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I'm fucked.
That was the predominant thought in Shadowheart's mind as she knelt atop a small cliff-face and watched Ciri slink through the undergrowth around the perimeter of the ruined village that they had found lain solidly across their path of pursuit for the goblins. One that, Ciri had told her and Lae'zel, stank of goblins and something else, larger and smellier. Ogres, if Shadowheart were to guess, and she had said as much. Not insiginificant threats, even to powerful druids or the likes of their -currently split- party, but she couldn't bring herself to focus on either them or the other threats and concerns that ought to be forefront on her mind, and for a good cause. A fine cause, perhaps the finest source of distraction that she had ever had.
Cirilla's rear end. Her full, tight, muscular rear end that filled the simple clothes that she was wearing in a way that would have had Shadowheart sending a prayer of thanks to Sune if Lady Firehair wasn't an old friend and close ally of the Moon Witch that opposed her own goddess. She'd never met someone as beautiful as Ciri, never met someone who seemed to step out of her deepest fantasies they way that she did, never met anyone who left her weak at the knees, short of breath, and slick between her thighs.
She'd been intrigued, to say the least, the moment they had laid eyes on each other, and the rescue had only reinforced that -especially watching Ciri tear the pod open to save her-, but now she could say that she was well and truly enamored. It might not be love, not yet, and she wasn't sure that it ever would be. She was a devotee of Shar, after all, and the Lady of Loss was a rightfully possessive goddess. She could never forgive herself if Shar's wrath turned against Ciri for causing Shadowheart to stray for even an instant. But Shar didn't forbid lovers, didn't forbid indulgence in passion and carnal pleasures, and that was leeway enough for Shadowheart to dream and desire.
Even the knowledge that Ciri was a vampire -and a powerful one, by all appearances, with powers Shadowheart had never heard of- hadn't been enough to turn her away from her desire. On the contrary, there was a certain degree of arousal to the thought of being fed on by a woman as beautiful as Ciri…so long as it was, like Ciri, someone who cared for her and wished her no harm. The intimacy and the trust inherent in allowing Ciri to feed from her was frankly intoxicating, and though she would certainly not say it out loud to anyone anytime soon -Ciri included- she found the idea of being Ciri's 'prey' intensely arousing. Which was likely insane, but then, hadn't the Mother Superior always said she was a glutton for punishment?
Mmh, now there was a thought to make her breath stop in her chest. Ciri punishing her…
"Focus, girl! If you are so intent on rutting with Ciri, then do so tonight, but staring at her behind will do you not an ounce of good here and now." Lae'zel's interruption was a distinctly unpleasant one, by dint of who was doing the interrupting, and worse still was the amusement that Shadowheart could hear in her words. The mockery, the teasing with a cutting edge, because of course the gith would notice her admiration…and of course the gith would have to make an insult of it at the same time.
"Leave it to you to take something as beautiful as affection and admiration and reduce it to something so bestial as 'rutting', beast that you are, gith." she bites back, keeping her voice low, though she feared Ciri would overhear the conversation all the same. The woman had senses far beyond most, of course, by her very nature, and it wasn't as if they were particularly far away from her either. Certainly not as far from her as she, Shadowheart, and Gale had been from the ruins of Jergal's temple when Ciri had heard the group of would-be looters.
"Bestial? You act as though sex is some sort of beautiful art form. It is a method of finding pleasure and pain off of the battlefield, nothing more, save perhaps for releasing tension from the body or coming to an agreement." Lae'zel scoffed at her, shaking her head in what could only be called amusement with an edge of contempt. "Affection is pointless, and the admiration of another's form is precisely why you should lay with her and be done with it. I've a mind to osate my desires with her, and allow her to sate her own with me, when the moment is ripe."
Shadowheart's eyes narrowed dangerously, a sudden spark of jealousy flaring in her chest at Lae'zel's casual declaration. The thought of the gith warrior with Ciri made something primitive and possessive rear up inside her, something that very much didn't care -dangerously, perhaps, very dangerously- what her goddess might think of the fierce and possessive loyalty she felt in that moment.
"You will do no such thing, beast." she hissed, her voice dropping to a dangerous whisper, an edge that hadn't hung there since the days she had practiced her interrogation techniques sharp and bared like a whetted blade. "Ciri is not some conquest to be claimed, and most certainly not by one such as you."
Lae'zel's yellow eyes gleamed with amusement…and no small amount of challenge and excitement. "Oh? And who are you to decide who she takes to her bed? Perhaps she prefers someone who would act rather than simply stare longingly from afar. Will you try to stop me, 'Shadowheart', or will you watch impotently as I leave her bruised and sleeping?"
Before Shadowheart could form a suitably cutting reply, or stab the yellow bitch in her stupid, smirking face, a soft rustle of leaves announced Ciri's return. Both women's heads snapped around, their argument forgotten as Ciri darted up the small rise and crouched low beside them. Shadowheart's heart skipped a beat, wondering how much the witcher had overheard and how she might react to any of it.
"The village is crawling with goblins and wargs." Ciri whispered, either oblivious to their tension or politely ignoring it, and Shadowheart resisted the urge to give a soft sigh of relief. "At least twenty that I could see, plus three ogres talking inside of some old schoolhouse or library of some kind. They've got prisoners, people they're planning on eating from the sounds of it."
Shadowheart forced her mind back to the task at hand, pushing away thoughts of Lae'zel's threats and her own jealousy. "Prisoners? Any sign of the Grand Duke?"
"The scents were all wrong, unless they gave him a bath and fresh clothes after attacking the Rest." Ciri shook her head firmly, frowning faintly. "They smell like more of those tieflings, from the Grove. They said something about wanting a taste of 'deep gnome' as well, but that their employers wouldn't let them have the one they caught until they finished 'playing with him'. And it was strange, one of them sounded far smarter than the others. Is that common?"
"No. Ogres are dumb. Very dumb. They tend to sign up with goblin warbands for fresh meat and treasure, and they're just as likely to kill each other or their 'allies' as they are their enemies." Shadowheart responded promptly, eyes narrowing slightly as she thought quickly. "Are the goblins spread out? Can we ambush them in small groups and kill them quietly?"
"Some of them, yeah. I can kill the ones on the rooves easily enough, that will handle any potential spotters from above, but there are only the three of us and a lot of them. Maybe it's best if we cause some sort of diversion, then I sneak in and get the prisoners out safely?" Ciri agreed, grimacing faintly, and it was Lae'zel's turn to interject, with a typical snort.
"A dozen goblins in disarray are no match for us. Better to kill them all here. Have you the wherewithal to draw a map of the village?"
Ciri blinked at her briefly, before nodding and pulling out a dagger, scratching at the dirt. Slowly, an admittedly-well-drawn, if crude, map of the ruined settlement formed on the dirt before them, the silver-haired vampire narrating what she had seen and smelt, and marking the locations of who and what that she could. When she was done, Lae'zel examined the map critically, tilting her head this way and that, for several long minutes.
"Hmm. The roads are small and clustered. This provides us with the advantage. Ciri will kill those on the rooves, to prevent them from attacking us from above or warning the others. She will then stay atop this building, here, out of sight." the gith finally started to instruct, tapping a building just to the right of the gate. "Shadowheart and I will draw the attention of any within earshot by storming through the gate and raising a clamor. They will funnel through the streets towards us, and Ciri will wait for the perfect moment to strike them down with her magic. Any that survive the flames will be easy prey."
"And the ogres, hmm?" Shadowheart asked, not entirely convinced by Lae'zel's strategy, though she begrudginly had to admit it wasn't entirely without merit. "Three of them is no small threat, especially with their apparent leader being more intelligent than is typical."
"We'll deal with them after we've thinned the goblin ranks, they're the furthest from the gate and will take the longest time to arrive." Ciri replied, tracing a finger along the crude map to the building she'd identified as the schoolhouse. "If we're lucky, the commotion will draw them out and separate them from the prisoners. If we have to, you two can bait them out of the village, I rescue the prisoners, and then I teleport the two of you to safety."
Lae'zel nodded in agreement. "And if not, we fight them where they stand. We have faced worse odds than these."
"Have we now?" Shadowheart arched an eyebrow, resisting the urge to scoff. She wouldn't denigrate herself in Ciri's eyes by fighting with the gith too often in front of her. "I recall barely surviving our encounters with smaller groups. And we had Gale with us then, at that."
"When we were exhausted, disoriented, and poorly equipped, perhaps. But we are none of those things now, as we proved at the ruins of the Rest." Lae'zel shot back, turning her nose up slightly. "These paltry foes may wound us, but not beyond healing. Muster some courage, Shadowheart, and perhaps Ciri will not need to lead you like a child through the swamps when we seek out this 'Ethel' once more."
"Still don't trust her'…" Ciri grumbled under her breath, before clapping her hands softly. "Fine, we have something of a plan then. If worse comes to worse, retreat back onto the bridge. I can always use my signs to try and throw them into the ravine below if I must. It wouldn't be pretty, but it's better than losing one of you. And don't let your pride get the best of you, Lae'zel. Quantity has a quality all of it's own, as you should well know."
Shadowheart felt a surge of pride at the fact that she didn't get a chastisement such as that, though she was careful to keep her pleasure contained. It wouldn't do to be too obvious about it, after all, and risk earning some ire for herself. Especially not since annoying Ciri might make the silver-haired beauty more inclined to accept Lae'zel's offer, which was simply unacceptable. Ciri deserved better companionship than a gith, and gods only knew what foulness gith blood would be as well, for that matter. It would probably make Ciri sick, she had no doubt, and taste atrocious as well.
Somewhere in the back of her mind, the Shadowheart from before the nautiloid was protesting that she was exhibiting jealousy over the idea that a woman she had known only a few days would prefer to drink someone else's blood over her own, but it was a very small, essentially-unnoticed voice that would have been easily ignored even if she had noticed it to begin with.
"Alright then." Ciri said, rising to a crouch and dusting her hands off on her thighs, the movement easy and smooth with the obvious ease of long practice. "I'll get into position. Give me a count of ninety after I leave before you make your move. That should be enough time for me to take care of the sentries up high."
Shadowheart watched as Ciri reached back to check her sword, making sure it was secure in its sheath before she started teleporting. The movement pulled the fabric of her shirt tight across her chest, and Shadowheart felt her mouth go dry as the swell of her breasts became even more eye-catching than they always were. She forced herself to look away, catching Lae'zel's knowing smirk from the corner of her eye, a smirk that only grew when Shadowheart tried to glare her into submission.
"Don't worry, we'll be right behind you." Shadowheart said, her voice thankfully steady despite the heat in her cheeks, softening a touch as she continued. "Be careful, Ciri."
"Always am, 'Heart." Ciri replied with a wink that made Shadowheart's heart skip a beat, then she was gone in a sworl of magic, leaving she and Lae'zel alone. Lae'zel started counting immediately, her voice a low whisper as she kept track of the seconds passing. Shadowheart drew her mace, running her thumb along the worn grip as she readied herself mentally for the coming battle. She'd need to be focused, alert—not distracted by thoughts of Ciri's wink or the way she had felt at the casual use of the nickname that was quickly becoming her favorite of all the ways she had been addressed in her life.
"You truly are smitten, aren't you?" Lae'zel observed, not bothering to pause her count, somehow keeping it steady even while talking. "Forty-three... forty-four... It is pathetic to watch, but amusing in the same way."
"Keep counting, gith, and otherwise be quiet." Shadowheart hissed, checking her replacement shield's straps and making sure they were tight. The last thing Ciri needed was for her healer to get wounded because Shadowheart's shield fell apart at the worst moment. "I've no interest in your observations."
"Fifty... fifty-one... The vampire will choose strength and aggression, not hesitation and meekness. Fifty-four...fifty-five…fifty-six. Hmm. One wonders what your goddess would think of you kneeling at the feet of a hunter such as Ciri."
"If you think being an arrogant, pushy bitch is strength, then perhaps she will." Shadowheart muttered, the hand not holding her mace tightening into a fist. "But Ciri strikes me as the sort who has had more than enough of people trying to claim her. And Shar understands that there is beauty to be found in darkness, and what could be more beautiful than a predator that rules the very night that Shar's most devoted worship?"
Lae'zel snorted but fell silent, her yellow eyes fixed on the village below. The quiet between them was tense, filled with unspoken challenges and hostility and questions, each having their own intentions and plans and desires. Shadowheart used the remaining time to focus her thoughts, to push away distractions both irritating and alluring. She closed her eyes briefly, whispering a soft prayer to Shar for guidance and protection in the coming fight for herself and Ciri both, only to flinch and bite back a whimper as the mark on her right hand lashed out at her, wracking her body with a pulse of suffering. A reminder of Shar's ever-presence and watchful gaze, no doubt, and she took a deep breath. Her goddess was watching over her, she knew, surely proud of the deeds Shadowheart committed in her name.
"Eighty-eight... eighty-nine... ninety." Lae'zel rose to her feet in a fluid motion, drawing her long sword and starting to descend the cliff-face, Shadowheart on her heels. Their climb down was swift but careful, Shadowheart's heart pounding not with fear but anticipation. She'd grown to enjoy battle since awakening on the nautiloid, the rush of adrenaline and the satisfaction of victory becoming addictive in ways she hadn't expected. Though she'd never admit it aloud, especially not to Lae'zel, there was something liberating about channeling her frustrations into combat. Especially after a conversation like the one that they had just had, and especially when she knew that Ciri was watching her.
The village gate, or rather what was left of it, loomed before them, a once-sturdy steel-bound oak that had clearly been smashed in during a battle some time ago. Beyond it, the narrow streets Ciri had described awaited, perfect for their plan. Lae'zel paused just before the entrance, glancing back at Shadowheart with a predatory grin, it's mocking edge cutting and enraging in equal measure.
"Try to keep up, girl." she taunted, then charged forward with a battle cry that had Shadowheart wincing even as she moved to follow, clashing her mace on her shield to make a racket without making a fool of herself by bellowing at the sky like some sort of barbarian.
The reaction was immediate, of course. Shouts of alarm echoed through the village, followed by the scrambling of feet and the clanking of crude weapons. Shadowheart caught sight of several goblins pouring from doorways and alleyways ahead, their yellow eyes widening at the sight of the charging gith and cautious-but-dangerous cleric just behind her.
"INTRUDERS!" one screeched, brandishing a rusty sword as it charged down the street towards the two women. "KILL THEM! FOR THE ABSOL-urk!"
Lae'zel met its charge head on, her blade cleaving through its neck before it could even attempt to defend itself or attack her, leaving it collapsing to the side nearly-decapitated. Blood sprayed and poured across the packed dirt as Shadowheart stepped up beside her, batting away a sharp jab from the runner-up with her shield before caving it's skull in with her mace.
More were coming now, funneling through the narrow street just as they'd planned, shrieking and howling threats and praises to their bizarre goddess alike, and Shadowheart fell into line beside Lae'zel and raised her shield in time with her companion as they settled into defensive stances. The goblins pressed forward, a chaotic mass of green skin and crude weapons, no less deadly for all their ill-form and worse care. Shadowheart sidestepped a spear thrust, letting the momentum carry the goblin past her before bringing her mace down on its spine with a satisfying crunch, crippling it and condemning it to death as it's lungs stopped working.
"Six already, ha!" Lae'zel called over her shoulder, her blade slicing through another goblin's arm, a short eternity of fighting later. "How many have you felled, Shadowheart? Three? Four?"
"I'm not keeping count, gith!" Shadowheart snapped back, though in truth she most definitely was. Five killed so far, as a matter of fact, and she was determined not to let the gith outpace her. Not with Ciri watching, and certainly not after the yellow bitch's words earlier.
A flicker of movement caught her eye from above and behind their attacks. Ciri, poised on a rooftop, her silver hair gleaming in the fading light. For a heartbeat their eyes met, and then she saw the smirk crease the woman's lips as her right hand formed a now familiar sign. She had just enough time to avert her eyes and raise her shield to protect her face before fire billowed and bloomed, crashing down onto the hemmed-in raiders and filling the air with screams and the stench of roasting flesh alike. The flames died down almost as quickly as they had appeared, leaving charred and smoking corpses strewn across the street, a few embers smoldering here and there across the scorched stone and seared wood. Sturdy construction, to resist sparking a larger blaze. Or, perhaps, Ciri had greated control over her flames than Shadowheart had realized.
"A fine display of power, and a better rescue." Shadowheart called up to Ciri, unable to keep the admiration from her voice. She caught herself smiling and quickly schooled her features into something more professional, though the flush in her cheeks betrayed her.
Ciri's answering grin was all teeth, a reminder of her nature that sent a not-unpleasant shiver down Shadowheart's spine. "There's more where that came from, 'Heart. Now come on, those ogres heard the ruckus, I can see them coming from here with a few more goblins and some wargs. Maybe we'll actually sleep under a roof tonight, hmm?"
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They did, in fact, find a roof to sleep under that night, a few hours of fighting and searching later. It wouldn't be the most comfortable night's rest they'd ever had, but they had the only key to the only lock to the forge inside one of the larger building's basements, and that meant it was secure. And that was certainly far more important than something as ephemeral as comfort.
The basement-based forge was dry at least, and quite clean as well, which was nice. Oh, there was some dust, and plenty of spider webs, but it wasn't nearly as much of a ruin as the village above might have implied. It had held some interesting knick-knacks as well, including an odd sort of metal that none of them recognized on sight, but could see the quality and sense the power of.
"Good work today, girls." Ciri remarked, settling her swords against the wall before stretching languidly. The movement pulled her shirt tight across her chest again, riding up to expose taught, rippling muscle, and Shadowheart looked away with a blush and a tingling belly, only to glare at Lae'zel, who was unashamedly enjoying the view.
"The one that could speak properly was certainly unusual," she ground out in agreement, feeling her eye twitch slightly at the cocky, mocking smirk the beast gave her in response. Turning away with an audible, but clearly visible sniff of disdain, she continued addressing Ciri. "Which probably had something to do with the Circlet of Intellect that you took off of his corpse. Though I wouldn't recommend using it until it's been washed, thoroughly, and boiled several times. And then magically cleaned by Gale and a druid both, for good measure."
"Yeah…" Ciri grimaced in agreement, looking at the small satchel holding the disgusting but powerful magical item in question, shuddering slightly as she remembered what it had looked like, before shaking her head and glancing over at Lae'zel. "Looked like you got knicked a few times, Lae'zel, are you alright?"
"I am fine, Ciri. Such wretched things hardly possess the ability to do me any true harm, and what few paltry wounds they inflicted upon me were easily healed even by the talents of Shadowheart."
"You say that as though my talents are lacking, gith." Shadowheart retorted, her jaw tightening, unable to let that sort of comment pass, no matter her determination not to quarrel with the yellow-skinned bitch in front of Ciri. "I've yet to see you die, have I not, despite your disregard for caution? A testament to my skills, I'd wager."
"A testament to my ability to avoid fatal blows, more likely." Lae'zel countered with a dismissive wave. "Though I suppose your magic has its uses, limited as they may be."
"Enough, both of you. You're both pretty, you're both good in a fight, you both have your talents, so let's leave it at that for the rest of the night, hmm?" Ciri sighed, rolling her eyes, missing the pleased looks -one blushing and shy, one cocksure and smirking- that swept over the faces of her companions at the compliments. Shaking her head and rubbing her temples with a faint frown, she continued. "Come on, let's get to bed. Today was a long one, tomorrow is going to be longer, and that's not even including collecting the others and seeing if this Auntie Ethel person can actually help us with the tadpoles."
In a rare display of agreement, Lae'zel and Shadowheart both grimaced in response to the old woman's name. She had struck both of them as false-faced, deceptive, and pleasant to the degree that it became immensely suspicious. The fact that she had been particularly fascinated by Ciri just made their distaste all the stronger, and the fact that her 'healing tonic' had left one of the tiefling refugees paralyzed from the waist down until Shadowheart had done a bit of magical healing work was incredibly suspicious as well. Not to Ciri, who had merely commented that many of the healing potions from 'back home' had been just as unpleasant, but the majority of her companions knew that such a thing wasn't actually normal. Still, they all agreed that an opportunity had to be taken if it meant ridding themselves of the tadpoles, and so they'd allowed the old woman to mark their map with the location of her home.
Grunting in agreement after a long, quiet moment consideration, Lae'zel hefted her pack and made her way back across the room, scaling the ladder to the large storage platform they had found the strange dark metal stored on. "I will sleep up here. Should someone invade the building in the night, I shall attack them from above. Rest well, for tomorrow there is more killing to be done."
"Charming as always, Lae'zel." Shadowheart murmured to herself, watching the gith disappear onto the platform above. She turned to Ciri with a sigh, finding the silver-haired woman already spreading two bedrolls out in the corner most shielded from the door. Two bedrolls that were side by side to one another, close enough that they looked more like one large bedroll than two smaller ones. Her breath caught in her chest, her eyes widening and mouth drying, as she met Ciri's eyes.
"I…I wasn't sure if you wanted to be this close, but after the other night…" the witcher said a bit nervously, gesturing to a spot beside her own bedroll, cheeks pinkening slightly as she reffered to their close, intimate, sleeping embrace in Jergal's temple. "I can move it further away, if you like…?"
Shadowheart's heart skipped a beat. She knew she should maintain some distance, keep her wits about her and make sure that they weren't easily trapped together if a fight broke out, but the prospect of sleeping near Ciri was far too tempting to resist, especially if Lae'zel saw them sleeping together. Let's see how the bitch thought of the woman she wanted to 'claim' inviting Shadowheart into her arms! "I... thank you, but no. I have no interest in moving away from you. I…I rather enjoyed sleeping with you the other night, and had hoped to do it more often."
Ciri's smile was like a sunrise breaking through storm clouds, warm and brilliant, sending a flutter of butterflies through Shadowheart's stomach. "I was hoping you'd say that, I feel the same." she admitted softly, patting the space beside her invitingly.
Shadowheart moved to join her, setting down her pack and shield before carefully placing her mace within easy reach. She couldn't help but notice how Ciri's eyes followed her movements, lingering on her form with an appreciation that made heat rise to her cheeks, appreciation that grew as she slipped out of her chain-mail and tight pants, leaving her only in a simple set of deep violet underthings. Biting her lower lip, and wondering if Ciri could see her arousal, she settled down cross-legged on her bedroll, turning her gaze to the other woman with a flutter of nervousness dancing in her chest.
"You know..." Ciri said, her voice dropping to a lower register as she slipped her own shirt off, revealing a form as toned and powerful as Shadowheart had imagined, crisscrossed with scars that told stories of battles won and survived. "I heard what you and Lae'zel were talking about earlier."
Shadowheart froze, her heart hammering in her chest. "You…you did?"
"Vampire hearing," Ciri tapped her ear with a small smile, settling down beside her in nothing but her undergarments. "It's both a blessing and a curse. I hear things I'm not meant to, sometimes."
"I... I'm sorry if—"
"Don't be, 'Heart." Ciri interrupted, reaching out to brush their fingers together, the light touch sending sparks up and down her spine, and Shadowheart didn't consider resisting for a moment when that brush of fingers became an entwining of them.
"About what you heard," Shadowheart began hesitantly, her voice barely above a whisper. "I hope you don't think—I hope you aren't…"
"That I'm angry you find me attractive?" Ciri's lips quirked into a half-smile, her thumb tracing small circles on Shadowheart's palm. "That you've been watching me? I'd be disappointed if you weren't."
The admission stole Shadowheart's breath away. She swallowed hard, suddenly aware of how close they were, of the heat radiating from Ciri's body, of the faint scent of leather and steel and something wild that clung to her skin.
"And Lae'zel's intentions?" Shadowheart couldn't help asking, cursing herself immediately for bringing up the gith when she should be focusing on the beautiful woman before her.
Ciri chuckled softly, the sound somehow hungry, and she felt herself grow slicker still as it washed over her ears.
"Lae'zel is no more interested in something long-term with me than I am with her. I'm not opposed to sleeping with her, but she's in for a surprise if she thinks that I'll submit meekly to her. That's not in my nature, and something tells me that you prefer it that way. The only real question is if you can stand to be the lover of a vampire." she responded and explained, lips quirking in enough of a smile to flash her fangs. "Because I'm hungry right now, 'Heart. Starving from all that fighting and running around and magic. I'm hungry for you, I'm hungry for your company and for your blood alike, and if I take you to bed, I will be feeding from you."
Shadowheart felt a tremor run through her entire body at Ciri's confession, at the warning and the promise, her heart pounding so loudly she was certain the vampire could hear it. The idea of Ciri feeding from her was arousing enough as it was, she'd known that already. But for Ciri to do it while they…while they made love, sent a rush of heat straight to her core, more potent than any fantasy she'd indulged in thus far.
"I..." she began, voice raspy with desire, with interest and need. "I would welcome it, Ciri. Both parts. The feeding and... the rest."
Ciri's eyes darkened, pupils expanding until only a thin ring of that deep burgundy remained. Her nostrils flared slightly, her tongue darting out to whet her lips, and Shadowheart realized with a mixture of embarrassment and arousal that the vampire could definitely smell her wetness by now, even if she hadn't earlier.
"Are you certain?" Ciri asked, her voice dropping to a husky whisper as she leaned closer, her warm breath washing across Shadowheart's face. "Once I start, I may not want to stop when we reach the city. I might want to keep you with me, keep you by my side, never letting you leave me."
Shadowheart was promptly, and entrancingly, assaulted by the image of Ciri keeping her like a hound, loyally sitting at her feet and following at her heels. A collar around her throat, a leash leading to one strong, elegant hand, and she inhaled sharply in time with Ciri's own intake of breath as both of them recognized the clench of desire and rush of wetness between her legs for what it was.
"You liked that thought," Ciri murmured, her voice dropping even lower as she leaned in, her lips ghosting along Shadowheart's jaw towards her pulse point. "Being mine. Belonging to me. Staying with me."
"Yes, yes, but…" Shadowheart admitted, the word barely audible even to her own ears, but she knew Ciri would hear it, and so she did, those full lips curling in satisfaction against her throat. "I shouldn't. My goddess—"
"Does your goddess forbid pleasure?" Ciri asked, her hand sliding up Shadowheart's arm, leaving goosebumps in its wake. "Does she forbid you from companionship?"
"No," Shadowheart breathed, feeling a thrill pulse through her body at the admission, the truthful admission. "She doesn't."
"Then the only question is, are you okay with this? Are you okay with sex? Are you okay with me feeding from you? Are you okay with submitting to me? Because I haven't had sex since I turned, 'Heart, but I know that I can't be anything but the dominant partner. I wouldn't have liked being anything else before, but now…impossible." Ciri's voice was harsh, hard and unyielding, but it wasn't anger that drove the tone. It was desperation and a driving need for Shadowheart to be honest with the both of them, and it made Shadowheart's heart throb. How could it not? Most men and women in their current position, aroused and mind-fogged by want, wouldn't have been able to ask those questions, to offer an out. Especially not if they were a vampire as hungry as Ciri currently seemed to be, and she wondered for a moment if this blunt honesty from the woman pressed against her was due to that hunger.
In the end though, it didn't matter. Her answer would be the same either way.
"Yes to all of it, Ciri." Shadowheart whispered, her voice trembling with anticipation. "I want this. I want you. I've wanted you since I first saw you. Since you tore that pod to pieces to save me and raised me up from the deck of that nautiloid. Back on the beach, I said I wanted you to romance me, but…you already had, Ciri. So take what's yours, because that's me."
Ciri's eyes flashed, something primal and hungry unfurling behind them as her control began to slip. Her lips curled into a smile that was all predator, all hunger and desire and need.
"Good." she growled, and then her mouth was on Shadowheart's, hot and demanding.
The kiss was nothing like Shadowheart had imagined, and she had imagined it often, awake and dreaming alike. It was better than both. Ciri kissed like she fought, with precision and power and a confidence that left no room for doubt. Her tongue swept into Shadowheart's mouth, claiming every inch of it, while her hands tangled in her dark hair, tugging just hard enough to send sparks of pleasure threaded through with discomfort throbbing through her.
She moaned into Ciri's mouth, her hands clutching desperately at Ciri's shoulders as the vampire pressed her back against the bedroll. The feeling of being overwhelmed, of being claimed so thoroughly, sent waves of desire crashing through her body. She'd never been kissed like this before, never been wanted like this before, and it was intoxicating.
Ciri broke the kiss only to trail her lips down Shadowheart's neck, pausing at her pulse point, kissing it, licking it lightly. "I can hear your heartbeat, feel it beneath your skin." she murmured against the sensitive skin. "Racing for me. Calling to me."
"Yes~!" Shadowheart gasped, the sound a breathless sigh, a moan of need and offering at once, tilting her head to give Ciri better access. "Take what you need. Please. Take it, then take me."
Ciri hesitated, she could feel it. Wanting to pleasure her before feeding from her, no doubt, but whether it was due to her hunger or the raw desire in Shadowheart's plea, she didn't refuse. Her mouth opened, the sharp points of her fangs ghosting along the skin almost teasingly. She felt her sex clench in anticipation, her breathing heavy, her breasts heaving…and then the vampire bit. Ciri's fangs punch through her skin and into the blood-rich vein of her throat, and Shadowheart came undone as a spike of the most intense pleasure she had ever felt slammed through her like a tidal wave.
Her bite feels good. she thought to herself deliriously as she felt herself cum. She…like a succubus…so good.
Her eyes rolled back in her head as her mind started to go blank, and she realized she was about to pass out from pleasure from being fed on by a vampire, from feeling Ciri's fangs in her throat, tongue and lips coaxing her blood from her veins as they suckled and swiped at her skin. She wondered, briefly, what her Mother Superior would think about that. What her goddess would think. But the last thought that she had before she slipped away in Ciri's arms was a simple, passionate, thrilled mental utterance of the same thought she had had so many hours before.
I'm fucked.
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