Euphoné, gasping, opened her eyes. There was light everywhere around them. The dungeon seemed far away, a distant memory. Was she... was she dead? Was this paradise?
She tried to move. Her body burned with pain. Ah. The slide. This was not paradise.
She felt beside her. Something soft, moist to the touch. Quickly she rolled over.
Large eyes stared into hers. Beautiful eyes, despite their feline slits. Or maybe all the more beautiful because of them. But they were glassy, staring right through her.
Ice gripped Euphoné's chest. "Vervain?" She shook her gently.
"Hungry...." whispered the demon.
Relief flooded her. She was still alive!
"Shhh," said Euphoné. "Do not try and move. I will see where we are."
She sat up. Beauty filled her eyes, but indeed this was not paradise. They were still in the dungeon. They'd slid down into a natural cavern. The walls were all of faceted crystal, like the inside of a geode, capturing a glow which was coming from somewhere deeper into the cave. The light was a spectrum of green and red and yellow and blue and as she crawled forward the canvass of her pale skin shifted as though she was a living rainbow.
Water. There was water here, a deep pool, glittering. They'd landed on a strip of beach. But the light was coming from somewhere. Euphoné could feel a breeze on her face.
She returned to Vervain. "We are safe, Vervain. We must not be far from the outside. Just a short way to go. Why don't you try to--"
Vervain weakly lifted a hand. Euphoné took it.
"Can't..." she whispered again, but this time so soft that Euphoné could barely hear her voice. "Too... weak... Hungry."
Euphoné looked about her in despair. "But there's no-one here!"
"Please..." Vervain's hand dropped away slackly. "Energy."
"How? There's no-one..." Her voice dropped away. She was there. But how... how did a demoness feed?
She took out her knife. "Life-force, right? Blood? You drink blood?"
Vervain took hold of the knight's hand, poised with the blade over her arm. "No," she whispered.
Her hand reached higher, to Euphoné's lips.
Ah. The knight understood then. Her breath!
She leaned down, her face close to Vervain's, feeling awkward. But how? How was she supposed to feed her her breath?
Euphoné exhaled. Her breath blew across Vervain's mouth and the demoness gasped. She lifted her head, sucked the air, then slumped back down. Euphoné leaned closer, breathing on her lips in a steady stream. Vervain gasped like a fish, but could draw little of the breath in.
The knight sighed. There was nothing else for it. She brought her lips against Vervain's and blew into her mouth.
The demoness's lips pushed back against hers. They were surprisingly soft. She breathed out more deeply. It was not her breath she wanted, was it, but her life-force?
Euphoné did not stop to think how losing part of her life-force would affect her. The demoness had expended the last of her energy saving her life and as a knight of Aeovel she could do nothing short of paying her debt.
Vervain inhaled against her lips, sucking more in. She seemed to be growing stronger. The demoness reached for her. Euphoné tried to take her trembling hands in her own, but Vervain reached higher and cupped the knight's chin.
Vervain's hands were smooth and warm against her skin and Euphoné's heart ached. Ah, what was this melting feeling inside her? Her life-force... was it melting away?
She felt a familiar liquid surge below her waist. Her face burned with shame. She was melting there as well!
Pleasure flowed through her and she gasped. Vervain was not sucking at her lips now, but kissing her. Dazed, she kissed her back tentatively -- it had been so long since she had kissed anyone. The demoness' lips grew firmer against hers. The tip of a forked tongue darted past her teeth, seeking her own.
Euphoné pulled away, gasping. Vervain's eyes could focus now, the irises alight like tongues of yellow flame. She smiled, a strangely shy smile, her expression fragile but for the fire in her eyes.
She licked at the their shared moisture bedewing her lips. "Delicious," she murmured.
Euphoné blinked at her. "Delicious?"
"Your energy," said Vervain. She eased herself into a sitting position. "And potent! Even such a small drop and I can feel it burning inside me, right here."
The demoness pressed her hands against her chest, between her large breasts, and the knight, flushing, turned away.
"I-- I am pleased you feel better."
Vervain took her hands and Euphoné turned back. The demoness' violet eyes glistened. Her chest was heaving and when the demoness pulled the knight's hands to her Euphoné felt how hot her skin was.
"Do you feel, that?" whispered Vervain. "My heart. You've set it beating again."
Euphoné blinked. "My life-force did that?"
Vervain shook her head and laughed. "Oh, the energy I took from you was not your life-force, my darling. Orgone is what I feed on."
"Orgone?"
Vervain lifted the knight's hands to her lips and kissed her fingertips. "Sexual energy. And I'm still hungry."