“Somebody do something,” Specca nervously implored. “Somebody do something! I didn’t want her to actually die this morning!”
“What are we supposed to do about this?” Kroanette sorrowfully asked as she watched Clover drooling blood onto her shirt.
“I can’t heal that,” Alyssa said shaking her head. “Squeak sure as hell can’t. Clover’s been nearly cut in half.”
Squeak slowly shook her head as she saw the blood coming out of Clover’s wound. Although she was compelled to use her saliva to help those close to her in need, she could already tell it wouldn’t do anything to save the poor girl.
Daniel held in his yell of frustration as Clover kept watching him with weary eyes. She didn’t give any of the girls a second glance, instead kept her eyes on him as her breathing slowed down as if in a trance. Daniel held her close, fearing she would die in his arms that very morning, then looked to Kitten with fury. The demon lowered her wings and head as everyone turned to her with anger.
“What have you done?” Daniel said through gritted teeth.
“Master, she… I wasn’t trying to… I only meant-”
“Look at what you’ve done!” Daniel roared at her. “I told you to stop! I ordered you to stop! But you kept going!”
“I wasn’t trying to hurt that one, just the one that slept next to you,” Kitten pleaded. “They’re not your property anyway, what do you care if-”
“Not another word out of you! Not one more word! Bring Triska back and don’t you ever come out again, do you hear me?”
Kitten whimpered and held a hand over her mouth as her eyes began to water, the look in his eyes and the hateful words he spoke striking at her heart.
“I just wanted to say good morning, master.”
“Get out of here!” Specca yelled at her. “Bring Triska back and never return!”
“I thought you were our friend now,” Pip whined with teary eyes. “You’re still a mean demon.”
“Goddammit, you’ve killed her!” Alyssa shouted at her with anger.
“Clover! Don’t close your eyes!” Luna pleaded as the elf started to lose consciousness.
“C’mon, not like this,” Falla fretted grabbing her hair. “She’s a bitch but she doesn’t deserve this.”
“Clover,” Daniel softly said, brushing the hair around her face behind her ear as she wearily looked up at him with a glimmer of curiosity.
“Did my kiss… really suck that bad?” she slowly asked.
Daniel smiled a little and shook his head as the elf struggled to stay awake.
“No, it was pretty good. Very good, even.”
“Damn… straight… it was,” Clover managed to get out before her head rocked to the side against his chest, eyes slowly closing as her body went limp.
Pip started crying along with Luna, the two girls holding hands over their eyes while the rest of the group watched Clover in sorrow. Specca held in her whimper with a hand across her mouth while Alyssa and Kroanette lowered their heads with closed eyes. Squeak slowly reached out and nudged Clover’s shoulder, getting no response from the elf, and then started crying as she lowered her head as well.
Daniel shut his eyes and held the elf close, feeling his heart aching as he tried to hold in his tears.
“Clover… I’m sorry.”
A soft thump was heard, with the group then seeing that Doku fell off the bed and was slowly crawling toward them while breathing raggedly. She made her way over to Clover’s side and coughed weakly before turning her head towards Daniel.
“Lie her down,” she spoke out of breath. “Please, hurry.”
“Doku?” Daniel wondered before she quickly motioned with her wings to lower Clover. He slowly laid the elf down on the floor while the other girls looked to the harpy with worried eyes. Pip fluttered off Clover’s chest and landed on Daniel’s shoulder, watching the elf with a saddened whine before turning to Doku.
“Take her shirt off, please,” Doku requested as she coughed again.
Daniel looked at her confusedly then quickly ripped the bloody shirt off of Clover, the group watching as he tore the garment apart and tossed away the tatters. Everyone looked at her large wound with pained expressions, seeing that the girl was indeed nearly cleaved in two from Kitten’s energy blade.
“Oh, Clover,” Kroanette mourned with a hand held over her mouth.
“What are you going to do?” Specca softly asked. “It’s too late now for anything.”
“It’s never too late to help someone,” Doku corrected with a shake of her head. She held out her wings over the elf’s wound and slowly breathed out. Focusing the best she could a soft white glow started to glisten around Clover’s injury, the wound giving off small wisps of red light as everyone watched in fear that it was already too late. Doku wavered slightly as she concentrated on healing the elf with her magic, her eyes closed behind her bangs as she could just barely sense Clover’s lifeforce hanging on by a thread in her mind.
Kitten kept her eyes on the elf while remaining still on the bed, wings hanging low behind her while she only heard Triska yelling right into her ear from inside her mind.
“What the hell did you do?” Triska shouted at her. “I thought you were becoming a better person, I thought you were changing, I thought we could trust you!”
‘That damn bird was crawling all over him this morning, she started it!’
“You started it when you attacked her with the intent to kill! You were actually going to kill Doku! What is the matter with you?”
‘And you wouldn’t have? She was naked and rubbing against his body.’
“I wouldn’t have tried to actually kill her! We’re better than that, we don’t use lethal force! I would have beaten the shit out of her, I’m not going to deny that, but I wouldn’t have done any permanent damage! None of us would have!”
‘She’s not even my master’s property, neither of those girls are. What’s the big deal?’
“That’s not the point! They’re our friends! Daniel cares about them, we care about them! We even care about Clover in case you haven’t noticed! Look at what you did to everyone by striking her down!”
‘I… didn’t mean to hit her…’
“Why the hell did you take control of my body anyway? You can’t just do that without my permission, even if I’m asleep! I woke up to seeing you slashing your sword into Clover’s gut after you tried to hack Doku’s head off, I couldn’t believe what I was seeing, I thought I was having a nightmare!”
‘I just wanted to say good morning to my master. I missed him.’
“That does it!”
Kitten yelled as she arched back, grabbing her head with eyes shut tight as she felt a painful sensation bleeding down her back. Doku continued to focus her magic on Clover’s injury while the rest of the group watched Kitten screaming and shaking her head, her wings twitching and tail snapping around as she appeared to be suffering from something.
“What the hell is she doing now?” Alyssa demanded.
Kitten shook about and dropped onto her side, body trembling uncontrollably while her tail snapped about behind her. Her wings and tail began to slowly retract into her body, hands grabbing her head as she felt herself slipping back into the recesses of her mind against her will. The group watched as she rolled about screaming and shaking her head, the demonic wings and tail slowly vanishing as they were recalled while her voice became strained with each gasp for air she made.
“Stop,” Kitten cried out desperately. “Triska, that hurts! AHHHH!”
“What’s happening?” Luna nervously asked.
“Triska’s forcing her back in,” Kroanette marveled.
Kitten screamed and rolled onto her side, the group watching as her wings and tail completely vanished before she slowly calmed down. After a few heavy breaths the girl got up on her hands and knees and shook her head, hand held to her forehead as she took a moment to recover from her change before looking over towards everyone with eyes that were no lon
ger glowing.
“Triska?” Daniel softly asked.
“You pulled Kitten back into you,” Specca realized.
“She’s not coming back out,” Triska panted, shaking her head and cringing slightly before she made her way off the bed and over towards them in a stumble. “She’s… never coming back out again.”
“Triska, I’m sorry!” Kitten cried out in her mind. “Please, don’t take me away from my master! I need him!”
“Not another word out of you!” Triska shouted out. “I can’t trust you near Daniel, I can’t trust you near any of us, you’re still the violent demon you always were! I thought you were changing, I actually believed you would be good, and this is what I get for trusting you! I’m not going to let you hurt anyone else ever again!”
She struggled to breathe straight, eyes looking down at Clover with remorse as the elf remained still and silent in Daniel’s arms with Doku working her magic on her.
“Is she going to be okay?” she worriedly asked Doku.
Doku continued using her magic to mend Clover’s wound, her wings steadily held over each other above the mortal injury as it glowed with faint wisps of red light.
“Is she going to be alright?” Pip nervously asked while holding onto Clover’s chest.
“She’ll live,” Doku replied, the group jumping a bit then seeing Clover’s wound slowly healing before their eyes. Daniel watched as the gash began to gradually close up, eyes staring in wonder as the flesh and sinew healed right before them.
“It’s working,” Luna thankfully said. “Doku’s healing her.”
“She’s breathing again,” Specca mentioned as they saw Clover’s chest rising and lowering slightly with Pip on it. Daniel looked down to the elf’s face, seeing her out cold with her mouth opened slightly as she was breathing quietly.
“It’s a miracle,” Kroanette softly said, eyes watching in disbelief at seeing the elf’s wound closing up.
“Doku, thank you,” Daniel praised. “You saved her life. Thank you so much.”
“I’m so sorry,” Doku whimpered. The group looked to her as she sniffled and shook her head. “For what happened this morning. I’m so sorry I caused all this, I never meant to.”
Daniel and the girls exchanged worried glances with each other then watched as Doku sighed and lowered her head as she continued to heal Clover’s wound.
“I feel I should explain myself.”
“That would be appreciated,” Triska commented while watching the harpy carefully.
“The truth is,” Doku said before pausing, with all the girls showing concern as they feared this was when she would confess her sudden love for Daniel. “The truth is… I can’t tell the difference between my dreams and reality.”
“What?” Daniel asked as the girls looked to each other curiously.
“It’s a side effect from learning to use my spiritwalk,” Doku explained with remorse. “When I lift my spirit from my body it’s as if I’m entering a dream, and in a way I am. I feel more free and confident, I feel more at peace, I feel… like I’m having a lovely dream. When I’m actually asleep, I can’t tell that I am. It feels the same to me when I use my spiritwalk, and sometimes I… get confused.”
“Confused?” Pip asked softly.
“I didn’t know I was actually getting into bed with Daniel,” Doku quietly whined. “I thought I was dreaming. I thought… it was just a dream, so it wouldn’t upset anyone if I crawled in next to him. I wouldn’t cause any trouble, I could have that pleasant memory and it would be as if it never happened when I woke up.”
“You didn’t know what you were really doing,” Triska mused curiously.
“Um, well,” Kroanette hesitantly said before looking at the girls questionably. “What do we do now? I’m not sure if we should be angry with her or not.”
“I suppose we can’t be mad at her for what happened,” Specca reasoned with a shrug. “She didn’t even know what she was doing. She never wanted to cross that line in the first place.”
“You called him your husband,” Alyssa clarified, with Doku squeaking and quickly lowering her head.
“I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to say that out loud, it was only supposed to happen in my dream. Please don’t punish me, Alyssa!”
“You think Daniel is your husband?” Falla carefully asked.
“Yes,” Doku said, then quickly shook her head as all the girls stared at her with surprise. “I mean no! I mean… well, we have to get married to actually be husband and wife first, so technically-”
“Hold it,” Triska ordered. “Let’s get something clear here, in case it isn’t with you already. Daniel is not your husband, nor will he ever be. Understand?”
Doku remained silent while tending to Clover’s injury, with all the girls watching her sharply and Daniel showing a worried expression from the lack of response she was giving.
“Doku?” Alyssa growled through her teeth. “I really do like you so far. You’ve been an absolute delight and pleasure to have with us, you’ve been very helpful, and I would certainly hate having to punish you for thinking that our Daniel is somehow yours.”
After that got no response from the harpy either Specca showed a dull expression then reached out and brushed Doku’s bangs up, showing her yellow eyes were glancing down and away from everyone while the group waited for her answer which she apparently didn’t want to give.
“Doku,” Specca lectured with a sharp look. “Please tell me you’re not having any delusions about mating with Daniel.”
Doku paused for a while without saying a word then looked around at the group with a nervous frown.
“I’m sorry, I was busy concentrating on saving Clover’s life. What were we talking about again?”
“Bend over, Doku,” Alyssa flatly said.
“You can’t be serious, Doku,” Kroanette sighed shaking her head. “Daniel is not your husband.”
“I know that,” Doku shrugged off. “We haven’t gotten officially married yet.”
“And you never will,” Falla told her with discontent.
“We could,” Doku nervously mentioned to Daniel. Everyone stared at her with surprise as she quickly smiled and nodded a few times. “I promise I’ll be a good wife, Daniel. I’ll take care of you forever, I will. I’ll even take care of all your mates; I know how important they are to you. I’ll do my best to cook your meals and clean your home, and I know I’ll be a wonderful mother to both our daughter and your mates’ as well, I can watch over all the children, I would love that honor. Please, give me a chance to prove myself, just one chance. Please?”
“This is not happening,” Specca groaned as she leaned back and held her hands over her face.
“Oh, Doku,” Triska sympathetically said. “Alyssa’s going to tear you a new asshole. Sorry.”
“Is there anything you could do to her that’s less sadistic?” Kroanette requested at the witch. “I really do like Doku, I’m not sure I could bear to see her in such a degraded state.”
“Nope,” Alyssa plainly replied shaking her head.
Daniel sighed and closed his eyes, taking a moment to choose his words carefully before he smiled worriedly at Doku as she eagerly awaited his answer.
“Doku, I do like you, but-”
“Is she going to join your harem too?” Pip asked excitedly.
“What?” Daniel bewilderedly replied at her.
“Is she going to be in the harem too? Oh, is Cilia going to be also? I want her to be with me too, I like her a lot.”
“You want them to join us like that?” Alyssa barked out at the fairy. “We don’t just invite any girls we meet out here to be lovers with our mate!”
“Cilia?” Doku repeated. The group looked to her as she lowered her head and wiggled her chest, with Daniel promptly turning his head away to avoid seeing her naked breasts bouncing about which the other girls except for Pip showed dull expressions to.
“Cilia?” Doku asked again, then gasped and looked towards the be
d with fright. “Oh dear, I didn’t crush her did I?”
The group quickly looked over towards the bed before Luna and Falla stood up and slowly approached it. Luna covered her face with her hands while Falla grabbed the sheets and yanked them aside, eyes scanning the bed for any sign of Cilia, or if the scenario was truly grim, any remains of the tiny fairy.
“Please tell me I didn’t crush her,” Doku whimpered. “I forgot she was sleeping in my chest when I got into bed with you.”
“She’s not here,” Falla announced, with Luna then peeking through her fingers at the bed while the others looked to each other curiously.
“She’s not?” Doku asked worriedly. “But then… Cilia? Where are you?”
“Cilia?” Pip called out as she flew up into the air. She quickly zipped around the entire cabin in a circling blue blur. “Cilia? Cilia! Cilia? Come out, come out, wherever you are!”
“She has to be here,” Doku implored. “She’s always with me when I wake up. She wouldn’t just leave like this.”
“Cilia?” Pip whined as she quickly flew out through the curtain.
Doku started breathing quickly in a panic, the group watching as she turned her head one way then another as she fretted about the whereabouts of her tiny friend.
“Doku, calm down, I’m sure she’s just outside somewhere,” Daniel gently insisted.
“Why didn’t she wake me up to go with her? We always go everywhere together.”
“She probably just went outside to stretch her wings for a moment,” Specca reasoned with a shrug. “There’s no need to panic about this.”
Pip flew back in and raced over to Daniel, hugging his chest and looking up at him with worried eyes.
“She’s not outside anywhere. Where did she go? Why isn’t she here?”
“Calm down, Pip,” Daniel gently spoke. “I’m sure she’s nearby and perfectly fine.”
He looked down to Clover as the elf slept quietly in his arms then to Doku as the saddened harpy continued to use her magic on the girl’s wound which was almost gone now.
“Is Clover going to be alright now?”
“I just need a few more minutes and then she’ll be stable,” Doku softly replied.
Chronicles of Eden - Act VII Page 49