Mine...Yours Pt. 12

"Cast a spell like that at me again and I will..." I finished by squeezing mildly for me, but I heard a sound like celery being torn and he screamed again as I let his arm fall down useless against his side. He should be grateful he was still breathing considering my mood! I turned to look at the remaining players in this battle, I could feel my eyes flashing a brighter shade of blue as I saw my Lucretia folded in half and exposed and bleeding and a giant with a truly impressive penis...no, can't say penis. That thing looked big enough to club an ox unconscious!

"I don't know who you are...and honestly I don't care. You let go of my friend or I will rip you a new asshole!" I said. I grinned at him, waiting for him to move or say something. It was obvious what he was going to do. He was a rapist ass wipe and even if he backed off of my Lucretia...he was dead!

I ignored what he started to say, I saw that he had raised up just enough that I had time to strike!

I called on my power and kicked hard at the pavement. With a little mental force it created a nice make shift cannonball that whistled through the air and struck him on his horns! I hadn't cared if it had missed. I just needed it as a distraction. I planted my kicking foot and zipped towards him myself with a yell and bum rushed him off of my succubus! He went over onto his back and I started slamming my fists and yelling at the top of my lungs, just wailing on him! I felt a horn break under my fists and his skull shatter, I was winning!

Then his legs came up and shoved me off of him, and he rolled to his feet. I watched in amazement as injuries were almost completely healed. I had done almost nothing to him! I saw the line of energy between him and the...well not just a man. Maybe a wizard, or another mage? Either way, that green line of energy was getting thicker.

"What is your name?" The jolly winged giant asked. I side stepped a little and turned so I could keep the wizard and this crazy looking Outsider in view. That rage that I had always ignored was in the forefront of my mind and I wondered for the first time if it had been a bad idea for me to open that door and step outside into who I really was. Then I stopped, and physically shrugged...it felt good, and I seemed to be thinking clearly...so it really wasn't a bad thing at all.

Speaking of thinking clearly, why wasn't the big guy attacking me? Seemed able to heal from the damage I had given him. My Sight was showing he was back to full health, but what was going on in the corner of my vision caught my attention and I warily turned my head just enough to get a good peek at the wiz kid...his hair was white, and all of that green energy flowing through that link, was the wizards!

"Do you see little mage?" The giant said in a low rumble. "I am actually protecting you in a way." He spread his arms and gestured to Lucretia, lying in a heavy indent on the ground, a thick dark chain piled on her chest.

"She is a succubus, she drains energy...life...your life. Little by little she will take all that you have and what does she offer in return? Sexual pleasure?" He chuckled and grinned, showing off massive teeth in that large head.

"You can find sexual pleasure with anyone or anything! If your tastes run different than human men or women I know of several beings that would leap at the chance to lay down with a human and it would cost you nothing..." He paused and tilted his head a little as if thinking.

"They might even make it worth your while. I know of at least two, a sylph and a dragoness that would relish the pleasure of a human male in their bower!"

I said nothing, thought nothing. He continued, "So much effort you put forth for someone who means to kill you. All of us in the Planes heard of your Binding. The daughter of the Queen of the 6th Plane bound to a mortal in an open agreement. It was unheard of, and almost laughable." He paused and considered me again while crossing his massive arms over a chest the size of two whiskey barrels.

"Now that I see you and felt a bit of your strength I think I understand it now..." He glanced over at my friend.

"You have great Will, and through the power of it...you forced her to act the way you wished her too. That is very commendable. Otherwise she may have killed you sooner..."

He clapped his hands once and rubbed them together briskly, his wings flexing. "Now! To business...I wish to take and kill Lucretia, you wish her to be whole. I offer you this, I will let it be know that you wish companionship. I will use my contacts to find a suitable companion for you and take the contract upon myself. No danger to you at all, I will take the risks. That way you have a faithful companion for the entire term of the contract who will leave you alone and unmolested. They will be obedient and subservient and cater to your whims and desires."

His eyes hardened and seemed to grow hot, I could almost see the falling rain his and turn to steam as it fell on his face.

"If you choose to continue to fight me...I will unmake you. Tear off your arms and legs as I violate every member of your family and your friends before I eat them before killing you. Then I will STILL destroy Lucretia the Grey!" He settled down and resumed a predatory smile.

"Now tell me...little mage...what do you decide?"

I smiled back quietly, almost dreamily as I looked past his shoulder. "I choose, for you to die..."

Then one of the parked cars that I had been slowly rolling with my power closer and closer while he was talking slammed into his back driving him to the ground! I held out my hand indicating another one from the parking lot and beckoned sharply. It raised into the air and slammed down on the squealing monster!

I curled the fingers of both of my hands together slowly, the mounds of wreckage bent to my thoughts and began to curl around this creatures body. He was able to, amazingly enough, push himself to his knees!

"I will destroy you! You and everything you value! I, Balmont! Ruler of the 5th Plane will destroy you!"

I smiled and held him in place.

"Lucretia told me, bound as strongly as she was to me...she could die a true death here...whatever that means...I think you know what that is." I snarled as I squeezed my hands tighter, I felt a strong phantom pressure holding against my fingers as Balmost pushed harder. His eyes blazed and flame appeared around me, I shut my eyes and my shield came into being pushing the flames away to give me room. It expanded from the two inch range of my body to form a full circle 8 feet on all sides around me. A wall of pale blue that let me breath and though I felt heat, I was not burned.

The monster, no...he was called Balmont? Balmont roared in frustration again and tried to push out of the prison of twisted metal and glass. I focused on him and roared myself with effort as I pushed against that phantom pressure in my palms. The squeal of twisted metal and glass increased as the two cars began to shift and compress around Balmonts body, pinning his arms and legs together. I wondered why I didn't see that green line of energy anymore, but I didn't worry about questioning my luck and I just kept squishing. Soon the metal had wrapped comepletely around his form leaving just his head sticking out.

Balmont kept staring at me with hate filled eyes, and I grinned back at him with anger in my own.

"Never...EVER...screw with me and my family or my friends! You ignorant fuck!" I yelled at him, then I closed my eyes and squeezed, yelling again with the effort. I could feel the pressure in my palms as I began to roll the object in my hands and the tube began to shift, folding on itself and warping. I heard a braying call like a bull in pain that suddenly cut off as I began rolling the pressure in my hands. It felt like when I was a child, rolling modeling clay, and you had to warm it up first.

Then I guess the fuel from the gas tanks in the cars ignited from the left over fire that had sprung up around me and things really got interesting! The pressure became more fluid with the heat and I registered it dimly. I was focused on my enemy though and I rolled it faster and faster, increasing the force and gritting my teeth hard as I did so. Then, as if a switch had flipped in my brain...I stopped, and let my hands fall. I heard a heavy clunk, as something hit the asphalt. I looked in the direction and found what was left of Balmont...

...At least I think it was...

The two cars wrapped around him, with him in the center, were fused together and gleaming with only a few imperfections here and there. It was a very smooth and shiny sphere. I wondered for a moment about how big Balmont was, and how big those two cars were and shook my head in surprise.

For the sphere was the size of a bowling ball! I am pretty sure he was dead.

A small moan caught my attention and I looked over at the wizard and walked over to him. He had wrinkles and long white hair and his eyes were milky as he peered at me.

"I just wanted to avenge my family...my family...you understand don't you? I will not stop until the Gatewatch is hurt as much as they have hurt me!" He said in an old man's quavering voice.

I nodded my head, "You would do anything for family...kill others and sacrifice yourself for them...I understand that. I really, honestly do." Then I drew my foot back and kicked him in the face! He went out like a light.

Wanting to kill the Gatewatch? No, hurt the Gatewatch...seems I have come full circle to where my whole experiences started with them. Hildy, Jemima, and Gwen...Then meeting Lucretia who wanted to kill them.

Lucretia? I spun and stared across at my friend, where she lay in the rain...not moving!

Chapter 39: Love

"No!" I shouted while sprinting across the wet asphalt. The rain was blinding me, and I nearly stumbled and fell on my face dodging through all the holes in the melted surface. Lucretia and Balmont really did a number on the parking area with all of those pyrotechnic displays! I fell to my knees next to my succubus, she was still in her full combat get up. I threw that heavy length of chain off of her so I could better examine the injuries. Her obsidian armor was cracked and whole chunks were missing from it. Black blood oozed from several major lacerations on her chest, arms, abdomen and legs. She opened one black eye to look at me, the other appeared to have been gouged out since the socket was empty and that side of her face was a gory ruin.

I wanted to help her but I didn't know where to start! She looked so messed up, so hurt! The wounds on her abdomen looked to be the most life threatening so I ripped my Dad's flannel shirt off and started packing the wound with it. She gasped and groaned when I did that, and blinked up at me with one eye. Then sighed, smiled and turned her head to the side. As I held the makeshift compress in place, the reality of this situation began to sink in. Before when she was injured, she healed quickly. For some reason she wasn't now. Why? What is different?

"Lucretia, why aren't you healing?" Her good eye closed and she ignored me.

"Damn it! Stay awake! Tell me!" I shouted. Her eye slowly opened again, and she appeared to have to really concentrate on my face before her one-eyed gaze cleared.

"Poison...can't heal...weak." She said faintly.

I felt ice water run down my back, and it wasn't the cold rain either! Poison? Lucretia could take a bullet from a Desert Eagle to the forehead at close range and it would only piss her off! There was no way that something as simple as poison would...wait. She said, "...weak." That must mean...oh no! I put a hand alongside her face, on the non-torn up flesh. My voice broke and I felt tears mixing with the rainwater on my cheeks as I spoke again.

"Sweetheart? How much energy do you have left?" I choked out. Her long-fingers held my hand more tightly to her face.

"None..." she said quietly. She slowly rubbed her face against my fingers and turned her face to gently kiss them. "I am dying...my Greg."

Those words just about killed me! After everything we had gone through. The arguments, the laughs, the temper tantrums on both of our parts, facing down a Balmont...something or other! No way would something like this stop us! We had come too far! I thought about what my life was like before I had Lucretia in it, and compared it to what my life was like now with her apart of it. No question, she had made it better, I felt more alive now than I had in years. She filled me with a joy I had never known before. She was my best friend, my partner my...L...my L...Oh...

She was my Love!

I love her...I love her! I felt her shift and groan, more black blood oozed out from under my fingers. The t-shirt was soaked through. I leaned down and kissed her lips, soft little pecks at first and I was whispering to her between each caress of my mouth on hers.

"Please Lucretia...kiss me sweetheart...come on...feed on me..." I started to press a little harder and she began to react a little. I felt a little tingle as suddenly the warmth left my lips and a small ringing filled my ears. Lucretia gasped and her body bucked under my hands. Her one good eye shot open and it locked on my face. I licked my lips and tasted the bitter tang of her black blood. I spat it off to one side and I saw her panting; her face turned farther away from me.

"No! Greg...NO!" she gasped out. "I will NOT feed on you!"

This was a surprise. She had told me many times that she wanted to taste me, to feed on me. Heck, when I finally got her to open up about why she wanted to eat my energy so much was that because of who and what I was, it was a rare combination. Sure, I was your average guy...but the way I was raised, the kind of person I was, pushing through the bad things that had happened to me and especially when I finally overcame a lot of the pain in my past made me extraordinarily tasty. The telekinetic mage was just an added bonus, like that parsley garnish used at restaurants.

Maybe I am like some rare kind of twinkie, you know, the ones with frosting and strawberry jam filling?

"You need energy to heal, your body can't keep up with the damage AND the poison in your system right?" I pressed. I kissed her cheek and felt her shudder under me.

"No!" she said again.

"Damn it! If you die on me I will beat you so bad! I will spank you so hard you won't be able to even stand up without it hurting!" I growled.

"I will not feed on you!" she said.

I continued my little pecks on her cheek, my lips always right there, waiting for her to turn her head.

"Please...pretty please? Feed on me? I am your Master and I am asking you to feed on me. Come on, I know you want to, you even swore to do it? Remember? The first time we met, you swore by the Empty Throne to drain every drop of energy in my body...remember? Come on sweetie..." I kept pressing her, nearly lying on top of her. A couple of times I did get just a touch of my lips and hers. Many times we had kissed, but she had never really drawn anything from me, now it must be almost instinctual for her nature. Each time when our lips touched I felt a little pulling sensation as something was drawn out of me into her. Of course each time she would jerk her head away! I finally stopped and watched her. She was trembling, and tears were sliding from her one good eye.

"Why won't you Lucretia...just tell me why you won't?" I asked desperately. My face was right above hers, blocking the rain from falling on her head. Of course my own tears were still falling and I could see them glistening on her cheek in place of the raindrops.

"It would kill you!" Lucretia whimpered finally. "I don't want to kill you!"

"You don't KNOW that!" I hissed. Actually, she would know that, her being a succubus and all I am sure she knows her own limits. Not that I cared...she was going to die, and this was the only way I could see how to save her. Funny thing is that I never thought I would live to see 40. I thought either the roving vigilantes, or whatever would kill me before I had a chance to make it to that age. I never saw this happening to me. That being said, this would be a much better way to die. If I had to choose a way to go, saving the life of the person I loved is the best way in my book.

"How am I supposed to live with myself if I kill you?" Lucretia said, openly crying now. "I would rather die than do that!" She continued sobbing, now bringing up her hand to cover her nose and mouth. I could hear her whines and soft cries behind the cover. Sneaky...now I can't kiss her!

"I gave you an order, Lucretia. As your Master..." I firmly began.

She interrupted me with a snarl. "As my Master you GAVE me FREE WILL! So I exercise my FREE WILL to say fuck you!" She covered her mouth up with her hand again. I tried a new tact...

Truth.

"Try this on then for size, Lucretia. You ask me how you could live with yourself if you killed me? How about this, look at it through my eyes! My best friend is dying...DYING! I can save her, I can help her. All I have to do is be willing to take the chance of dying myself. It's just a chance...not a for sure thing. If I don't she is going to die." My heart was in my throat as I began to finish my statement. I would be saying something out loud to someone else that I hadn't said to anyone in years. But if anyone deserved to hear it, it was this badly wounded Outsider lying under me.

"How could I live with myself if I didn't take the chance to help someone who I love? It would kill me if I didn't do anything to save you. You thought about that, huh? Lucretia I love you! I love you damn it, and if you feel anything for me at all you will let me help you!"

She held still beneath me, her body rigid and I saw her mouth a word, it was hard to tell with blood on her lips which word it was. I think she was repeating one I just said. .She began to sob harder, great heaving gasps that almost pushed me off of her. Now I saw it, the tear duct by her ruined eye was now leaking tears as well, cutting a path through her sticky black blood. She moved her hand from her mouth and through her gasps I could hear her say, "I...LOVE...you...too!" Then she dissolved into tears again.

I had waited my whole life to hear those words said back to me, and know the person who said them meant it. It had been a dream I thought would never be. That I could love someone and they would love me back. Not out of pity, not out of "If someone says it to you it's only polite to say it back." To hear it being said from the heart, and know that...oh...oh I can't put it into words! Something inside me broke and I wanted to sing, dance, laugh and weep all at the same time!

I began kissing her lips again, and she let me! Then she pushed on my shoulders, stopping me. "Wait...listen...wait...need to tell you!" I stopped her with another kiss that made her body arch under me and a deep groan issue from her chest.

"Talk later...gotta feed you first." I said, planting another deep lip lock on her mouth. She turned and said, "No, listen to me! Important!" I backed off a little and waited.

"I don't want to take too much. You stop me, all right? Promise you will stop me?" She pleaded.

I wanted to promise her, I really did. But I couldn't. I had a million thoughts circling through my head. Even if it took everything inside of me to get her better I would gladly give it and more. What if her body was healed but the poison stayed in her system, she would need more energy to fight that off? What if she was attacked again while still weak from this fight and she didn't have enough energy to save herself? The most prominent of all the thoughts flowing in my head was this one...

I loved her!

I loved her so much and I would do everything in my power to protect her! I would give her all of my love and I would find more. I would dig deep, scour myself to give her everything of what I was. She was mine, and she deserved it. She LOVED me, and I would give her my all, no reservations. I would give much more if I could, she deserved better than me. I gently kissed the top of her head right between her two horns. Her eye was wide as I moved back down so we were face to face. I remembered us having our first kiss on the roof of our house and what we had said to each other up there. I smiled at the memory and said those words now.