Chapter 5: [005] [Birds of Prey]

There were two shadows in the distance, black spots against the deep blue that were approaching them. The two figures were not rushing over, appearing more preoccupied with getting a good view of the area first. To Rick's eyes, it looked like the duo were making sure there would be no surprises in the area. Though it was hard to make out the details of either of them with the sharp incandescence of the sun beating down on them.

Their presence was unwanted. They'd shown up soon after Monica had left, and that was far too much of a coincidence. Were he a less suspicious man, he'd believe her departure at top speed had drawn their attention, that they were merely guards or some such. But he wasn't, which mostly left him wishing he could use the bond to call for the feline to come back ASAP.

“No need to worry. I can handle them.” Kiara spoke with a loud snort and a roll of her eyes, impetuously flicking a lock of blue hair over her shoulder. “They’re just two birds. A proper appetizer.”

Rick shot a glare, crossing his arms. “No using your powers unless we're sure they're needed.” As much as he would've preferred being the first to strike, he couldn't be absolutely sure these weren't guards. Hopefully, they were legitimate. It would give them a chance to get some information, maybe even some aid. That and attacking someone working for the kingdom could end up biting them in the ass down the line.

The Succubus halted mid-step and glared back. “Do you want me to just tie my hands behind my back while we’re at it? Guards or bandits, they-.”

“Start nothing if there’s no need to have anything started.” He glared.

Kiara met his gaze for only a second, then sighed. "You're too dramatic sometimes." She reached up to her neck, loosening the gold enchanted collar and removing it. "It doesn't matter what they are."

The enchanted collar, the mark of a maiden, and the one thing that allowed them to form bonds with the average human. It was easy to tell what her plan was once her horns shrank into her hairline, the other features that marked her as a maiden diminishing with every passing second, the tail and wings receding entirely while her blue hair took a muted tone. The Succubus intended to pass as a human woman.

Her fingers caressed her naked throat. "I don't think I will ever get used to having the bond, even without the collar." She muttered under her breath, golden eyes flashing at him with amusement and something else. "We kill the two birds, and that will be the end of our encounter."

Rick crossed his arms and looked at her flatly. “Those two aren't alone. They have to be bonded to a human somewhere, a human they can't have left unprotected."

The blank look on her face spoke volumes about what her line of thought had been. "Of course they're in a group."

She was hungry. Even when she had a meal out of Eva, she hadn't had enough. Rick wasn't sure whether to feel grateful or annoyed. Out of everyone in the group, Kiara's need for food was the one he knew the least of. She used sex to extract energy out of her partners. He was sure her bottomless endurance meant she had an equally bottomless appetite.

Was he not the only one pushing too hard?

"Once their friends come to inspect what happened, we can get rid of them, too." She pretended like it hadn't taken her several seconds to reach that conclusion. "They'll have food you lot can eat as well."

"You're drooling." Dia pointed out.

And Kiara ignored it, keeping her gaze on Rick. "Well?"

She had a point. Even if these people were guards... but no. "All it would take is one interrogation under a truth spell. No attacking them unless they're a threat."

Kiara snorted, rolling her eyes. "Spells can be subverted. With the right knowledge, you can even make them blow up in the caster's face." Amusement flickered across her face, clearly thinking of some specific event that took place in her long life. "But have it your way." She turned to Dia, pointing her finger. "Healer, pretend you're restraining the leech. And leech, pretend you're feral."

“Her name is Dia.” Rick stated.

The Succubus blinked rapidly. Her golden irises changed from brilliant gold to a dull ochre. "She's part of the background most of the time. I don't need to remember her name." She replied offhandedly, glancing down at her chest and giving it a squeeze, shrinking it ever so slightly. "I'm not here for her, anyway."

She was here for him. Though why exactly wasn't something she'd bothered to clarify. "And you're not here for your bitchy attitude, either."

Kiara laughed. “Spicy. Any hotter and we’ll be angry-fucking into that tree in a minute.” She turned to the Rapha, making an exaggerated bow. “Oh, generous and capable healer Dia, please pretend to choke the useless leech. I could put down the threats to your owner's life, but he is against violence, so we will need to play pretend for a bit."

Dia snorted, turning to the unconscious Eva. The Fledgling didn't really fight back, mostly looking like she was definitely asleep.

"Now, for the most important part." Kiara licked her lips slowly, leaning closer to him. "Are you ready to pretend to be my extremely fortunate husband?"

The question left an unpleasant taste in his mouth. It brought back too many unpleasant things to the front of his thoughts. “If you’re trying to convince me to let you just kill everyone, you’re succeeding.”.

“Keep talking dirty, my cute male, and I’ll make your toes curl tonight.” A mirthful smirk crossed her lips.

“I’ve seen your best. No curled toes yet.”

She cooed, caressing his forearm. “Oh, honey, you’ve just never let me use my full repertoire. That meager aura of yours might protect you from my usual, but all of it-”

“Are you flirting with him?” Dia spoke with a mix of disbelief and irritation, all while straddling the unconscious Fledgeling. “Did you have to drain her this much? She’s going to be starving when she wakes up, and I’m not offering my neck. Ever.”

“Then the leech should learn how to better turn ferals into prunes.” Kiara shrugged.

“Maybe drain some ferals yourself.” Rick pretended to be distracted as he limbered up, more focused on the incoming duo than the ongoing conversation.

The offhanded jab met its mark; the Succubus turned her full attention to him. “I can’t just ‘drain’ energy. It needs to be prepared, just how you can't just eat a mouthful of flour." She didn't bother to hide the glare. "Maidens under the influence of the feral curse are spoilt goods. Like drinking mud. It'll get the job done, but not for long."

With an offhanded chuckle, he combed his hair between his fingers. "You're very talkative when you're irritated, you know that?"

"I'm many things when I am irritated." With a snarl, she turned to glance up at the sky and their incoming uninvited guests. "Just play the nice little man and buy me some time. Let the strong, beautiful maiden do the rest."

Kiara inhaled, raising her shoulders, and let out a slow sigh.

It was like watching a transformation, just one that was more than skin deep.

Suddenly she was smiling, a blank look crossing her eyes as her whole body relaxed. A cocking of her hip, a forward lean of her shoulders, and a thousand tiny adjustments to her posture. Within seconds, the impression she gave off was that of a harmless vapid little thing, someone entirely unburdened of thoughts or cares. To anyone else, it was like she'd turned into an entirely different person.

"Darling, they're here. They're going to rescue us!"

Even her voice sounded peppy.

And looking at her made Rick feel... wrong. Like she was wearing a transparent plastic mask, one that added an uncanny edge to everything she did. It even annoyed him a little, watching her like this. Was this also an effect of the bond? Or was it merely that he’d gotten used to her having that sharp, cunning gaze closely watching everything around her in suspicion?

“HEEEEY!” Kiara waved her arm wildly at the two avian maidens before they were close enough to actually hear her. “WE NEED HELP!”

The callout got an immediate reaction from the approaching maidens. They pushed themselves to move faster. The duo didn’t land right away though, moving to circle overhead, well away from potential immediate harm. As far as anyone could guess, it looked like they had some experience with such encounters.

“Don’t get close to the one with black wings.” Kiara whispered under her breath, quickly raising her voice and waving her hand even more enthusiastically. “HELLOOOOO! WE ARE LOST! HELP US!”

Three more rounds and they dove, stopping their fall roughly five meters over their heads, holding themselves aloft by flapping their wings. They looked like angels that had run through a henhouse after covering their arms and legs in tar. One had white feathers, the other one was black. Rick focused less on their appearance and more on their weapons and clothes. Both wielded long spears, their clothes being ragged and dirty leather, with no insignias or marks. These weren’t knights, hunters, or guards, it seemed. Though there was still a chance they were someone’s hired help.

“What’s the matter, ma’am?” The black-winged one asked, a smirk on her lips.

“WE GOT A BIT LOST!” Kiara called out in that obnoxious volume and tone. “THE GUARDS LEFT LAST NIGHT AND WE COULDN’T FIND THEM!”

“Honey, your voice.” Rick stepped in, shooting the two strangers a friendly if awkward smile.

“Oh, shush my love, everyone knows winged maidens are hard of hearing because their heads are so full of air.” She spoke to him with a mock whispering voice and turned to the duo. “POINT US TO THE NEAREST VILLAGE, AND BE SURE TO-.”

A bolt of lightning struck Kiara’s leg. She shrieked and fell over, clutching her thigh.

“Kiara!” Rick leapt to her and froze half-way through when he felt a raw tingling sensation against his skin, the air becoming charged.

It took him half a second to remind himself Kiara was not the one in real danger. He immediately backpedaled away, a second bolt of lightning striking the spot he'd been occupying. The black-feathered maiden was carefully eyeing the group, hands crackling with blue sparks of electricity as she was gauging their reactions closely.

Kiara didn't attack, nor did she make any moves to begin the fight. She stuck to her role, clutching her leg and sobbing loudly. Tears ran down her cheeks as she shrieked, an ugly warbling cry. It sent shivers through Rick’s body and, now frozen in place, he observed the two maidens with bated breath.

Despite the genuine threat the duo posed, his mind kept returning to Kiara as she wailed and rolled. It was just so... hammed up. It was awkward all the way through. He'd seen her stop swords with her bare skin. There was no way in hell the bolt had actually harmed her. For a start, if she'd been seriously hurt, she wouldn't cry, she'd be cussing up a storm. Another bolt struck. Kiara screamed, a full on, lungs out shriek.

“Humans, I swear.” The white-winged maiden snorted. “At least she’s got a nice rack.”

Rick mentally tagged the two maidens as "White" and "Black" respectively. If the attack hadn't made the nature of their visitors clear, this had sealed the deal.

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“Are you going to be as much of a pain as her?” The electrically charged one asked, turning to Rick. She glanced at Dia for a second and snorted. “Because that Rapha will not be of much help, and neither is… what is that, anyway? A mutilated Mousegirl?”

He was supposed to buy time, right? “I-”

Kiara screamed again; the other maiden had landed atop her and had used a knife to rip her shirt open.

“PLEASE! STOP! I BEG OF YOU!”

Rick's eyes glued themselves to the Succubus. He was in danger. They were in danger. The two flying maidens clearly intended to either harm them or do something else. Every part of his body should have been screaming at him to prepare for a fight, to run, something. And yet, as he stared at Kiara wiggle, scream, wail and harmlessly flail at the white-winged maiden, he felt... jarred.

It was an act.

She was pretending to be harmless, to be the victim. How could the two bandits not see it? The way she angled herself to allow the attacker's blade to rip her shirt open without it touching her skin. Or how she'd angle her hips and nudge the feathery maiden to focus further up the Succubus' body. Or how the white-winged maiden's eyes were wide, pupils dilating like plates, a vapid eager smile coming to her lips.

Was this the bond? The feelings coming from Kiara? Amusement?

Yet there was a knot in the pit of his stomach. Seeing her being pinned down caused something to bubble and froth within him. "Aren't... you going to stop her?"

He directed the question to the black-winged maiden, trying to remind himself he wasn't supposed to just stand there and stare. No matter how much he wanted to throttle the two winged maidens.

The black-feathered one looked on over as Kiara cried fake tears. “Nah.” She stated with a shrug, focusing on him, looking him over from head to toe as if he were a slab of meat. “Where do you hail from?”

Kiara turned to look at him. A moment of eye contact that lasted only a fraction of a second, a flash of gold within her irises. Her lips curled into a mirthful smirk. Her next scream was louder as she thrust her chest out, the gesture urging the assailant to more quickly remove the clothes that were in the way.

“... Balet.” His mouth was dry, teeth grinding with one another, fists clenched.

“Your guards?” Black spoke with a bored tone, though she monitored Dia and Eva offhandedly.

Rick and Kiara were barely even worth registering to her, clearly not as a threat.

He could not look away from White and Kiara, how the feathered maiden lunged down to sample the Succubus' flesh, or how Kiara reached out to wrap her arms around her head and pull closer. Five seconds was all it took before the white-winged maiden abruptly fought against Kiara's grip, trying to escape. And failing.

"She... left."

Rick's clenched fists relaxed, watching as White's thrashing was slowing down, her wings beating against the ground and completely failing to move either of them. Sharp nails racked against Kiara's skin and did nothing more than rip her clothes further, not leaving so much as a scratch in their wake. Despite the wild struggle, not a sound reached Rick's ears. Was that some kind of supernatural silence?

The Succubus was not paying attention to her victim, eyes locked on Black. There was an eerie glow coming from the Succubus.

“Alone?” Black asked, looking at him again with a slow lick of her lips.

He caught the edge of suspicion in those words. It snapped his thoughts away from Kiara for a moment. His brain spun its wheels. Bond, collar, of course, Maidens were geographically bound to their human. “No, the handler left too. Took our food.” He realized his jaw had been clenched so tightly it hurt.

Had neither of the birds spotted Monica? Or did they believe the feline had been amongst the guards? Had the question been a test of some sort?

“Tch. We were looking forward to more supplies.” Black did not seem disappointed. “The good news is that a pretty thing like you will be kept well fed. Can’t say the same for the Rapha.”

It was as if Black couldn’t see how her partner’s wings had gone limp, that she couldn’t see how White had collapsed atop Kiara’s body. The maiden only needed to turn her head ever so slightly and she would spot it. Just a little turn of the head and she'd see her companion entirely out of the fight, perhaps even dead.

Rick stepped away from the bandit, away from Kiara, forcing the black-feathered creature to turn her gaze his way. Though some part of him wondered whether she'd actually see what was going on if she did. “What’s… what are you going to do with us?”

“You have a cute face. The Orcs will have a fun time with you. The others… well, it depends on what the leader wants.”

White was dropped to the ground, discarded as Kiara slowly stood up. Whether the maiden was dead or just unconscious was anyone’s guess. The Succubus certainly didn't care, dusting herself off and casually flicking her hair over her shoulder. There was a fraction of a second as she regarded Black with the casualness of someone checking on the oven's temperature. Golden eyes shifted to Rick. Slowly, her forked tongue wormed out of her mouth, stretching all the way to her clavicle. Her bronze skin glittered with perspiration, Kiara's gaze flashing with hunger.

She made an offhanded gesture at Black. The air tingled against Rick's skin like ants crawling all over him. The Succubus was using her powers, and she wasn't holding back.

Black sighed, eyelids fluttering, shoulders relaxing. "Maybe I should sample the goods first." The black-winged maiden whispered with a slight smile, pupils growing as she stepped closer to him. "We could have you be the team's pet rather than sell you to the tribe." Slowly, she descended, landing and stepping closer.

What was Kiara's angle? He locked down, jaw setting into place. “No.”

That did not dissuade Black any. “Just a-.”

His head snapped at the sauntering Succubus, no longer bothering to pretend. “Enough.”

Kiara didn’t react, only quirked a brow at him, her lips keeping the mirth. The air was becoming charged, as if a thunderstorm was about to break out. And it was all coming from the Succubus. Rick didn’t have any other way to describe it. And it was whirling around Black, focusing on her and doing... something.

The black-winged maiden flushed, shuddering from head to toe and not registering anything. The maiden dropped the spear, taking a step closer, licking her lips. "Don't worry, I know how to make a man feel good."

Was this what Kiara had meant with her ability to charm? He would not let her play around like this. He stood his ground. "Final warning." His gaze remained firm. Hazel eyes met with golden ones. The bandit stood between them and was entirely ignorant of everything else and ignored for exactly the same reason. Black moved closer, reaching out to grab at Rick.

Ignoring every instinct in his body, he lashed out, a fist meeting Black's face.

It was as if he’d punched a tree. But inertia was inertia, and the maiden stumbled, more shocked than hurt. The smile didn't even falter. “I prefer it when they struggle.” The bandit cooed, wiping the back of her hand against her chin, fingers crackling with electricity.

“Tch.”

Kiara let out an annoyed sound and stepped forward. Her arm snaked over Black's shoulder and locked her throat in an iron grip. There was little time for surprise as a blade sprouted from the center of her chest, a spray of blood splashing against the ground. There was a trickle of lightning when her expression had shifted from shock to horror to pain, and then anger. The spell on Black's thoughts broke. The maiden clenched her jaw tightly and her whole body crackled with electricity.

“Bye.”

Whatever Kiara did, the lightning vanished into nothing. She twisted the blade, watching the maiden squirm, the struggle lessening bit by bit.

Until she'd gone limp entirely.

Dead.

Kiara dropped the body aside, letting out a disgusted sound at her bloodied hands. “Look at the mess you made me do.” She sighed, cleaning herself against the bandit's clothes. “What’s your problem, anyway? You get to watch and I can’t get a turn on the voyeur seat?”

He ignored her taunt, blood boiling as he stomped towards her. “Is the other one alive?”

“Unconscious, better used-.”

He grabbed a fistful of what remained of her dress and yanked her into a kiss. No preamble or warning. His fingers sank into her hair as he bit her lip. And immediately shoved her off, barely giving her the chance to reciprocate. There was no time to be confused why he'd done that, where the emotions had come from, or what they meant.

Too much of what was going inside himself felt like it came from places other than himself. “That’s for doing what you do well.” He stated, then pointing at the cooling corpse. “But if you pull another fucking stunt like that, we’re through.”

She laughed, barely even fazed. “Are you trying to tease me? I’ll-.”

“You told me to keep away from the black-winged bitch.” He shoved his finger in the corpse's direction. “Is your word worthless or not? If you want to be treated as part of the team, then act like it."

Kiara’s mouth snapped shut with an audible snap. THAT had caught her off guard, looking like she'd just been slapped. Her gaze turned to the corpse, and then back to him. Whatever she tried to claim, he ignored it, turning to Dia. "Wake Eva up. She'll need blood. We have a corpse. And help me restrain the other one, we need answers and fast. I don't want to get caught by surprise when her friends show up to check out what happened."

Commands issued, he moved to the unconscious maiden. From the bag, he pulled out the metal wire and began his work by forcing her wings into as uncomfortable a position as he could. And making doubly sure to ignore the almost physical sensation of Kiara's eyes boring into the back of his head.

They didn’t have the time for him to concern himself with whatever was going through her head.

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