§
I could feel Nora’s uncertainty in the hesitant way she kissed, so I let go after a few seconds, giving her a chance to get used to the idea.
“I’ve never done it with a woman, My Lady,” she admitted, a bit breathy. That was the charm working on her. We hadn’t connected long enough to leave her winded.
“It’s fine,” I told her. “I’m not here for a lover’s embrace, tonight. I’m simply here for a pleasant treat and a night’s rest. But perhaps you should have Mariela teach you the rest, the next night you have no customers.”
She giggled as I initiated the next kiss, and then let me slip in my tongue. Between kisses, we disrobed each other, while I explained that I wanted to avoid getting blood on our clothes.
Yeah, that’s a white lie, I admitted privately as I enjoyed the view of her fully exposed form while I laid her down on the bed. I brushed that thought away and just took pleasure in watching her kiss my bare skin in various spots while I caressed her in return.
“But why would you pay so much and not have sex?” she wondered as I fondled her lovely cream-colored fruit. I was really happy with how nicely it fit my hand.
She had a point. A half-crown each for two girls would buy a night with a lower-ranking girl at the Velvet Retreat, the top brothel in the kingdom.
I smiled and tipped her chin up so I could give her another kiss. Then I whispered to her. “Because I can afford the best.”
As she giggled again, I slipped down and pulled her pink tip into my mouth, suckling for a while before gently sinking my fangs into her skin. With my Dark feeding skill directly stimulating her pleasure center, she pulled in a long, shuddering breath, releasing it in an amorous sigh.
With Senhion’s knowledge coming back to me, my feeding had raised to another level. It seems, during her thousands of years, as her harem of Servants gradually grew into the hundreds, she became fascinated with technique, finding delight in discovering new ways to prolong and heighten the pleasure of her beloved mortals. And even though she only met with each Servant once or twice a year, their numbers and her longevity added up to quite a lot of experience.
It included both feeding and sex, because it seemed Senhion felt none of Elianora’s concern about mixing the two. Enough information was coming back to me to make me blush. But no matter how much I had advanced as an Elder, I was still the maidenly Tiana at heart. I had to shut those parts out immediately, especially the bits that involved the few male Servants she had taken. Fortunately, in order to do so, I could simply focus on the girl in my hands.
The first bit of advice from my former self was the most important. I needed to slow down. I had already been doing so, in order to concentrate blood, but it seemed I should draw things out even more. If I did so, I could feed twice, sometimes even three times, taking in only a third or a half as much blood with each drink. My donor could enjoy each time as much as a full feeding, and still have enough vigor to feed me again… or do other things.
Again, I shut the ‘other things’ out of my mind, and instead concentrated on the next bit of advice. I needed to give my donor other attention as I fed. I already did this a bit, caressing and massaging, but Senhion knew an amazing variety of techniques. Even after I eliminated the acts that qualified as sex, I still had several ways I could make things better.
With where I was feeding, I could apply one technique right away. As I patiently left my fangs in place and let the blood trickle into my mouth, my lips and tongue could add to her pleasure.
I could also withdraw and change locations, something I never did before. I kept it simple this time, simply slipping over to the other side, but it seemed Senhion would nibble on a number of locations before she was through.
Many minutes later, shortly after her ‘elder sister’ slipped into the room and watched with a smile, Nora arched her back and began quaking while grabbing my hair. The young courtesan finally dropped back to the mattress, exhausted.
I still had to check for ill effects, but instead of a vigil, I could examine her directly. The negative reaction that occasionally occurred was a sort of temporary epilepsy that the Dark magic that stimulated pleasure during feeding could accidentally trigger. Since I now understood exactly what to check for, I could see that Nora was not in danger.
Mariela sat on the mattress and smiled while caressing the panting girl’s shoulder.
“She really enjoyed that,” she said.
I touched Mariela’s arm. “So I have you for the night as well?”
She giggled. “Nobody else came, and Father has locked the front door. Although I’ve never heard of a vampire feeding on more than one girl in a night. Daniela said so too.”
I chuckled, while leaning across Nora to stroke Mariela’s cheek lightly. “I’m a very thirsty girl.”
I let the fairy charm flow gently over her mind, putting her into the right frame of mind as I beckoned her closer for a kiss. After I enjoyed her lips and tongue for a bit, I parted from them and noted, “You have more experience with women than your sister.”
“Only a little,” she confessed while stroking me in return. The effect of the charm had her a little flushed. “My elder sister taught me, and I’ve had a few lady customers.”
She wasn’t talking about incest, I reminded myself. She meant a prostitute with more experience than her.
After another kiss, I asked, “And with vampires?”
“Only twice,” she admitted. “I only have about a year in the trade, myself. Since you’ve had your drink, am I your recreation?”
It was weird for a blush to tinge my cheek in this situation, but it did. “I actually will feed on you later, but for my recreation tonight, I want to see a little show.”
She looked slightly puzzled. I glanced down at the girl who was resting between us. “This girl has no experience with women. Why don’t you teach her now?”
“Isn’t she… too tired?” she wondered, looking down at Nora. “Both times when I fed vampires, I fell asleep immediately.”
“I stopped only halfway, you see,” I told her. “That way I can enjoy her, twice. I’ll be doing the same with you.”
Her eyes grew. “Is… that so?”
After another kiss, I drew back and leaned against the headboard, then stroked Nora’s cheek. “Mariela will teach you about women, now. Why don’t you help her undress?”
§
After I enjoyed a morning bath and breakfast with my hostesses, Aenëe and I were on our way to the front.
At my top speed, it would have been a short trip, much less than an hour, but it turned out Aenëe was nowhere near as fast.
I probably would have been shocked to learn that, when I first met her, but I didn’t know then that she was a half-fairy. At her age, nowhere as old as the half-fairies working for Serera’s border patrol, it was frankly close to a miracle that she could even grow wings. In fact, now that I think about it, the fact that she demonstrated so much potential by being able to do so could well be the achievement that caused Oberon to place his faith in her future.
Her beautiful, crystal-clear wasp wings beat mightily, but the instinctive fairy will and spiritual strength she exerted to stream the Wind mana for lift and propulsion was quite weak. The physical force of those wings constituted a much larger fraction of her power of flight than my wings did for mine, even though my wings were much larger.
Fortunately, true fairies, half-fairies and lesser fairies all share roughly the same half-mana constitution, which has the benefit of giving us half the weight of mortals our size. Furthermore, our raiments and wings are entirely mana and add no weight at all. Otherwise, Aenëe probably wouldn’t be able to get off the ground.
But I’m not criticizing her. Starting from far less spiritual strength than a true fairy, she had come this far. Rather than pathetic, as I once saw her, I was now very impressed with the girl.
Wasn’t Tiana a half-fairy too, you ask? Wasn’t she even more impressive with what she achieved?
Aenëe’s other half is mortal. Tiana’s other parent was a vampire, another magical creature with the power of flight. It makes a difference.
But because of this, we were loafing along at less than fifty miles per hour, and had plenty of time to talk. At first, our conversation mostly covered her concerns over leaving her lord behind.
Rather than a fairy knight overseeing her lord’s safety, Aenëe sounded like a young mother leaving her child at kindergarten for the first time. She had been his caretaker for only three months, and apparently her maternal instincts had kicked in.
That would be surprising for a true fairy, but she had a mortal side to her heart. For her, I suppose it was normal.
Once I talked her through her worries, though, Aenëe’s eyes began sparkling a bit as her mind turned to other things. Specifically, teasing me.
“You seemed quite pleased with yourself when we met up, My Lady,” she noted. “Perhaps you had a tryst last night?”
My ears colored a little. I probably had still been enjoying the aftertaste a bit at that time. I airily answered, “I may have mingled with a mortal or two. In a city that large, there’s always a few pleasant morsels.”
She giggled. “You sounded like my mom just now.”
Well, her mom’s a fairy, right?
I shook my head. “I’m sure you don’t keep your hands off, either.”
“Aaaah… Well normally, that would be true. I may not go overboard like my older sisters, but I’m no virgin. Lately, though… well, I’ve had a child to look after, haven’t I?”
I blinked, caught off-guard. I hadn’t considered that.
She noticed my face and laughed. “It’s hardly a problem. I was raised by my father. The fox tribe are pretty conservative, so I’m not as promiscuous as others anyway. And my little lord is worth the sacrifice. He’s quite a bright child.”
I pursed my lips, wondering what the future held for that child. The only way his city remained out of demonic hands was if it became Orestanian territory. The chance that he retained the barony was small. She called him ‘lord’, but he was probably destined for commoner status.
I decided to set it aside and turn to other issues. Specifically, to Aenëe’s fighting power.
“You’re carrying several magic items on your person, My Lady. I’m sure one gives you stealth, since I’ve seen you use it. Your sabatons surely do the same thing my sabatons do and you have your bracelet for sensing demons. I’m hoping the other items improve your fighting capabilities, or I’ll be troubled.”
She frowned at me. “Troubled, you say?”
“I trounced you rather thoroughly, you may recall,” I told her bluntly. “If you haven’t upped your capabilities, I need to adjust my tactics accordingly.”
She looked quite annoyed at me, but she didn’t refute me. The memory of being sent flying over the city wall in Cara Ita was probably still pretty fresh.
But she admitted, “I have a shielding treasure and a couple offensive weapons. They are trump cards, however.”
I gave a sigh. “Alright. So should I assume you will normally have the same capabilities?”
She licked her lips, clearly hesitant to reveal her secrets.
“I’ll not ask any specifics about your trump cards. Let’s just discuss your normal fighting power.”
She looked ahead as she thought, then her expression changed.
“We should discuss it later, My Lady,” she said with a taut voice.
“Why?” I wondered, looking to see what she saw, and found my answer. On the ground in the distance ahead of us, a large battle was clearly underway.
