girls gone, Miranda had slumped down beside him gingerly; “Except this time, it could be really bad for you, and them.” She sighed at him.
“H-how so?” The sting from the numerous scratches on his arms and chest from Erica’s claws suddenly caught up with him.
Jan wordlessly limped over and dropped down to his other side and began seeing to the cuts.
“How old do you think I am?” Miranda tenderly rubbed her shoulder.
Jan had done what she could with the sling but her collar bone was definitely broken and it hurt like a bitch. Maybe she could persuade the kid to part with some of Milly’s milk.
“I don’t know, you look like you’re in your late twenties… but you have grey hair…”
“I’m fifty three. Do you know why I look so young?”
“Um, because of the bond with Jan right?” He vaguely remembered from school.
“Partly, I also have two other bonds; together the three of them keep me healthy and fit. The healthy part is due to the nature of the bond. The fitness part is due to me needing to keep three lovers satisfied sexually.”
He turned pink at the image.
“Jan and I were together for eight years before a cute little frog named Jez bounced into our lives. Despite how I just made it sound it was not a spontaneous thing.” She eyed him critically; “Jan and I had prepared for that bond months in advance, we didn’t know who would take to me. But we did have some idea who might. And of those candidates we deliberately avoided any that Jan didn’t like, or didn’t mesh with.”
“I loved Jez right away! Her tongue is even longer than mine!” Jan chirped while massaging ointment into his cuts.
Miranda rolled her eyes.
“Thing is we prepared. We prepared so that none of the girls got hurt, or jealous, or lonely, or scared. We all knew what we were getting into. Even then it can be a handful for me sometimes.” Jan blew an abrupt raspberry on Nameless’s exposed shoulder. Miranda paused at the rude noise then continued; “Meanwhile you keep stumbling into these bonds by accident, and if you weren’t what you are, I would have no choice but to confiscate both girls, for their own good.”
“But there wasn’t any time to prepare! She was dying, Miranda! The guilt of what she did, or thought that she did. I-It was killing her I could feel her slipping away in my arms!”
“Yeah, I get that. Not your fault. But it is your responsibility. Here’s the short of it, you are a tamer now. A tamer with no formal training or experience, but one who could potentially bond with any monster anywhere. You have this capacity because you are also an Empath, which is the only reason I haven’t taken both of those girl’s stones away from you. It’s how you were able to save that cat girl. It’s also how, I figure, you knew me and Jan were in this mess.”
She gave him a speculative look as he stared at her, wondering what the hell an ‘Empath’ was.
“You felt something when you touched Jan’s stone in the bathhouse, right?”
He thought for a moment, remembering the strange feeling when he had touched the amber stone.
“Yeah, ah, yeah she was, well…”
“Hot to trot? Randy? Concupiscent?” Jan piped in when she saw how red his face was.
“Er, that.”
“That’s your gift, which I think you might already have figured out.” Miranda said with a nod and then a grimace at the pain the movement caused in her shoulder.
“I can sense what monster girls are feeling?”
“Yes, but only if you’ve had direct contact with their heartstone, it’s an inversion of what they do with us, except more powerful. Jan can sense my feelings, and only my feelings, because of the bond. You merely have to touch a stone, any stone, and you can sense theirs.”
He shuddered.
“That’s insane…”
“Tell me about it, look I’m not the best person to tell you this stuff. Only an Empath could really describe what it is to be an Empath. For now, the major concern is those two girls. They know each other right?” At his nod she continued; “That’s lucky, really lucky. If they already have a relationship with each other then all you have to do is balance it.”
She nodded at his heartstones, one in his hand, and the other around his neck.
“Try to feel what they’re feeling, one at a time. Start with the cat, since you were just inside her.”
Jan barked a laugh at her phrasing, and then whistled innocently to the side at Miranda’s glare.
He held the precious green stone up to his chest, closed his eyes and tried to remember how he connected with her before.
It was… far easier now, like using a limb for the second time. He understood the basics but was still clumsy. He sucked in his breath as he could suddenly taste something intimately familiar to him.
Erica was suckling hungrily at Milly’s nipple. She was happy, she was hungry, and she was HORNY, nearly as turned on by Milly as she was by him. The heat of the fresh bond was on her and she needed it BAD. She pictured them both in bed with her, tossing her back and forth, loving her.
He pulled back from her mind with a gasp and a nervous glance at Miranda.
“Well? Are they killing each other?”
“Not… exactly.” He pressed his finger tips to Milly’s stone, hidden in its braid.
Joy overwhelmed him.
Despite how she had stormed off earlier, Milly was overjoyed. She held her beloved sister to her breast, stroking her ears as she nursed her. She could finally feed her properly, finally get her healthy again.
They had talked; she wrung all of the details out of Erica, and then clutched her to her breast. They were going to be a family again and it was all thanks to her master.
She was so going to suck him off later.
Erica could help, like she had said before, they would swap his stuff as he rubbed himself on her breasts; all three of them in their bedroom, pleasuring each other all night and into the morning. When her lovers hungered they could both feed from her breasts at the same time.
The idea was sheer bliss.
Nameless nearly shot in his pants at the level of passion he felt from his pets.
And they were his, he could feel that now. He felt both of them. Erica deserved every ounce of love that he had to give, and so he would give it and he knew Milly already did. He wanted to be at their side, wanted to hold them both close and never let go.
His eyes let out a few joyous tears and he gasped out a sob at the poignancy of the moment they shared in the woods. He also knew that they knew that he knew. He felt their love reach for him; he was clutching both stones now. It was perfect.
Right up until Miranda had Jan slap him across the face.
“I said one at a time!!” Miranda looked worried for him, and then pissed at him when he laughed in her face.
He laughed until he had to hold his stomach; he actually sank to the ground he laughed so hard. Miranda must have thought that he had come unhinged.
He regained control after several moments.
“S-s-sorry, HA, it’s just. You were so worried! And that is so at odds with the situation. They’re fine, we’re fine. Better than fine. I get why you’re concerned, believe me, and I was too, until I shared in what they are feeling right now. Miranda, oh goodness, the sheer joy they feel right now! They missed each other so much it ached and now they are together again and it… it’s a little intoxicating.” She looked at him skeptically; “They’re coming back I need to… I need go to them.” He got to his feet and walked off.
She looked into the woods but saw no sign of the duo. Jan’s ears perked up and shifted towards where they had gone.
“He’s right, they are coming back. I can hear them. They’re talking about blowing him.”
Miranda groaned.
“Somebody get me out of these god damned woods.”
More laughter greeted her words, this time she couldn’t help but snort out a laugh of her own.