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Love Conquers All

By: Night-Wolf



When Allen Louder woke up, he was sure it was going to be just another ordinary day. With the sun's warmth, and the sound of singing birds drifting in through the open window, he began undressing to take his morning shower so he could go to school. He was a good-looking young man. At 18 he stood an even 6 feet tall. He had blonde hair and light green eyes, and a wide smile for everyone he met. He was popular with the guys because of his friendly disposition, and was even more popular with girls because of his rugged good looks. It was his last year in high school and he always looked forward to each day there. He was a good athlete as well as a good student. To any outside observers, he appeared to be just a typical teenager.

The one secret Allen didn't show to the outside world was a power he had discovered while very young. He could control minds. It started when he was 5 or 6, but he didn't have full control of it until he had reached his twelfth birthday. When he first started developing his abilities, he would feel a tingle tugging at his mind, but as he became more accomplished with it, the tingling seemed to disappear. He didn't do anything that would draw attention to himself, just small things, like getting bigger birthday presents for himself. Even as a child, Allen knew that people would avoid him if they knew about his abilities.

Allen quickly took his shower and headed downstairs for breakfast. Walking into the kitchen, he kissed his mother's cheek as he reached into the refrigerator and grabbed an orange. "I'll eat something at lunch mom," he told her as he ran out the door. He quickly got in his gleaming red Mustang and started it up. It never failed to thrill him when he heard the rumble of the powerful engine as it came to life. He quickly sped to school to begin another day of learning. When he reached the school, he parked as far away from the other teens as possible. His parents had given the car to him for his eighteenth birthday and he wasn't taking any chances of it getting hit with errant bird droppings. 

He sprinted across the parking lot to reach the school and hurried to his locker to get his books. After he had retrieved them, he quickly entered the math classroom and sat in his normal seat. To his right sat a girl named Tracey, whom he had known since junior high. She was normally a happy girl, but when he glanced at her, he noticed she had been crying. She was a pretty girl, tints of red in her medium length brown hair. She was only 5'2" but she had a well- proportioned body as far as he could see. She had a small frame, which made her 34c breasts look even larger. Her ass was firm and had driven most of the boys in school crazy in their desire to be close to her. She was a goddess, but it appeared this goddess had been made upset. Allen felt his heart go out to her as he wondered what could make her so sad. When Tracey saw Allen looking at her, she gave a shy smile, then quickly ducked her head as if she couldn't bear to look him in the eye. 

When the bell rang, Allen quickly stood up and began heading toward his next class, then paused as he waited for Tracey to pass by him. He was about to ask her if something was wrong, but she quickly averted her gaze and hurried to her next class. With a sigh, the boy headed to his own class. As he took his seat, his mind thought back to Tracey's teary eyes and wondered what could be so bad that would make her that upset. He was unable to get her off his mind for any length of time, and when the final bell rang, he quickly went searching for the distraught girl. As he stepped out the door, he happened to see Tracey headed toward the bus. 

"Tracey, wait up for a second," he called to her as he ran to catch up with her. 

"Hi Allen, I've got to hurry or I'll miss the bus," she told him when he got close to her. 

"I was wondering if I could give you a ride home," Allen told her. The girl took a deep breath before she shook her head no. 

"I can't," she told him as she began climbing on the bus. "I'm going to go home with Lindsay, we're going to do our homework together. Can we do it some other time maybe?" 

"Okay, sure. I'll see you tomorrow," he told her. Allen slowly walked to his car, thinking about the devastated look on Tracey's face as she climbed on the bus. He decided that he would find out what was bothering her no matter what. As he opened the car's door, he began thinking about trying to see if he could find it in her mind. He didn't like doing that, but he felt that this was a special circumstance. As Allen drove home, he still couldn't get the tear-stained face out of his mind. As he walked into his house, he decided to get a snack. He walked into the kitchen looking for something to eat, seeing nothing else, he reached into the refrigerator for an apple. Deep in thought, Allen didn't even notice his mother standing in the kitchen. 

"Don't spoil your dinner dear," his mother told him as he walked out of the kitchen. Allen walked up to his room and decided to lie down for a quick nap, but every time he closed his eyes, the image of the troubled girl quickly came to mind. Finally giving up on sleep, he quickly did his homework and went down to dinner. 



Love Conquers All



At the 20-year reunion for the Class of 1984 at Millbrook High, you would have been hard-pressed to find a more mismatched couple than Danny Wilson and Charlie Panetta. 

Danny was the archetypical All-American Boy. He was big - 6-3, 290 pounds - blond and handsome. His family owned the largest bank in town, plus one of the largest realty companies, and he was about a big a jock as you could find. He was All-District as a tackle on the football team, played power forward on the basketball team (emphasis on the word power) and was one of the top five shot putters in the state. 

Despite his family's position and his status as an athlete, Danny was extremely nice and very popular, and was voted Senior Class Favorite. He was especially popular with all the creamy debutante cunts in Millbrook, and he spent most of his high school years screwing as many of them as he could handle. To top off the stereotype, because he hated to read and therefore never bothered to study much, everyone thought he was just another dumb jock. It was only later that it came out that he was badly dyslexic, and basically couldn't read. Thus the fact that he still managed to make Cs and even a few Bs was cause for wonder. 

Because of his popularity, Danny could have run with about any group he chose, but he seemed to move around as far as who he hung out with. But if there was one group that he was probably closest to, it was the track guys, particularly Tom Baraszki. Tom was a middle-distance runner, but he and Danny had gotten to be friends over the course of their track careers. 

Charlie Panetta's real name was Carlotta, but all anyone had ever called her was Charlie. It fit. Charlie was everything Danny was not, smallish with an olive complexion, and decidedly bookish. She had been a tomboy when she was younger, with a scrawny, boyish figure. She reached her full height of 5-foot-4 fairly early, but didn't really mature until very late in her teens. She had an unruly mass of dark curly hair that she wore well past her shoulders and in thick bangs in front, and big glasses that gave her kind of a nerdy look. She was also very smart, a talented artist and she wore the funkiest clothes imaginable. She was into the grunge look long before it was hip. 

She also came from the wrong side of the tracks. She moved to Millbrook when she was in sixth grade, and if there had ever been a father around, no one knew about it. Supposedly, Charlie and her two little brothers all had different fathers, but no one knew for sure, because the family generally kept to themselves. Charlie's mom worked as a housecleaner for the wealthier families in town, but there were whispers that the bulk of her income came from working the bars on weekends, trolling for tricks. 

Whatever the case, Charlie was something of a loner, a misfit who if she ever had a date, it was a well-kept secret. In fact, vicious rumors at school held that she was a lesbian. And, for some reason, there was a certain element at Millbrook High that took great delight in tormenting her. This was mostly the football jockocracy, led by the star quarterback, Dirk Bennett. A more arrogant, obnoxious individual would be hard to find, and he led a relentless campaign to belittle anyone who was the least bit "different." That especially included Charlie Panetta, whom he took a visceral disliking to from the first day of high school their freshman year. 

Most of the debutantes also sneered at Charlie, and they were more than happy to spread the stories about Charlie and her family. 

However, there were a few isolated souls at the school who treated Charlie with some decency. In fact, because she and Tom Baraszki always seemed to be in honors English together, they got to be almost friendly. Almost alone among the Class of '84, Tom was the one person who'd sit down to chat with Charlie and listen to her spill her guts. As for Danny, anyone who was friends with Tom was a friend of his, so he was cordial to Charlie, although he was too busy bedding the cunts to pay her much mind. 

The only time he ever really paid any attention to her during their high school years came early in their senior year, when Dirk and two of his cronies had Charlie surrounded in the hall between classes, and were giving her a ton of verbal abuse, something to the effect of, "how's your girlfriend," "licked any slits lately," and other rude comments. Charlie was trying hard to fight off tears and get away, but they kept her surrounded. That's when Danny happened to walk by. 

"Hey man," he said in an authoritative tone. "You guys back off, OK? She hasn't done anything to you. Just leave her alone." 

Needless to say, Dirk wasn't going to pick a fight with Danny Wilson at school, not over Charlie Panetta, and not during football season, so they let her walk away. Before she hurried away, she looked back and mouthed a, "thank you," and Danny smiled and nodded in return. 

It wasn't long after that that Charlie finally started to fill out a little, although with the outfits she wore, it was hard to tell. Still, the only time she got any kind of notice was at the senior awards night, when was she was named among the high honors graduates, with scholarship offers from several colleges. She surprised a lot of people that night, because she had pulled her hair back, worn a rather snug dress (for her) and put on a little bit of makeup. 

As she walked up to receive her honors award, there were several boys in the crowd who noticed that Charlie wasn't bad looking at all. She still had the big glasses, though, and she still had the really long hair that she hid behind. 

Unfortunately, one of the boys who noticed that Charlie had gotten worthy of attention was Dirk, and that seemed to set him on edge. He was also angry because he hadn't gotten any scholarship offers because of his poor grades, and was going to have to try out for a junior college team if he was to continue doing the only thing it seemed he was capable of doing, which was play football. 

It was a Friday night in late June, not long after graduation, when the events transpired that threw Danny and Charlie together. Danny had broken up with his girlfriend of the moment several weeks earlier, and he was frankly not looking for another one. He was tired of superficial relationships, and had decided he'd been through about everyone Millbrook had to offer. He was looking forward to going to college in the fall, at a nearby small-division state university, where he'd gotten a football and track scholarship. Maybe the scenery would be different there, he thought, but somehow he doubted that things would change. 

In fact, the rather acrimonious breakup with his last girlfriend had kind of soured him on women. He was convinced that most of the girls in Millbrook were only interesting in him for his family's money and his family jewels, which were considerable. He was looking for a woman who wanted him as a person, not an object. He was about to find just that, in the unlikeliest of places. 

Danny and Tom were out cruising the boulevard on that hot Friday night. Darkness had just fully descended and the moon hadn't yet begun to rise, so it was quite dark out. Danny decided to check out the large park at the edge of town to see if there was anything happening, a party or something. Not finding anything, they had stopped just to look at the stars for awhile and continue the deep conversation they'd been having while driving around. 

He and Tom had just laid back on the hood of Danny's car, the same old beat-up Toyota he'd driven all through high school, when they heard a shriek come from the farthest corner of the park. It was the sound of a female in distress. Danny and Tom jumped off the car and dashed off in the direction of the sound. The closer they got, the more they realized that they were hearing the sounds of one-sided struggle between a woman and several men. 

It came from the pavilion where picnics were usually held. When Danny and Tom closed in on the pavilion, they were met by a stunning sight. Dirk Bennett and five of his buddies surrounded the picnic table, and they had a nearly-naked Charlie Panetta held down, with great effort. Her baggy pants had been pulled off and discarded, the crotch of her panties had been ripped open, her shirt had been torn open and her bra sliced in half. 

Dirk was already on the table with his pants around his ankles, seconds away from pushing his hard cock into Charlie's frantically struggling body. Two guys held down her arms, two held her legs, and another was trying to stifle her screams while groping a nice pair of pale-olive tits. Charlie's glasses were nowhere to be found and her hair was being held tightly by the guy that was mauling her tits. It was crazy, but all Tom could think about at that moment was how good she looked. 

"WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING, ASSHOLE?" Danny bellowed. 

Dirk turned at the sound and gave Danny a smirk. 

"We're going to show this lezzie whore what cock is all about," Dirk said. "If you guys want some, get in line. Otherwise, fuck off. This is none of your business." 

"LIKE HELL IT IS!" Danny yelled, his face red as a beet. Tom had known Danny Wilson a long time, and he had never seen him like this. "YOU LAY ANOTHER HAND ON HER, AND I'LL KILL YOU!" 

Just then, one of Dirk's friends let go of a leg, turned around quickly and whipped out a switchblade. Danny's response was equally quick. He sent a size-14 shoe squarely in his attacker's nuts, then smashed his face on his knee. He turned to Dirk, who was franically trying to pull his pants up, and cold-cocked him with a haymaker right that dropped him in his tracks. 

"Danny, look out!" Tom exclaimed as he swung the tree limb he'd picked up over the back of another of Charlie's attackers, who also had a knife out, and that gave Danny a chance to turn and throw the third assailant over his shoulder hard onto the ground. With three of their number down, the other three backed away warily. 

"You motherfuckers get the hell out of here, and take this lowlife scum with you," Danny said, giving Dirk a swift kick in the gut. "I'm sick of all of you." 

The threesome pulled their injured fellows up, and as they left, Dirk groggily looked back at Danny with pure hate in his eyes. 

"You'll pay for this, Wilson," Dirk mumbled. 

"No, YOU'LL pay for this," Danny responded. 

With that, they left, and Danny and Tom turned their attention to Charlie, who had sat up and pulled her torn shirt together to try to cover her breasts, but she couldn't see where her pants were and had her legs tightly closed to prevent any more exposure than she'd already had. She was shaking from head to toe, trying to hold back the sobs. She'd always prided herself on not showing the hurt when she was tormented, but this was the worst thing she'd ever experienced. 

Danny saw what was going through her mind, and instinctively he went over and gathered her in his arms. When he did, the dam burst and she broke out in heaving sobs. As he held her, something passed between them, he would never be sure exactly what. But as Charlie Panetta sobbed on Danny's chest, a definite spark was lit. 

As Danny and Charlie clutched each other, Tom walked over and found Charlie's pants and what was left of her glasses. The frames were bent and one of the lenses was shattered, rendering them useless. 

After Charlie had cried herself out somewhat, Danny and Tom helped her get her pants on and helped her off the table. As they walked to Danny's car, she had to hold her pants and shirt together because the buttons on both had been sent flying when they'd been ripped from her body. 

"They were going to rape me," she said quietly, hesitantly, still fighting off heaving sobs. "Why? I never did anything to those people, but they've always made my life miserable." 

"Some people are just like that," Danny said. "What happened?" 

Charlie lived fairly close to the park, and often walked through the park in the early evening to get away from the bustle of her small house and her alcoholic mother to find some solitude. She'd been on her way home when Dirk and his buddies had driven past, and called out a stream of insults. For some reason, she had decided she was tired of turning the other cheek and flipped them the bird as they drove past. Dirk whipped the car around, parked it suddenly, they all ran out of the car and chased her down, then dragged her to the pavilion. 

"The rest you know," Charlie said as she sat in the passenger seat while Danny drove toward the local hospital. At first, she protested, telling them she just wanted to go home, but Danny was insistent about her getting checked over by a doctor and filing a police report. 

"Charlie, if you don't report this, he'll do it again, to someone else, or maybe he'll come back looking to finish what he started with you," Danny said. "You owe it to yourself to file charges. If you don't stand up for yourself now, what's going to happen the next time? And who knows what he's capable of. There's nothing I wouldn't put past him, and I'd hate to see you get seriously hurt. You've got too much to offer. I'll be behind you all the way, but you have to stand up now. You can't just run and hide any more. It's gotten too serious." 

Hearing words of support from the most popular guy in school changed something in Charlie's heart and soul, and she knew he was right. It was time for her to come out of her shell and take control of her life, to stand up for herself. 

So she let Danny take her to the emergency room, where the doctor treated her for some abrasions, removed some splinters from her butt and had the nurse give her a pelvic exam. Then they gave her some scrubs to wear home in place of her torn clothes. The doctor also called the police, who came and took a statement from her and from Danny and Tom, and took her clothes as evidence. When they were finished, Danny took Charlie home, and they drove in silence to her house. 

As they pulled up in front of Charlie's house, Danny looked over at her and studied her for a few long seconds. 

"You know something?" he said. "You REALLY ought to think about getting contact lenses, because you've got the prettiest eyes I've ever seen. And shorter hair wouldn't hurt, either. Charlie, it's time you came out from behind yourself. You're way too pretty to be hiding like you do. It wouldn't take much for you to knock 'em dead. Think about it." 

Charlie blushed, and a tear fell from her eyes. 

"That's about the nicest thing anyone's ever said to me," she whispered. "Thanks. I will think about it. And thank you guys for helping me. They would have... And I've never..." 

Suddenly, she turned quickly and opened the car door, ready to run to the house before she started crying again, but Danny called her back. 

"Hey, how about a kiss for our trouble," he said with a grin. For some reason she would never be able to explain, Charlie stopped, turned back around and gave Danny a kiss. It started as just a quick peck on the lips, but they looked each other in the eye and it just kept getting deeper and deeper, and they lost themselves in the moment, their mouths straining at each other, their tongues working together. 

When they finally came up for air, they just stared at each other for a few seconds, then she turned to go again. But Tom cleared his throat, and kind of smiled at her, so she leaned into the back seat and gave him a kiss, and this was the peck on the lips. Then she thanked them again and walked painfully to her front door. 

"Hey," Danny said softly as she got out of the car. "I'll call you." 

They stayed long enough to make sure she got inside safely, then Tom climbed into the front seat and they took off in silence. 

"You shouldn't have gotten her hopes up like that," Tom said after awhile, a trifle crossly. 

"What are you talking about?" Danny said distractedly. 

"You, Danny Wilson, gash hound extraordinaire, are going to call Charlie Panetta for a date?" Tom said sarcastically. "I'll believe it when I see it." 

"Believe what you want, brother," Danny said. "But I am going to call her. Tomorrow. 'Cause I gotta tell you, the Charlie I saw tonight was not the Charlie we've known all these years. Like I told her, if she loses the glasses and cuts her hair, gets it away from her face, puts on a little makeup and dresses up just a bit, you'll wish you'd had the balls to call her. Talk about a diamond in the rough, you polish her up a bit, and I guarantee you she'll shine." 

And that's exactly what happened. Only instead of calling, he went to the art supply store where she worked and went to see her. Charlie was surprised and delighted to see him. 

"You OK?" he asked. 

"A couple of bruises, but otherwise I'm all right," she said. "You could have gotten hurt." 

"What else was I going to do?" he said. "I couldn't let them just rape you without doing something. Anyway, that's not really why I came by. I wanted to know if you wanted to go out and get a pizza tonight, and maybe catch a movie or something." 

Charlie just stared at him stunned for several seconds. She'd spent most of the night lying awake thinking dreamy thoughts about Danny, and wondering if he was really serious about calling her. Danny Wilson could have, and had had, his pick of any girl in town, hell, the whole county. Gorgeous babes were falling all over themselves, falling on their backs right and left, to get a date with Danny Wilson, and he was going to call HER? She couldn't even bring herself to hope she might have a chance with him, even though she'd secretly adored him ever since he'd casually come to her rescue way back the first time he'd confronted Dirk on his abuse of her. 

But he'd kissed her the previous night like he sure would be interested, and now he'd just asked her out. Of course she said yes, and the rest is really history. The following Tuesday, she went to a hair stylist and got her curly locks cut off very short, and when she went to the optician later that week to replace her glasses, she asked about contacts. At first, the price made her blanche, but Danny offered to pay half the cost, as a gift, so she did it. She also started wearing light makeup, and gradually started feminizing her wardrobe. 

The effects were startling. People she'd known all her life didn't recognize her. And when word got around that Danny Wilson was dating Charlie Panetta, the common reaction was disbelief. 

But anyone who saw them together came away with the same impression. These were two young people in love. And those who saw the new Charlie could see why he'd fallen in love with her. She had always had talent and brains, all she'd lacked was confidence and looks. Once she took charge of her looks, once she found out that she was attractive enough to catch Danny's eye, her self-esteem went through the roof. The one thing that did not happen between them, though, was sex. 

Very early in her teens, Charlie had made a vow between herself and God that she would not be like her mother. She would not give herself to a man until it was the one she called husband. That's why she'd been so distraught at her near-rape. She was utterly determined that she was going to be a virgin and wear white on her wedding day, and that's exactly what happened. It was hard on them both, because they wanted each other so badly, especially Danny, who had gotten used to a fairly regular sex life in high school. But he loved her enough and respected her enough not to push her into it. And besides, he'd sown enough wild oats, and he was ready for a woman who wouldn't drop her pants at the first sign of arousal. 

Charlie stayed in Millbrook for her freshman year at the Catholic college in town, during which time she testified in Dirk Bennett's trial for attempted rape, sexual battery and simple assault. He was convicted and sent to prison for a three-to-six year stretch. After that, she was ready to leave Millbrook, and she knew where she wanted to go. She wanted to be with Danny, so she transferred to his college, moving into a girls dormitory. By then, Danny had been tested for dyslexia, and she wanted to be close by so she could help him essentially learn to read. She had learned on their first few dates that, contrary to the prevailing opinion, Danny was highly intellegent, interested in a wide range of things, including her art. 




Love Conquers All



For his part, he encouraged her to promote and sell some of her better works, and in this Danny's parents were most helpful. Danny's mother was on the local art council, and she quickly recognized that Charlie was in fact quite gifted. Danny's father gave Charlie's mother a full-time job at the bank, on the sole condition that she quit drinking and go to rehab, and later helped her get her real estate license so she could work for the realty company. Charlie had quickly learned that the apple didn't fall far from the tree, that some people with wealth and position are solid, decent people with values. 

Danny and Charlie talked for a long time about their future, and they mapped out a strategy for success. He would major in business, she would major in art, and after he graduated from college, they would find a way to both go to the large state university that had a reknowned architecture program. She would get a second degree in architectural design, and he would get a second degree in either engineering or architecture - they weren't sure yet which it would be. But their goal would be to open their own architechtural/construction company. 

But first things first. It was late in their sophomore year. They were both living in the dorms at the university, but they were constantly together. On Charlie's 20th birthday in February, they went out to dinner at a very nice restaurant to celebrate. Over cheesecake and coffee, Danny said he had something he wanted to give her. Out of his coat pocket, he produced a box, and inside was a ring. 

"Charlie, I..." he began, but one look at his bride-to-be, and he couldn't finish. Charlie was crying utter tears of joy. All he could get out was, "marry me," then he too was blubbering. It was an incongruous sight, this mountain of a man, this quintessential jock, with tears streaming down his face. All the fleeting feelings he may have had for the creamy debutante cunts at Millbrook High couldn't match the love he felt for this misfit, the ugly duckling who became a swan. 

The wedding was held at the Catholic church in Millbrook, and it was a fairly small affair. Charlie's mother helped as much as she could, but Charlie ended up paying for two-thirds of it. And here's confidence. She paid for it out of a savings account she'd started at Mr. Wilson's bank two weeks after she and Danny had started dating. She had known even then that she was going to marry Danny, and she wanted to be prepared. She had scrimped and saved, putting in $50 here, $100 there,and by the time they got married, she had over $9,500. Danny's father just shook his head in admiration when he learned about the account. Like Danny, his folks had fallen in love with Charlie from the start, completely looking past her roots on the poor side of town. Danny's father recognized character when he saw it, and he saw tons of it in Charlie. 

On the day before the wedding, at the rehearsal dinner, Tom Baraszki called Charlie over and asked to speak to her privately. He had something he wanted to say to Charlie before she married Danny. 

"Charlie, I am really happy for you, so don't take this the wrong way," he said. "But I really wish you'd taken the steps you took after you and Danny started dating while you were in high school. You might have saved yourself a lot of grief, and I might have had a chance. You know I always liked you." 

"Tom, dear, you will always have a place in my heart," she said sincerely. "You were a friend to me when no one else would be, and I love you for it. But, you know, you had your chance. All you had to do was pick up the phone and call, and I'd have jumped at the chance. You don't know how starved I was for an intimate friend, the way Danny's become. It could have been you." 

"I know, I know," Tom said ruefully. "But, you know, until that night in the park, I saw you more as friend and not girlfriend, and after that it was too late. I knew right from the start that you and Danny had something special. I could see it in the way you kissed. I wish it could have been me." 

At that moment, Charlie did something that if anyone had walked in on, it would have reinforced all of the negative stories about her. She pulled Tom close to her and gave him the same kind of kiss she'd given Danny two years earlier, close with lots of tongue. 

Then, when she pulled away, she pressed her index finger to his lips, and whispered to him. 

"Don't worry, Tom," she said. "You'll find someone, maybe sooner than you think. And you'll always be here (and she patted her chest over her heart)." 

There were still a few unbelievers from the Class of '84 who attended the wedding just to see if Danny really would marry Charlie. But anyone who saw the look in his eyes when she appeared at the back of the church in her snow-white gown knew that this was a young man hopelessly in love with the woman he was about to marry. 

After it was over, after the reception, after driving an hour and a half to a hotel near the airport where they would depart the next morning for their honeymoon in - where else? - the Virgin Islands, Danny and Charlie stood in front of the door to their room, a flock of butterflies fluttering through their stomachs. Danny opened the door, then whisked Charlie into his arms and carried her into the room. 

They took just enough time to bring their luggage into the room and close the door before they were on each other in a frenzy. They had waited so long, and now their time had come. Their mouths met in a fury of lips and tongues, and their hands were all over each other. Danny quickly got the zipper on Charlie's dress down and pulled her dress off while she frantically unbuttoned Danny's shirt. She ran her fingers through the blond fur that covered his chest, then bent down to lick and nibble on his nipples. 

Charlie's eyes were smoking as she ran her hands to his slacks, and she couldn't help herself as she squeezed and caressed his long fat cock through his pants. She wasn't altogether unaware of what her husband was packing, and the thought made her salivate. She may have been a virgin, but she wasn't naive. She had learned most of what she knew about sex from listening to her mother going at it with her boyfriends on the other side of the paper-thin walls at her house. And she and Danny had played around enough, without going all the way, to know a good bit about each other. 

Danny's cock ballooned in his pants as Charlie caressed him, and he rolled his eyes and gritted his teeth as she unbuttoned his pants off. His hands were massaging her butt as their mouths worked at each other furiously. Danny maneuvered Charlie back until she felt the bed with her legs. Reaching back, she blindly pulled the covers down, then let Danny lower her gently to the bed. Her chest was heaving with desire as Danny knelt on the bed in front of her. 

She looked up at him with a potent mixture of lust and apprehension as Danny slid his pants off, leaving his underwear to cover the huge bulge of his cock. Bending down, he ran his tongue from her ear, as he flipped her perky breasts out of the cups of her bra. He licked down her neck to her heaving tits, with the brown nipples rock hard. He gently squeezed her breasts, fingered her nipples, then bent his mouth to them and sucked them into his mouth. 

"Ummmmm, baby," she purred. "Please, don't make me wait." 

"Oh, but that's the fun of it," Danny said. "I want this to be special for you. I want you to remember this moment for the rest of your life." 

Ignoring her groan of frustration, he licked his way down Charlie's stomach to her abdomen. Reaching under her butt, he swiftly pulled her black satin panties off and tossed them across the room. He gazed in wonder at his prize, the puffy swollen outer lips, already slick with arousal, the throbbing clit that peeked from its hood, and the thick bush of dark, curly hair that framed her sex. As he looked down on his bride, she reached back and unhooked her bra and added it to the pile of clothes on the floor, leaving her naked to his wondering gaze. 

Danny lifted her legs and ran his tongue all the way down one leg, then bypassed her crotch before doing the same thing to her other leg. Charlie's fingers were lightliy stroking herself, and that inflamed Danny's passion even further. When his mouth reached her crotch, he gently moved her hand away, parted her lips with the fingers of both hands to open her up and blew lightly all over her super-hot pussy. 

"Ahhhhhh, God!" Charlie squealed as she felt the sensations beginning to mount, then she felt Danny's tongue swipe up her dripping slit, and she felt her arousal spike. "Oh Jesus! That feels soooooo gooooood!" 

Danny moved his face in closer and began to give Charlie's twitching cunt a thorough oral workout. He licked, kissed, sucked and nibbled all over her torrid flesh, and it wasn't any time before Charlie could feel a tremendous explosion brewing in her groin. She'd had self-induced orgasms before, and once or twice, she'd even let Danny finger her to completion. But this was different. Danny's lips and tongue were creating sensations she'd never thought possible, and she gripped his hair tightly with both hands as her orgasm began to crash over her. 

"Oh Daaaaaaaaaannnnnnnnny!" she wailed as she felt her climax crash like the waves on a rocky shore. She was more than ready now, and she was no longer shy about asking for what she wanted. 

"God, please, fuck me, Danny," she panted, her body still shaking. "Please, make me your woman. I want it." 

Danny got up on his knees and slid his jockeys off to reveal his long, fat dick, which glistened at the tip. Charlie's eyes widened as she looked down at the cock she was about to take, the one she'd dreamed about. But she still had a kernel of concern that she'd be able to take all of it. Up to that moment, the only other cock she'd seen was Dirk Bennett's, and Danny's was much, much bigger. 

"God, it's big," she exclaimed. "Take it real easy, please." 

"Don't worry, baby," Danny said. "I'll go slow, but I think you can handle it. That's why I wanted you to cum first, to get you relaxed and loose." 

With that, he got between her wide-open legs on his knees and put the head of his cock to her burning hole. He got just the head in before he encountered her natural barrier. 

"OK, baby, here it comes," he said. "This may hurt a little, so be ready." 

"Please, just fuck me, Danny," she panted. "Please. I'm ready for you." 

Danny pulled his cock back a fraction, then pushed forward hard and felt her hymen part as he plunged into Charlie's virgin depths. Charlie gave a loud shriek of pain that morphed into a groan of pleasure as she felt Danny's hard cock enter her juicy cunt. She wrapped her legs around his waist and drew him in until he bottomed out, just at the point where their pubic bushes merged. It was a perfect fit. Within the first seconds, he was churning his cock back and forth with a mad passion as he finally got what he'd been wanting for two years. 

Charlie was gasping, keening and moaning, her body a live wire as she slithered underneath her man, her lover, her husband. In some corner of her mind, she could feel some discomfort from the girth of Danny's cock and the popping of her cherry, but that was far overridden by the pleasure he was giving her, especially from the way his shaft brushed her pulsing clit with every in and out stroke. 

Their bodies were slick with sweat as they worked toward a huge climax, her head thrown back as waves of ecstacy washed through her. An incoherent babble escaped their lips as Danny's cock fucked Charlie harder and faster, until he bent down and covered her mouth with deep, roaring kisses, their mouths working furiously against each other. 

Danny was trying hard to hold back his orgasm as long as possible, but finally he could feel the overpowering ripple in his scrotum that told him he couldn't hold on any longer. 

"Ah, ah, ah, I'mmmmm c-c-c-cummmmmmming," he yelled. 

"Unh, yeah!" Charlie panted in response. "Oh bayyyyyyyy-beeeee! Fuuuuuck me!" 

Danny felt a white light burst in his head as cum exploded out the end of his cock in a rapid series of bursts. He basted his new wife's pussy with the long pent-up climax, grunting and groaning as he emptied himself. At the same moment, Charlie felt an electric sizzle from her cunt, up her spine to her brain as her own climax burst. They lay on the bed writhing together in wet, delicious agony as they spent themselves in and on each other, their mouths working together feverishly. 

At long last, with a satisfied sound of relief, they finally collapsed together in a sweaty tangle of arms and legs, their chests heaving. They lay together that way for several long seconds, then laughed together, the laugh of lovers who have just cemented their undying love. 

They talked in whispers about what they'd just experienced and how good life was going to be together. Through it all, Danny kept his semi-hard cock embedded in Charlie's tight canal, subtly sluicing his way in her wet depths. They kissed, licked and nibbled on each other as their lust began to reignite. Charlie squeezed her vaginal muscles the way the books had said, and Danny's cock began to swell in response. 

There was no real starting point, just a gradual increase in their motion, a gentle rising in their passion, as Danny's stiff rod began to work a little bit harder and Charlie's hips began to respond with a little more eagerness. 

"Oh, Danny, it's sooo goood!" she panted as they began to pick up steam. Danny just nodded and grunted in response, as he was concentrating on what he was doing. Charlie's cunt was just about the tightest thing he'd ever put his dick in, and he knew right then that this was well worth the wait. He'd known she'd be good, that she would be a great instinctive lover, and he thrilled as he looked down on his bride's compact body, with her perfectly-proportioned tits shaking on her chest. 

Danny kept a slow, steady pace as he drilled his dick back and forth in Charlie's twitching cunt. She could feel another tremendous climax building and she was ready. She wanted to experience everything with this man, and she had to fight the temptation to experience it all at once. She had her arms and legs wrapped tightly around him as they worked together in mutual lust. 

Seeking a change of pace, Danny pulled back onto his knees, and brought Charlie up with him, so that they were both in a sitting position. They kissed wantonly as their bodies moved together in short strokes, his cock buried to the hilt in her hot sheath. Charlie happened to look over Danny's shoulder, and she suddenly had an idea. She momentarily lifted herself off Danny's cock, and maneuvered him onto his back. 

"Now, it's my turn," Charlie whispered. Getting up on her knees, she reached back and held Danny's cock by the base, fit the head into her hole, then slowly, very slowly, slid her flaming pussy down his shaft. She impaled herself on her husband's hard, fleshy pole until she had every bit of him deep inside her, then she began to ride him in a slow sensual motion. She stared down at Danny, who stared back with a look that spoke of utter devotion. 

"God, you're a natural," Danny said through gritted teeth as he pushed his cock up to meet her downward plunges. He reached up and squeezed Charlie's tits, and she moaned as spasms of lust crackled through her body. 

"I just love you," Charlie answered. "I want to please you in every way. It's all for you, baby." 

Charlie's hips were beginning to find a harder rhythm as she felt her orgasm start to quicken. She could feel Danny's hips pushing upward with increasing intensity, signaling his own approaching explosion. Charlie looked up and saw her reflection on room's mirror. The rictus of lust on her face startled her, then she smiled, knowing it was stark pleasure that was causing her to look that way. It was a look she could get used to. 

Then she watched her eyes roll back as Danny thrust upward with an extra push, giving her a jolt of lust. Looking down at her husband, she put her hands flat on the bed, leaned down and started to work her pussy up and down on Danny's cock harder and faster. As the feelings swelled, she couldn't keep from squeezing her eyes shut as she rode him like a bucking horse. Gasps, moans and panting words of endearment filled the room as they hurtled toward the finish line. 

Charlie's hips were moving up and down frantically while Danny's hips were moving in tandem, their bodies slick with the sweat of their effort. 

This time, it was Charlie who got there first. From deep in her guts, she felt her orgasm rumble and it quickly rippled through her body as she squealed in passion. The contractions in her pussy proved too much for Danny, and with a roar, he erupted in a fountain of cum that bathed Charlie's cunt in hot cream and flowed out her hole and down over his balls. 

Danny and Charlie held each other as their climax played out, until finally she collapsed on his massive chest, utterly spent. Brushing a stray hair from his forehead, she kissed her husband once again, deeply and tenderly, the way she had on that awful night two years earlier when he had come to her rescue and changed her life. 

"I love you, Mr. Wilson," she whispered. 

"I love you, too, Mrs. Wilson," Danny answered. 

Mrs. Wilson. As Charlie drifted off into a peaceful, satisfied slumber, her last thought was how nice that sounded. 

Danny and Charlie went on to realize all of their dreams. By the time of their 20-year class reunion, they had become hugely successful with their own architectural/construction company in a growing Sun Belt city. They also had four children, two boys and twin girls. When she wasn't designing homes and buildings, Charlie was drawing and painting in a variety of media, and her works brought her recognition throughout their region. Danny, of course, stayed interested in athletics, coaching all of his kids in a variety of sports, primarily soccer. 

In addition to their jobs and their home life, they both became active in their community. Charlie, in particular, became an outspoken activist against harassment in schools. She frequently spoke at teacher's meetings and other civic organizations about her experiences at Millbrook High, and offering suggestions on how to keep other misfits from enduring what she'd had to endure. 

And when they returned to Millbrook for their reunion, they were the stars, this mismatched couple who found love and success in the unlikeliest of circumstances. 

Just goes to show you that love does conquer all.



Love Conquers All



J.K. has a photograph in his desk drawer at work. It looks like it could have been taken in the nineteenth century, with one of those huge wooden box cameras. In the picture, six men are maneuvering a casket down the front steps of a church. Passersby are caught in the act of turning to watch the progression; their bodies are slightly fuzzy with the suddenness of their movement. In the doorway of the church is a bereaved face. It looks as white and lifeless as wax, except for the eyes. The eyes are deep wells of rage and pain set above the hollowed cheeks. The eyes almost don't look human.

The photograph is three years old. The casket contains the body of J.K.'s wife. The face in the doorway is J.K.'s. It almost scares him to look at his face in the picture, but, though he's not sure why, sometimes he needs to.

He got married again three months ago. His wife's name is Denise Marie, but now when people tease her they call her D.M. From the beginning everyone considered it an unlikely friendship. For one thing, there are eight years between them. Everyone assumes it's more, because Denise seems younger than twenty-nine and J.K. looks older than thirty-seven. He knows Denise never would have married him if it weren't for the baby. There wouldn't be a baby if they hadn't had so much to drink New Year's Eve--he winces when he thinks about it.

"Well, I don't run away from my responsibilities," he said when she told him she was pregnant, and two weeks later they got married in the front of the church, where his first wife's funeral had been. Only J.K.'s sister guessed the truth, and she didn't say anything, but he saw the look in her eyes. It didn't change anything, though; his family loves Denise, and she loves them, just as she loves everybody.



J.K.'s phone rings, and he wades out of the stream of his thoughts and picks it up. He listens, blurts out a few questions, then grabs his coat and walks quickly to his car. He drives through the city with a feeling of unreality, and when he parks, and the hospital building looms in front of him, it's as though he is observing himself act out a drama. Denise is in the emergency room, in a little cubicle marked OB/GYN. She is resting on a stretcher, blankets tucked up under her chin. J.K. thinks how strange it is to see her so still. Always her face is animated, talking, laughing, smiling, but now it looks drawn and expressionless. As he walks toward her, she opens her eyes.

"I lost the baby, J.K.," she says, and it hurts to hear his name spoken in such a tight, anguished voice. He feels a crushing swell of guilt and misery. "I'm sorry," he says finally. The words sound illiterate and inadequate.

"It's not your fault," she answers. Slowly she extends her hand through the rail of the stretcher, seeking his. As he clasps it, a doctor strides in. The doctor tells them there will be minor surgery, and Denise will stay overnight in the hospital. There is no reason, he says, they can't try for children again. Denise presses her lips together and looks away.

J.K. waits in the operating room lounge for two hours, then walks with the orderlies as they wheel Denise to her room. She dozes and wakes fitfully, muttering long sentences he can't understand. At 8:30, visiting hours are over, and J.K. goes home. When he leaves the hospital, it is sleeting, and he feels the tiny ice pellets peppering his head. Before he gets in the car he dusts his hair with his hands, and a shower of sparkling crystals descends around him. He drives home slowly through the silent, shrouded streets, thinking that it's the sounds of Denise that have made his life feel different: her car radio thumping when she parks in front of their rowhouse, her laughter, the clinking of utensils when she makes dinner, her singing little pieces of songs as she works. Now the house seems too still. He can't stand being in the bedroom alone, so he goes down and lies, still dressed, on the couch.



In the morning he brings Denise home. Her eyes look tired, her face wan. She climbs into the car with an effort, and they sit silent as he drives. Overnight the sleet has stopped, and now the streets are merely wet. Up in the sky, the sun weaves through a lucent veil of clouds. J.K. doesn't know what to say, so he says nothing. He thinks about how his mother says that God never puts more of a burden on you than you can bear. Maybe in some strange way it was supposed to be, that he and Denise were sent to each other. They wouldn't have married if she hadn't gotten pregnant, but the two of them can bear burdens together a lot better than either one alone. He wonders what will happen now. He guesses she'll want to leave, and he thinks that life will be drab without her.

Denise turns and looks at J.K. in profile. He has a big nose, and his hair is gray at the temples. In her mind's eye she sees his wide, deep smile, the way his blue eyes twinkle when he laughs; those are the things she likes about him. Now there is something in the rigid way he's holding himself that makes her chest ache. She knows the question will have to be asked. "J.K.?" she says softly.

"Hmm?" He doesn't take his eyes off the road, maneuvering around a bakery truck.

She steels herself. "Are you going to divorce me, now that there's no baby?" she asks.

For a moment J.K.'s eyes flash over to hers, and suddenly the whole world seems to revolve in a tight circle around their blue color. His hands grip the wheel tighter. "Do you want a divorce?" he asks back.

They have been friends for almost two years. He only married her because of the baby, she knows that. They are a mismatch, she knows that too. But life can be hard, and she'd rather face it with J.K. than without him. "No," she says.

J.K. keeps driving for a moment. Then he says, "I don't either." They are at the stop sign at the end of their block, and he reaches over and squeezes her hand, interlocking his fingers with hers.



He walks her slowly up to the door of the rowhouse. Their across-the-street neighbors, two elderly sisters and a poodle, watch from a front window. J.K. knows that when the sisters find out what happened, they will come over with casseroles and offer to sit with Denise. They have been his neighbors for fifteen years, and Denise does their grocery shopping for them all the time.

He helps Denise upstairs and into the back bedroom, the quietest one, and puts her to bed, drawing the covers up close to her face. "Thanks, J.K.," she says tiredly, sinking back into the pillow. J.K. looks into her face for a moment. It makes him want to protect her, she looks so frail and grim. He leans down, and gently, so lightly he almost misses, kisses her cheek.

"Get some sleep," he says. "You'll feel better when you've had some sleep."

He closes the door behind him, but she can hear the steps creaking as he goes downstairs. She's chilly, and she feels empty and dull inside. She stares at the narrow strips of sunlight that wax and wane between the slats of the venetian blind, remembering the time she had a wart removed from her little finger. For weeks afterward, the finger was cold and numb, but eventually the feeling came back. She has lived enough to know the feeling will come back this time too. Through the thick walls of the rowhouse, she hears a plane flying overhead. Suddenly she has the sensation of having returned home from a long journey. She doesn't want to move, afraid she might dislodge the curious calm. So, with the imprint of J.K.'s kiss still tingling on her cheek, she closes her eyes and falls asleep.



Love Conquers All



Copyright 2012 by madengineer3

When I was under a year old my mother died. My father wasn't comfortable around infants and did not have the money for a nanny or such. He had an adoption agency find a good home for me. I was adopted by the Aziz family. My name became Sarai Aziz. They were of middle-Eastern origin and were Christians. Few people realize that one of the earliest denominations of Christianity was that of the Copts in Egypt and orthodox Churches in Turkey, Syria, and other nations of that area. 

I had red hair. Most people don't realize that red hair was not unheard of in King David's time.

Upon graduating college, as a mechanical engineer, I married a fellow student, Harry Jones. I had become Sarai Jones. 

The marriage was a bad mistake. He turned out to be possessive and violent. Our marriage ended in divorce and him being sentenced to twenty years in prison. Why twenty years? His last beating left my right arm all but useless, my face was not perfect after they set the facial bones, and my vision was badly impaired to the point I was considered legally blind. There were other less obvious damages as well. I had a decent body but could not drive a car or walk any significant distance. 

Since he did not have a lot of money I had to try to stretch my funds as far as possible.

I couldn't work as a mechanical engineer since my vision was so messed up. As such I tried to do several part time jobs to support myself. 

I ended up mainly tutored high school and college mathematics and physics. Those were two of my best subjects. I also, when a student was available, tutored subjects in mechanical engineering.

The income wasn't very good so I needed to find an inexpensive, but safe, room to rent.

My choice was to rent two rooms from a widower named Paul George. One was my sleeping quarters and the other was for tutoring. Paul was a good man but was also crippled. He had been in an industrial accident. The company he worked for had tried to save money and bought some equipment and tools from a supplier who got them from mainland China. One of the supports, for the scaffolding he was using, broke and he fell thirty some feet onto the concrete. He was lucky to be alive. His employer's insurance company paid out a very large lump sum and a monthly allowance to cover his medical and living costs. Money was not a problem for Paul.

Paul and I got along well. My rent was low because I could help him with some household chores that he was incapable of doing. (No, I wasn't sleeping with him.)

Things went along very nicely for a couple of years. During that time I never saw Paul go out on dates and he never had "women" come in to keep him company. 

One evening we were sitting in the living room and talking. He sat on the couch and I sat on a chair. He asked me why I wasn't dating anyone. By this time I trusted him enough to be honest. 

"Paul, my first husband beat me very badly. All my physical damage is as a result of that beating. I am afraid to risk going out with anyone. There are also injuries that you cannot see, and that I don't talk about, that also make me hesitant to be with a man."

"He must have been an idiot! You are a nice, and caring, person. What happened to him?"

"He still has over fifteen years of his sentence to serve. Since he is considered a violent offender, parole is not at all likely. Let me ask you a question as well. Why don't you have dates with women to ease your sexual frustration? After all, I am not blind and can see you watching me when I bend over or stretch to get something?"

There was a long moment of silence.

"Sarai, I will answer that only because I trust you. My accident, among other things, broke my pelvis in a couple of places. Unfortunately the damage included the destruction of the nerves that are required to achieve an erection. On top of that my groin area is scarred enough so that a vacuum device cannot be used to cause and erection. I am impotent."

"How do you keep your sanity? I mean, all men need a sexual outlet; right?"

"This is getting awfully difficult for me, but I will answer your question anyway. If I use a vibrator I can achieve a sort of orgasm. The penis doesn't get hard but at least the sensory nerves are still functional. I hope I haven't embarrassed you."

At this point I could see a few tears running down his face. He looked profoundly sad. I couldn't just sit there and watch so I got up and went over and sat next to him on the couch. I then leaned over and kissed his cheek and laid my head on his shoulder.

Moments later I could feel his fingers running through my hair. It was the closest contact I had encountered with a male since my divorce.

After several minutes I guess I sighed (in a happy way). This led to Paul using his other arm to hug me to his side. I snuggled up against him and all but purred. 

A long time passed and neither of us had spoken or tried to move. I broke the silence.

"Mmmmmmmm, this is wonderful. Thank you for being you! I couldn't trust anyone else like this."

"No, Sarai, thank you. I haven't felt this alive or this turned on since before my accident. I wish that this wasn't a one time thing."

"Who says it has to be a one time thing? Not, me!"

Paul grinned. 

"I'm hoping that this will become a somewhat regular event. The problem I will have is that you are probably going to hear a lot more noise from my vibrator. You have turned me on something fierce."

I eventually had to get up to use the bathroom. When I came out is was just about bedtime. 

In the days, then weeks, then months that followed there were few evenings that didn't end with us cuddling on the couch. I think we were both much happier people as a result.

It was during our Thanksgiving dinner that Paul popped the question. "Sarai, you know I am limited and cannot fully satisfy a woman. You also know that I am much older than you. Knowing that, would you be willing to marry me?"

I couldn't say yes fast enough. I got up, went to his chair and hugged his head to me. It happened to be right on top of my breasts. Paul let out a long sigh. 

He asked, "When do you want to get married?"

" How soon can we get married?"

"Why don't we get the license tomorrow and marry as soon as it can legally be done?"

"Sounds good to me darling. No, it sounds wonderful to me."

*************

We tied the knot and honeymooned on his big bed. We both saw each other's scars. I found that besides using the vibrator I could get him to orgasm with my mouth. Due to my difficulties he satisfied me with a dildo vibrator and oral stimulation. We were a happy couple. 

Christmas had arrived and we were cuddled together on the couch watching a small fire in the fireplace. We started to talk about the distant past.

"What happened to your first wife, Paul? You never talk about her."

"She died shortly after our daughter was born. I feel the pain and loss every time I think of her. I couldn't take care of the baby so I let an adoption agency find a good home for her."

"My story is sort of the mirror image of yours. I grew up in a wonderfully warm home. They told me that I was adopted as soon as I was old enough to understand what adoption was. I didn't look like the rest of their kids but I was loved just as much."

"Did you ever hear anything about your birth parents?"

"Yeah, it's sort of like your story. My birth mother had died and my father couldn't take care of me. Back then I became Sarai Aziz, it is my marriage that made me Sarai Jones."

Paul's face went white and his jaw dropped open. 

"Sarai, where did the Aziz family live?"

"Over in Smithtown. Why?"

"What was your birth date?"

"January seventh nineteen eighty one."

"Did you live near 143 Thomas Ave?

"Yes, that was the address. How did you know?"

Paul had tears in his eyes.

"What's wrong darling?"

"Sarai, you were that daughter I gave up. I still have the paperwork that shows who adopted you."

"Daughter or not, you are now my husband and lover. The fact that you are my father doesn't matter to me. What matters is that we love each other and are husband and wife."

I reached over and hugged my darling, Paul, and kissed him deeply.

*************

That was twenty years ago. We have been happily married and have moved into old age together, even if there is a twenty-two year difference in our ages. Lord willing, we will have several more years to enjoy each other.



Love Conquers All Pt. 01



Dear Readers,

The following story is in two parts, both of which have been submitted to the site. It's a simple tale of love with very little sex and a lot of weird names. I hope you enjoy reading as much as I did writing it. 

Subdued_Passion

*****

Nakushi looked at the giant statue that stood shining before her. It was such a monstrosity yet when the light hit its smooth surfaces it transformed into something else altogether and as always made her wonder about the legends shrouding it. 

Once upon a time, it was said, the barren mountain their temple was built on was a lush and fertile place. The people above lived in prosperity oblivious to the evil beings that lived beneath them. The legend spoke of a great battle which took place ages ago, they spoke of how the earth split open and the very contents of hell's bowels were tossed out- scorching the earth and leaving everything barren in its wake. Along with the brimstone was cast out a creature so hideous and evil that even hell had no place for him in it. However the good people of the land were spared the wicked tyranny of the beast as the gods in their gracious mercy turned the creature to rock before it came to its senses. 

The people of the land were bound in gratitude to their gods and showed it by building a temple in honour of the monumental event. The temple was build around the stone demon to ensure its evil nature be forever subdued by the divine presence surrounding it. And so it came to be that the inner sanctum of Jwala temple housed a demon beast. She laughed drily thinking of the village people who were too superstitious to realise that the temple had got its name from the volcanic eruption that had taken place there all those years ago; they would much rather believe in demons and hell fires than what was right before them. 

The afternoon sun streamed in through the opening in the dome of the ceiling and harshly bore down upon the statue. Yet when Nakushi reached out to touch the tartarean behemoth before her, she marvelled at how cool it felt and how much peace it brought her just to look up on its grisly form. She could relate to the statue. Her people were superstitious in nature and made up tales to explain things that they couldn't understand. It was exactly why she had run away from the place over three decades ago and never returned to her place of birth till that day.

*****

Nakushi had the misfortune of being born a bastard; her mother had even named her 'unwanted' so she could never forget her place in this world as an undesirable. The only memories she had of her mother were ones where her mother cursed her existence and refused to comfort her or treat her in the manner she had seen other mothers treat their children. By the time she was seven her mother had abandoned her altogether and disappeared from their village.

She still remembered those early days of despair where she had to depend on the charity of her neighbours to meet her basic needs. At first, he people were kind towards her but none of them could afford to feed an extra mouth, not in a place where crops regularly failed and people died from starvation. After some time the villagers decided it would be best to offer the 'bastard' to the Jwala Temple. 

Life at the temple was hard for a little girl and worse for a bastard who had no one to defend her and could only rely on the mercy of the temple priests. Nakushi's duties at the temple included cleaning and washing of the temple floors, helping prepare the meals, washing the clothes and making the garlands that would be placed upon the idols of the gods. In addition she was also required to run any errands the priests may ask of her. 

The priests of the temple practised celibacy, so they had no wives or children. Consequently Nakushi had no contact with anyone other than the priests or the local devotees who visited the temple. It wasn't long before she discovered that like her mother, no one wanted anything to do with an undesired little girl. They were not entirely unkind to the little girl. They just didn't know how to deal with her. She was the product of sin and needed to be shunned for the evil she symbolised but she was also a pretty little girl with large doe-like eyes that looked at you with so much warmth that it could melt a heart of stone. They couldn't treat her like any normal child and they didn't wish to hurt her so instead, they chose to be indifferent to her.

The little girl tried her best to do the duties demanded of her but her small built and delicate physique made it a constant struggle for her to keep up with her tasks. The only part of her day she enjoyed was in the afternoon when everyone else at the temple was busy taking a nap after their meal. Nakushi was expected to use the time to catch up on her cleaning duties. Taking advantage of being unsupervised, she would head to the inner sanctum. 

The innocent child was unafraid of the beast trapped in the rock though it loomed large within the holy of holies. She loved the way the rock would feel- cool and smooth under her little hands- as she wiped it till it shone like clear glass. Over time the ungodly being transformed into a dependable friend who silently listened to the little bastard girl pour her heart out. At times when she felt overcome with her loneliness she would wrap her small arms around one of its giant legs and weep to her heart's content. 

And so the months rolled by in routine monotony, the undesirable girl turned eight years old and no one knew it. But the little girl was happy- for once the day was not marked by the sounds of her mother's cursing her birth. She finished her chores in the afternoon and before leaving the inner sanctum she wished that she could escape her world to be in a place where she would not be resented for who she was. The demon's eyes were closed shut and its mouth drawn in a severe line, yet, she imagined it had blinked and smiled at her request.

*****

In the mornings Nakushi would walk through the sparse shrubbery surrounding the temple to collect flowers for the garlands, she would notice in the distance movement on the dirt road- something akin to a mighty beast racing to attack its prey, kicking up a dust storm along its way. She learnt later- after one of the priests explained- that the beast was a vehicle called a bus, passing through the outskirts of her village on its way to the big city. However, today was different; a different bus appeared to arrive and leave every couple of hours. The buses also didn't stick to the usual route- each one came up from the other side of the mountain and halted a short distance from the temple.

Nakushi stared wide eyed at the crowds pouring out of the buses and approaching the temple. She knew it was a special day, a feast day, a day to commemorate the great mercy shown to her village by the gods- the day a demon was turned to stone. The days leading up to the festival were spent toiling in preparation for the feast. 

The priests had told her about the crowds that made their annual pilgrimage to their temple to thank the gods and beg for their favour from the evils which currently plagued their lives. They told her about the devotees who chose to climb up the treacherous stones that served as stairs, all the way up the mountain to reach the temple as a way of proving their worth to the gods. They had also spoken about all the outsiders that came, some to watch, others to partake in the spectacle of the feast. Still, the young girl watched in awe as wave after wave of people poured in.

The solitary child grew excited to see all the different people headed to her temple. The kitchen was busier than it ever was trying to churn out enough food to feed the hungry pilgrims. Fortunately for her the best cooks from the village had arrived the previous night to prepare special treats for the visiting devotees, which meant that she was relieved of most of her usual duties. Since the priests were too busy to bother with her supervision she was free to wander about and observe the day's festivities. 

The crowds arrived at the temple with offerings in hand. They offered coin, fruits and flowers to the gods, and slaughtered their cattle within the inner sanctum- violent offerings to appease the bloodlust of the demon trapped within the dark stone. She looked at the blood and guts that lay defiling Raku- the name she had given her rakshasa friend- as well as the space he was housed in. She wondered in stomach turning disgust at the waste before her as she contemplated the actions of the people- the same people who turned away from her because of the illegitimacy of her birth. She looked at Raku's face which appeared calm and stoic as always. Thinking about it, she noted, the idols of the gods had seemed just as unaffected by the show of gratitude from the devotees.

Nakushi watched the tin beast, the bus she corrected herself, resting near a tree less than a kilometre from the temple. She wondered where it came from and where it would go. She wondered if she could travel in its belly just to see if the world was the same or any different from where she was. The curious little girl watched as some of the people headed to the bus and decided she would escape her world, if only for a little while and return later with the bus.

*****

The grown woman stood at the entrance of Jwala temple. It was no longer her temple. She gave up that claim when she escaped all those years ago. She had returned out of curiosity or maybe for closure. It was only when she saw the rakshasa did she realise that she had come for her old friend. She thought about the last 30 odd years of her life and how similar or worse her life could've been to the one she experienced in this temple and the village, if not for the kindness of the Vermas. 

The Vermas were an old childless couple that had found her huddled under the seat of the bus upon their arrival to the city. Instead of turning her to the authorities they had taken her home instead. It turned out that Nakushi's little brain had erased or suppressed certain painful memories that her tiny body bore evidence of. The elderly couple did not fail to notice the scars which shouted out the truth of the torture the child must've endured over the years. Reflecting on her past she recognized how her circumstances had changed by some random stroke of good luck. 

Her adopted parents were godless people and placed their faith in science and their understanding of human nature; this was a little hard for her to understand initially considering the place she came from. They were lecturers at the university who in their spare time travelled to study and document cases of superstitious practises that continued to thrive in modern times. They had ended up visiting her village for the Jwala Temple festival during one such excursion.

She was unable to stop the teardrop from rolling down her face as she thought about her adopted parents. Long gone now, they had helped her survive her past and provided her with the chance at a future. She had proven herself to possess a bright and eager mind, keen to learn and absorb knowledge. She was glad that in their lifetime they were able to witness her carry forth their work. She was currently busy working on a book tribute to her late parents- a record of their contribution towards bringing many small towns and villages out of the dark ages by demystifying their legends. 

And so it was that Nakushi found herself within the inner sanctum of the temple with her rakshasa once more.

*****

The obsidian shone brightly and appeared to almost smile in recognition. On her way in she noted that the temple looked unkempt and abandoned. No one greeted her or stopped her when she headed towards the inner sanctum to see her Raku once more. No, she corrected herself, not Raku, just a statue who served the purpose of a friend to a lonely desolate little girl. She wondered who polished the rock now for it to glow as it did. 

It was a strange sort of reunion, watching an old friend with the eyes of an adult woman. In the past she had meticulously polished every inch of this stone and yet there were things that caught her attention now that she had never spotted before; like the taut muscles that appeared to almost ripple on the demon's body or the proportionately large bulge in between the tree trunk like thighs of the beast. 

She blushed and looked away. Then she took a step back, shook herself and stepped forward again. This time she focused on just the face. The jaw was clenched and the eyes shut tight, yet, the face exuded serenity and warmth. This was her friend, the one who was there for her when no one else was. As she watched him, she sensed something fluttering in her mind, trying to break free- a memory! She closed her eyes and tried to relax so that the memory would come to her. 

*****

When Nakushi came to her senses everything felt odd. Her surroundings were the same and yet different at the same time. She felt small and her heart was pounding away loudly. She could tell she was afraid but not why just like she couldn't tell why she found herself creeping low in the shadows of the temple pillars. She watched as the priest ran around peeking in every dark corner; he was searching for something. No, not something, for someone, for her... He was searching for her. This was familiar, this had happened... a long time ago. She was confused, more so because she was once again the little girl of eight who lived in Jwala temple. 

Nakushi couldn't understand what was happening. She pinched herself wondering if this was a dream but she knew it wasn't a dream. This was a memory of something from her past. She recognized the evil man who was in hot pursuit of her. He was a new priest and he had taken an interest in the friendless child. At first he had seemed friendly enough but in a short while showed the true wickedness of his nature. As an innocent she had no way of knowing what she expected from her, but instinct warned her that she wasn't safe with him. 

The priest had taken to commanding the child to perform unreasonable tasks impossible for her to complete in the given time. She soon caught on that he needed the excuse to punish her. The other priests were convinced that the offender was in fact a pious man trying to purge the child of the evil that was a part of her as a result of her birth, so no one intervened on her behalf. The blisters were still fresh on her body from the last time he burnt her as a lesson. She took her punishments with as much fortitude as she could, but something about the way his eyes would light up when he hurt her terrified her. 

She was befuddled over how she had turned into that child again but she was aware of the imminent threat. She felt helpless as she was too little to defend herself from the brute and she couldn't call any of the priests to her aid as they had gone to the village to make arrangements for the upcoming temple festival. There was only one place that offered her safety and that is where she hid now. She knew it was just a piece of carved rock but the child trusted that her friend abided there and he would save her. 

"Got you, you little bitch!" The priest yelled as he grabbed a hold of her and dragged her away from the corner she was crouched in while attempting to hide from him. She now knew a trick or two that the child would not have thought of. She raised her knee and kicked the priest in the crotch with all the might her little body could muster. The man howled in pain and let go of her arms to grab his genitals instead as the girl ran to her friend. She flung her arms around one of its massive thighs and begged. 

"Raku please save me. Please, please, please..." She sobbed as she clung to him.

By then the priest recovered a little and laughed at her childish pleading. Her adult mind panicked as it was running out of options to get her to safety and yet as the child she stayed put certain in the belief that her friend wouldn't let any harm come to her. That's when things got really strange. 

Nakushi felt a rumbling like the ground beneath her was moving. She opened her eyes that were shut tight till now only to find herself staring into the amber coloured eyes of the stone giant leaning down towards her. There was something about the eyes which nagged at her brain but that soon passed. Her attention was locked in focus on the spectacle before her as immovable rock flexed rippling stone muscles. She found herself being gently picked up and set down just as gently safely behind it. She continued to watch in shock and awe as the moving rock approached the priest. 

The girl looked away when the creature grabbed the priest by his neck and raised him off the ground. She kept her eyes shut through the horrible crunching sound. She continued to keep her eyes shut even as she felt herself being picked up and carried away. She was too afraid to open her eyes and look at where she was going or what was happening. The child reminded itself that this was Raku her friend and protector and that she had nothing to fear. She felt herself grow dizzy and pass out once again that day.

*****

Nakushi came to and found herself within some kind of stone cave. She was lying on a bed which looked like it was carved out of stone. Some animal pelts lay tossed on the stone to make it a little comfortable. She got out bed intending to explore the little cave. The cave was a large room with some basic furniture, all of which was sculpted from rock. She looked around to find a door or a window but was unable to locate any opening. The room was lit by an eerie red glow. She wondered about its source for it appeared to be rising from the very floor of the cave. 

She decided to feel around the walls for the presence of any spring activated door locks. The child reached out and placed her hands on the wall of the cave to feel for any grooves or activation devices but no sooner did her hands make contact with the wall that she screeched in pain and drew them back- the stone was as hot as a furnace.

At that very moment out of nowhere there appeared an outline of a door on the wall furthest from her. She watched in stunned silence as that section of the wall disappeared to create a doorway and in walked her Raku. Once the stone demon entered the cave room the wall became whole again with no sign of the doorway which had allowed him entry a mere second ago.

"Are you okay?" The voice boomed within the soundproof room, but it didn't scare her, on the contrary she found it calmed her.

"Y-y-yes." she stuttered.

"I heard you scream and rushed over. I had expected you to rest a while longer."

"My hands... got burnt." She explained timidly.

"I know, little one. I took care of that evil man." He said and knelt beside her. He bent as low as he could before he spoke again, "I promise you he will never hurt you again."

It dawned upon her that the giant thought she was talking about the priest and the burns he had inflicted upon her body. With all the sensational things she had witnessed she had completely forgotten about that wicked man. 

"No," she shook her head, "my hands got burnt just now when I touched the walls." She held out her palms for him to see what she meant.

"Oh. I'm sorry. That's my fault," he explained, "I didn't expect you to be awake so soon."

"What is this place? ... How did we come here? ... What was that you just did with the door? Who are you?" 

Se rattled off only a few of the numerous questions running through her head. 

"Hush little one. I'll explain everything in time. For now you should rest." 

He gently carried her back to the bed and lay her down. He then shuffled about the room opening a cupboard and taking out some things. He returned with a bowl of liquid that dazzled a brilliant shade of blue. The demon dipped the littlest of his giant fingers in the bowl and applied the contents to the little girl's palms. At first the strange fluid stung her wounds but that was immediately followed by numbing relief. He proceeded to apply the salve to the rest of the blisters and burns on her body. She watched the blisters almost immediately disappear leaving only faint scars of her injuries. 




Love Conquers All Pt. 01



Nakushi noted how cautiously the beast handled her injuries; he appeared almost fearful of causing her any unintentional harm. She reached out for his giant stone face with her little hands and only managed to partially get a hold of his chin.

"Thank you for saving me Raku." She smiled at him and allowed her body to relax secure in the knowledge that she would be under his attentive care and drifted off to sleep.

*****

Once again she awoke in the strange cave-like room with everything made from stone. The eerie light was still the only source of illumination. This time though she didn't awake alone for sitting in a large chair beside the bed was her friend the demon. For some odd reason she didn't find him as gigantic as she usually did. She looked around the room; everything was in proportion to him and looked just as it did when she last saw him. He sat with his eyes closed so she guessed he was asleep. 

The little girl swung her legs to climb off the bed and was startled by how suddenly her feet made contact with the floor. Had the bed always been that low or had her legs grown? She looked at her hands and legs- they definitely looked bigger and that also went for the soft peaks that now topped her chest. She recognised the body as her teenage self. Somehow while she was sleeping she had gone through a growth spurt! 

The clothes that had loosely fit the little girl now clung immodestly to the teenager. She grabbed a few of the pelts that she had slept on and arranged them around her body to give herself a more modest appearance.

She approached the giant and loudly cleared her throat before she gently nudged him. The obsidian creature had been awake the whole time but did not wish to intrude on her privacy so he sat with his eyes closed. He didn't appear as nonplussed with her changes as she did. She straightened herself and raised a brow questioningly.

"Your body is catching up," he shrugged his shoulders as if to say he didn't know why. 

None of what had happened or was happening made any kind of sense to Nakushi. Was she trapped in a dream? Had her brain regressed to a traumatic event in her past and had suffered a shock that was making her delusional now? It was odd because she felt absolutely lucid and aware of herself and her surroundings even though scientifically she knew it didn't make any sense.

"You're struggling to make sense of it in human terms, but, you can't. Because this isn't your world and it goes against the rules you've been taught to believe about your world."

He saw that she was going to need more than just words.

"Instead of trying to understand and figure all of this out on your own, let me show you around, explain things to you."

She watched his amber eyes as they gazed upon her with kind understanding. Once again their familiarity nagged at her sub-conscious but her brain refused to make the connection. 

"Who are you?"

"You know who I am. You've heard the stories, and the legends."

"Bu-but how can that be true?"

He shrugged again, "It just is."

She contemplated over what he'd just told her. If what he spoke was true then that meant that they must be in...

"Is this hell?" 

"Not exactly. I can see why you thought so, but no, this is not hell. Maybe it'll be easier if I first told you a story- my story."

She began to make herself comfortable on the stone bed by sitting with her legs tucked under her as she prepared to listen to his story.

"Ok, but, will you please tell me your name first?" 

"I like Raku," he smiled at her. "I would rather be called that name because it is the only name I have been called in a long time with any affection."

She smiled back at him and agreed to his request.

"You're already familiar with the tales of how I came to be trapped in the temple. But that is the human side of the story. I will now tell you the truth of my origin and how I ended up where you found me.

"By human standards I would be regarded as an ancient creature, but, it is my father who is the ancient one. I am the fourth of seven sons. For many ages my rakshasa brothers and I ruled as princes in the underworld. When we banded together we were able to strike terror in the hearts of man, beast or any of the gods in heaven. We enjoyed nothing more than going around raiding, ransacking and generally wreaking havoc. 

"Of all the brothers I believe I was most feared as well as most easily recognized. My unyielding manner and cruel actions set me apart just as much as my dark skin and glowing amber eyes, quite unlike my handsome brothers who bore a stronger likeness to the gods. 

"Then arrived an age of great conflict and tumult in the underworld. My father, the ruler of hell, expressed his desire to choose an heir apparent to his throne. Our father's announcement led to a great deal of infighting amongst us brothers, each of whom wished to prove that he was the only one worthy enough to carry forth the legacy of hell. The younger brothers as well as the second realised after a point that they didn't stand a chance before the rest of us and simply picked to side with their favourite brother. Thus we were completely divided amongst ourselves.

"I knew that my father's favourite, his third son was certain to win just as I knew that if his choice were eliminated father would most certainly pick me to rule hell." 

"In my quest for the power to singlehandedly rule hell, I realised that I would need to do more than just eliminate the competition. I would need to become an immortal. I found a way to accomplish both with one move. I conspired and eventually succeeded in killing my brother."

Raku paused in his narrative. He wished to be honest with her about the kind of demon he once was but he also didn't wish to scare her. He felt it best to leave out certain details. So, he did not tell her of the deal he made or of how he managed to steal his brother's life force and become an immortal.

"Our Father was deeply affected by the death of his favourite son. When he learnt that I was responsible he condemned me and bound me to an earthly realm... forever to be feared and despised... never to know love... no chance for redemption."

"But, what about the gods?" 

"What about them?" 

"What was their involvement in all of this?"

He snickered, "Contrary to what humans like to believe the gods have never interfered in the matters of hell; it is a part of the peace pact between the two realms. All they did was watch as I was banished to earth and my flesh turned to stone as punishment for my crime of fratricide." 

He stopped again to watch for any signs of a change in her demeanour towards him. Perceiving no alterations he pushed on.

"I spend centuries trapped in that rock... watching the evil of man as they feared and loathed me... just as I was cursed to endure. I watched the cruelty of mankind towards their own and recognised why my father deemed me fit only for such a foul world.  

"The people were ignorant about my identity and my crime. They hated and feared me just because they deemed my form ugly and frightful. I was cursed and I was defiled with their disgusting offerings in the name of the gods. I resigned myself to my state of existence... but, that's when you came into my life, little one.

"You were the first and only friend I've known. The trust you placed in me and the love you had for me quite literally gave me life." 

He approached the bed, sat down on the floor and placed his large head against the bed. She moved a little closer to him, allowing him to rest his head in her lap instead, and stroked the side of his face. 

"When that evil man came for you this time, I sensed his intentions and I could no longer stand to remain helpless. I cried for mercy and begged that I be released just long enough to help you."

Nakushi bolted upright. 

"Does that mean you will be turned back to stone?" She worried for her friend; now that he was done helping her would he be forced back to his cursed existence?

"I don't know. I don't think my father realises as yet that I am free. But once I am found out, I know what I can expect." He added wryly, "The ruler of hell is not known for his compassionate nature." 

He watched her eyes cloud with worry. Gently taking her little hand in his, he reassured her, "Do not worry little one... instead, enjoy what time we have together before it is time for me to be imprisoned again."

The girl-woman couldn't stop her eyes from welling up. She was finally growing to accept that the dear friend she was sitting with was real and not just a fantasy conjured by her lonely younger self, only to discover that this experience was doomed to be short lived. She put her arms around his neck and hugged him.

Her giant gently stroked her back in an attempt to comfort his little friend. His feelings for this human were strange and new to him but he liked it. He had a warm fuzzy feeling within his chest whenever she hugged him and sought comfort from him. He felt protective about his little human and wished he could figure out a way to always be around her taking care of her. 

"So, what is this place, Raku?"

"I believe the humans refer to this place as limbo." He thought it would easier for her follow if he explained things in terms of human understanding of his world. "It isn't technically hell, although it is located in a section of hell. Prisoners are left here stuck in time while awaiting judgement." 

"What do mean 'stuck in time'? I was a child when I arrived and I'm a teenager now!" She passed her hands over her body to draw attention to the changes in her.

"I said stuck in time because while we wait here nothing changes in heaven, hell or earth. If you were supernatural, you wouldn't age. But because you're a human the rules are different for you."

"So when I do return to earth and my home no time would have passed from the last moment I left it?"

"Correct."

"Will I grow old and die here if I wait too long?" 

He had dreaded this question, but expected it after all she was a smart girl. 

"I'm not sure... Time does not work the same way in limbo like it does everywhere else."

He hoped to find all the answers soon enough. As one of the princes of hell he had already possessed the ability to pass through the different realms- heaven, hell, earth and even limbo which one usually couldn't leave till it time for their judgement. He intended to contact some of the older demons who would most likely be able to answer his questions as well as offer him a solution for his predicament. 

"Can we move about or must we stay in this room?"

"People in limbo cannot leave till judgement is made. However I am not a person. So I can leave. And you are not awaiting judgement here so you may also leave..."

Something about the way he trailed off told her that there was more to the matter of her movement. She used both hands to cup his chin.

"What are you not telling me?"

"You can leave, but, this is hell and you are a human who isn't condemned to be here. I brought you with me, but staying here is your choice..."

"And I am happy to stay here with you, Raku." She interrupted him.

"And I'm equally pleased to have you with me, little one. But, you need to understand that as you are you would be greatly desired in hell. When they learn of your existence in hell, many demons will want to hunt you down. Some will want to devour you as a tasty morsel; others will keep you as their plaything till they grow tired of you."

"But I have you to protect me, right?" She looked at him with bright eyed confidence. 

"Of course little one! I just need you to understand the perils that face you here."

"I am not afraid." She said with her chin held high.

"No, you've always been brave. I watched you and admired your spirit. I am glad that you never let anyone break your spirit."

She looked at the wounds on her body already beginning to look like old scars. The salve he had applied had worked wonderfully it appeared. By now her body was beginning to grow stiff from a lack of movement so she got off the bed to move around.

"What is the source of this light? It appears to come from below." She asked him. She wished to have a better understanding of his world. 

"Everything in our world is illuminated by the fires of hell. You will find this glow throughout, day or night- another reason why time becomes difficult to track."

"Why did my hands burn when I touched the walls?" 

"Well, that's just a way of making sure that the ones who find themselves here remain stuck in limbo till it is time for their sentencing."

She saw a bowl on the table with pomegranates, something struck her as odd and she furrowed her brow in thought. 

"What is it?"

"Um... I was just wondering. I don't know how long I've been here, but it's weird that in all this time I haven't felt hungry or thirsty yet."

"And you're not going to. This is another one of those peculiar things about this place. You will not feel hungry or thirsty because you do not belong to this realm. However, without any sustenance over time your body will wither..."

"But I see there's food here," she interrupted thinking he was done, "I can get nourishment from this." She reached for the fruit in the bowl and barely picked it before the demon swiftly snatched it from her hands.

"You CANNOT eat the food here." His voice thundered.

He noticed that he had frightened her so he calmed his tone before speaking again. 

"Little one, I was getting around to telling you that you must not eat the food here if you ever wish to return to earth. Eat anything from this world and you will be bound to it for the rest of your life."

She seemed less afraid after his explanation, although still a little shaken up.

"I am sorry for shouting at you like that. I'm on borrowed time and I know what is to become of me once my father hears of my escape... I fear for you when I think of what could happen, should you ever find yourself stuck in hell with no one to protect you."

"I understand." she nodded, "So, what am I to eat if I am not to perish from starvation?"

"I managed to grab some nuts and berries from the temple before I brought you here. They should suffice for the short time we have. Or I could take you back before you run out..."

She placed her hands on his mouth to hush him.

"No Raku. I will not be separated from you." she stated defiantly, "Not if it can be helped."

He kissed the hand pressed against her mouth and nodded his acquiescence. 

"It pleases me so much, little one, to know that you want to be with me just as I with you."

The odd pair walked about the room as Nakushi went on to narrate the life she had lived away from the temple. He laughed when she told him that she questioned her sanity for believing that any of the things taking place were real. Every time she looked into her rakshasa's eyes she knew that even if the rest was a fantasy, he was real. 

She was enjoying her talk with him so much that she didn't realise how tired she was till he asked her if she needed to rest. Nodding she moved to lie down on the stone bed.

"Will you hold me?" 

The bed was large enough to accommodate him as well so carefully he climbed into bed beside her and held her as gently as he could with his giant arms while she drifted off to sleep. As an immortal he didn't need sleep or rest but it felt good to hold his little human against him.

Not so little anymore. He sighed and told himself. It was something he was trying very hard not to pay attention to. 

*****

This time when the human awoke there was no way to overlook the changes her body had undergone while she was asleep. The erratic sound of the demon's breathing told her that he too was aware of the changes in her. She was acutely aware of her near naked condition, especially with him lying next to her with his erection pressed against her buttocks. They were in exactly the same position as when she fell asleep so knew he wasn't doing it deliberately. 

The creature had watched the changes in her body while she was asleep. Her bosom swelled and the clothing she had on, already strained after her first growth spurt, burst at the seams, so that the sides of her breasts lay exposed. He closed his eyes to resist the urge to watch her. He felt her hips spread wider and her buttocks grow so that now their softness pushed into him, making him grow harder in the process. 

He was struggling to maintain his composure around his little human and it didn't help that he could smell her scent of arousal as she wriggled against his erection. He closed his eyes tighter still and took a deep breath only to draw in more of her arousal. In his past life he would have thoughtlessly ravished her and taken his pleasure instead of tormenting himself like he was. But he couldn't hurt her; she was his little human, his friend. No, he thought, he would never betray her trust in him.

The human felt her flesh get scorched by the heat arising from the demon. She knew she needed to get out of the bed before things became more awkward between them. 

"Erm... Raku?"

"Yes, little one." He struggled to keep the lust out of his voice.

"I need to get up but I need clothes first." She spoke shyly.

He didn't want to move from the convenient position of having his phallus nestled against her lush bottom but rolled away, got out of the bed and returned almost immediately with a section of linen.

"No one wears clothes here." He explained as he handed her the cloth. 

She couldn't help but stare. Had he always been naked? It couldn't be, she thought, she would've noticed. It was hard not to. And yet the innocence of her childhood version had prevented her from paying any attention to the demon's nudity before. The demon watched his human admire his member; it made him desire her even more. But he was determined not to ruin their relationship with his beastly lust.

Nakushi meekly took the fabric and draped it around her hips like a skirt and used one of the animal skins as a belt to secure it in place. She combined two more pelts and wrapped it around her chest, leaving her mid-riff arms and neck bare. It felt immodest but t was better than being completely naked, she thought. 

The demon on the other hand found himself in a greater state of arousal as he watched the tiny woman clad in a way that teased an onlooker to imagine what treasures lay hidden beneath. Her perky nipples pushing against the material were begging to be released and played with. He shook his head to shake the impure thoughts out.

"You should probably eat some of the nuts I brought back from earth. We've been here a while now and," his voice sounded almost choked,"you've grown a great deal." 

He sat with her at the table while she feasted on a light meal of a couple of nuts. 

"Aren't you going to eat, Raku?" She asked when she saw him just sitting and observing her.

"I don't feel hunger." He said out loud while thinking of his growing hunger for her. He wondered how sweet her nectar must taste- the aroma of her arousal promised a sweet taste.

"Arrghhh." He groaned aloud.

"Are you ok?" she asked innocently, unaware of the conflict raging within her demon.

He couldn't tell her about the thoughts going through his head. He needed to distract himself. Maybe, this was as good a time as any to go seek one of the elders about his future.

"Yes. I probably just need to move about a bit... There is something that I must attend to; will you be okay to stay here by yourself for some time?"

She didn't like the idea of being alone in this strange place. "Can't I come with you? I wouldn't know what to do here by myself."

He was afraid of the attention his human would draw if he took her with him but he also feared that she would grow weary of him if he kept her like a prisoner in limbo.




Love Conquers All Pt. 01



"Sure you can. But we'll need to take a few precautions so no demons catch a whiff of your scent."

"Yes, of course, whatever you say."

"You'll also need to stay close to me at all times. Don't look directly at any of the creatures we may go past- you have a curious mind so you'll want to look but you must not attract any attention to yourself. Understood?"

She bobbed her head enthusiastically.

"If it happens that anyone does end up talking to you, do not look into their eyes. The creatures here have the ability to put you under their spell just by looking into your eyes."

"But I look into your eyes all the time."

"That's different." 

"How?" 

"Because, I'm already under your spell." He watched in delight his little human's cheeks turn pink.

"So how will we mask my scent?" She asked, changing the tone of the discussion once more.

"I'll give you a clay mixture to coat yourself; it'll suffice to suppress your scent."

He opened the sole cupboard in the room and took out a pot. Then he used his talon like nails to scrape the ground and added the scrapings to the contents of the pot. He handed Nakushi the mixture.

"Here, cover yourself with this."

She took the pot and began to generously apply the mixture. 

"You need to undress, little one, remember no one covers themselves in this world."

"Ah, yes. Okay."

She waited for him to turn away though it didn't seem likely to happen. 

"You'll need to turn so I have some privacy."

"Yes, of course."

He didn't get it. To him she appeared more tempting wearing the scraps that she did. Naked bodies were a common enough sight for him. He had yet to understand the human sense of modesty. He had seen it in many of the people who arrived in hell. He and his demon brothers would take delight in prodding the humans in their bare backsides while they cowered in their shame. 

"Okay I'm done now. You may turn... So, how do I look?" she asked spinning around slowly.

Even fully grown she was still smaller than any of the demons, yet what she lacked in height she made up for in curves. Her hips were wide and well rounded. Her shapely thighs were pressed together, but failed to conceal the bush at its apex- he wondered what it would feel like. Her waist was small, disproportionately so; it made his fingers itch to grab her hips. Her full breasts sagged a little from their weight. And her nipples, though their colour was camouflaged by the clay, sat proudly high on top of her breasts; he liked that they puckered up under his scrutiny. 

Nakushi was very aware of her body and the changes it had recently undergone. She didn't remember her body being of such sinful proportions before, but then again, she reminded herself, she had always been too focused on her work and her research to ever notice herself as she did now under the open inspection of her rakshasa.

"If not for your stature, you could easily pass off for a dakini. Come now, let's leave and remember: don't stare at anyone and don't look anyone in the eye."

"Okay."

He grabbed her by the waist and held her close to him before proceeding to draw the outline of a door on one of the walls using his fingernails. He placed him palm against the door and Nakushi watched in amazement as that portion of the wall glowed a bright red before vanishing all together. 

"B-but how?" she asked.

"I cannot explain it in human terms, simply put, as a creature of this realm there is a certain degree of control I wield over my environment."

He stepped out of the cave room and moved so rapidly that everything around her was a blur of red and black. She was dizzy when he finally halted and settled her down.

"Stay hidden behind me at all times and if you're spoken to keep your eyes cast down and refer to me as your master."

Nakushi tried to take in their surroundings even as she stayed close to her demon. They appeared to be at the edge of a river of fire. For as far as she could see there was nothing apart from the river and the solitary hut that they standing before. She turned her head to check what was behind them but was disappointed to see nothing but ash clouds dominating the landscape. She wondered how she'd managed to breathe while passing through them.

She turned her attention to the hut. It looked like most huts, except the material appeared to be a little unusual. Curiously she reached out to touch the material only to withdraw her hand with a start- the hut was made from bones and skin. 

"Manjhi?" 

Raku called out to the inhabitant of the macabre hut. After a few moments of still quiet, a frail looking old man walked out slowly. His body appeared emaciated and the bones beneath were rather pronounced. He looked almost human with the exception of his greyish skin tone that made him look like a corporeal manifestation of the ash clouds. 

"So, the prodigal returns." The manjhi said in a dull tone. 

"Only temporarily... but yes, I have returned."

"And do you come to stake your claim?" 

"No. I'm sure I lost that right."

Nakushi noted the regret in Raku's voice.

"So, why do you seek me?"

"I had some questions that I hoped you could answer."

"Surely the council members would serve you better, oh Prince, than a mere boatman."

"You know I would not be welcome there and I would rather keep the subject of my inquiries private."

"Does this in some way relate to the human that hides behind you?"

Nakushi squeaked in shock at being discovered. 

"No need to panic human. Your disguise is good but I picked up on your racing heartbeat. We have a much slower pulse and the humans who usually come through here don't have any."

The demon had forgotten about the boatman's keen sense of hearing. Fortunately, no one else would be able to do the same, not unless they had their ear pressed against her chest, and the demon had no intention of ever letting any of the vile creatures of hell get that close to his precious human.

"You know, the council will not be pleased if they hear of this."

"This is why I chose to come to you, manjhi. I am in need of your discretion as well as your counsel."

Without getting into the specifics the demon prince narrated some of the key events that had taken place. He began with the priest's attempt to rape the little human which led to his escape from his curse and ended with his concerns over the rapid changes the human was experiencing as well as some other questions he was unable to answer. 

Though the demon was careful about the details h provided, the wise old manjhi was able to glean how much the prince cared for the human. The manjhi saw that both the woman as well as the beast had changed as a result of their relationship. In their world these types of changes were only caused by the unnatural emotion, love.

"I don't know how I was freed of my curse, but I know that it's only a matter of time before the others learn of it and I am imprisoned again. I brought the human here with me but she's been aging rapidly and I worry that she will perish before she returns home to earth."

"This is a strange case indeed. But..." he paused as if lost in recollection, "based on what I've seen in all the ages, while time may act differently to the living beings that find themselves here, if they return back to their world they return right back to the point in time where they left it."

"Does that mean that even if she turns into an old lady here when she returns to earth she will still be the same age as when she left?"

"Yes, I believe so, just as long as she doesn't die here," said the boatman. He then leaned in and continued in a whisper so only the demon prince could hear him. 

The prince swallowed the lump in his throat, "Yes, I understand what you're saying." 

The manjhi returned to his normal tone, "You know you could challenge your father and the council. There are many who believe that the ruthlessness you showed was just what is needed in their successor."

The human's ears perked at that statement. She couldn't imagine her Raku as someone ruthless enough to inspire rebellious factions in hell.

"No." The prince declared firmly. "During my imprisonment I understood the nature of my crime and why even in hell... it must be abhorred." 

He lowered his voice so only the manjhi could hear, "I only wish that there was some way for me to watch over the human and not be parted from her."

The manjhi nodded in understanding.

"Go spend what time you have with your human. I will consult with a few of the elders and see if there is some way for you to avoid being exiled to your prison on earth again."

The demon bid the boatman farewell and grabbed his human before swiftly transporting them back to the stone cave in limbo.

Nakushi was left exhausted from the journey. She wondered how long they were gone or how far they had travelled for her to feel as tired as she did.

"You should eat some of the berries- you look worn out."

She looked at her body covered in clay and wondered what her face must look like. 

"I need a bath more than anything else." She had yet to see any water since her arrival and wondered if a bath was even a possibility in limbo.

"There's only one way for you to get clean...," he hesitated, "but I'm not sure how you would feel about it."

"What is it?" she inquired.

"I'll have to lick you clean." 

The woman shivered at the thought of having her demon run his long tongue over every part of her. The demon himself was struggling to contain his excitement. 

"But it's disgusting... and won't it make you sick?"

The demon laughed loudly.

"Little one you forget that I am immortal, I can't be sick." Noting her reluctance, he asked, "Do you trust me?" 

"Yes," she replied meekly.

"Then allow me to clean you."

"Okay."

The demon gently scrapped and rubbed off the larger pieces of clay that were stuck to his human's body and hair. Beginning with her hands and feet he gently lapped away at her skin to wipe it clean. 

At first, the long thick tongue lapping away at her felt ticklish but gradually she grew warm and breathless as her demon began to work his way around her belly. Lost in the sensations she was moaning and swaying as the coarse tongue gently rubbed against her smooth skin. By the time his tongue was working down her spine she was ready to pass out.

The beast was himself struggling against his desire to ravish the puny human as he heard her moans and smelled her arousal. He licked his lips in anticipation of the moment when he would lick her between her thighs. She was innocent and didn't understand that her body was twisting towards his mouth to hasten towards that moment. He knew he was seducing her, but the sounds she was making confirmed that she was enjoying herself at least as much as he was.

He stood up and faced her. Holding her head gently in his hand he began licking one side of her face and then the next. He cleaned her forehead and her nose but left her lips untouched on purpose. He knelt down at her feet so that his head was in line with her chest. With slow languid strokes he wiped the underside of her breasts, feeling their weight with his tongue as he did so. He licked away at her breasts in slow lazy circles as he moved closer to her nipples. He watched her face to see if there was any sign of hesitation or discomfort, instead he found his human with her eyes shut lost in her bliss.

The rakshasa slowly wrapped his lips around her puckered nipples- allowing his fang like teeth to simultaneously graze against her tender flesh. His little human who was only passively enjoying his ministrations till now, grabbed the horn like bumps on his head and pressed his head to her. Pleased that she was eager for what he was offering he gently sucked on her nipple. So sweet was she to him that he was oblivious to the taste of the clay. 

The woman's innocent body had known no man and was unprepared for the demon's ministrations. She rubbed her body against his in need unaware of what it was she needed. But the carnal being in front of her knew. He reached down and rubbed his long and knotted fingers against the opening of her woman's flower. He held his fingers still against her as she continued to rock her body against his. Slowly he let his fingers slip into her slick folds to rub the little pearl he knew to be hidden there in human women. She was so wet that he could wait no more to taste her.

He let go of her nipple, which drew a moan of disappointment from her, and lowered his mouth the joint of her thighs. Beginning on the outside he slowly moved closer to his prize making her body hum once again in no time. 

His long tongue stroked her folds and tried to gather as much of her sweet nectar as he could. She was panting hard making her breasts jiggle with the heaving motion. He made a note of every response to make sure she was relaxed completely before he slid one of his fingers inside her. 

The human screamed at the burning sensation of her maidenhead being ripped by the demon's clawed finger. He didn't mean to hurt her; it was just one of the disadvantages virgins women suffered from. He promptly withdrew his finger and replaced it with his long tongue. He eased his tongue deep inside her to soothe the pain she felt. Soon enough the sensation of his grainy tongue thrusting in and out of her had her cooing again and eager for their strange acts to continue. 

Nakushi wondered why she felt comfortable performing such acts with an immortal demon that she never dared with any mortal man. Had she always loved Raku as something more than a friend? She couldn't say at what time in her life she started to feel this way, but she was certain she loved him and she could never love anyone the way she did him.

The rakshasa felt his human's body tense up and knew she was ready for her release. He held her by the hips so he could support her as he continued to work his tongue in and out of her. The human couldn't understand what was happening to her but she felt her insides convulse and this great wave of pleasure wash over her that made her weak in the knees; fortunately her demon had a firm hold of her.

He pulled his mouth away from her only once he had supped on every drop of the nectar that had rushed out of her. He looked at her as she finally returned to her senses and opened her eyes. She watched his face smeared in his juices and the familiar amber eyes that appeared to glow with swirling embers like a flame. She smiled at him feeling extremely content in the moment. He stood up and stooped so his face was in line with hers.

"Little one there is a practice that I have watched humans engage in that I've always been curious about but never felt like I had the right partner to try it with because of how weird it is."

She scrunched her forehead, wondering what kind of carnal act was too weird for the inhabitants of hell.

"May I try it with you?"

She grew nervous as her innocent mind tried to conjure images of what it was he could possibly desire. But the nervousness soon passed as she reminded herself that Raku would never hurt her and that she would be willing to try anything with him. 

Gulping visibly she nodded and closed her eyes. The demon gently raised her chin and cupped her face with his large and hideous hands before he ever so gently kissed her.

His kiss started slow as he explored her lips with his tongue. He never understood before why humans appeared to derive so much pleasure from sucking on another's face. It was certainly something considered odd and practiced by only a few deviants in hell. His tongue gently probed his human's mouth to discover she tasted just as sweet at this end as she did the other. As he explored her mouth her tongue began its own journey into his and he hissed in pleasure as he felt it roll against his long sharp teeth. 

As their kiss grew so did their need for each other. He pulled her close to him- it felt like he couldn't have her close enough. Grabbing her by the waist he picked her up, their mouths never partings, and moved to the stone bed. He sat down with his human on top of him straddling his thighs as they continued with their kiss. It was hard to discern who was devouring whom. 

Nakushi rubbed her body against her beast. She felt she would be consumed by the heat burning up inside her if he didn't soon provide some kind of relief. 

"Please Raku," she broke their kiss to beg of him, "Please help me."

Innocent as she was she didn't know what it was she was asking of him. Her rakshasa wanted nothing more than to ravish his sweet little human, but he was afraid that he was too large and would end up hurting her. He admonished himself for selfishly pushing her this far and resolved to rein in his desires and put a stop to it. 

"Hush, little one." He said as he tried to calm her by stroking her back.

"Raku. Please," she implored, "I need you."

He gritted his teeth and hoped he could stick to his resolve. "My darling I'm afraid I would hurt you." 

"You could never hurt me Raku, NEVER. I trust you. Please." She pleaded.

When he wouldn't make a move she reached below and tried to wrap her dainty fingers around his pulsing member- it felt as hot and hard and the walls of the cave.

"Please little one. You must try to calm down. You're making it very hard for me to restrain myself." 

"I don't want you to restrain yourself Raku; I want you to make me yours. I want to be with you, I love you."

He found he could no longer deny her. Her admission of her love and desire for him confirmed that this wasn't just a weak human giving in to seduction; this was a woman who was giving herself in union with somebody she loved and cared about. 

He held her by the waist careful not to let his sharp fingernails dig into her flesh, and raised her with one hand while positioning for entry with the other. He held his breath and gradually lowered her onto his rigid shaft. He gritted his teeth and prayed he wouldn't accidentally hurt her; she was quite wet but he was no man and even amongst demons he was considered to be well endowed. 

The demon's face scrunched up in tension. Nakushi saw and peppered his face with little kisses letting him know she was okay. He was huge and she could feel herself being stretched but it didn't hurt. She was thankful he was going as slow as he was because it gave her virgin passage time to adjust to the invasion.

The vagina can stretch to even fit a baby's head. She reminded herself letting her body relax further.

Finally, after what felt like centuries, the demon was deep within as his human's little body would allow. More than half the length of his shaft still remained unsheathed but he couldn't press further any without running the risk of impaling her to death. He felt conflicted between his desire to unleash the beast within him and take his human and his need to protect her and pleasure her. Gingerly he held on to her hips and moved her over his tumescence resisting his urge to thrust into her. 

She was panting and cooing and assuring him that it felt good and that he wasn't hurting her. But, he still remained tense. He watched how she tossed her head back and took her pleasure from him. She was so beautiful to behold. He felt proud looking at this frail looking creature who had continued to impress him by showing how strong she was. She opened her eyes, saw him watching her and smiled. They continued to consummate their love in this manner. So, this is what it means to be loved, thought the demon. He knew in that moment that it was the strength of her love which had freed him from his curse. 

The rakshasa lost count of the number of times he felt his human's body convulse and climax. But he didn't stop. The pleasure of watching her wantonly ride him to as she gave in to her desires brought him more pleasure than any he had found in release before. When at last it looked like her body was too worn out to continue he pulled her close and kissed her again. Lost in the kiss he was finally able to find his own release. The demon wondered if all humans experienced the bliss he did as his seed rushed out of him and into the womb of the woman he loved.




Love Conquers All Pt. 02







Love Conquers All Pt. 02



She held her child against her bosom and as the baby roused from its sleep, she offered the baby one of her nipples. But the baby refused to latch on. Nakushi rocked the infant gently and squeezed her nipple to squirt some of the milk on the baby's mouth. She tried offering the baby her nipple once more but to no avail.

"Maybe that baby is less than half human." The dai's tone was biting. She turned to the prince, "May I?" 

She was requesting permission to approach the mother and baby. Wisely so, considering how the immortal demon loomed protectively over the two- any sudden moves would be perceived as a threat.

The dai knelt before the human and before anyone could react with a flick of her fingernail she nicked the woman's breast along one of the milk ducts. The wound wasn't very deep and stung a little but there was a small trickle of blood flowing from it. The baby's nostrils visibly flared and it eagerly tried to reach for the source. Soon, the baby was sucking on the wound drawing both milk and blood.

"There, now everyone's happy." The dai said sounding pleased with herself.

"We thank you for your services crone. Ask what you will as your payment." The demon offered generously.

The crone had already decided what she would take from there.

"May I have the sac and the waste that lies there?" She knew the magical properties likely to be present in the sac of a baby as rare as the yellow creature with feathers she had just helped deliver.

He nodded and the human watched in disgust as the crone immediately fell to the ground and devoured the birthing sludge off the floor. 

The dai took her leave as soon as she was done eating the delicious sac. She could taste the baby's powers and feel them course through her veins, if only for a short while. She predicted that the child who was the source of the powers would one day be a real force in hell.

*****

The rakshasa was overjoyed to be holding his precious family though he had not forgotten about the sword hanging over his neck. He was aware that in that very moment the council was most likely alerting his father of the unaccounted new soul in hell. Demon births were rare and female ones rarer still- the keeper of the books would've immediately noted the anomaly and notified the council. He needed to prepare for the battle that was coming to him. He wondered if the manjhi had made any progress with his inquiries as he had yet to hear from him. 

The human was tired from the exertions of birth and the baby appeared to be contentedly resting. The demon carried both to the stone bed, lay them down and sat beside them keeping watch. He wished he could do more than just wait. His thoughts were interrupted by his daughter's wail. She was awake and unmistakably hungry. He did not wish to disturb his little human who looked exhausted. He reminded himself that she had not eaten anything in a while and would need to do so first thing when she woke up. Meanwhile he needed to attend to his daughter's needs. 

The demon picked his daughter up and held her close. She clawed at his chest expressing her hunger. The demon bit the tip of his index finger and offered it to his daughter to suckle. The hungry demon-child enthusiastically fed on her father's immortal blood. She looked like she had grown a little, a normal thing for demons as they reached maturity in comparatively shorter periods of time. The feathers felt soft and were a spotless shade of white. He knew they would eventually grow into wings. The few demons in hell possessed wings were amongst the first inhabitants of hell. And each and every one of them had beautiful pitch black feathers. His father was one such demon.

"Skeeeeeeerrrrrrrackt"

The horrid screech was heard all the way inside the cave in limbo. The demon recognized it as the sound of the manjhi's pet, a giant bird of death; he was finally being summoned. He didn't wish to leave his dear ones unprotected but at the same time he couldn't risk taking them with him. And not going was not an option; he desperately needed to find out what the manjhi had learnt. He weighed his options and decided to leave. He was certain of his daughter's safety but worried about her mother. 

"My precious one, I must go, but I need you to keep a watch on your mother for me. Don't let them separate you." 

He placed his daughter on his human and took off to meet with the manjhi.

*****

The demon followed the big bird of death to a place beyond the Skull Mountains. Usually the still beauty of the pristine white mountains, formed by the bleached bones of humans, would've calmed him, but now they only served as a reminder of what could happen to his human if he didn't make haste. 

He stopped, finally, when he saw the bird halt and perch upon the branches of The Tree. Technically it wasn't a branch, rather the roots of the tree that grew upwards while its branches went downwards. The Tree remained suspended anchored to nothing. It didn't grow or rot. It remained there suspended in time. The Tree was a part of the original creation. It possessed the source of all knowledge and was revered for it, but, a time came when it became the cause of bitter conflict between the worlds. Since it could not be destroyed it was uprooted and bound by a spell that ensured it was neither living nor dead. The Tree was trapped in its own limbo for eternity.

Few bothered coming to this cursed section of hell. But this wasn't the demon prince's first trip to The Tree. He had come here once before seeking knowledge on how to obtain the power that would help him kill his brother and make him an immortal. But power is an act of balance, if somewhere the scales tipped high they had to dip elsewhere. He rubbed the bumps on his head, a reminder of the bargain he had struck with the creatures who lived around The Tree. 

The Tree dwellers were vile outcasts of hell who refused to recognise any authority. They made their dwelling within the branches of the tree and dedicated their lives to tap into the knowledge trapped in The Tree. The demons considered them to be charlatans but kept away from them because they feared their sorcery. The rakshasa knew firsthand of the power some of the dwellers possessed. 

They had given him the knowledge that he sought but there was a price to be paid and what you got was never worth what you gave up. They told him the only price he need pay was his horns- his hardy, terror-striking, whetted horns, his winning edge in any battle, his source of pride. He would not have agreed to sacrifice them for anything less than a chance at immortality. And yet by the time he got what he desired he had lost everything else. He knew better than to ever deal with them again. 

The demon saw the manjhi standing a little away from the tree and approached him.

"Is this the only way?"

"I'm afraid so."

"The child is born."

"Things have certainly progressed more rapidly than I would've expected."

"Yes. I must act quickly. If this is the only way," he sighed, "then so be it. Only-" he paused, "I no longer have anything to barter."

"You have a live human that willingly joined you in hell, and," said the manjhi, "... you have your female child."

"I will not sacrifice my family for my freedom."

"You once sacrificed your family for less."

The demon closed his eyes in silent acknowledgement of his crime.

"Come, no point in lingering now. Let's hear their terms."

The manjhi walked towards the tree with the demon closely following him. They both knew everything was going to change soon.

*****

Nakushi awoke with a start to find a small yellow creature hovering protectively over her. If not for the distinct features she would've failed to recognise her daughter who was still a new born when she went to sleep. Now her daughter appeared as old as a three to four year old human child.

"Come here my darling -" The woman realised they had yet to name their daughter. With all the joy and happiness she had brought to her parents it was only natural that she be called Khushi. 

"Khushi," she said testing it out. The name sat well on the little creature with skin a sunny shade of yellow- too cheery for hell's bleak surroundings.

"My dear Khushi, I am your mama," she said while wondering where her demon had gone.

"Mama!" the child replied.

"Yes- yes! I'm your mama." She said clapping and hugging the child.

"And you are Khushi. Khu-shi."

"Khoo-shee." The child repeated the sounds.

"Yes."

Nakushi observed how her half-human child was easily picking up whatever she said. She named everything within sight and was surprised to hear her daughter repeat everything accurately. The pupil was quick and never faltered or tired. Was this how it was with all demon children, the woman wondered, or was this yet another unusual thing about Khushi? 

While they awaited the return of the rakshasa Nakushi continued to tutor her daughter. Something struck her for the very first time and she made a mental note to ask Raku how everyone from hell spoke in the same language as her.

The unusual child followed its mother around the cave repeating not just her words but actions as well. With the passage of time- the human wasn't whether it was just minutes or years- the child was able to run faster than her mother. They were running around laughing, trying to catch each other. Khushi was still on the bed when her mother raced away yelling that it Khushi's turn to catch her mother. The child jumped off the bed in an attempt to grab her mother and flapped her arms like wings before landing with a thud. 

The image of the attempted flight stuck in Nakushi's head. For the first time it dawned on her that her daughter would someday fly. Her heart sank. She knew there was no way her daughter could ever come visit her on earth, not without putting herself at risk. And as her mother there was no way she would stand for it. She would just have to make the most of her time now with her loved ones; once they were separated she would never get to see her family again.

The continued to play for some time till the human declared she was too tired to continue and needed a break. She remembered that she had not eaten anything in quite a while. She took the last of the nuts and sat down on the big chair. As she began to eat she recalled that her daughter not eaten anything in quite some time too, not since the first time she nursed her.

She set her meal aside and asked her daughter to rest awhile in her lap. Since her nails weren't sharp enough for the job, she used her daughter's fingernails to reopen the wound on her breast and allowed her daughter to nurse once more. The child fed till she was full, grew drowsy and fell asleep, content against her mother. 

*****

"Your majesty, we have double checked and there is no mistake."

"How could something like this take place?" The demon king asked of his council members. 

He was a beautiful creature to behold- tall and muscular, with silver coloured hair flowing down his back between his wings of black feathers that shone like pitch. His eyes were a clear shade of blue- unlike any of the other demons in hell- reminding one of a clear summer sky on earth. But when angry, the pupils of his eyes turned into a blazing red. According to legends it was believed that a long time ago the demon king was furious after suffering defeat in the great battle. They said that the fires of hell had literally poured out of his rage filled eyes and consumed the landscape when he claimed hell for himself. The council members tried not to tremble as they saw the king's eyes turn red.

"There have been rumours," said one of the king's counsellors finally breaking the silence, "that your son has returned and that he is responsible for this."

"My son," said the king not naming the demon he had cast out and commanded that his name never be spoken again, "was banished and made a prisoner on earth. He could not have broken free from the spell I cast."

"There was also a sighting when the prince visited his old dai." 

The king turned towards the voice of his eldest son. He knew in the absence of his banished brother he was the one most likely to succeed him to the throne. Perhaps it was time to make him prove his worth.

"Go and question the dai and find out if the rumour is true. If it is take your brother captive and bring him to me."

"Yes, my king." His son bowed low and took off immediately eager to prove himself to his father. As a first born he believed himself to be the rightful heir to the throne, but his father had refused to recognise his claim. Now finally he would prove to the king and all of hell why he was destined to rule them.

"My king," said a council member, "what of this new soul?"

"I will get to the root of this mystery myself." 

The demon king left his courtroom with great flourish followed by an entourage of his council members. The bookkeeper had said the new soul was most likely female. The demon king was eager to find out how a demon birth had taken place without his prior knowledge more importantly why the parents had not brought the child to his palace for the ritual feeding. 

It was an established custom in hell that every new born demon was offered to the king. The ceremony began with the newborn being named by the king and concluded with the king drawing some of the child's blood to taste its powers before it was returned to the parents. Female children were considered a privilege and were allowed to feed on the king's blood as part of the ritual. 

The king proceeded to limbo eager for answers. 

*****

"My prince, I swear I do not know where he is."

The dai fell prostrate before the eldest demon prince. He had arrived with two of his younger brother who had arrived at the conclusion that the eldest would make king and it was best to be in his good graces. 

"You old toad, did you think you could fool us?" One of the younger princes taunted as he kicked her in the stomach.

"The maids have already confessed to seeing you leave with him." The youngest lifted the dai's face from the floor only to bash it on the ground. Demons were blessed with eternal lives, but they could be killed and they certainly could feel pain. Some like the dai felt it more than others. The demons believed this was because the nature of their work required them to care more than any demon should.

The eldest prince watched his brothers and smiled- this was almost as good as the old days when all seven brothers would get together and made mischief throughout hell, he thought. But as much as he was enjoying watching the toad bleed around the place he had a task he needed to complete.

"Enough." He ordered his brothers before addressing the dai, "Just tell us where he took you and we'll be on our way."

So far the princes had only toyed with her she did not wish to risk their wrath by withholding the information. She told them that she had accompanied the prince to his current dwelling in limbo but she didn't reveal the nature of her visit.

Having obtained what they had come for the brothers tossed the dai aside and rushed to limbo to capture their brother.

*****

While the baby slept Nakushi ate the last of the nuts from earth. She didn't know how much longer she would have in hell now that she was out of food. She watched her daughter grow from a child of less than four years to one of around the same age as she was when she first went to live in Raku's temple. She was beginning to grow worried over the amount of time her demon was taking to return to her. Had he been found out and cast into a stone already, she wondered. The idea of being separated from him without getting the chance to say goodbye made her miserable. Helplessly, she sat watching her child rest and hoping her demon would return.

*****

"This is it." The king had identified the location of the soul. He reached into the flames and drew a portal for him to enter the cave cell. 

Nakushi watched a portal appear on the wall opposite her. She rushed towards it expecting her demon but was taken aback by the radiance of the majestic looking creature that stepped through instead. Despite the flawless beauty of the being in front of her she could sense something sinister about its presence. She rushed to where her child lay and protectively stood before her. She knew her daughter had no need to fear any of the creatures in hell, but, she wasn't ready for them to take her away just yet.

The king was not surprised to see a human in limbo, what he was surprised about, was the soul he could smell on it. He knew the other demons wouldn't pick up on the scent of her soul as they would be too distracted by her delicious scent, not understanding that it was the presence of her soul that made it so. He watched in mild amusement the puny human guard a divine being that looked like it was in the process of waking from deep slumber.

A few of the council members followed the king into the cave cell and watched a tiny human standing in front of the bed. The human smelled teased and tantalised their senses. Each of them imagined taking her back with them and using her to please them in a manner suiting their individual proclivities; some fantasized about tasting her and others fantasized about torturing her. All, but the king, were visibly excited and they grew restless as they waited for the king to conclude his business so that they may begin theirs.

Khushi was roused from her sleep by a foul stench. She couldn't understand what it was till she awoke and saw her mother covering her while a host of strange beings threateningly stood around their little home. She correctly identified the stench as her mother's fear. The child had a vague memory of a nice demon that held her and fed her and asked her to protect her mother in his absence. She jumped off the bed and landed in front of her mother, her arms folded behind her back so that her budding wings were tucked away, hidden from view.

"Who are you and why do you seek to disturb us in this manner?" The child asked fearlessly looking the demon king in the eye.

The demons were shocked at the audacity of the young demon to address their king in this manner. Whether they were introduced or not every demon shared a kind of bond with the king and recognized him as their lord and master. Their king had made it so when he first settled in hell to ensure that there would never be an uprising in his kingdom. 

The king observed the new demon who was observing him just as keenly. 

"I am the ruler of hell and all the demons. And you are one of my subjects by the natural order of things." 

He wondered about the absence of parents and the presence of a human. Was the human meant to serve as food? It didn't make sense. The young demon and the human appeared too protective of each other for that. There was something more at play here. He considered the pieces of the puzzle- a human with a soul in limbo and a young demon that didn't feel the innate fealty to him, each trying to protect the other. There was something odd even in the manner the child stood- body poised to fight while the arms were tucked behind in submission. No, not submission, he corrected himself.

"What is it that you hide behind you? Show me your hands." His tone was unmistakeable- it was an order. Khushi considered her options and decided it was best not to provoke the demons, especially since she was outnumbered and the safety of her mother was at stake. Slowly she brought her hands forward eliciting a gasp from all the demons present as her little wings opened behind her.

"You have wings," the king stated without giving away his sense of awe at the discovery. Just like me, he thought to himself. Throughout his reign he had yet to see a new demon with wings and he had never seen a demon with wings as white as his former brethren, like his own once used to be. 




Love Conquers All Pt. 02



"Leave us." He ordered his demons to step outside. 

Nakushi knew this was it, the moment she had dreaded ever since she learnt about her pregnancy- the moment where her daughter would be separated from her for life. She wasn't ready. Not yet. She just needed to buy some time somehow. 

As the human tried to come up with an escape plan they were interrupted by a commotion. The king grew annoyed and stepped outside to deal with it the intruders that were creating a ruckus outside. Nakushi saw the opportunity and grabbed her daughter.

"You have to make a portal so we can escape."

"What do I need to do?"

"Draw a rectangle large enough for us to step through and press your palm against it."

Khushi grabbed a hold of her mother's hand and drew a doorway on the wall behind her. Before any of the demons outside caught wind, the mother and child had escaped.

*****

"What in hell are you doing here?" the king asked his eldest son making no attempt at disguising his displeasure at their arrival.

"I commanded you to bring your brother to me."

The younger sons drew back in fear as the eldest bowed low before their father.

"My lord, we were informed that we would find our brother here. The dai confessed to being brought here by the nameless one."

The king considered this piece of information. He began to see the puzzle coming together. His son had needed the dai for the birth of the new demon, which meant that the winged creature had to be his son's daughter, his granddaughter- someone more like him than any creature in hell. No wonder she felt no fealty to him. He finally had his heir. But what role did the human have in all of this? He still had to figure that part of the puzzle. He turned to go back in; it would be easier, he thought, to just torture the answers out of her.

*****

The demons were distracted when Nakushi and her daughter escaped from limbo so they had no way of knowing which direction they were headed in. She hoped it would be enough to buy them sufficient time to plan their next move.

The child held on to the mother as she sped away using her natural demon abilities. It was clear to her that the world they were in was not safe for her mother. Her mother had told her about earth, she just had to figure a way to safely get there. She wished she had someone who could teach her about her demon-half and help her understand the extent of her abilities. She hoped to once more meet the kind demon who had fed her his blood. She remembered how safe she felt with him and trusted him to know to do next. 

*****

"You imbeciles!" the king bellowed at his sons, "Because of your intrusion they managed to escape."

"They, my king?" they asked confused.

"Yes, they've both escaped. Now, make yourselves useful and go and find your brother like I asked you to. If you fail in your undertaking, do not bother returning to court." He threatened.

He turned to his council members who were too caught up in their lust for the human to understand the significance of anything taking place.

"Send the word out, I want to find that demon child. An award for whoever brings her to me, UNHARMED." He suspected that the last part may have been unnecessary as the child was most likely an immortal like himself and her father, but he didn't want to risk anything happening to his heir. 

*****

Nakushi was panting as she was dragged across the white coloured mountains by her daughter. She was amazed at how strong the child was for someone so young. She did her best to keep up despite being fatigued. 

The demon child was relieved. So far it didn't appear like anyone was following them but she knew she would feel a whole lot better if she had a clue about where they needed to go instead of running aimlessly like they were now. Her mother was struggling to hold on; if she was not allowed to rest for a while she would likely perish along the way. She needed to survey the place to get a better sense of which direction felt safer. They stopped abruptly when they reached the top of the mountain. 

"Please sit and rest awhile mama," she said, "while I take a look around."

The child stood up and opened her hands wide. The feathers on her wings appeared to be almost fully grown now. But she wasn't certain if her wings were strong enough for flight as yet. She hopped and flapped her arms in an attempt to take flight, but it didn't help. She wished someone had taught her how to fly. She recalled the time she had jumped off the bed and managed to glide through the empty space before landing with a thud. 

Maybe if I had a place to jump from, I could fly, she thought to herself. 

She spotted a sheer drop not far from where they were at the time. Giving no thought to how she would land, Khushi ran the short distance to the edge, opened her arms and jumped off.

Nakushi watched in silent horror as her daughter jumped off a cliff. She dragged herself to the edge expecting to find the remains of her daughter below.

Khushi felt her insides sink at the jump off and felt she was doomed to meet her end on the white rocks below. Instead she found herself caught by a gentle breeze that allowed her to glide through the air without crashing. It almost felt like she was being carried by the breeze.

The human was relieved to see her daughter alive and circling the mountain a couple of times before landing beside her.

"You scared me." She said, hugging her child tightly.

"I think I scared me too." Khushi admitted with a giggle. Flying had been a scary but thrilling experience she was eager to try again soon. 

"Did you see anything?"

"Yes, I believe I know where we need to go."

"And where is that?"

"That way." Khushi pointed straight ahead. "I saw a strange looking object."

"What was it?"

"I don't know the word for it. I can show you."

Khushi bent down and used her nails to sketch what's she'd seen. 

"That looks like a tree. But you seem to have drawn it upside down."

"No, that's just how it is."

"That is strange, but, how would you know that? You've never seen a tree."

"I found it strange because it's not on the ground but it isn't flying either. It's just there in the emptiness in between."

"You were right, that is strange. Do you think it's safe?"

"I don't know about that. I just feel like we need to be there."

Her daughter seemed convinced and her daughter was no ordinary child. She thought it best to follow Khushi's instinct and go to the suspended tree.

*****

The demon brothers were unsuccessful in their attempts to locate their immortal brother thus far. They checked all the usual places and turned up empty handed. It occurred to the eldest that their brother may once again seek the knowledge from The Tree if he was planning to make a play for hell, like he suspected him to. He was about to leave with his brothers when their father barged into his quarters.

"What success have you had?"

"None so far, father."

"So, why do you stand around instead of doing something about it?"

"I was just getting ready to leave."

"And where will you try to look for him this time?"

The prince hesitated before replying, "The Tree."

The king agreed that it seemed to be the most likely choice. He resented the dwellers of The Tree because they refused to live under his command. The only reason he didn't have them executed was because he knew they could never rise against him and The Tree appeared to offer them a certain degree of protection too. It made sense for the nameless one to once again use the knowledge of The Tree to escape his father's judgement. It also made sense that his granddaughter would most likely have escaped to join her father.

He nodded, "Alright, I will join you too."

*****

The rakshasa had no idea how long he had waited already to speak with the dwellers of The Tree. Even the manjhi had grown tired of waiting and left, but the demon knew that he had really left because the demons that made The Tree their abode made him uncomfortable. He worried about how his family was faring without him for so long, but couldn't risk leaving without getting the information he needed. He found it peculiar that they hadn't even spoken to him of a deal so far. It almost felt like they were delaying, he thought, but why? What could they be waiting for?

*****

Khushi was nearly spent from carrying her mother to the strange tree but they had finally gotten close enough for her mother to see the spectacle with her own eyes. Even though her daughter had described the tree to her, she was not prepared for the bewildering scene before her. Roots climbing to the sky, only there was no sky. With their destination well within sight, the human felt a little energized and made an attempt to finish the remainder of the journey walking on her own. She sensed that one way or the other, it would all be over soon.

*****

The demon princes were no match for their father. The younger sons had fallen so far behind that they couldn't even be seen anymore while the eldest struggled to keep up. Their father was appalled at their pathetic displays. How could any of them think they could replace him as the ruler of hell if they couldn't even keep up with him now? At least the nameless one had shown promise if only he had not committed fratricide. Killing your kin was an unforgivable crime in hell, after all they weren't humans.

The king with his excellent vision could see The Tree from as far as he was. He could also see his scion struggling to carry the human along with her. Once again he deliberated about the nature of their relationship. 

The human is her mother. It suddenly dawned on him. He halted in his tracks, wondering if he was walking into a trap set up by the nameless one.

*****

As they reached the tree Nakushi had greatly withered away. Her daughter feared that her human mother would succumb to death any moment now. With bleary eyes the human looked at the tree ahead of her and thought he saw a familiar face not too far away. She was too worn out to trust her senses any more. But her heart told her she wasn't mistaken.

"Raku." She called faintly with whatever strength she had left.

Khushi wasn't certain what it was her mother had seen but she was sure she heard her call out a name. She called out the name she had heard her mother say.

"RAKU?"

The demon turned towards the sound and was dumbstruck by the sight of a shrivelled up woman that looked like his human along with a little girl with white wings. He raced to his family shocked to see them aged so much and his beloved close to death.

"My darling, what has happened to you?" he asked, gently lifting his beloved into his arms.

"We needed to escape. We were visited by the king and his men." said the child.

The demon nodded in understanding. He was gone too long and now his human would be dead. He couldn't afford to wait anymore. It was time to return her to earth.

"Who are you?" Khushi asked the demon holding her mother in such a tender manner. 

"My dear child, I am your father. Come now, we must return your mother to earth before she expels her last breath."

"Return her? Will we not stay with her?"

"No, I haven't the time now to explain, but this is the last we will ever see of your mother. It is the only way." He said with great difficulty, finding it hard to even breathe due to the pain gripping at his chest.

Unlike her father, Khushi had a human half which made it possible for her to cry. The tears welled up and flowed from the little girl's eyes. Even the thought of being parted from her mother hurt too much. Her father felt her sorrow and his own but he had no way of expressing it. 

"No, it cannot be." said Khushi adamantly. She was not ready to be parted from her mother. "There HAS to be some way."

"We're ready to talk to you now."

For the first time the father and daughter noticed that they were no longer alone. The Tree dwellers had finally come to strike a deal with the demon.

"I need to return her to earth right now."

"We may have a solution that is suitable for all. But what would you be willing to give us in return for such knowledge?"

"Anything." The demon said emphatically.

"Your immortality?"

"YES." He replied without hesitation

"What about her, will you give her to us?"

They were pointing to his daughter. Sacrifice his child for his freedom, he asked himself.

"NEVER!"

"Not even to save your human? She's not going to make it."

The demon was torn between his love for his human and his child. How could he choose between the two he loved above all else? 

When they got no response from him they turned to the young demon.

"What about you, princess? Would you give up your powers and your chance to rule hell- maybe more- to save your mother's life and to save your father from being a prisoner for all eternity?"

*****

There was no time left the demon quickly opened a portal and pushed his human through to earth. He was distraught knowing that she would have no memory of him or their daughter or the love they had shared.

*****

The demon king stood at a safe distance noting the goings on. The human had been pushed through a portal and most likely send back to earth. It looked like the deceitful dwellers of The Tree were in the midst of negotiations with the nameless one and his granddaughter. He watched them shake hands and knew a deal had been struck. 

He shook his head and left. He would need to find another opportunity to get his heir back.

*****

The woman woke up to a ringing sound. Her head hurt, she felt weak and tired and desperately in need of sleep.

"Ma, Ma? Wake up Ma."

She was being shaken awake. She opened her eyes and gradually took in her surroundings. She was lying on the ground inside Jwala Temple. She held her head to ease the pounding sensation.

"Huh- What is it?" she asked, feeling disorientated. The light was hitting her in the eye making it difficult for her to clearly see who she was talking to. She heard movement and giggling. She turned her head towards the sound and squinted to see who it was.

"Papa come here quick and look at Ma being silly."

The little girl ran out and quickly reappeared with a man. She was pulling him by the hand towards the woman. 

"I found her asleep!" The little girl exclaimed. "... On the ground!"

The man leaned forward and offered his hand to help the woman up. She took it and he pulled her to her feet.

"You grew tired from your climb up to the temple, didn't you?"

She looked at him, still in a daze.

"I knew you would. I asked you to come later in the car with us. They've got a proper road now and it comes all the way up the mountain and stops just behind the temple."

She squinted some more, her vision still fuzzy.

"I knew this trip would take a toll on you. It was already going to be an emotional strain, it didn't have to also be a physical one." She heard the man say but her eyes were now focused on the little girl dancing and twirling around. She had white wings.

"You have such pretty wings," she said.

The child gave her a strange look uncertain if her mother had really forgotten or was just being silly. 

"Yeah, have you forgotten that you gave them to me?"

"Hush Khushi, your mother is just tired." He gently admonished her. "You know your mother was just a little girl like you when she lived here."

"I want to see the rakshasa." The little girl shouted excitedly.

"Sure, come let's look at the rakshasa."

The three of them walked to the giant obsidian statue that dominated the space. The woman held back a little as the man and the girl inspected it closely and talked amongst themselves.

"Come on Rakesh," the woman said to her husband, "let's go back. You were right, I did overdo it today."

"Told you jaan, I know you better than you know yourself." He responded smugly.

"If that's true I suppose you carried some lunch? I'm famished for some reason."

Her husband laughed and grabbed a hold of her hand, "Come with me, I have something to show you."

Khushi raced ahead of her parents. Before Nakushi left the temple she noticed a crack at the base of her rakshasa's statue. She felt that was significant somehow, but couldn't tell why. Shrugging her shoulders, she walked out of the temple holding hands with her husband. She looked ahead and was surprised to see a cloth laid out with a picnic basket on it. Khushi was already busy unpacking it.

"What did I tell you love?" the man asked his wife.

She smiled brightly at him. He always seemed to anticipate her needs. They sat down and ate their meal in the shadow cast by the temple. When they were done and got up to move she watched how Rakesh's eyes sparkled in the sunlight. People would often comment about how strange his amber coloured eyes appeared- unnatural, they would say- but they always struck her as filled with warmth and the nagging sense of something familiar. 

The End.







Love Conquers All



"I want to ask you something. The first time I scanned your memory, I wanted to make it a quick scan, but now I would like to see if I can find out who the assholes were that abused you. Would you be hurt if I looked into your mind again?" Allen asked her, his concern for her showing in his eyes. 

"Why would you want to…oh no, I don't want you to put yourself in danger for me. Please promise me that you won't do anything that could get you hurt," she pleaded as she saw his intentions written plainly across his face. 

"I can promise you that nothing will happen to me, but I'm not going to let those assholes get away with hurting you. You mean a lot to me," he told her as he placed a quick kiss on her pouting lips. 

"You really mean that, don't you? I was hoping you did, but you really do mean it," she asked him, in awe. 

"I think I've been about half in love with you since the first time I saw you in the eighth grade," he told her as he pulled her to him, giving her another kiss. They continued sitting on the couch, holding each other, the love they felt for each other warming them deep inside. 

"I just don't want you hurt. I think I've loved you for as long as I've known you. You've always treated me special, which was why I couldn't bear to let you take me home yesterday. You can look in my mind, but only if you promise not to get hurt," she told him. 

"Okay, I can promise you that I won't get hurt, but I won't say that about them," he told her. Allen held her close as he began probing her mind, looking for any clues that could tell him who they were. When he saw her struggles against her attackers in her memory, he caught a brief glimpse of the leader when the mask he was wearing had been temporarily displaced by Tracey's struggles. He recognized him as one of the Carlson brothers. They were the worst bullies in town, always pushing around someone smaller than them. Allen had always avoided them, but he wouldn't anymore.