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The Ancient One's Demand

"_And the Ancient One did rise, and did scream; A cry that shattered souls and minds with its rage. Nothing could appease its anguish, No wealth. No power. Nothing of this world. The world wept, fearing its demise.

But from the West, a light burst forth. A shining beacon, to draw the beast. Luring it away, sparing millions of lives, Saving the cities. Saving our ancestors. And yet, saving them at a cost.

Two lives. That was the price the beast demanded. Two souls, so bright and pure they outshone all. He devoured them, and encased them in stone. To feast on their purity for all time, And sate his urge for chaos._ "

The High Priest read the scroll. He spoke the ancient words passed down from generation to generation, and standing at the pulpit, overshadowed by the entwined stone figures commemorating that first couple's sacrifice long ago, he watched as the the latest Pure of Heart were led past him. The man was a wolf. Younger than his mate. Lean in build and a soft brown in coat. His lover was older by a few years at least. Taller, fuller of figure. A tigress. The male's hands were simply bound with vines, as per tradition. Hers however were locked with iron manacles. When they had come for them, she had knocked out three of her assailants before they were able to overpower her. Her lover had tried to fight too of course, but he didn't have it in him. One threat to hurt his mate if he failed to cooperate, and he ceased resisting immediately.

The Pure of Heart were led to the base of the grand statue, which stood in commemoration of where the original two were said to have stood in stone for centuries after the Ancient One's first appearance, until weather and time reduced them to dust in the air. The High Priest watched as a guard stepped forward and started to open the door hewn from the rock itself, supported by vast metal hinges all the way down its length. He tripped and cursed, glaring over his shoulder at the one responsible. The tigress withdrew her foot, and growled sharply as he rose as if ready to strike her. He backed down. A good thing too. There was no sense in sending a sacrifice to an Ancient deity with a bloody nose.

"We send them on their way with joy, We send them on their way with love. We send them on their way to die, But only so that we may live. "

The deep, rumbling chant echoed from the crowd, signalling that the ceremony should begin. Torch bearers dipped their flames into the deep, broad cauldrons around the statue, and fire blazed up into the sky as it met the liquid fuel within, casting light for miles around. Again and again the crowds assembled repeated those four lines of sacred vows, their mark of respect and gratitude towards the Pure of Heart. A mark of gratitude and respect that was easy to deliver when you knew you weren't going to have to live with the consequences. Or rather, not live with them.

Clearing his throat, the High Priest motioned for silence as the tomb door swung wide open. The crowd settled, and he spoke the final words of his part of the ceremony.

"Just as the Ancient One himself did many millennia ago, we send him two lives. Two souls bound to one another, and Pure of Heart in their loving devotion. We encase them in stone as he did, and trust that he will accept our gift as he has countless times before, sparing our world for another generation."

Guards surrounded the Pure of Heart, while one of their number cut the wolf's vines, and several struggled to wrestle the manacles from the tigress, only to leap back into line behind the drawn blades and spears before she could seek any final act of revenge upon them. Slowly the semi-circle of guards closed in on the now free but helpless pair, and they had no choice. Grasping at one another's hands, not because it was expected of them but simply because the interior of the statue was pitch black and they did not want to lose one another even for a split-second, they edged towards the open stone doorway. They looked at one another. Terrified. Tearful. Angry as they heard the chants resuming, people selfishly cheering and almost joyfully singing them to their deaths.

They stepped inside as the choice was narrowed to darkness or blades against flesh, and slowly but surely vast stone door was pushed shut, and sealed once more.

The world was safe for another generation. Safe from a threat no-one had ever seen. Safe from something that no-one had ever heard anything about beyond the stories from the ancient texts. Not a whisper. Not a rumble. Not a single sign that it still held a single drop of influence over this world... if indeed it ever had.

Safe, or at least given the illusion of safety. And all it had cost were two genuinely good people, to save all those who knowingly, perhaps even willingly fell short of that mark, just so they would never be chosen to save their world.

***************

Within the statue, the sounds of the outside were thankfully muted. There was a faint rumble from the crowd, but none of the words were clear enough to make sense.

Tess clutched at Daniel, the wolf trembling as his head rested between the tigress' bare breasts. He was weeping. She wasn't. She was too angry to be upset. Too furious at the world for doing this to the man she loved. She had spent the last three years of her life making him happy. Not nearly long enough for a man barely twenty five to enjoy all that life had to offer. And, selfish as it may have been, not nearly long enough for her as well. She had been so happy. She _was_so happy to be with Daniel. To spend each and every day getting to know him, and falling deeper and deeper in love with him. A lifetime wouldn't have been long enough to discover all the wonderful ways that man could make her laugh or blush or scream with just how damnably cute he could be sometimes. But to have their time together cut so short... and in such a cruel way as this?

"I should have protected you. Should have fought them. Killed them... t-to let you get away."

It would have almost made sense for Tess to say that to her lover, but when she heard those frustrated words escape the wolf so tenderly trembling against her far stronger form, it only served to further break her. How could they do this?! How could anyone think it was okay to torment two innocent people like this... and turn the sweetest, kindest heart she had ever known to thoughts so filled with fire and rage.

"No. No... sweet thing, it's okay. If you'd done that, we wouldn't be together right now. And, I would rather die with you than live alone knowing I had lost you."

Daniel shuddered, a silent, wracking series of sobs overtaking him as he took in the full depth of what that statement meant. The undeniable truth, spoken aloud now not by outsiders but by the woman he trusted more than anything in this world, that they were going to die in here. Tess held him. She held him, and he held her. They tried to make it better. Tried to make it okay just as they always did, by being there for each other and loving their partner so hard it hurt.

They tried. So very hard. But... it didn't change that agonising truth one little bit. This darkness in which they were standing was not going to go away. This was not just a tomb. It was their tomb. And there was no escaping that truth, just as there was no escaping here.

"Kiss me..."

It was maybe ten, fifteen minutes later when Tess whispered those words in a slightly hoarse, embarrassed moan. Daniel's ears twitched and perked despite his continued sorrow, and as he lifted his head from his lover's chest he couldn't help but feel the perky flesh of her nipples grazing his skin.

"W-what? Here?"

Louder, and more firm in her convictions this time around, the tigress let slip a pleading moan. In the darkness she grabbed at one of Daniel's hands, drew it to her muzzle, and ran her tongue across his fingertips. Before the wolf could say anything she was moving his hand lower, until he felt it press against the familiar warmth between her legs.

"Yes. Here. Daniel. If... if we're going to die here? If they're just going to leave us here... it's not going to be quick. It's not going to be pretty. It's going to be slow. And painful. A-and... it's going to be hell. But right now we're just two healthy naked people in a dark room. So, I want... I... I need us to use this time. To make the most of what we have left while we have it. So kiss me, Daniel. Kiss me. Touch me. Make... m-make love to me. Because, what you have right now is me. And what I have, is you."

The wolf whimpered softly, and as Tess gently placed a hand on the side of his face to help guide her own lips, they both leaned forward to kiss. Of course, doing so without any light led to them bumping noses rather firmly and both drawing back with a gasp of pain and shock, but that soon dissolved into laughter. Such warmth after so much tension was just the ice-breaker they needed, and as that mirth trailed off into silence once more their muzzles slipped gently forward, meeting and mingling in the tenderest, yet most frantic and desirous of kisses the pair had ever been given reason to share.

All this time Daniel's hand had been gently pressed between his lover's legs, fingers straddling either side of her outer lips. Now, driven purely by instinct and the familiarity of Tess' lips upon his own, he began to move those fingers. To slip between the tigress' warm folds and touch her slowly and methodically, moving gradually deeper and with full awareness of every sweet spot the woman he loved possessed. He felt Tess jerk sharply as his fingers encircled the opening of her passage, her legs bowing slightly and the hand upon his face flexing its own digits. Hot air washed over his blushing muzzle as the big cat moaned loudly, and for just a split-second, so soon after beginning, neither one of them was able to think about anything that was happening to them. Any of the woes they were supposedly to face in the days to come. All that mattered, that they cared about, was right here quivering and growling happily within their grasp.

A flash of light illuminated the tomb. Or rather, it illuminated what should have been the dusty tomb, filled with the skeletons of countless generations of the Pure of Heart. Instead Tess and Daniel found themselves in a room of almost pure white, the walls, the ceiling, the stone floor itself shining with dazzling radiance. The room was all but featureless, possessing not even a door. There was no way in or out they could ascertain even though they had barely moved a few feet since entering. Not that the two lovers were trying to find a way out of course. Their kissing ceased as they stared around them, stunned and blinking spots out of their eyes at the sudden change in lighting. But still they held one another. Still Daniel's fingers rested spreading and teasing within his lover's intimate lips, while his own arousal twitched and rose towards full mast under the lustful gaze of Tess.

"Tess..."

The tigress moaned softly, shaking her head and pre-emptively reassuring her lover.

"It's okay, sweet thing. Whatever this is, we'll..."

Just as she had cut Daniel off though, he too took back the initiative with a shake of his head.

"No. Tess. Look. T-there."

He pointed. She looked. They both shivered, and glanced back to one another.

On the other side of the glowing chamber, laden with such lush looking white linen sheets as the two had never seen living within their own modest means, was a bed. A large, pure white bed whose shape was barely discernible against the glowing outline of the room around it. Before the tigress could react, Daniel was pulling away from her embrace, and more painfully, his hand abandoned its post between her legs. He grabbed one of her trembling hands with that slightly damp paw however, and tugged on it firmly as he tried to proceed towards the bed.

"C-come on."

Tess shook her head, reigning the younger, more eager male in. He wanted to believe. To have hope. And she wanted to give it to him so badly, but this was too dangerous. Too impossible to just let herself walk over there with Daniel.

"We can't. It's... t-this isn't... it can't be real."

The wolf whimpered, then growled and tugged at the far stronger woman's arm once again.

"I know. Don't you think I know that? But... Tess, what if it is? Or... if it can be, f-for even a little while. I just want to be with you. And... i-if we could do it in the dark, thinking we were surrounded by god knows what, and r-ready to accept that this was the end? Why can't we take that same risk here?"

Daniel had always thought with his heart rather than his head, and that was precisely why the tigress loved him quite so wholeheartedly as she did. She whimpered, nodded, and together they padded quickly across the white expanse to the edge of the bed. Despite this being the wolf's idea though, Tess was the first to scramble up onto the bed. To ensure it wasn't a trap. A trick. Some sort of cruel joke. If it was... it was the softest, most wonderfully comfortable cruel joke that Tess had ever had the privilege to sit upon.

Seeing her eyes widen at the sheer luxury of the bed beneath her, Daniel leapt up too. Not just onto the bed, but onto her. She giggled, and growled, and rolled over to pin him beneath her. He grasped at her breasts, tweaking her left nipple sharply with his thumb and making the tigress squeal with the intensity of the sensation. Tess straddled him. She sat up, rising high and proud over the blushing, panting, grinning wolf. His cock was straining and throbbing against the cheeks of her plump rear. Staring down at the man she adored, Tess moaned shamelessly. They had nothing to lose. They never really had much beyond a home and each other. But now they were the only things left in one another's life. So... if she wanted to do something silly. To say something ridiculous, and impossible, and that she could never possibly live up to, why the hell not say it and do it right now?

"L-love me, Daniel."

The wolf yelped, stumbling over himself in his urgency to respond.

"I do! O-oh, Tess. I do love you. Always."

Rising up slightly from the male's body, reaching down and grasping the base of his rigid cock, Tess shook her head as she squirmed and repositioned herself ever so slightly, bringing her body slowly downward and watching her mate's eyes bulge as her wet, warm lips caressed the tip of his shaft.

"No. Love me. Make love to me. D-damn it... why aren't there any better words for this?! Daniel. My love... fuck me. Forever. For eternity. Promise me... you'll start fucking me right now. And that for the rest of time, the rest of creation... we won't stop."

A keening, lustful whine escaped the wolf. He barked sharply, wildly as without waiting for his answer Tess began to sink herself down astride his cock, shuddering and grunting feverishly herself. But when he saw the look in her eyes; that desperate, reckless need to believe that what she was asking could actually happen, he didn't have to think about it for a split-second longer.

"Forever? F-forever... Tess? For you and me... t-that's not going to be long enough."

With a surprising surge of strength, the wolf flipped his lover over onto her back. Tess shrieked with delight at the smaller male's initiative, and then again, more savagely still, in ecstasy as he took full advantage of her pussy already being wrapped around half of his straining cock and began to fuck her hard. Daniel had never needed to hold back around Tess. She was large and strong enough to handle everything he could offer her and more. But today the tigress found herself clawing at the luxurious sheets surrounding them, holding back wild cry after wild cry before realising that she didn't need to. That there were no other homes around hers. No people who cared how much noise they made. No reason whatsoever to hold back in any way.

"D-Daniel!"

She wailed her lover's name as he somehow found a way to pick up his pace further still, huffing and snarling as he straddled the tigress with an intensity she had rarely seen displayed, but relished each and every time he found that extra gear. Their bodies drove against one another with thick, increasingly loud and wet slaps, and barely a motion was made that didn't result in at least one of them, far more commonly both, yelping or roaring in ecstasy. They wanted this to last forever, but just thinking about that had them so worked up they were racing towards climax faster and faster. Tess shrieked in a mixture of pure passion and desperate anguish, shaking her head as she wrapped her arms around the snarling wolf, claws digging into his back.

"You have to... h-haaah... have to stop. Or... oh god, s-slow down Daniel, please! I'm not ready for this to be over. I... I want to cum. Oh god, I want to cum for you so badly. But... I can't let this be over. Not yet. It's too soon. I... I n-need more. Please. Please, my love, you have to find a-ahh... a way."

The wolf stared deep into Tess' eyes. He growled. He whimpered. And then he shook his head, whispering to her before she could cry out in protest.

"I can't stop, Tess. I know how that sounds. I... I swear though, I mean it. I... o-ohhh, Tess, I don't know what's... w-what's happening. I can't stop!"

Raising an eyebrow even as she moaned in continued pleasure, Tess tried to test that theory. She attempted to roll her lover over onto his back once more, pin him beneath her, and pull herself off his cock of her own accord. She rolled him over. She pinned him beneath her, and... they wailed in shared rapture as she began to ride him, bucking and bouncing upon the smaller male's lap in a shrieking frenzy as one of his hands instinctively darted forward and began to massage her suddenly exposed clitoris.

"A-ah! Ahhh! No... ooohhh no, please Daniel... not my clit! Not now! Oh. Oh god, I... Daniel! You're... you're gonna make me... a-aahhhhh! I... I c-can't. No. _N-nn-oooooooohhh god _!

As soon as Tess began to cum, she knew something was different. Not wrong. The way she felt right now couldn't possibly be called _wrong_in any way. But different? Unique? It certainly was that. She let loose potent jets of ejaculate with each convulsion of her walls around the length of her lover's shaft. She screamed. She roared. It took all her willpower to keep from reaching down and clawing at Daniel's chest in sheer ecstasy. But... the urgency, the frantic need to cram as much of that euphoria into the short space of time for which it could be maintained, it was missing. She soared rather than rocketed upward, ready to explode and float back to earth again. She floated weightless, rising higher with each passing second, drifting towards the heavens. Slowly her eyes widened, and as she stared through them, glazed and vacant, at her lover, she gasped in breathless, wondrous joy.

"I... can't... stop..."

Daniel knew it. He could feel it. His crotch was soaked. His cock was afire with pleasure as she milked him over and over again. He didn't know how, or why, but quite frankly he didn't care. All he knew was that the woman he loved was being overwhelmed by unceasing pleasure, and that seeing it, and feeling it happen to her was bringing him rapidly closer to hopefully sharing in that experience at least for a short while.

"Then... ah, don't! Keep going, my love. Keep cumming. For me."

The tigress growled, fingers twitching and claws flexing in and out as she revelled in the continuous, unceasing rapture boiling through her.

"I will. I... aaa-ahhhyes... I will. But, n-not for you, sweet thing. With you. Let me... l-let me cum with you. Please."

Tess held out her hands, palms vertical, fingers splayed. She whimpered, nodded, and gasped happily as Daniel laced his fingers through hers and pushed their palms together. The tigress rocked back and forth upon her lover's body, feeling herself soaking him with her repeated squirting and delighting in how his cock strained and twitched each time she clamped down around it. She watched him watching her, fighting through her ecstasy to notice the little things. The shivers. The little flashes of bashfulness, excitement and shameless adoration that still shone through like the very first time they spent the night together. The way his eyes bugged out ever so slightly each time his knot swelled a little thicker, already beginning to lock them together as he grew closer and closer to his own peak. He was incredible. So cute. So handsome. And... he was hers. She was his. That simple fact alone was enough to draw a frenetic shriek of glee from the tigress, and that cry was enough to push Daniel just that little bit closer to the brink.

"It's coming. I... it's building. Closer. O-ohh... it's..."

His cock locked them together with its swollen knot, but it barely seemed to register. They weren't parting any time soon. Not now. Not ever, if Tess had anything to say about it. So knot or not, it didn't matter.

"Tess. It... it feels different. I... oh. Oh. This feeling... it's... a-ahh I... I can't. Tess! Is this... did this happen to... to you?"

His eyes widened. His hands clutched at those of his lover almost painfully tight. He howled, throwing back his head as though seeking to bay at the moon like a feral of his breed. His lover whispered to him softly, her voice laced with guttural passion no matter how tender she was attempting to be.

"Don't fight it. D-don't... just let it happen. All you're doing is cumming in me, Daniel. And... y-you know that when it comes to that, you're an expert."

The wolf whimpered, but then just moments later he laughed. A laugh that just as quickly turned back into a strained, giddy yelp, as for an instant his defences dropped almost wholly and his orgasm leapt upon him like a tiger laying in ambush. Or perhaps, more appropriately, a tigress.

"Tess! Tess!"

Daniel's orgasm began, and it was as the first strand of his rich, hot seed erupted out into the quivering, violently clutching depths of his lover that time lost all meaning. For it was then that the two lovers stopped living moment to moment, action to action, and began on the next epoch of their lives. It was like one single unwavering note, piercing the fabric of reality and underlying all that was good and Pure of Heart in the world. The melodic and constant background hum of their endless orgasmic rapture.

That action... that sound, it joined with the others who had come before. Every past generation. Every previous sacrifice. But not in soothing the Ancient One.

There was no Ancient One. There was no Demand. There was no _need_for the sacrifice that the people of this world so selfishly made. And yet... it served its purpose. For the true power that watched over their world, it saw everything. It saw those who were selected as Pure of Heart, and it protected them. It honoured them. And it granted them a place of eternal rapture within its own realm of reality.

And it saw those who made the sacrifices. Who sanctioned the deaths of the good and the pure while the cruel and unjust cheered them on. And it saw all those who stood by, and acted with malice and greed not to avoid being chosen... but simply because it was a convenient excuse, and a reason not to admit the truth. That they simply wanted to act that way.

It saw all. And just as it venerated and saved Tess, Daniel, and all those who had come before them... it had eternal horrors of equal magnitude to wreak upon those responsible for daring to snuff out such sweet, beautiful love.

By Jeeves