Love as the Darer Binding

This chapter brings some of the crew together. It also brings a lot of startling surprises to Oyan and Mokonyi. Abi has always had a suspicion that humans and a completely different sort of being might just be able to fall in together rather easily.

Until a year ago, he'd never really tested his theory, and now he has a hope that he's correct out of a need for the outcome.

He also has a hope that they all might work well together. No one in this chapter knows it yet, not even Abi, but there is a test coming and I give a hint of the beginnings of that happening many miles away. 0_o

*****

Abi gazed out at the savannah land around them. Not even seven in the morning and the temperature was climbing so fast that you could almost watch it's rise by staring at a thermometer for only a little while and actually see the indicator move. It just took a little patience.

He stepped into the area where Tozama and T'maz worked in response to their quiet call. "T'maz has something," Tozama said, "You should know."

"Does it concern our new friends?" he asked, but the pair shook their heads.

"Men fighting," Tozama replied, "Far from here but they move this way slowly." She accessed some stored images from a Russian intelligence satellite and showed him.

Abi chuckled in pleased surprise, "How Tozama?"

The hellion smiled to herself shyly as she worked at clarifying what was on-screen, "We have been here for a little while, my lord. I have seen what my brother watches in the sky and we spoke of it once we knew what they were. The signals are sent continuously and it is only a matter of a newer type of encryption. Four days of the time here with little to occupy me."

She smiled at his pleased expression, "I have always liked puzzles."

"These ones are losing," T'maz said, indicating one group with his cursor, "To me, it is the discovery of one side by the other and there was no time to prepare or leave.

A long way away from here. These ones will likely all die long before they get to the border of the next land though they draw near it. They are on foot and are chased by others in vehicles. The land slows the pursuit and favors the runners. Also those ones cause damage, though I have not seen how it is done since this feed is not real time but only updates at intervals.

It does not concern us, my lord. We only thought to tell you."

Abi nodded as he looked at the image and waited for the next updated one. When he saw it, he smiled. He didn't know anything about the reasons or the players. To him, it was only overhead shots of another bush war.

He concurred with the assessment of the technicians. It didn't concern them and one group would likely kill off the other at some point.

But for all of that and losing as they were, the runners were making the chase costly. He normally wouldn't have the thoughts that he was suddenly entertaining, but for something that pretty Tozama had said.

Four days had been boring sitting here waiting. He wondered what might happen if he sent the runners a little ... unlooked for help.

As he thanked the pair and walked away, Abi remembered something from over a year before. It concerned a stowaway.

-----

He hadn't been there in a long time, but he had the thought when he wanted to dispose of a troublesome spy who worked for him sometimes. The results were always fairly quick in coming back once he'd asked of the things that he'd wished to know, but for some stupid reason, that spy would also tell others of what he'd wanted if they asked. It was not the sort of thing that he desired and he mentioned it to the spy once, but it hadn't changed anything, so ...

Rather than just kill the one, he decided to take him to a world where he'd be desperately busy with just the problems of remaining alive for a time. If he survived, he might have learned then to keep his mouth shut. Abi had made the drop-off but as he prepared to leave, he learned that something had crawled inside one of the forward gear wells.

Normally, the retraction of the gear would have killed whatever was there, since there wasn't a lot of room to spare in the wells, but there was the possibility of damage, so he shut down again and went for a walk. That was how he came to meet the blood cat in the first place.

They weren't numerous at all on that world, but they were there. He wasn't surprised that one had come sniffing around, but he was a little astounded that one would creep up to hide in the gear well since it was something a little out of their known behavior patterns.

They'd looked at each other for a short time and then once Abi had determined the thought patterns in that skull and found sentient thoughts where he hadn't expected any, he just asked.

After the strange introductions, Abi had pointed out that once they were up, the gear would be retracted and the cat would be killed. "Why did you do this?" he asked, "Is there a reason?"

The cat took a little time to organize his thoughts and said that he had come originally to hide in the case that something like food presented itself. But after a little thought, he decided that he wanted to leave and that the large thing must go elsewhere in it's travels. He didn't know where, but it had to be better than where he was.

"I am not as large as any others that I see," he said, "I have grown tired of always having to run and hide, or stalking my food and having others come to rob me of my meals.

There is no possibility at all of mating. I have travelled all of my life searching and have given that hope up as a lost one. After that, I hoped only to live, but I come slowly to see that it can only end in my death, so ... I climbed up to hide and hope for something else."

"How much bloodthirst do you have?" Abi asked, knowing that it was a very changeable quality from one individual to the next.

"Not much, I would say, "the cat replied with a shrug. "I can live on either all blood, but it is as I have said; I do not get enough that way, so I have also learned to eat other things to get by."

Abi nodded and thought about it for a moment. Blood cats were supreme stealth artists. They were vampiric, but it wasn't the same sort of vampirism that occurred elsewhere.

Blood cats were living things; warm-blooded mammalians which had some demonic tendencies. They had the same thirst for blood as the vampire bat on Earth. It was just a warm liquid form of food to them and nothing more. They had the appearance of a very short-furred panther, though a little more lithe and gangly, tending more toward the cheetah.

They were capable of quicker movements than the fastest alley cat in a fighting or hunting situation - far, far faster than any large hunting feline living on Earth. They could smell the blood of their prey across long distances, left no scent behind and could be very efficient predators, from what this one seemed to indicate.

What showed their divergence from the felines of Earth at the present time was their need for blood and the two long teeth which hunting cats had lost eons ago on Earth. The other notable divergence was the presences of articulated digits in their paws and the presence of the dew claw a lot nearer to the rest so that it could act like a thumb. Those digits were proportionately shorter than they'd be on an ape, but it took them out of the range of regular felids and the trait had been evolved to interact with their world since they had the minds for it.

"I can offer you a home, perhaps," Abi said, "but I would want service from you for it."

The cat's eyes opened wide as he learned of the place and it's surroundings over the next moments.

"There is game there to be hunted if you can manage your predations with a little thought. Also, there is a slight ... problem to me there that you might help with."

Xhoso -for that was his name gave it some thought after learning just what the problem was. "Do you wish for me to kill that one?" He asked.

"Perhaps," Abi nodded, "but it might go better to try to bring that one in so that I might see what can be done. I have little love or even use for one like that normally, but I might find uses if I put my mind to it.

What is your answer?"

------

Magda was a little perplexed.

As she roamed the hills and mountain valleys in search of sustenance, she slowly came to realize that it was looking like she had some competition in the area. Humans were sparse here and the going was a little tough to be able to scratch enough to get by as it was. Her only saving grace was that she could usually get enough for her by her ability to drain only a little from a host and leave them sleeping.

They never remembered what had happened to them, but it was a little tiring to have to 'meet' someone for the first time as far as they knew over and over. She didn't mind that so much, but lately, she was finding her hosts to be a lot more cautious and wary.

They knew that something was hunting them.

They didn't know who or what it was, but as Magda found them, many wore bandages here or there, most often around their throats. When she asked about it, she got little more than worried looks and quick, nervous exits.

"Wampyrshi," an old woman with no bandages yet said to her one evening. "You had better find a safe place after full dark, girl. Go home. Lock your door and your windows if you can and lock the room where you sleep."

The crone looked around a little nervously, even though it was not long after sundown and not fully dark yet, "When I was a girl, my grandmother told me that a wampyr cannot enter unless he or she is invited. To do that, they use guile and cunning, often placing their victims under some hypnotising spell. From what I have heard hereabouts, the one doesn't ask anything. No one who has been bled knows anything of what happened.

And worse," she said with her eyes wide in a little warning, "The one takes from the cattle also. Ohh, he must be a tricky one, for he never kills. He only feeds."

The talk had been informative to Magda, but it had also raised her hunger to a palpable thing in her. As she'd stood listening with her head lowered to look at her bare feet as though frightened so that the woman wouldn't see the hunger in her slowly paling eyes, she remembered that this old girl lived alone in her little cottage.

"I have no home anymore," she said in a quiet and trembling voice, "My father died a fortnight ago and I could not pay the landlord. He threw me out." She began to wring her hands in worry, "Where am I to go and hide?"

The old woman grabbed her hand, "Come with me, girl. I would not want to see you harmed. You can stay with me in my home this night. It has been a long time since I had anyone to prattle at."

As they walked, Magda thought about things. She'd been a vampire for over a century now. Her childhood had been a sad one, for she'd never been a pretty girl. Her family home had many things, though from her point of view, it had never held any love for her. What it had the most of was abuse for her. There had never been any shortage of that.

Her metamorphosis had come in the form of the salvation that a handsome young man offered her one night. She'd run away from home not long before, determined that when her eighteenth birthday found her, she'd be on her own.

When it did come, she'd been starving. That evening, she'd seen the man and made her offer for a little money to buy herself some food.

He'd made a counter offer, laying out a bargain to her and spelling it out clearly after listening to her sad tale. It would require her gentle death at his hands, but she'd gain beauty from it and live forever.

It wasn't until she'd risen as a vampire herself that she realized that he hadn't offered her even so much as his companionship afterwards. She was alone and never saw him again.

Her appearance changed as was promised and she was a lot more comely then, but she'd remained short and much thinner now. Her appearance took on the form of a pretty waif - which helped in her ability to beguile the living easily most times. But the thinning had taken most of her bosom from her as well as most of the swell of her hips.

Because of her life and that one night, Magda trusted no one. Unlike some of her kind, she didn't have a human keeper to look after her. She remained alone.

The old woman took her to her home and began to work on an evening meal for them at once. That presented Magda with a problem. The very few times that she'd tried to eat normal food again had made her ill. Her stomach was rumbling it's need to her and the sounds just made the old crone work at feeding her sooner, knowing the way that hunger felt.

Magda knew kindness when she saw it and she didn't want to harm her benefactor. What she really wished for was that she could just sit the kind-hearted old girl down and tell her. She was almost certain that with luck and a little love - if she played her cards right - she might gain someone who would take care of her, just as she'd protect the elderly woman for as long as she had left to live.

Magda did her best, but the woman grew fearful and began to clutch at her own chest in response to the pain that she now felt from her weak and aged heart. At the same time, Magda was almost doubled over in agony from having a living human this close to her after not feeding for over a week.

The woman fell down and Magda saw that she had only a little time left. She knelt beside the old woman and said, "You would have been kind to me; giving me your food and a place to sleep. I know this. I also feel how much you hurt right now. Please, I cannot make you better ...

But I can ease your passing so that there is no pain. I must feed soon and you are dying. If it is because of me, then I am sorry."

She leaned a little lower, using the power of her gaze to calm her victim, "Close your eyes, old mother. If there is a heaven, I am sure that your new cottage there will be a good one, with many sweet flowers growing all around for you to enjoy."

------

For perhaps the first time, Magda felt guilt over what she'd done. Not for taking the woman's life; that had been only her own need overlooked for too long out of circumstance. What bothered her was that she'd caused the heart attack with her attempt to speak her plain words as gently as she could when she'd asked to be allowed to stay. Even as she fed, she wept crimson tears for what she'd done.

The one-room cottage was dark inside, the only light coming from the small fire in the hearth. The stew smelled good to Magda because of the memories that it brought forth. She'd have likely tried to eat a little of it, just to taste something like that once more, but her gut was full then.

Also for the first time, Magda decided that the remains of her meal would not lie here looking as obscene as they did now. She searched a little and found a spade. Opening the door, she took up the spade and with a little care; she lifted the old body and carried it out into the vegetable garden.

She laid the woman down as gently as she could and began to dig, her dark tears falling as she worked.

------

Xhoso saw it as he approached. He'd been thinking of the old woman over the last few nights, but more than her, he'd been thinking about the cow in the stable first. He stole over to get to the outbuilding as silently as death, keeping a watchful eye on the one digging as he went.

-----

The place where Magda was digging was the softest-looking ground in the garden. She guessed that whatever little crop that small section had held, the elderly woman had harvested it and turned the ground to prepare it for something else. Magda's luck that this would go fairly quickly and it did, but just as she was finished covering the shallow grave over, she noticed a dark shape out near the small stable. Whatever it was, it moved silently and the single thin cow there remained sleeping.

Magda stuck the spade into the earth so that it remained standing and she began to creep over.

Xhoso knew it at once and pulled back from where he was just about to choose his spot and moment. He knew that whoever this was knew that he was there. That ruled out most of the others around here, he'd come to learn in the little while that he'd been here. Without a moon or a lantern, most people couldn't make out their own feet at night.

He waited and watched her come in.

It might have seemed a little funny to some; that long moment where they'd looked at each other in the darkness. Magda only stood there while Xhoso drew back to get to his feet. They stood looking at each other for over five minutes, neither one moving - with the cow sleeping deeply in between them.

He raised one foreleg slowly and she stared as she watched his palm come up in an effort to get her to remain where she was. He stepped slowly toward her and she backed away just as carefully until they were outside, standing in the darkness there and looking at each other for a long time.

He'd seen the humans hereabouts. After getting to know some of the demons who lived in the abbey, what he saw outside was a lot plainer, calmer, a little worried over keeping themselves fed and alive perhaps, and most certainly not as fearsome to look at.

There had been a very few incidents as Xhoso had tried to make his way about in the abbey keep; a few demons a little too up on themselves. But that had been only a very few moments to him where he'd had to show the reasons why he ought to have been left alone. It had been an investment that he'd almost been able to predict and afterwards, the others had left him alone for the most part.

What lived outside the walls was ... well, a little more like cattle to him in some respects, but overall, they were a lot more pleasant to look at certainly. He could regard them as a source of nourishment perhaps. But some of them ...

Some of them were beautiful to him in some ways.

Not one of them like this one. Not by a long, long road.

He tried to speak to her in a way that he hoped would calm her and he watched her eyes widen in wonder. She tilted her head to listen, though she didn't understand a thing, other than the feeling.

She whispered to him and he felt the soft sound of it in his breast and wondered for a moment just who was calming whom.

He moved closer as she would allow in her caution.

She watched as he opened his mouth, careful not to draw back his lips. He only let his lower jaw ease down slowly. To anyone who might have been watching, it might have been seen as a look of wonder on his feline face - and they would have been not far wrong.

Magda saw it and opened her mouth as well. She was even more careful, allowing her fangs to extend fully, but doing her very best not to seem threatening in any way, since she'd sensed that they were trying to show something about themselves to each other.

It ended in her small and very soft smile.

He was the most beautiful creature that she'd ever seen and when he returned the smile ...

He stood before her in a moment, only a foot or so away, his gaze fixed and narrowed down to the red tears from her pale eyes.

He took a moment more to regard her and then he moved his head forward very slowly and once he was close enough to smell the blood on her breath, he whispered to her very softly and she closed her eyes, feeling it inside of her heart.

He was very gentle about it and she held herself perfectly still as he licked her crimson tears away, taking great care as he licked lower down to take the drops which still hung from her chin.

His face and tongue felt so warm to her. Magda reached up very slowly as it went on, feeling the roughness of his tongue, but only in a way that told her that it was there. The feeling of it was exquisite to her; so soft and caring, so gentle and loving in a very real sense to her. She touched the sides of his face and he groaned softly to feel her small fingers in his warm fur.