“Hmm, it’s a hard decision. Can I have a second to think about it?” I muttered, leaning against the table in thought.
“Fine. Fish and seaweed it is, smart-ass,” she shot back. Her temper flared up a bit as she leaned over and kissed me and then pushed me away aggressively. “I just took away your ability to breathe underwater, so good luck escaping while I’m gone,” she told me angrily before diving into the wall of water, transforming into her dragonish-eel form and swiftly swimming away.
I looked around the small rocky enclosure that she called home. It was damp and wet. The rocky surface was rough, and the sound of my steel shoes sliding along the floor was sickening, almost to the point of being unbearable. Fiona returned about twenty minutes later with a huge blue marlin in her mouth. She spat it out onto the floor of the cave, transforming to her elfish form before stepping inside the cave.
“Do you have a fishing permit for that?” I asked, trying to make a joke.
She smiled as she transformed her right arm into a huge blade, ignoring me as she began slashing through the giant fish, squirting blood all over both of us and the rest of the cave. Once Fiona had finished, she threw a slab of meat onto one side of the stone table. She lit a small fire on the floor with a snap of her fingers, which she used to cook mine, handing it across the table to me once it was done. “Eat,” she ordered me, sitting down on her end of the table and devouring the large chunk of raw meat she had cut for herself.
“We shellians are the superior race,” she said to her food, startling me. She looked at me for a second and then began ranting on about how the shellians would one day take over the world. “Sure, right now we are letting the fiends demolish the humans, but once they have gained control of the humans, we will strike and wipe out anyone who opposes us, gaining control of both races and finally having our own world order.”
“What do you need us for?” I asked.
“Breeding, of course,” she said, as if I had just asked the world’s dumbest question. “For every male shellian, there are twenty females. Since only one female can be bound to him, the population grows at a very slow rate. With humans mixed into our culture, we would be able to stay out in the sun, becoming both an aquatic and land animal, while our population would also grow at an alarming rate, compared to the fiends.” Pure passion filled her voice.
“So what do fiends gain from controlling the world?” I asked casually as I finished off the rest of the marlin on the table. I couldn’t help being a little bit interested by what Fiona was telling me.
She glanced over at me, I guess a bit surprised that I was actually freely asking questions. “Well, um …” She thought for a moment and then said, “They would be able to easily harvest human blood, which is the purest form of blood you can get. It helps normal fiends live past their average life span. If they were to successfully breed with a human, then the offspring would be immune to all diseases, be able to suppress the mood swings fiends suffer from, and would be calmer and more effective in combat.” She paused for a moment again and then adopted a more serious tone. “Basically, a half-blood would be the superior fighting machine. Legend has it that all fiends are born with hidden powers that they can’t access, but a half-blood can grow up and unleash these devastating powers, which are basically equivalent to what you humans would call a nuclear bomb. That will never happen, though. We will take over before they figure out how to breed.”
“You’re too late.”
“Huh?” she said, confused.
“I said, you’re too late. I had a baby with Lara. She was born about two months ago,” I told her with a chuckle.
Silence enveloped the room as she stared at me in disbelief. “You’re lying!” She got up and paced back and forth.
“Special pills were made for us, and Lara got pregnant a year ago,” I continued, ignoring her accusation.
“That’s impossible!” she yelled at me, with a flustered look on her face. “Go to bed,” she told me quietly.
For the first time, I could see fear in her eyes. I lay down on the hard, damp, rocky surface of the cave, obediently falling asleep a couple moments later, exhausted from the day. Fiona rudely awakened me a short time later. She was on top of me, with her hand against my forehead.
“What the heck!” I exclaimed. I tried to get up but was forcefully pushed back down.
“So it’s true,” she whispered, staring at me in disbelief.
“Yes,” I replied, simply trying to match her tone.
“Why would you have a baby with another species?” she asked.
I shrugged. “She raped me,” I told her after a moment.
“Yes, but you’re still with her?” she asked, keeping me pinned to the ground.
I nodded, trying to shift her weight to one side of my body. “I love her very much.”
“Where do you live?” she asked, maintaining eye contact with me—I suppose it was to see if I was lying or not.
“Brawklin City.”
“That’s one of those mixed experimental cities the fiends have built, right?”
I nodded.
“I’ve decided to let you go. You’re no threat to me or my species,” Fiona told me.
I nearly jumped with joy as excitement spread across my face.
“On one condition,” she added.
“What?” I asked her skeptically.
“You come to visit me,” she said sincerely. “I won’t hurt you. I just want to talk. It gets lonely down here.”
“I will,” I lied to her. I kind of felt guilty, but I quickly wiped the guilt away as she kissed me, giving me the power to breathe underwater, before she walked me outside. An hour later, we were standing on the beach, waiting for Lara to come.
“Is your girlfriend an aggressive fiend?” she asked nervously, shifting around on her webbed feet and looking around anxiously.
“Not really, but you had me as a prisoner, so she might not be in the greatest mood.” After a while, I could hear the whooshing sounds of a fiend’s wings in the distance, which slowly got louder and louder as Lara approached us. I heard the roar of rage as she spotted us on the beach below. “Did you unblock my thoughts to her?” I asked Fiona.
She nodded.
“Lance! Hold on! I’ll save you!” Lara’s happy voice sounded in my head.
“Oh shit!” Fiona grunted, sprinting to the water as Lara swooped into a death-dive, aiming at her.
“No! Don’t hurt her!” I yelled in my head.
To my relief, Lara obediently pulled out of the dive about twenty feet from Fiona’s head and swooped around, landing by my side. Fiona picked herself up off the ground, trying to save some dignity as she casually walked over to us, wiping off the sand as she advanced. “What’s your girlfriend’s name?” she asked, stopping about ten feet away from us.
“Lara,” I told her simply
“Girlfriend?” Lara asked in my head, letting out a low, threatening growl.
“She’s my wife.” I corrected Fiona quickly, before Lara decided to give me a smack over the head with one of her paws.
“I’m Fiona,” she told Lara, bowing politely.
“Tell her that I’m grateful for her saving you,” Lara told me.
“Lara says thanks for saving me,” I said to Fiona. I left out the part to Lara about how Fiona had orchestrated it all, figuring it was for the best.
“Okay, well, it was nice meeting you guys. Good-bye,” Fiona called, waving to me.
Lara took off, purposely covering Fiona with the beach sand just as she’d finished dusting off the last of it. I heard her chuckle as we soared up into the air. We looked down at Fiona before speeding off into the night sky toward Brawklin.
“Are you okay?” Lara asked me worriedly. As soon as we entered our small apartment in Brawklin she checked me thorou
ghly for any spells Fiona may have left on me.
“I’m fine. She wasn’t violent at all. As a matter of fact, she was kind of nice, in her own way,” I reassured Lara.
“Did she try to have sex with you?” Lara demanded forcefully.
“No. She had to kiss me, though, to let me breathe underwater,” I told her truthfully.
“What?” Lara screamed, her eyes blazing red as she angrily knocked over a bookshelf. The noise woke Rashellia in the other room, who started bawling.
“It was that or death,” I told her, trying to calm her down.
Lara angrily went to the door, as if she was going back out to find and kill Fiona. She paused, looking at me for a second, letting my words sink in. The sound of Rashellia’s crying in the background seemed to trigger her motherly instincts, which washed away her rage. “Shhhh! Mommy’s sorry for yelling,” she called to Rashellia. She bustled over to her crib and picked her up, rocking her back and forth gently.
Lara and I took turns tickling Rashellia, and she made happy baby gurgles. “Want to say hi to Daddy?” Lara asked her in a babyish voice, handing her over to me.
I sat down on the edge of the bed, cradling her and supporting her the way Lara had taught me. Rashellia occasionally would cry and then start sucking her thumb a moment later as she calmed herself down. I glanced over at Lara, who was watching me affectionately.
“I don’t get why she won’t stop crying. I’m doing everything right,” I told her, confused.
“I think she needs some personal Mommy time,” Lara told me. She took off her T-shirt and motioned for me to hand over Rashellia.
Rashellia sucked on Lara’s breasts happily, making a mess all over her chin, which I wiped off, noticing that some kind of yellowish fluid was dripping down her. “Ew, you’re not feeding her milk?” I asked disgustedly, looking at the yellowish liquid that had stained the cloth.
“Of course not. I’m a fiend, not a human,” Lara told me, as if I just asked a stupid question. “Don’t worry; this stuff will help her to become a big, strong half-blood,” she reassured me, realizing that she had snapped at me a bit roughly.
Rashellia fell asleep with a loud yawn almost instantly after she was finished eating. Lara gently placed her in the crib, and I tucked her in, while Lara put her stuffed bear close to her to play with in case she woke up. Lara and I both sat on the edge of the bed, exhausted from the long day.
She kept glancing over at my arm. I could tell she wanted to ask me something but was too embarrassed. “What?” I finally asked her.
She glanced at me and then tore her eyes away for the fifth time. “I’m thirsty,” she told me timidly.
“Then go get a drink.” I laughed.
She shook her head, seeming a little bit embarrassed. “Not that kind of thirsty, Lance.”
“Oh …” I replied, looking down at my arm.
I glanced over at Lara, who was quivering like a crack addict as she stared at my arm. “Sure. Just be gentle,” I told her, closing my eyes and holding out my left arm. I cringed in pain as I felt her fangs sink through my skin.
She began to suck blood from it, and to my relief, she cast a spell, numbing the pain, allowing me to relax as she sucked greedily on my arm. “All done, buddy. Thanks a lot,” she said a minute or two later.
I opened one eye, timidly looking down at my arm, which was healed up to the point that I couldn’t even tell it had been torn apart a second ago. Lara was quickly wiping the blood from her face. I watched as she cast a spell, taking the stain of blood instantly off our blankets.
“Sorry. I hate when I get those cravings,” she told me.
“Don’t worry about it. I never donated blood as a kid, so this is basically karma catching up with me,” I joked.
She laughed, stripping down to her underwear, while I did the same, getting ready for bed. She flicked off the lights, and her eyes glowed in the dark. She checked my stomach wound to make sure it wasn’t opening up or becoming infected. “I was worried about you when you were out there,” she told me after she finished her checkup and sprawled herself across me to cuddle.
I felt her chest heave in and out as she slowly breathed. I gently rubbed her back, making her purr affectionately like a cat. “Something weird happened to me today,” I told her.
“What?” she asked, toying with my hair.
“When I was drowning and I was about to die, my scar burned so badly that it felt like it was trying to rip out of my chest or something. It brought me back into consciousness for that split second. If it wasn’t for that, I think I probably would have died,” I said. “I should have been dead before Fiona reached me, but it was almost like that scar kept me alive just long enough for her to save me.”
“Well, that scar connects us, so when I was freaking out, my emotions were probably so intense that I somehow transferred adrenaline to you, which the scar used slowly to try to keep you from dying.” She toyed with my hair as if we were talking about a hockey game or something.
“Lara?” I asked.
“Lance?” she asked mockingly.
“Ha-ha, very funny, smart-ass,” I muttered as she burst out laughing.
“What do you want?” she asked repositioning herself on top of me so she could stare down into my eyes.
“Is Rashellia the first half-blood ever born?” I asked.
Lara nodded cautiously, trying to figure out where this conversation was heading.
“Fiona warned me of Rashellia’s growing up with these super-powers that could potentially be used in a negative way, instead of a positive way,” I said, trying to avoid looking at her.
Lara burst out laughing. “That’s only a myth made up by some old lady, probably. If anything, she will be less powerful than a fiend because she has a human as her father,” Lara reassured me with a laugh, messing up my hair.
“Okay. I just wanted to make sure we weren’t raising a mini Hitler,” I replied with a laugh as we kissed goodnight.
Chapter 22
Life had been going well for the last three months. It was a beautiful day out. Lara and Tina were in the living room, cutting up some vegetables, as they watched me play-fight with Rashellia. I gave her a gentle push, and she plopped down on her butt with a surprised look at my unprovoked attack. She snarled at me, showing me her little dagger teeth in retaliation.
“What are you gonna do about it?” I taunted her. Her little wings expanded, and she stood up three feet off the ground on her hind legs. I poked her belly, and she fell back over onto her side with a surprised squeak.
“Play nice, Daddy,” Lara scolded me, glancing up from the vegetables she was slicing.
“Hear that? Mom doesn’t want me to beat you up too badly,” I told Rashellia, who let out a tiny growl, attempting to bite my arm.
Lara said something in Jural to Rashellia, who obediently morphed from her fiend body back into her baby form. I diapered her and then got up to sit at the table with Lara and Tina. I helped to peel the vegetables while Rashellia explored the room. Occasionally, she would get into something she wasn’t supposed to, making her happy baby noises.
We would all laugh, and Lara would retrieve her, scolding her gently in Jural. Things had become so calm that we were basically in a daily routine now, just doing normal day-to-day activities. I hadn’t had to worry about fighting for months now, and I actually had a family, something I would have never thought possible in my life.
Lara had been in an unprecedented good mood for the past few months, even on her tricnoses days. Plus, she was letting me have sex with her again, now that everything was calm around the house. We weren’t even having our tiny arguments that we used to have over silly nonsense.
I gave her my peeled vegetables, and she smiled thankfully, giving me a kiss, and then she followed Tina into the kitchen to get supper st
arted. I grabbed Rashellia out of her box of teddy bears, where she had managed to crawl. She looked up at me with her innocent, sparkling blue eyes. I smiled, kissing her on the forehead.
“You ready to eat, buddy?” I asked her, even though I knew she didn’t understand what I was saying. I strapped her to her high chair as Tina served us all vegetable soup. I ate it gratefully, occasionally dunking in a slice of bread. I glanced over at Lara, who was feeding Rashellia, occasionally cleaning up any soup spilling down her chin.
I wasn’t able to feed her—my hand shook too much. Lara had told me it was just shell shock from the years of war, reassuring me that it would go away with time. Tina offered to look after Rashellia that night, which Lara and I gratefully accepted. We headed down to the pool, where we played some water volleyball against another couple, destroying them three games to zero.
“The last couple of months have been awesome, hey?” Lara asked, reaching for my hand as we walked across the busy street.
“Yeah, I actually feel like a teenager again,” I told her with a laugh.
“Rashellia really likes you. You’re doing a great job with her,” Lara complimented me happily.
“How can you tell?”
“For a baby to play-fight, it’s a sign of affection, and you and she are always play-fighting and spending time together, which is why you have such a great bond.”
We entered the hall leading to our apartment. When we finally reached our room, we were pleased to see Tina relaxing on the couch, reading, having already put Rashellia to sleep. “Did you guys have fun?” Tina asked, grabbing her stuff.
Lara and I nodded, throwing our towels in a heap in the corner and flopping down on the couch. “We beat a group at water volleyball, three to zero,” I told her with a smile.
“Awesome. Well, I’ll see you guys tomorrow,” she told us, reaching for the door as we said our good-byes.
I listened to Lara purr as she slept that night. I didn’t know why; I wasn’t trying to be a creeper or anything. It just felt so good to have someone that cared so much about me by my side. I just hadn’t ever thought it would be someone like her.
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