Zozobra

Author: Suten Net Title: Zozobra Chapter 1

Part Two: Zozobra

Chapter [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]

Rating: R/NC-17
Pairing: Valgaav/Filia/Xellos.
Feedback: Yes, please.
Characters: Valgaav, Filia, Xelloss, & the Slayers.
Betas: Tara-hime, Jenee; (Frau Eva), Zanne Chaos, AmeriaSaillune39, and the members of the Valfilia Yahoo!Group.
Notes of the Authress: Many thanks to the Valfilia Yahoo!Group.
Disclaimer: I own the story, but nothing else. No money, just fun. Applies to all chapters.

***

She was awake now. There was something warm next to her, breathing. She did not want to open her eyes, wherever she was, it reeked of something she could not identify.
She tried to move. She stopped. She hurt, everywhere. She whimpered and the warm something moved against her. It was Him!
He tightened his arms around her and moved his head to nuzzle her forehead with his cheek. She stiffened her body as she felt some of his hair fall against her face.
After a moment of stillness, she cracked open an eye and looked up into his face. He was still asleep, or at least he appeared to be. She opened both eyes and moved her face away from his. She looked down at them and was shocked to discover that one of her legs was thrown over his hips, that one of her hands rested on his shoulder and her other on his chest.
She carefully lifted her leg and placed it by its mate, grimacing as she did for her leg stuck slightly to his skin. A deep, calming breath filled her lungs as she slipped from underneath his arms. She realized that they were both slightly sticky from...
She rolled away from him and huddled in a ball for a moment. Though it hurt, she placed her knees to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. Tears threatened as she squeezed her eyes shut and barred her teeth. Breath hissed through her teeth as she began to tremble slightly.
After a moment she calmed herself, willing the thought of it, the memory of it, away. She carefully pushed herself up on her knees. She looked down at the hands on her thighs. There were bloody hands on her bloody thighs. Disbelieving, she looked at her own hands. From fingertips to palm His blood covered her hands. Once again, the blood of an Ancient Ryuzoku was on a Golden Ryuzoku's hands.
Tears splashed on her thighs making her focus on them. They were smeared with more than her blood. Sweat, scent, her dew, his seed...
His seed.
Her eyes grew wide as she vividly remembered what he had done with his seed. Her hands clawed as she began hyperventilation. Slowly, though she urged herself not to, she turned her head back to look at him. Really look at him.
His face was so peaceful in his sleep. She damned him for that. It revealed nothing of his unpredictable nature. She had left welted marks and bloody gouges on his chest. A few more scars to add to his collection of those made by Golden Ryuzoku. His thighs and hips were smattered with her blood and their secretions. Bruises were scattered and dark from his knee to his ribcage on one side of his body. No doubt caused by her tail. His skin glowed slightly in the candle light from the sweat that had covered him. His large wings were gathered close to his back and his arms that stretched out before him, from when he had held her, tensed occasionally.
Tears were running down her cheeks and neck as her eyes reached the bed-like object itself. The sheets were shredded, bloodied, and stained from their encounter leaving them utterly ruined. She knew what the smell was now. This place reeked of sex and the tangy odor of blood. She felt like vomiting.
She had to get out of this place before he woke up. She had to get away. Scrambling off the bed she fell as her legs could not support her weight. She heard a groan come from the bed-like object and froze. Her heartbeat raced faster than she had realized it before. She looked down at the floor that was not a floor and began to wonder why she was not falling, although she felt like she was falling.
After moment of gut wrenching silence, her heart slowed and she tested her feet. Like a newborn fawn, she carefully rose on her legs. Filia stumbled a little as she took a step behind her. She realized that he was waking up and her heart slammed in her chest once more. She backed away from him and tripped into a candelabra. She caught herself on it before they both fell. Droplets of hot wax burned her arms and she gasped audibly at the sensation.
A stirring came from the bed-like object and she panicked, letting go of the candelabra stepping backwards rapidly. Her eyes wide with fright, she put her hands to her mouth to keep from utter a sound.
She was suddenly surrounded by darkness as she was pitched back into the gateway that led to the Terrestrial Plane. She could not help but screech.
In another instant the darkness dissipated and she found herself back in the throne room. She stumbled back into the throne, over the armrest. As she picked herself up, her hand felt something unusual in the throne's seat. Picking it up carefully she was surprised to find that it was a child's toy.
Her quandary was broken by a voice calling out,
"Lord Valgaav? Lord Valgaav?" She started. It was the ogre, Gravos. She dropped the toy and stumbled off the dais for her clothing. She slung her cloak over her shoulders and slipped into her boots. Crouching down, she reached for and bundled up the rest of her clothing. She wrenched her mace out of the floor where it had been dropped and cradled it in the crook of one arm with her clothing. With her other hand she reached for her headdress and paused.
She had no right to reclaim her headdress. She was no longer a Shrine Maiden. She bit her lip and fisted her trembling hand as tears threatened to spill from her eyes.
Of course, she could always pretend that this hand never happened. She could forget this; she would have to. It would mean more lies, but what were a few more lies to the Golden Ryuzoku?
"Lord Valgaav!" He was closer now, startling her. She grabbed the headdress and fled through what looked like a good exit.

* * *

He awoke slowly. He was warm, relaxed, and his mind was foggy. He reached out with his fingers and they moved sluggishly against the sheets. He wanted to drift back to sleep, but something kept nagging in that back of his mind that something was not right.
There was movement and sound just beyond his perception; they were muted to his senses. He groaned in protest to them. He began to drift again in the ensuing silence and then was dragged back as a clatter reached his ears. It was almost like there a voice that accompanied it as well. He was awake now and struggled to find a better position to fall back asleep. He slept so rarely now that it was a boon when he did.
A scream, a woman's scream, brutally snatched him from his dozing. His eyes popped open and for a moment he blinked. The scream had been odd, cut off at the end. He rose up and looked around the room that was not a room. He looked down at the bed that was not a bed and found it in a sorry state, but no Shrine Maiden. He reached out to feel the sheets next to him.
They were still warm. She had not gone far. He wanted to hold her again as he did last night. He had to feel her skin against his and touch her beautiful hair again.
He fisted the sheet in his hand as his eyes narrowed and his nostrils flareHe wHe would not give her up so easily for she was his now. She had given herself to him, had she not? If he could not have his Kind or Gaav, then he would have her.
The hunt was on.
He took the sheet in his fist and ripped it. He moved off the bed-like object and tied the torn sheet about his hips. Walking through the portal he stepped out to find the throne room with his cloths littered on the ground were they had been last night. Her clothes were missing.
"Lord Valgaav!" Gravos called as he turned a corner to enter the throne room. Gravos started when he saw his lord. What with his clothing littered haphazardly on the floor, his face twisted in determination, and what looked like a bloody and torn cloth around his waist.
"Lord Valgaav?" The ogre uttered tentatively. At last, his lord turned his face towards his,
"Yes, Gravos?" Unable to meet his lord's fierce stare, he averted his eye and tapped his claws against the floor.
"Is everything well, My Lord?" Valgaav sighed and moved towards the throne. Seating himself he reached for the memento of his youth and stared at it long and hard before giving his minion an answer.
"Presently, no," Valgaav said cryptically, "however, I shall soon remedy that." Gravos looked up at his lord and realized that from the look in his eyes that he was in a place very far away in his own mind.
"My Lord Valgaav, what would you have me do?" For a moment his lord remained in that far away place before answering, without looking up from his token of youth,
"You may pick up my clothing, Gravos, and have them repaired and laundered." The ogre bowed to Valgaav.
"As you wish it, My Lord," he said solemnly. As he began to collect his lord's things he noticed something of a pinkish color on the dais beside the large throne.
"My Lord, what is that beside the throne?" Valgaav looked up and searched the area around the throne with his piercing gaze. To the left of him he found Her ribbon. The poor mangled thing was laying twisted on the dais. He remembered that it was his fault and felt guilt well up inside him.
Valgaav put the child's toy he held down on the wide armrest to his right and and reached down to retrieve her ribbon. Although it was battered and frayed the delicate ribbon was still soft and beautiful in his eyes. As Valgaav twisted it around his fingers he closed his eyes and thought of Her. Valgaav realized that he did not even know her name.
He squeezed the ribbon in his fist and frowned. How dare she try and run from him. He would have her for his own again before the day was out. This he vowed to himself as he gently took the ribbon and tied it to the staff of his keepsake. He looked at the now combined objects fondly for a moment.
Without warning, Valgaav rose from the throne and paced out of the room. Gravos was left to wonder as that determined look was once again on the face of his lord and master. Questions about the pink ribbon burned in his mind and he asked the now empty room softly,
"Lord Valgaav?"
End of Chapter One

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