I should warn this chapter is more risquΓ© than the others with new demons on the scene. I mean in my typical non-con way (nothing gruesome). Hope you like this one, and thanks for voting and commenting.
~I write for pleasure; I post for joy~
********
Sirah screamed in pain. Her eyes flew open, and she strained against the demon holding her down.
"Thoran, stop!" she cried, struggling.
"Be still, Sirah!" He grunted, cruelly wrapping her long, blonde hair about his hand. "I must do this!"
"It hurts! Let me go!"
Sirah frantically twisted under him, gasping for breath whilst Thoran's large hand urgently searched for her buzzing wings. Then Sirah was forced on her back to face him.
"Thoran! You're hurting me!" she shrieked. But he ignored her, and jerked their foreheads together.
"I bind you to me, Sirah!" he growled, his dark eyes wide with panic. "I..."
"No!" Sirah snarled.
With horror, Thoran's voice died as a ring of red fluidly encompassed Sirah's pale-green irises. Before he could continue, he was thrown off her and hit the opposite wall with a force that took his breath away.
Briefly shaking his head to recover, he lunged toward Sirah, and was thrown back again.
Winded, Thoran groaned and opened his eyes. Sirah stood over him, staring with a look devoid of any affection or familiarity. As though they were strangers.
"Sirah, please!" Thoran pleaded. "I must bind you again!"
"No," she said emotionlessly, still gazing at him. The red faded from her irises, but her light green eyes filled with contempt. Without another word, she turned and walked away.
"Where are you going!" Thoran roared, angered by his physical weakness.
Sirah's scornful reply floated back from the cavern entrance, the sweet tone of her lovely voice in contrast to the coldness of her words. "To find a demon worthy of me."
Thoran crawled after her. "Sirah!" he shouted hoarsely.
Summoning the strength to stand, he staggered out, raising a hand to shield his face from the blinding sun. With her colourful wings sharply taut, Sirah stood with her back to him, boldly surveying the landscape.
"Sirah, please! Listen to to me-!" Thoran seized her shoulder and turned her.
It wasn't Sirah. Her mother, the witch, glared accusingly, her long purple hair streaked with ruinous black.
"What have you spawned, demon?" she sneered.
The anger on her face rapidly dissolved to terror. "Thoran, what have you done?" she fearfully whispered, tears poured down her cheeks.
What have you done?
What have you done?
What have you done?
Thoran seized the witch's slender shoulders.
"WHERE IS SIRAH?" he screamed.
Jerking awake, Thoran stared around frantically, his temples dripping sweat. Realising Sirah slept peacefully beside him, he breathed a deep sigh of relief. Running a shaking hand through his hair, Thoran lay back, panting. He couldn't remember the last time he'd had such a dream. Or any dream.
Sirah stirred, nestling closer. Carefully angling his arm between her wings, Thoran drew her against him, and the silken rainbow sheets curled about his large bicep in a featherlike embrace. Slowly, Sirah's nearness soothed his unsettled wakening.
"I don't care what she said," he muttered breathlessly into Sirah's soft, blonde hair. "I can't live without you. It was just a dream." He kissed her forehead and took a deep, shuddering breath. "It was just a dream."
But even with the blissful relief of the vision being mere fantasy, the witch's true words flashed through Thoran's mind to directly connect with the nightmare.
Should death befall Sirah, do not resurrect her.
Thoran sighed harshly and shook off his emotions. Before he could rouse Sirah with kisses, his eyes sharpened, and he abruptly sat up.
Startled from sleep as she slipped from his chest, Sirah blinked up at Thoran, who was now on his feet and looking very alarmed.
"W-What is it?" she whispered nervously, but Thoran held up a hand, keenly listening to something Sirah could not decipher.
Then he ran from the room, and Sirah turned in time to see a thick wall of devil's mist rise up behind him.
**********
"He comes," Marun smiled, as Thoran quickly emerged.
"Brothers?" he enquired, warily looking between Marun and Tareg. Though his voice was casual, he was clearly unnerved.
"Aye, it is us, Thoran," Tareg gently inclined his head. "We have come to congratulate you. And behold our new sister."
Realising his oversight, Thoran's face fell. Despite being estranged, they were the same blood. Of course they would know.
"She is sleeping," Thoran said tersely, crossing his own arms.
Marun and Tareg exchanged a bored look.
"Thoran," Marun sighed, stepping forward in a conciliatory manner. "Our journey was long. We have a right to see her."
Thoran looked away angrily. "I will not return to war."
"The war continues without us, as you see," Tareg said roughly. "We are not here to bicker about your choices. But you have taken a mate, we will meet the one whom we would protect."
"She does not need
your
protection!" Thoran growled, though wasn't entirely sure of his words. Marun noticed.
"Our blood decrees it so. But something has already happened," he softly surmised. "I have never seen you worried."
Agitated, Thoran uneasily scratched at the nape of his neck while his brothers patiently waited.
"Very well," Thoran said sourly, glaring at them. "But if either of you
dare-!
"
"Do not insult us. Why should we be tempted?" Tareg cut him off, disgusted. "Exquisite as your choice may be, we can find our own prey."
Marun nodded, also offended by the implication.
Thoran cast his eyes to the darkening sky. "Hold to your words." Then he signalled them into his abode, and left in search of Sirah.
Tareg and Marun waited in a silence brimming with tension, both brothers very unimpressed by the change in Thoran. But something in the air quickly altered, and when Thoran returned with his mate, they immediately straightened with fresh alertness.
Thoran firmly took Sirah's hand. "My mate, Sirah. Sirah, these are my blood-brothers, Tareg and Marun."