Welcome to Gaia! ::

Bassett bent over to hug her again, "Yup! That's right, Edward is tall, isn't he? Taller than me that's for sure. I've always been kind of short. I'll come back tomorrow. Now I'm afraid that I have to go." The soldier unfolded himself and then he gently pried himself out of her grip. He turned towards the door, using his hand to move his coppery bangs out of his face, "Goodbye, Dessy! Thanks again for healing me. Say goodbye to Edward for me. I'll see you come tomorrow."

With that, the youth left through the shop door, sad to be leaving so early, but extremely glad that Odessa had helped him. This would make cleaning the gutters a whole lot easier. He stepped out into the chill afternoon air and he pulled his arms around him.

He thought that he had forgotten something, but he didn't know what. Probably nothing, he mused, and he hustled down the concrete pathway back to the home of his Master.

The walk from the Daemonology shop to the long winding cobblestone pathway that was his Master's driveway was a long one, but it was fairly simply to remember. It was just six blocks down, two blocks to the right and up the driveway to the left. The driveway itself was like a block or two in itself because the mansion was embedded deep in the woods of the local forest. As Bassett walked through the crisp air of the overcast sky, he admired the clean scent of the fog. It was definitely a lot better than the smell of smoke and battle.

Then it occured to him, about six blocks down where he was turning the corner. He had forgotten his jacket! Bassett cursed to himself softly in his old soldier slang. Well, good thing he was going back tomorrow, he thought to himself. He'd have to explain to Galvin why he didn't have his jacket when he got back.

The soldier wrapped his arms around his chest more tightly, puffing through the cold, and he started to pick up the pace. When he got to the dank cobblestone road of the mansion's driveway, he began to jog up the stones. He was about halfway up the driveway when something moved in the dark bushes to the side. Bassett furrowed his brows and continued walking, convincing himself that the rustle he had heard was only a squirrel. When he passed the large brick gates of Galvin's home, he heard the rustle again and just barely glanced to the side before he was tackled headlong by an amazingly fast form.

It was Pey, tackling him headlong to the ground.

"Bassett!" the Nameless demon whispered excitedly into his ear, speaking so close that his tongue flicked against his lobes, "You're BACK. You smell abbbbssooooollllluuuuteeeellly deeeLIGHTful! Your blood is warm and this chill walk made it all the more peppered with winter spices....MMMMMMMMmmmmmm!!! I want to feed. Now, I want to feed. You have somehow healed up everything, everything! Like a miracle medic saw to your needs! I want to feed. I WANT TO FEEEEEEED." And without waiting for Bassett's consent he began dragging his summoner unceremoniously up the oval driveway and to the garden house just several yards away.

"Pey!" Bassett managed to squeak and yelp as his dangling legs scraped against the street. The demon's claws were pinching his back and it kind of hurt, "Pey, I...Ah! Pey! You're..." Then he watched as the shadows of the garden house enveloped him and the door slammed shut.

The young soldier felt himself gently tossed to the ground behind one of the rusty metal shelves of garden supplies and he could hardly move before he felt his demon's body slide on top of his. He knew his Nameless' affection is for getting close, but this was probably the closest that Pey had ever come yet. He attempted to shift, lift one of his legs and move, but Pey's pale hands pinned his wrists down to the ground so tightly that he could do little else but struggle.

Nuzzling his pale head across Bassett's collar bone, the demon undid the soldier's shirt buttons with his teeth and freed one of his wrists long enough to pull the soldiers shirt down from around his shoulders to expose his neck. "Look how polite I'm being," the demon purred, "I'm making sure I don't stain your clothes this time."

"Thank you very much, Pey, but...must you...?"

"Yeeees," the Nameless growled, "You've been healing and I haven't laid one finger on you. I am STARVING."

"Fine, fine! You may feed, but do you have to be so close...? This is embarrassing," the soldier muttered, trying to squirm again and move, but the demon held down his wrist once more.

Pey stretched open his toothy mandibles, rolling back his head as he did so. He thought the way his human shuddered whenever he did that amusing, very amusing. "I'm going to have to break your skin again," he warned, "Whoever healed you has my thanks. I love the feeling of sinking into flesh..."

"You didn't have to tell me that," Bassett whimpered and he watched from his peripherals as his demon lowered himself down upon his neck and slowly sunk his long canines (as well as his other teeth) to his pale skinned neck. As his skin broke, the soldier released a pain filled yelp, gasping and trying to hold back the rest of his anguished growls.

Little did he know...There was a little demonic princess following in his footsteps.

Feeling his demon shift upon him, slurping so loud that Bassett could hardly hear his own breathing, the soldier shifted his legs and tried to roll his head out of Pey's blood red hair. As he did that, the other's fangs tore against the openings in his neck, opening the carefully punctured skin just enough that Bassett gave another cry of pain, jerking underneath Pey's grip. The demon, feeling him move, took his clawed hands and pinned him down even more to the cold concrete floor.

Spitting out the hair from his face, Bassett glanced to the side to look at something as he felt the the blood suck and drain from his veins. Then he saw something. There was something there in the darkness of the shed, a small figure, a small shadow. Or perhaps it was just something like a vacuum or a pile of buckets...

"Bassy...Bassy, I brought you your coat... Where are you?"

Bassett furrowed his brows and he tried to shift again to see the shape better. He thought something had said his name...

"Stop moving..." Pey growled in between mouthfuls of blood. "You're hurting yourself more and I know that this is more delightful for me, but seriously, this is usually not your style..."

"Pey, just be quiet, I think I..." Bassett squinted harder into the darkness, really straining his amber eyes until finally he saw a terribly familiar small figure.

"Odessa?!"

Pey paused for a moment in his drinking, glanced over his shoulder, and then leaned back down to lick the puncture marks, "Oh, that's funny."

"Pey, get off of me! Odessa?! What are you doing here?!" the soldier cried out, trying to wiggle from his demon's iron grip, "Ah, aah! Get off that hurts!"

Bassett was stumbling over surprised explanations and broken apologies, but when the girl he had come to know and care for stepped closer, suddenly no longer the girl he carved wooden lions for, he became silent. The soldier, confused over his friend's unprecedented change in mood befuddled him and he looked on her solemn face with shocked wonder.

Licking at Bassett's neck, every lap of the soldier's red red blood a slow indulgence, Pey hardly payed attention to the young demon queen stepping behind her. He pressed his long tongue to the soldiers wounds despite his summoner's struggling, placing pressure against the rips in the skin to stop the blood flow. However, before the blood could clot, a chilling voice speared the air behind him, making his pale pointed ears perk with silent shock. Something like familiarity iced his spine with something a little like fear and wonder. He lifted himself up from Bassett's lithe form and remained straddled over the other's waist like a spider over its prey, but not with the same hostility, it was something like...protection.

Narrowing his black eyes at the child that stood before him now with Bassett's layered cotton jacket clutched tight in her small hands, Pey licked the soldier's blood from his lips and gulped.

That didn't sound like a little demon girl. That sounded like...his Queen.

As soon as Pey lifted up from him enough so that he could wiggle out from underneath his demon's knees, Bassett slapped a hand to his still bleeding neck, not minding as blood seeped through the cracks in his fingers. He scrambled to Odessa on his free hand and knees in an awkward crawl, come before her with his amber eyes full of worry, "Dessy, I'm so sorry you had to see that. What are you doing here, Little One?" Unlike Pey, he didn't take heed to the sudden change in her attitude. He didn't know what rattled in her chest, the soul of her mother.

The Queen's words, her resonant and raw voice, a voice like untempered diamond, strong and magnificent and sharp rung through Pey's pointed ears as if they were the last words of Judgment Day. He knew that voice and when he heard it, his body stiffened as if he were struck with paralyzing gas. The demon's blood-smeared mouth twisted into frustrated frown as he stared at the demon princess for he was lost in a flurry of emotions and decisions, straining to move one way or the other, straining to ignore the demon princess who didn't sound like his Queen or salute the demon princess who had the voice of his leader. Finally, the Nameless slowly lowered himself down deep onto his haunches and scuttled away towards the shadows of the shed to contemplate the few words his Queen had said.

"Learn to share...Not for very much longer..." What ever could that mean, Pey wondered with a scowl and a narrow of his brows as he licked the blood of Bassett from his fingers and chest. And whatever could that strange instance have been? Was that Odessa? Or was that Lilith?

...Damn his summoner.

Bassett took the girl in his arms and held her tight with one arm, his other still pressed to his neck to try and stop the bleeding. He laid his cheek onto her head and exclaimed in a stammering voice, "Dessy, Dessy, you are so sweet. Don't worry, Little One! I'm used to the pain now, really...My jacket!" The soldier chuckled awkwardly, trying to make light of the situation as he placed his hand against the back of her head when she buried her forehead to his shoulder. He winced as she hugged him tightly, almost too tightly, and he tried his best to bite through the slight sting from his neck, "You brought it. That was very kind of you! You didn't have to, though, I was going to come back tomorrow, remember? You could have just watched it for me instead of going through the trouble of getting here. You aren't too scared are you? I'm so sorry..."

At the mention of having her fix it again, Bassett was once again faced with the decision of being well for a little while and having Pey break his skin again, or trying to talk Odessa out of it. He remembered the small kiss from before and a helpless blush tinted his cheeks, but it was innocent right? It looked like it meant a lot to her...The soldier was sweet and his thoughts were first of Odessa, "If it wouldn't tire you and if it would make you happy, you may fix me," he answered softly, still holding her, his gut a tangle of knots.

Bassett didn't quite understand what she meant when Odessa claimed that her stomach was hurting. He tried to make sense of it but what little information he knew about her demonic powers and eating habits were unknown to him. He knew simply that she was his friend and that he was hers. He figured that her tummy twisted with worry and anger when she saw him pinned to the ground like that by a vulture-like Nameless. It made sense to him.

He released a breath as she loosened her grip which made the slight stinging in his shoulders and neck subside. He rubbed his slippery hands across his wound a few times, giving her a humble smile and a tilt of his head, "Nonsense. I survived gangrene and shell blasts. I won't get sick!" He ended the assuring statement with a heart-warming chuckle which was accented with the slight brush of her lips. He felt the wound clot underneath his hand, he felt the sting vanish and he lifted his bloodied hand away from his jugular vein. He smiled at his hand and then smiled at her, his amber eyes warm and thankful.

"It doesn't hurt anymore," he stated with a raise of his brows, "Now that this is done, how about I take you back to the store? I'm sure the others will be worried after you disappeared. I'll walk you over there so you're not alone."

Bassett watched the demon princess move and trace his well-worn fingers with her own, mystified and confused by her gentle and quiet movements that were so focused on his hands and digits. At first he watched her fingers trace across his own and then he slowly looked up to inspect her face with soft wonder. It was to his surprise that he saw small pearl-like tears rolling down her cheeks. Seeing this made Bassett's guy suddenly stricken with worry and he stroked her hair, "Hey, hey, hey...What are these for? What are these tears and apologies for? We shall have none of that, alright? A soldier like me doesn't deserve any tears."

Reaching into his pocket, Bassett pulled out a simple sand-hued handkerchief which he used to wipe away her tears and dry her rosy cheeks. "I'll walk with you." He patted her cheek and unfolded his legs underneath him so he was standing up. He glanced back at Pey who was, by now, tucked in the upper corner of the shack and he gave the demon a small frown.

"What are you doing up there, Pey?" he asked, somewhat perturbed by his demon's suddenly brooding nature. The soldier had only seen him like this once before and that was when he felt the Demon Queen's death.

Pey sniffed haughtily at his summoner, sitting upside down on the ceiling with his arms crossed over his chest, "Brooding and trying to hold myself back from retching after that disgusting display of affection."

Bassett rolled his amber eyes and started making his way to the shack door, gently directing Odessa towards the exit, "Do as you may, Pey. I'll be back shortly." With that, the soldier wove his way through the cluttered piles of tin buckets and worn gardening supplies to the door which he opened for Odessa to the grey tumid sky. "Come, Little One."