Love as the Darer Binding

***This is a sidebar to another work of mine (Love as a Form of Binding) and it's needed as a precursor to the ending of that tale when this is ended. The end of this will feed into Chapter 21 of that one, or if I find that it reads better, the result will be the third story. Simple, no? ROFL.

It's not too long, and the coupling in it is a little varied, since I just felt like it as I wrote it.

It opens a few years before LAAFOB (just wanted to get that in to see how it looked :)) and somewhere in here, some familiar characters make cameo appearances.

In this, a lord tries to save someone who is loved, but the main purpose is to reveal the main players in the core 'family', if you want to call it that.

For this one, there's some male-male toward the end as well as hetero incest, though neither attribute is an overriding theme through the story. If the reader is familiar with my works, I do tend to move around a little. Kinda like conducting an orchestra while wearing rollerblades.

So, ... the names of the characters mean little historically on either side of the plane divider. The rest of the names and places mean even less, since it's pure fiction. 0_o

***

Mojave Desert, early evening

Abi slowly opened his eyes and noted the color of the light coming from the cab in front of the sleeper where he was. As expected, it was dimming slowly, due to the passing of the day and the setting of the desert sun.

Not expected, were the strange flickering nuances which seemed to come with it to change the way that the reflected light lit the ceiling.

He rose to a sitting position with his legs hanging off the bed to try for a better look. It bought him nothing of any value. He leaned forward and looking a little to the left through the window; he thought that he might see a plausible cause for the phenomenon.

They weren't aware of the effect that they caused in the light, but it was the scurrying of many of the nasty little fucks from out of the depths of some little-known backwater of Hell which must have grown too close to the surface somehow and allowed a spillover to have happened.

He crawled forward to sit in the driver's seat as he twisted off the top of a bottle of water and drained it in one long slow go as he thought about what ought to be done about it.

Ordinarily, he couldn't have cared less, but there were almost always repercussions to these things and quite often the true extent was never seen at first. That was why it was always considered prudent to just deal with the little turds if one could whenever they popped up.

He smirked a little at the thought.

"Fine," he said to no one in particular as he opened the door to climb down, "I just hope that I'm up for it."

He fastened the cartridge belts across his chest in the copper-flavored gleam to everything from the light of the approaching sundown and he raised the 10-guage scattergun to begin loading it with shells suited for the eradication of the more parasitic forms of lower demons.

There were sounds in the hot wind that he noticed then.

They'd escaped his awareness until now. Again, he didn't really care, but for the first time, he heard the tortured screams. It took him a second to place them with regard to their origins.

They were human voices.

He looked over across the landscape in the direction of origin and he thought of repercussions and ramifications. He didn't want to be at this all night.

Maybe if he had a little help, he thought.

It certainly wouldn't be anywhere near as much enjoyment, but it would end this stupid shit a lot quicker.

He looked down and made an arcane and infernal motion with one hand.

A demon appeared before him and he nodded in recognition.

"There is a tear in the wall of the plane here someplace nearby. Take no more than one-quarter of one of my legions and seal it.

Before that. send those little things back where they belong and use them as living visual aids to indicate what will happen to any who do not heed the warnings in the future.

There are humans being harmed here. Do not make it worse. I wish that this incident is dealt with before it is noticed by anyone else. Understood?"

"Yes, Lord," the demon bowed again and was gone.

Abi walked off across the road and into the dust, listening to the rising cacophony as imps were rounded up and dragged off by demons who were more suited to warring with other demons of some size.

He wanted to groan when he saw the car - or what was left of it. A single touch would have told him all of it precisely, but he didn't need to know that badly. It was all here to be read.

A group of teenaged friends out doing something irresponsible late on a Friday afternoon, by the look of it. They'd pulled off the road here, where they shared a bottle of ... uh, ... Jack, he smiled, seeing the empty now. They were unwittingly parked within sight of a tear in the wall between the planes.

Even that shouldn't have brought them harm, but he supposed that they were seen by these cretins and that had been the start.

He sighed, doubting that there were any humans living now. His sense told him that there had been four humans at the beginning. The mess in the vehicle said that two had gotten out.

He walked on a little and found three imps trying to copulate into the same human -- who was alive at least enough to be still struggling feebly. There was a rather small hellion, a female, who was more intent on gnawing off a piece of flesh to eat it.

He raised his hand and everything stopped.

He stepped closer and saw the human's anguished eyes and he shook his head.

First, he removed the gnawing female's contribution by springing her jaw open by force with a loud crack. Then he removed the jaw by just tearing it off quickly. Her body went slack, but he pulled it from the girl's body and flung it down onto the ground in front of him. The shotgun's song deleted what was left of the thing.

One after another, he disengaged the males in much the same manner before he looked at the victim, who was at that point aware that the horror of the attack had at least been suspended.

He recognized her suddenly and it made him feel several different emotions; sadness that it had happened to her once again, a great deal of happiness to at least see her alive at all, and something which rose up in him from down deep -- his determination that if he could manage to make it happen, that this was going to be the very last time that she suffered for what had really been a very small and unknowing transgression so long ago.

He regarded her for a moment, and then he spoke in English in a low and hopefully gentle-sounding voice.

"Hello Andy. There were four of you. I've found three, you among them. Is there anybody over that way?" he pointed.

He could sense that there was only another corpse in that direction, but he wanted to see if there was anything else in her mind other than the locked-up stasis which can occur to humans at times like this.

Her eyes were wide, but she shook her head slowly.

"Dead?" he asked, and after a second, she nodded.

He smiled as carefully as he could, "I didn't cause this. I'm ending it."

He held out his arms slowly and the human began to float toward him with alarm in her eyes.

"I know," he sighed a little wearily, "I know.

I'm not somebody that you would wish to hold you right now, but I'll take care of you.

I always have. You've been harmed and I want to help. At the very least, I won't do you more harm."

He saw the rising level of terror in her as she came and he caused her to sleep with a wave of his hand feeling sadness that she hadn't recognized him.

Again.

He carried her very carefully back across the road to his truck. On the way there and also after getting her inside to lie her on the bed of the sleeper, he kissed her sleeping lips very tenderly and he uttered the infernal enchantment which would help her to begin to heal, once she was out of danger.

He moved forward and started the diesel so that he could get some cooler air on her from the AC. After that, he sat in thought for a few minutes, willing that his wrath not overtake him over what had been done. So long, ... so much harm ...

Over nothing.

He sat thinking for several minutes longer, though he heard the respectful knock on the other door and he motioned with his hand.

The demon was back. Abi thanked him for what was done but then he had a new request as he spoke in his deep infernal voice.

"Find me the best three female healers that I have. If possible, my female Evaine should be among them. Tell that one alone what I wish and what is needed. Tell her that this time; I am adamant that this foolishness is ended.

Tell her that Andrea has come to harm again. She'll know what to do to prepare things. Instruct them all to await us at the closest rest stop to El Paso. I'll pick them up there. I should be there in a day."

The demon nodded and was gone.

Abi noted that he had enough pressure to release the brakes, so he began to roll. After a mile or two he became aware of her consciousness there in the sleeper behind him.

"Try not to be afraid, Andy. I'm taking you to where others can begin to heal you. I need you to rest because this time, they've really fucked you up. I will force you to sleep again in a moment.

Try to remember me if you can before I do. We've been friends for a long time. You only need to remember.

I'm Abi. No more harm will come to you. I swear this. Now please, sleep."

Over the next week, Andrea was kept mostly asleep to make her care easier to manage. Abi eventually delivered her to an old, large, and deserted abbey in a very mountainous and rural part of Hungary, not very far at all from the Romanian border.

The place had been built in what had then been territory which to say the least, had been at the time very hostile to the warrior monks who had gone there after their time on crusade. The fighting had been pitched and frequent until a wave of the Black Death had passed through in the mid-1500s.

It had solved a lot of the difficulties then, killing off both the monks and the villagers in the area. Now, the place was deserted and as yet unknown to the Hungarian authorities who looked after places of historic interest. He and others who worked for him had already taken steps to make certain that the place would never come to anyone's attention for as long as they needed it.

Aside from the dark stains on some of the woodwork, the passing of the pestilence left little after what bones were left had been shoveled up and thrown out into a corner of the courtyard to be burned.

In ones and twos, specialists of many sorts came to see Andrea and they simply began to rebuild what needed rebuilding -- and it was a lot, due to the damage done by the lower imps and hellions.

Sometimes, she'd be awakened by Abi so that she could get some sustenance into her and when that happened, Andrea would feel her face for a moment with a look of wonder. "How?"

"In a few days," Abi would say, "I'll tell you everything. Just try to be patient, Andy. You'll be able to stay awake soon. You might not remember them, but you have friends here who are eager to see you again." He smiled, "I think that you're so surprised that so much can be done so easily now."

She nodded, very definitely interested, and also really wanting to listen to Abi. She knew that she was attracted to him and she was also very aware that if she wasn't careful, she'd become infatuated with him again so easily.

As she had the thought, she sighed and looked at him, knowing that it had already happened, and also knowing that this wasn't the first time that he'd helped her. She was eighteen and had been since he'd met her for the first time in the early 1970s, and she knew that he must be at least a little older than that.

She was just barely cognizant at first of what Abi and a few of the others who worked for him knew -- that she'd been held at that age for the past forty-something years by a different outside force which Abi was working against in this one case.

She was just a little thing at five-nothing, whereas he was Oh-My-Fucking-God large and so attractive in a rather dark and hidden way. She could stare at him all day and she'd be happy at the end of it at NOT finding anything even remotely cute about him.

He looked slightly troubled for a moment, but then he smiled, "A lot of it goes easier because you're not as human as you might think. Well, not as you once were, anyway. I take care of you when I can."

Andrea wanted to ask him a lot more about that, because she'd noticed something.

This time, just like all of the others, she supposed, now that some of her memories of him were coming back, she'd gotten into some misadventure and gotten ripped up. Somehow, Abi had gotten wind of it or had discovered her predicament just about at the point where it would have been too late to pull her back from the edge. He'd help her, but for the first while, she wouldn't really remember everything that there was to know about him until much later.

Andrea didn't understand the next part either, but she was coming to know the way that these things went. Just when she was all better, she'd want nothing more than to give herself to Abi to show him how she felt about him for the care and devotion that he'd always shown her.

She'd remember then that if there had ever been someone who she'd ached to be in love with, it was Abi, and more than anything, she wanted to be held by him tightly to feel it as he fucked her forever.

She also never knew it at first every time, but there were two others who cared for her as much as he did, but once she remembered; she also yearned to feel their loving touches as well. At best, it was always only one who fucked her, but he was so sweet that she just loved him almost on sight.

Yet something would prevent the rest, the final realization of her wants. Some other person would make a comment about the girl missing her parents -- something stupid of that nature while he'd be gone somewhere, and she'd be taken away and lost herself until the next time.

She stepped forward and looked up. She was looking at his chest and the way that it showed his muscular build even in the dark where they were.

"Abi?" She began in an uncertain tone, "Hey can you lean down a little so we can talk for a minute?"

He nodded, smiling, and then he sat down and hung on to one knee. Andrea ran the rest of the way so that he could put his other arm around her bottom the way that they both liked. It was a memory which she'd always loved to think about if she could remember.

"Abi listen," she almost whispered, "It's happening again, but I don't want to forget you this time. That's what always happens. I get led away and then next thing I know you're gone and then I don't remember you."

"I know," he said, "Look Andy, we still have time before that thing happens to us again.

I've got a doctor friend for you to meet -- again, since she's worked on you before. She can help with final details to fix you."

He leaned forward, looking very concerned and she hugged his thick neck.

"Listen to what she'll tell you, Andy. She's probably gonna make you feel like a silly little girl, but she has to be that way so that nobody here understands what she tells you because they don't understand English. Listen hard and remember in case it happens again so you'll have the best chance to put it all together."

"Ok Abi," Andrea nodded, "but you know that I'd rather just be in love with you."

"I know," he whispered, "I want that too. I'm trying to give us the best chance at it. It means that I'll have to make some big changes, since my own life has changed a lot since we first met."

Andrea was getting better, he decided. She was prepared to listen to his instructions to her. The only thing that she was doing which went against everything else probably couldn't be helped anyway. She was squirming against his hand, rubbing herself against him a little. After a moment, she reached for his hand to place it very carefully over her small breast.

"For you, Abi," she sighed with a happy smile, "I want you so much."

He didn't mind. He kissed her and he smiled.

------------------------------------

Andrea sat looking over at the doctor that Abi mentioned. Doctor Evaine looked as though she'd had the time and opportunities to elevate looking bored into a fine art form, which was a bit of a statement, given the way that she looked.

"You don't remember me at all, do you, Andrea?"

Andrea looked over and tried her best, but she finally shook her head, "No, why?"

The female demon sighed, "Well because for one thing, I like you and I don't like the way that they always keep you living in circles. This is the fourteenth time that I've treated you. For another thing, ... well just take a good look at me, Andrea.

I seriously doubt that you've ever seen ANYONE in your life -- or lives -- who looks anything like me. I'm not so stuck-up that I'd feel insulted that you can't remember me, but holy crap Baby, I'm not like anyone that you've ever seen. I can't be. The fact that you're looking at me like it's the first time really bothers me.

But Abi and I have been talking about you. We want to try something a little different this time, so that maybe you'll remember a little more. You're a lucky girl, to have somebody like him to love you."

"But -- " Andrea began, "we never get to that part. I want him so bad, Evaine."

The female smiled, "I guess what I should have said was that Abi never changes and he never gives up on you, Honey. He wants you too. He's wanted you for a long time.

As far as that goes, Andrea, I'VE wanted you for almost as long. "

"I don't understand," Andrea said and Evaine nodded," I know, and it's ok. I hope that by doing things a little differently this time, you'll get to keep a few more of the memories.

If you think back to when you first knew him," Evaine smiled, "you'll see that you did know other people then. It was 1972 and you were eighteen, just as you still are. You were a bit shy at school, but not too much and you were in a tight group of five friends then; Elly, Linda, Donna, Judi, and you."

Andrea nodded, remembering for a moment, "Whatever happened -- "

Evaine's hand took her past the moment, "Well, one is dead of -- you don't really want to know, Honey. The point is that you're the only one who's still eighteen. I think between them, they've accumulated about a dozen husbands and about twice as many fucked --up kids who are grown up themselves now.

My point here is that if you remember back then, they were all talking about the new guy. You hadn't seen him because you didn't have any classes with him, but he sounded nice, remember?

Well that was Abi. He was dying to meet you back then."

Andrea sighed, "He was?"

Evaine nodded, "Oh yeah, but he was trying to save you from something even then.

Your friend Linda dropped you off right in front of Abi in the parking lot and after about a half-hour of joking around, you got it into your head to take him home, since your parents had split by then and you pretty much had the place to yourself that year. You'd already decided that you wanted Abi. You just needed a little courage to help you along.

Anyway, you got blasted drinking a bottle of tequila and your clothes came off as a direct result of it. And that's when it happened; You put on 'Sympathy for the Devil' by the Stones and you danced for Abi, trying to get him to fuck you.

It was what he really wanted to be doing too, but he was afraid of what happened then anyway.

You started dancing with that big redbone hound that you used to have back then, holding his front paws up and singing the 'hoo-hoo' background part so that the dog would howl. Abi tried to get you to stop before it was too late but you tried to egg him on and somebody was offended.