Just an Old Legend

The first chapter of this has caused some confusion due to the way that the story twists. This is the huntress' tale. It might answer some questions and then, it might cause more. Don't give up, we're getting to where this all weaves together.

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Helen looked up, admiring his powerful body again. She reached and ran her fingers through the straight fur of his chest with a soft smile as she looked at his yellow eyes there over his snout. Ion thrust harder suddenly and her hand fell away in a bit of bliss as he shifted his weight onto one hand and caressed her stomach up to one breast. He bided his time and then thrust again just after pinching her nipple softly. Helen flew over the edge once more and began to buck as hard as she could, and then clung to him as though her life depended on it as he filled her again.

She recovered and bucked a bit more gently, cooing her encouragement for more spasms from him, "I love the way you do this," she sighed, "You're such a machine."

After he'd spent himself, she hugged him, "You know what? I've finally figured it out. I'm addicted to you. I mean, every time that we do this, I love the tingle that I get from it. That's never happened to me with anyone before."

He looked at her, "What do you mean, tingle?"

"Exactly that," Helen smiled softly, "When you finish, your semen goes in, the same as any man's would. But for one thing, there's so much of it, and mainly, it makes me tingle after. I guess I should have told you before, but right from the very first time, that's what I've always felt, and it doesn't matter where you put it, either. So thanks for that."

It had been well over a year now that they'd been together. Ion now had legal identification though other than twice, Helen had never taken him into the town. Ion wondered what the point had been. He had a small subsistence farm going that he had just got the harvest in from, Helen's writing and her artwork were selling, and her book, co-authored with Stan Beamish had hit solidly on the seller list and was moving up quickly. Ion reflected that his life was now far out of hell and well into heaven, as far as he was concerned. To his mind, he owed everything to Helen and Stan. He'd never have imagined that he could have such happiness. He wondered if he deserved it.

He kept that quiet little doubt locked away. The one time that he'd voiced it had been the worst fight that they'd had.

After she'd wound down, Helen had apologized. "Look, Ion, I'm very sorry for that. But you always sell yourself short. You are a wonderful man. You're the best thing that has ever happened to me. I just hate it when you put yourself down the way that you do. I understand about you thinking that you're just a humble guy. But I know how fabulous you are."

"I've always told you what I'm doing. I'm doing most of it for us - the same as you do - for us. But I also do some things just for you. I love you, and that's enough reason for me right there, but it's also because you were cheated by everyone and everything, whether they were aware of it or not. I could support both of us and not notice the cost, pretty much, but I know that you need to do some things to feel that you have worth. I get that. I'm just helping you to get started."

There was something in what she'd said that bothered him to a small degree for its slightly condescending tone, but there was also something else in the sound.

And right there, he saw the small tear begin. His vision drilled down to sharp focus on that tear within a tenth of a second of time. He embraced her and asked about it.

Helen struggled, but finally just quietly said it, "I need to do this for you, Ion. I'm not going to be around forever, am I? You just stay the same, but I get older every day."

He now thought about that, and what she said that she felt during sex. With no answers, he filed them away for the moment. The truth was that in spite of the way that she talked, he'd noticed that they seemed to be drifting apart a little bit. With nothing to compare what he'd noticed against, he could only wonder about it vaguely.

Helen had her reasons to pull back a little and they bothered the hell out of her, though she said little. For one thing there was that aging problem. He could go on like this forever, but she faced the arch enemy of all women - time itself. She'd mentioned to him several times that it might be better for them if he'd just bite her so that they'd have it out of the way. Ion had real fears based on what had happened to Danaya's mind. It terrified him to think that it might happen to Helen, and so he refused.

He could see that his gentle refusals were beginning to bother her. From her point of view, she'd done a lot for him and he was holding out on her. From his viewpoint, this wasn't a gift at all, what she was asking him for. She was asking him to be let in to a nightmare without end.

Another thing was that she could say what she wanted to him to cover it, but he was helpless in the modern world without her and that took a lot of effort on her part. She'd wanted a man who was something of an equal. Ion was far more than that, in many ways, but for some things, ...

And then there had been that one unexpected email, hidden among the many that landed in the mailbox provided to her by her publisher. She scrolled through them and even answered many from her fans old and new and there were more every day now, but seeing that one had almost caused her to drop her laptop when she'd recognized the old account where it had originated.

Pete might just be an ex-husband, but he bought and read everything that she published, she knew from before their divorce. It just had never occurred to her that he'd still be doing that. It had taken her over a week to decide to answer it, but she did answer finally. The conversation of their emails told him that she was living on the island of her book. When he'd inquired about what had inspired the book, she'd been stuck, but had finally replied that it had sprung from some old history in the area.

Helen in turn had learned that Pete was now on his own again, and he said that he didn't mind it. Before she could ask, he just said that they'd drifted apart, but after about another week of correspondence, he admitted that whatever they'd had, it had just flamed out after a time, and they both realized that they were drifting.

He asked for a phone number where he might reach her if it wasn't a problem, and Helen had hesitated for a few days, and then told him that she'd be on the road making appearances for her publisher, and they might meet up somewhere for coffee. She wrote that she'd advise him of her itinerary.

The next day, she had a cell phone. It wouldn't work on the island, since there were no cell towers for miles, but she told herself that with it, she could check in with Ion while she was on the road to make sure that he was ok. Well, that was what she told herself, anyway.

Stan Beamish was a bit surprised when she'd told him that she was going away for a while. He'd been asked to go with her, but his business had forced him to decline. Now Helen was asking him to look in on Ion for her while she was gone.

He was hesitant. "I don't mind giving him a call now and then, Helen, but I'm not going to go there without an invitation from him. It's a half hour by boat and a half hour back. I don't have that kind of time very often. How long will you be away?"

"It ought to be about two weeks, Stan. I'm not all that worried, but I'm mostly asking for my peace of mind. But you're right. I shouldn't have asked it that way. Just call him every couple of days, that's all. I'll be calling him about that often too."

Stan finally agreed, and Helen left, wondering why she felt guilty.

Pete caught up to her by the third day. Helen was happy to see him again as they had dinner together. About halfway through, Pete admitted that he was sorry that they'd split up, and that he still missed her after all the time that they'd been apart.

Helen's admission surprised him. She told him that she'd wished to be able to turn back time and do that one day over. She said that she'd never have made that mistake if she'd known how much she'd needed him.

Helen lay awake in her hotel room. She had so many things to think about. Ion was the biggest of them. She thought that she'd have missed him more than she seemed to be. She had much more on her conscience to wrestle with now.

She looked over and smiled for a moment at Pete asleep there next to her. It felt like old times, almost like they'd never been apart. Pete was still such a handsome man. He might not be able to thrash her around on a bed the way that she liked now and then, and he wouldn't be a furnace to cuddle up against on a cold winter night, but he was still such an attentive lover, and that was all that she'd ever really wanted from a man.

They could make love and actually talk about intelligent things during the glow and afterward. Helen smiled as she remembered how Pete had been so thankful for this opportunity. Of course, she hadn't told him about Ion.

Pete made some changes to his itinerary and got on the horn, assigning people to cover for many of his functions while he was away. It got to where they traveled to together on her tour. She'd make the required appearances, and then she'd sign copies of the book that had made all of this possible. And all the while there was Pete, somewhere within her field of view. He'd always been proud of her and that hadn't changed as well after all of this time. It wasn't long before they told each other the three words that were working like a magic ointment to repair the damage of all that time ago.

This was new and uncharted territory for Helen. She'd never cheated before. She tried to tell herself that she and Ion weren't married, but it didn't allow her to feel any better.

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Playa de Las Teresitas Village of San Andrés Tenerife, Canary Islands

On the Island of Tenerife, Lia Pantoferu set down her empty drink beside her deck chair and looked idly around for a waiter. She smiled as one came hustling over to ask if she wanted another and she nodded. She glanced around casually at the other people for a moment, taking in the women's bathing suits which left so little to the imagination these days. Lia wondered why they wore them. Why not just head for a nude beach? She herself wore a stylish one-piece that said much more if you had the eyes to see it. Lia didn't have a need to hide a thing, she just wasn't about to advertise needlessly.

She nodded and smiled her dazzling smile when the waiter returned. He wore just about the look that she expected, and even tried in his banal way to strike up a hopeful conversation about the parts of her tattoos that he could see, but Lia wasn't in the mood to look at the message that he was trying to send her. She guessed that it must work for him about twenty percent of the time, given the goods he was pushing. It wasn't his fault, he just didn't have the horsepower for what she wanted, as fit as he thought he was.

She dug briefly through her bag and pulled out the novel that she'd picked up in the duty-free shop in Bucharest. She wouldn't have given it a second glance, but had asked her friend the salesgirl to recommend one to go with the three others that she'd picked out herself. She always liked to ask the sales staff whenever she bought books. A lot of the time, those recommendations turned out to be worthless drivel that entertained the sort of minds which liked to lap up nonsense, but every so often, Lia had found a jewel in this way.

Dacia had apologized that the only edition that they had was in English, but Lia didn't mind. She'd laughed and thanked Dacia for her advice as she paid for the books and strutted away just before her flight began to board. There had been a bit of a funny moment as Lia glanced back briefly to find Dacia looking at her. They had both laughed a little and Lia had walked off. They'd been best friends for a while now. Lia was certain that without her elfin-looking friend's ability to make her laugh at herself, she'd long ago have become murderously miserable.

Lia had no interest in women, but with a smirk, she thought that right now, Dacia stood a better chance of getting her into bed than this waiter, and that was never going to happen either. She had no doubt that he'd get his share that night anyway. Given the talent that she saw around here, he probably didn't strike out all that often. Her quick glances showed plenty of office-types whose idea of a relatively safe vacation bedtime adventure was right there with the tray of drinks. She decided that if this didn't improve soon, she'd be asking around for the nearest nude beach. There'd be less drinks, but she hoped for at least some better scenery to entertain her. All of the men here liked to eat too much, even the young ones, she noted sadly.

She scanned the back cover of the book in her hand and read the usual patter about an impossible romance against all odds and so forth. The villain was a werewolf, apparently.

Amazing, she thought with a slight grimace, I need to know of such things. Werewolves and vampires and zombies, oh my.

She set it down and looked at her other purchases. That took five whole minutes. They were worse that the nonsense about the werewolf, she thought.

With a tired sigh, she picked it up again and began to read. Twenty minutes in, she motioned the hopeful waiter to come and adjust her chair and turned onto her front to continue. By dinnertime, she was reading it through for the second time, but much more slowly as she scribbled notes and sipped wine. At midnight, she set it down and turned on her notebook to connect to the net through the WiFi in her suite.

Lia did a quick search for the relevant parties, and came up pretty thin. That was fair, she thought, and she sent a query via email to an old friend. He'd never failed her, she thought with a small smile as she turned in.

By ten the following morning, Lia had eaten breakfast and turned on her notebook again. There in her inbox was a lengthy reply with more information than she thought she'd ever need. She sat on the balcony of her room and ordered more coffee as she began to take more notes and put things together in her head. The afternoon was spent on the net doing her own research.

Early the next day, she was already checked out and in the limo to the airport for her flight home, or rather, to the home that she wanted to be in while she laid out her itinerary and did some shopping and as always, more research. She read the book again during the flight, finally admitting to herself that she'd liked it after all. That brought her to think of Dacia for a moment. It was a passing thought that clung there somehow. It had been a long while since Lia had had a friend. She now always felt so thankful to have one. As her flight passed over Greece, Lia flagged down the stewardess and asked to make a call.

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Henri Coandă International Airport, Otopeni, Romania

Dacia groaned as she looked at the clock. Another hour and a half. She could have sworn that the thing was stuck or that the mechanism was filled with molasses or something. The hands always moved so slowly when she was looking at some time off.

Her cellphone jingled in her pocket. Dacia looked around. There were no customers in the store, so she pulled the phone out and answered it. She smiled to hear Lia's voice.

"Where are you now?" she asked, "Are you calling me from Shanghai today?"

Lia smiled, "Hardly. I'm, ..." she looked out of the window, "I'm just leaving Greece."

"You're in Greece?" Dacia was amazed, "I thought you were going - "

"I'm just leaving Greece behind and far below me. I'm on the flight in from Madrid, since I had to switch planes there. I was wondering if you wanted to have dinner and hang around tonight. I had thought of maybe going to a club, but I'm all tired out from using my ass to hold myself up in the seat. What are you doing tonight?"

Dacia grinned, "I was just going to go home and flop onto my couch. I'm tired too, but I have a few days off now."

Lia sat up, "So you're at the airport? Can you meet me in arrivals? We can get some dinner. I'll pay."

"You're sounding pretty happy. Did you find any game to hunt? I'd love to hear all about it. I'll be waiting for you."

They sat in the little travel eatery, "Can you tell me about your trip? I'm still wondering how you hunt what you hunt for." Dacia was always pumped to listen to her friend's travel adventures.

Lia smiled, "I will, but not here. Let's finish our meal and then can we go to your apartment? I don't really want to go to mine tonight. If I do, I'll get lost in paperwork until Wednesday, and I just want to be with a friend after being alone in a strange country for awhile."

Dacia nodded, "Sure. Did you bring me a werewolf stuffed inside one of your bags? My apartment is as cold and lonely as ever and I need some strong furry arms to keep me warm."

As silly as Dacia often made herself out to be, she had many redeeming qualities. She was as intelligent as her best friend, and held a degree in linguistics, among other things. Lia had found her in her dead-end job at the airport, and that meeting had begun a huge change in her life. Dacia was one of only a very few humans who knew of the Kaze federation. Indeed, they were her actual employers now. She taught languages and was used as an instructor in travel protocols, how to be aware of and work with - or around security systems and procedures. She often joked with Lia that she was a werewolf-in-training.

The truth of it was that she really did want to be turned. Lia had brought Dacia's desire forward to her superiors. They were waiting for clearance and permission now. From their side of it, the federation was pleased since it would remove the issue of a potential security weakness. Dacia was satisfied for the moment. The wait gave her a chance to look for and hopefully meet a prospective mate for herself. In the meantime, she hung out with Lia whenever their schedules allowed.

Dacia was a gorgeous little thing and dressed just a bit ahead of whatever the latest trend was. She was a bit on the small side and her huge pretty eyes gave her a slightly elfin appearance. Lia loved her for her pure heart and staunch friendship, while Dacia played the loyal sidekick when they were together. She was hip as hell with her long, bright red hair, but the truth be told, she was also a reluctant virgin. She covered it with the most hilarious sauce, though. Lia had found that out right off.

At Dacia's apartment, they'd gotten a bit drunk. Dacia sighed tiredly and looked at Lia.

"I like girls, you know," she announced with a sly and silly grin at her best friend.

Lia's eyes rolled skyward, "I know, Dacia, I've heard that about you."

Dacia was shocked, "You - you have?"

"Of course," Lia said off-handedly.

Dacia was surprised and a little off-balance now. She was wondering if this was that obvious about her. "Where did you hear that?"

Lia snorted, "From you, you drunken twit. You've only told me that six times now. I mean, six times tonight. You always tell me that repeatedly just as soon as you get alcohol into you when we're together. I keep telling you that you're barking up the wrong tree, but it doesn't stop you."

"I don't believe it for a minute, since I never see you make a pass at any women when we go out. You don't even make eyes at them. I doubt that you've got the nerve to try it. And don't even think of going further than talking about it with me. I love you too much to lose you over this."

She put her arm around Dacia and hugged her, "If that's how you are and you want to talk, that's fine. I don't mind. But it's not what I see when I look at you. What you are, my dear friend, is horny and frustrated, that's all. I think that you need or would like someone who is larger than you and feels protective toward you. That's why you talk this nonsense to me, because I fit this role for you somehow. But the rest? I'm sorry Dacia, I can't be that for you."