by Hickory Mack
“Can you describe why?” he asked patiently, studying her reactions.
“No, not really. It just feels wrong, repulsive. Having you here at all feels wrong, like, you’re not supposed to be here,” Chiori said and he nodded like it made perfect sense.
“It can be harder to accept working this way with anyone but your mate when you are bonded. We are not doing anything that is a betrayal of your bond, but maybe you need to convince yourself of that. I am here to instruct and help you. Go ahead and think on that a minute, take as much time as you need. Repeat it out loud if you need to. I am not a threat. Something inside you already believes that, if you didn’t, we wouldn’t be here right now,” Kai said patiently.
Chiori worked to calm her nerves, telling herself that Makkai would not have left her with him if he were a threat. Then she thought of the tornado and tensed up all over again, needing to begin anew. She took a long time, pacing back and forth, fighting the feeling that wouldn’t go away and Kai patiently waited, leaning against the tree. After a while, Chiori lost her own patience and decided to go forward anyway, wanting to get it over with so they could move on to the next step.
“Okay, let’s do this,” she said, rubbing her hands nervously against her clothes. Kai’s brown and green eyes sought hers.
“Are you actually ready?” he asked.
“No. I feel like I’m about to jump off a cliff, but it isn’t getting any better, and I want to learn as quickly as I can,” she said.
“Jumping in feet first, hmm?” he said, holding out his hand.
“I guess so.” Chiori reached out. The moment her fingertips touched his palm Chiori was hit by a pulling warmth in her belly and heart. She looked up at him in question but he looked just as confused as she felt, and then they were violently ripped apart and slammed back into reality.
“Oh gods!” Chiori cried, holding her head. She felt as though she’d been stabbed in the temple. Across from her Kai was in a similar pose, his head cradled. A thin line of blood leaked from his right ear.
“What happened, are you okay?!” Mai bolted to her feet and flung herself across the room to Chiori’s side. “Oh my gods, you’re bleeding! Somebody bring help!” she yelled into the hallway.
“My head, Mai,” Chiori murmured, but speaking was painful, the throbbing increased from the noise reverberating throughout. Mai struck Kai’s face, hard.
“What did you do?!” she demanded. Running footsteps sounded in the hall. A tall black woman with long legs, big, round ears, fangs and a fringed red tail came to the door, eyes wide. Right behind her came Yuuki, who came to Chiori’s side, her eyes studying her, darting from side to side.
“It wasn’t his fault, I did it. I think,” Chiori said, grabbing Mai’s hand so she wouldn’t slap the teacher again. Mai looked at the demon in the door.
“Saya, bring Asuka, and Nakia! Quickly!” Mai urged her and her steps sounded again, retreating impossibly fast. She brought Chiori’s head down to rest on her lap, stroking her hair. Yuuki’s face was deathly pale, staring at Chiori, turning her head this way and that, looking at her from different angles. Her jaw set and she shook her head.
“That’s impossible,” she muttered, still staring, a puzzled look etched across her face. Kai made a noise and clutched at his heart. He looked at Chiori with horror.
“I’m dead. I’m fucking dead,” he said, looking at her like she was the scariest creature he’d ever seen.
“What are you talking about?” Mai said coldly but understanding lit Yuuki’s eyes. Kai lurched to his feet, still looking at Chiori like she was the devil herself.
“She’s rejecting me. I can’t, she-” he sounded delirious, and completely out of his mind. “I can’t be here. I can’t.” He stumbled out of the room and down the hall.
“Send Asuka to him,” Chiori mumbled, the pain trying to drag her into sleep.
“That’s not going to happen. He’s nothing more than a lousy sylvan, he’s only here because Earth witches are hard to find. You’re the important one, he’ll be lucky to get out of here unscathed after this,” Mai said, continuing to stroke her hair.
“It was my fault,” Chiori said again.
“I’ll go make sure he’s okay, my Lady,” Yuuki volunteered, earning her an incredulous look from Mai.
“Thank you, Yuuki,” Chiori said and Yuuki followed the red-haired demon out the door. “What’s a sylvan, Mai?”
“A filthy creature that can take your will away from you. Not you, of course, your bond will…” Mai trailed off, her face growing furious. “Your bond will protect you and reject his powers. I swear to the gods if he tried anything with you I will rip him apart a limb at a time myself!”
“What are you talking about?”
“Lady Chiori!” Nakia had arrived. “What happened? Where’s Yuuki?”
“I don’t know, she was meditating with Kai, he wanted to find the seat of her power. They were under for maybe half an hour and then, this. Their ears are both bleeding.” Mai’s face hardened. “He said she rejected him and ran away. Our Lady is too compassionate, she sent Yuuki after him.”
“Let’s get her to her room so she can be more comfortable,” Nakia said. “Can you stand?”
The two of them helped Chiori into a sitting position but she worked against them, trying to put her head back down, it throbbed so violently. Mai had her lay back, her head against her shoulder and slipped her hands through Chiori’s arms, Nakia took her legs. In too much pain to be embarrassed, Chiori briefly thought of how strong they were.
“Let us through the barrier, my Lady,” came Nakia’s voice. Chiori did as she was told, pressing her hand to the cool surface and telling the barrier to let them pass. Ani joined them from the other side, her face taut with worry. They brought her to her rooms, setting her gently on the chaise lounge.
Mai stayed with her and Nakia hurriedly pulled out her futon, pillow and a blanket and Ani went to the bathroom for a cold washcloth. Working quickly Chiori was placed in her bed, the cloth on her head and shivering with pain when Asuka knocked gently on the door.
She entered in all her glory, robes billowing, hair flowing, her face passive and beautiful.
“Asuka,” Chiori sighed, comforted that Asuka would know what to do. Mai described to her what had happened and Asuka kneeled at Chiori’s side, her cool fingers touching her temples.
“Peppermint, willow bark, ginger and feverfew, go,” Asuka said in a calm, soothing voice that bellied her words. Mai left to carry out the fae woman’s orders. “How much trouble can such a small girl cause in one day?”
Asuka carefully probed around in Chiori’s head, gentle touches of magic here, a caress of magic there. Chiori closed her eyes and let it happen, feeling like she was burning up inside.
“Hmm,” Asuka sounded confused, but she kept working. She was still in Chiori’s head, following the lines of her magic when Mai returned with the tea. “Repeat to me exactly what was said,” Asuka requested, her brow furrowing when Mai complied.
“What does he mean by rejecting him, Lady Chiori?” Nakia asked and Chiori recanted everything that had happened during their meditation, how she’d felt uncomfortable, but stressing it had been her decision to continue.
“Hmm,” Asuka repeated, going back and lightly touching into Chiori’s mind and magic. “I can see where your pain is coming from, and I can fix it, but I don’t understand why it happened. It’s like a self-defense mechanism was triggered in your magic. It’s letting me do whatever I want, no barrier at all. Do I make you feel uncomfortable?”
“No,” Chiori answered, “but I can barely feel you. When we were meditating, it was like he was actually in my mind with me.”
“Well, I don’t know what to tell you, I don’t know what caused this, based on what you’re saying, I’ll have to check on the sylvan as well. Sounds like you broke his mind a bit,” Asuka had Nakia help her sit up slightly so she could drink some of the tea, a tiny bit at a time. Sitting up made her want to vomit. “Okay, l
et’s let the herbs do their thing, and I’ll do mine. She’ll be tired after this, let her rest, something simple for dinner, ginger tea to settle her stomach. No repeats of that meditation.”
Asuka’s fingers touched her temples again and Chiori’s eyes closed, letting the faery do as she wanted inside of her head. Her light touch went straight to the source of the throbbing, magic pooled around it, insulating Chiori from the pain as Asuka worked it away. Pain free, she fell asleep with a sigh.
Yuuki followed Kai at a run, he had a head start but he was moving slow, and she could sense which way he was heading. He left the house and stumbled among the grounds where demons still worked on the damage. She followed him beyond there and into the woods, away from prying eyes.
His presence grew stronger and Yuuki spotted him, he’d taken shelter under a tree, his head cradled in his hands. As she drew close she saw his whole body was trembling. On Chiori’s side, the bond was dull and dark, scorched out by the brilliance of her bond with Lord Makkai. On Kai’s side it was the tiniest, thinnest line of an angry, scalded red. She could see it throbbing and struggling to survive and her heart nearly broke for him. His shoulders shook violently and Yuuki realized he was trying not to sob out loud.
She kneeled down and touched his knee gently. As wounded as he was, his touch could not hurt her now. He didn’t look up or try to move away, he trembled all the harder.
“You’re her potential mate, and a bond tried to form,” Yuuki said gently. “How’s that possible when she’s already bonded? It’s rare to find one potential mate, let alone two.”
“What are you talking about?” he asked, but his voice was fringed with fright.
“I can see the bonds that build relationships. I see everyone connected to her, and before today, you were not. How is this possible?” she asked again.
“I’m only half sylvan, my other half is witch. Mating bonds aren’t nearly so rare among the witches. Taking more than one mate is normal, especially as our numbers have dwindled,” Kai answered, pulling away from her touch. Yuuki withdrew her hand.
“What happened between you? Why has your bond been scorched like this? Is it because she’s already bonded to Lord Makkai?” Yuuki asked.
“No, she’s not open to another bond, her mind refuses to accept the possibility. Bonds are supposed to form from touch. I held her hand, she used my magic. Nothing happened. This shouldn’t have happened, neither of us saw this coming. She rejected me, and his bond burned me out,” he said bitterly.
“I don’t think it was a surprise to Lady Chiori, she doesn’t know what happened, she has no clue you bonded with her,” Yuuki said. Kai made a strangled sound.
“She doesn’t even know?”
“She’s a child, all she knows of love is Lord Makkai and a handful of baby bird demons. If you could see their bond, you would understand. It’s overpowering. Even if she had control of her powers and was aware of her bonds, I’m not sure she could see it,” Yuuki said, knowing her words wouldn’t help him feel better.
“I have no chance with her, I’ll leave. In time the bond will break and everything will be fine,” he said, though he was in no condition to move, let alone work his way through the barrier protecting the grounds.
“I don’t think that’s the best idea,” Yuuki said.
“Oh? What’s your idea?” Kai asked, looking up for just a moment, then burying his face again, unable to stand the pain.
“Stay. She has so much capacity for love. Be her teacher, by her side every day. Show her you aren’t a threat, and when she learns to let go of her human ties, she may come to love you. Give your bond the chance to grow. Don’t give up before you’ve even begun.”
“You really think I know the first thing about love? Love isn’t really my thing, I need physical contact to survive, and she’s a little girl. I have no intention of bedding a child. Beyond that, why do you care what I do?” he asked.
“Because I have known her a short time and already have love for her, and I know that as raw as your bond is right now, it will hurt a whole lot worse the day it breaks, and she deserves, at the very least, to know why,” Yuuki answered. “I think you’ll find the physical will not be so hard to hold back any longer. If you work on your bond instead of running, it will be as though she holds your leash, you will want nothing more than to please her, and only her.”
“Lord Makkai was much like you. Foxes are promiscuous, he could have any lover he wanted. Bonding was like flipping a switch in him. He sent away his consort, abandoning her the day of the hunt. He stopped caring about anyone other than Lady Chiori. She tamed him, the wildest fox in legend.”
Kai stayed quiet for a long while, but she noticed the worst of his trembling had passed.
“I won’t make any promises, to you or anybody else,” he said finally.
“All I ask is that you try it a day at a time. I’ll keep what I know secret from her, for now. She won’t take it well straight away,” Yuuki said.
“Is he going to kill me?” Kai asked, rocking slowly back and forth.
“He can’t. Not unless he wants to hurt her, and that’s something he’d never do,” Yuuki assured him. “That won’t stop him from making your life a living hell, though, if you do anything to hurt her. Yuuki felt the healer coming through the trees and she stood up, waving her hand.
“We’re over here,” she called, waiting until she was noticed before kneeling back down. “Asuka is here. I’d suggest you allow her to help you.
She’s very good at what she does.”
“Thank you for the recommendation,” Asuka said, smiling with venom in her eyes. “I suspect I’ll find the same with this one as I did with the witch.” “How is Lady Chiori?” Yuuki asked.
“Sleeping, I took her pain away. Was he able to tell you anything about what happened?” Asuka asked.
“We think her bond with Lord Makkai may have overreacted to having a sylvan in her head,” Yuuki lied easily.
“Seems like a reasonable explanation. The girl kept saying it was her fault, though,” Asuka gave Kai none of the softness she’d given Chiori. She pushed his hands away from his face and pressed her palms to his temples. “Prepare yourself, I’m coming in.”
Kai groaned in pain, gritting his teeth, his face contorted. Sweat broke out on his brow. Yuuki had to look away, unable to watch.
“Is he going to be okay?” she asked, looking at a tree in the distance.
“His head is a lot more messed up than hers was, it will take a bit longer, but yes, I can fix the injured area. Not sure that I should, though. Maybe letting it take its time to heal naturally will teach him a lesson, what do you think?” Asuka asked in a twisted voice.
“I think it would be a bad idea to leave the magic teacher in a rough spot, he’s needed for class tomorrow,” Yuuki said, not taking her eyes off the tree.
“Oh, he’s important enough to get her two days in a row, hmm?” Asuka tilted her head, looking Kai over with a new appreciation. “He’s awfully good looking, isn’t he? I wouldn’t mind having time with him in private for a while.”
“Asuka!”
“Oh don’t worry, he can’t hear anything right now, it hurts too much.”
“Can’t you be more gentle?”
“I could, but what for? This way’s faster, and he’s a demon, he’ll get over it by morning,” Asuka said, giving Yuuki a hard look. “You’ve always been too soft on them, Yuuki.”
“I’d rather be soft than lose the ability to love at all.”
“Ha! Let’s revisit that statement in a century or two,” Asuka let go of Kai’s head and he fell back against the tree, hitting it with a thud, he did not stir. “He’ll live another day. Have someone bring him to his rooms. No more magic for him today. See you around, little sprite.”
Waking a few hours later, Chiori was able to sit up without pain. It was Yuuki that was by her side, she’d asked to sit vigil and the request was granted. Mai was exhausted, Nakia was busy running interference
with Haruka and Ani wasn’t so sure she wanted the job anymore, too much chaos surrounded the girl. Yuuki wore a solemn look on her face, that changed to relief when she saw the pain was gone.
“You have certainly had a crazy day, Lady Chiori,” she said. It was still light outside, but the sun was nearly down. Yuuki followed her gaze. “Asuka will come back tonight to check on you. She thinks you are going to be fine.”
“Is Kai Sensei okay? I keep feeling like it’s my fault,” Chiori said.
“He was hurt far more than you were, but Asuka was able to fix it. We thought he’d done something horrible to you, but, I don’t think there is fault to find in either of you,” Yuuki said.
Chiori suddenly felt like she was going to be sick. She jumped to her feet and rushed to the bathroom to do exactly that. Yuuki sat with her back against the doorframe and waited for Chiori to brush her teeth and regain her composure. She washed her face and slid down on the opposite side of the frame, her feet crossed, her knees almost touching Yuuki’s.
“I’m sorry you had to be here for that. I feel gross. I feel like there’s something terribly wrong with me, something inside of me that shouldn’t be there. I want Makkai. And I want Kai Sensei to go away,” Chiori put her face in her hands and rubbed.
“That isn’t a very kind thing to say, my Lady,” Yuuki said. “What happened between you is a mystery, but an accident. He doesn’t deserve that disdain.”
“What’s a sylvan?” Chiori asked again, the answer she’d gotten from Mai had not satisfied her curiosity.
“They have many names. Sylvan, faun, satyr, incubus,” Yuuki said and Chiori shuddered. She knew the last two.
“That’s what Lord Makkai meant, when he told Kai not to feed off of anyone?” Chiori asked. “I’d thought he was a vampire.”
“Yes. He feeds off of people’s souls, their love, their lust, their dreams and fears. He can ingest blood, like a vampire, but he’d need only the tiniest bit of blood to feed off emotions for days. His kind turn women into lustful messes, very quickly, if they don’t mind themselves closely. Several of the girls have already been talking about him, though he’s mostly kept to his rooms.