Steal What You Came For
The best thief in the known systems comes to find one of her greatest treasures... and encounters the other best thief in the known systems. Who wins, and who... wins?
This one was inspired by a story written by my old, dear, long-lost friend Jenn, the rapturous raptoress, about her character Raptor X, another thief. Kesha isn't X, but I won't deny the similarity. So this one's for you, Jenn, my old belovèd, wherever you may be. ^_^
to Jenn, the rapturous raptoress, wheresoe'er she may be
It was right there, right in front of hir. Sie had never been closer to it in hir whole life, and there it was, sitting nestled in velvet and glinting in the softness of the few lights that the museum left on overnight. Pretty thing that it was, it called to hir, singing its siren song of beauty and, for the lesser, less able, less daring folks, inaccessibility. And as much as sie tried to fight back hir feelings and to concentrate on the task at claw, sie felt hir sheath begin to ache and the pointed tip of hir cock sliding lightly through the skin and the first hints of moisture dampen hir vent.
_Now is not the time for this!_sie told hirself, glancing around to check for guards and taking a moment to calm hir heart a little and still hir breathing. There was nothing sie could do about hir scent, but the inhibitor dose sie had taken earlier would help. A little.
Another glance around, another tilt of the head to listen, another deep inhale to taste the air. Nothing amiss. No sound of footfalls, no scent but hir own and the hint of the guards', various species vying with each other for dominance. All mammals. Ugh, mammals,_sie thought, and then through hir mind there came the vision of Traalhro, the amber-eyed barkeep on Felgraaft, and sie relented. _All right, yes, him. But no others.
Still no sound. A swift glimpse at the console on hir left wrist reassured hir that everything was in place, that all was good. So sie moved, hir long, low raptor-like body slithering forward in the liquid motion of one of the most perfect predators that ever evolved. All hir attention was focused on the Star of the Seven Queens, that pretty bauble of Jyrenian diamond that in ages past had been the subject of a millennia-long war between twenty-four star systems and was now consigned to ever-living memory in the safe-keeping of a fusty museum in some backwater planet.
Sie hissed as hir steps carried hir closer. The feeling really was better than sex, the anticipation tingling throughout hir body and centering itself on hir genitals. So close now, sie could almost feel it nestled into hir right foreclaw, the left dipping into a small pouch tucked against hir front for the fake to replace it. _Easy, now, sssssaahhhhh, yessss..._Hir breath, slow and steady as hir heart beat swift and quick. A final glance around, a dart forward, reaching out with hir foreclaw as sie ran on light hindclaws; just another moment, and it would be ---
"Kesha?!"
Hir head snapped around at the sound of hir name, the diamond forgotten. There, in the dimness of the far side of the stand, stood a quadrupedal dragon, frozen in the same pose as sie. Hir eyes widened and then narrowed again, lips lifting into a snarl. "Heth..."
The grey dragon's black eyes sparkled despite the darkness. "You remember me. I'm honoured."
Kesha's tail swayed. "Get out of here, Heth. Get out now and I might let you live. This is mine."
The dragon pouted slightly, eyes still bright with amusement. "Oh, now, that's not very charitable. Especially to someone who doped the guards... else you wouldn't have got anywhere near here." His own tail swaying he began to walk around the display stand, slowly.
As if by reflex, Kesha moved as well, in the same direction. "And if I hadn't disabled the trip-beams, you wouldn't have got through the hall."
"I doubt that." The dragon's laconic drawl grated on Kesha's hearing. In hir peripheral vision sie could see the diamond still sparkling, glinting, facets directing different light into hir eyes as sie moved. The sight sent continuous prickles of desire down hir body, more and more centering on hir loins. Though the slender grey drake was handsome, yes, and sie had to admit there was something about him --- No! No, dammit! I am not attracted to him! As soon as sie thought it, though, hir loins tingled again. Dammit!
Briefly distracted as sie was, sie had not kept up hir pace and he was a little nearer now. Slowly stalking around the stand, he dipped his head and lifted it high, then grinned at hir. "After all, dear Kesha, if I hadn't left that back door open, you would never have got in here in the first place." He stopped, paused, withdrew a couple of steps, paused again, and darted forwards three steps. His tail swayed and his wings stirred with a rustle of scaled leather.
Kesha hissed, eyes narrowing when a light wave of notably male musk drifted over hir face. Heat spiked further within hir vent and the head of hir pointed cock pressed firmly out against the tightness of hir pants. Dammit... dammit, this is not the time! Despite hirself sie couldn't deny how long it had been, couldn't deny that he was sexy as all hell, and that sie... sie...
Growling low in the back of hir throat, as much from frustration as anything else, sie threw hirself at the male, strong hindlegs closing the distance in moments. He braced himself for collision, grabbing hir and using hir momentum to roll hir over onto hir back. Sie snapped up at him angrily, clawing, forcing him to back away to give hir time to regain hir feet. "Fuck you, Heth!" sie snarled, snapping, biting at the air as he danced forwards and to the side. "Fuck you!"
"Promises, promises!" The grey dragon paused a moment, glancing down and grinning. "From the scent of it, you're the one who wants to get fucked."
"Not like you could do it, you old je'eshaaq." The vulgar word rolled off hir tongue and felt good to use.
Heth snorted, and grinned. "I'd be a fool to deny what I am," came the reply, moments before he darted in again. Though sie sidestepped, it wasn't fast enough and the brush of his tail on hir flank just added fuel to the fire. Sie could smell him now, too, clearly, rich and potent male musk in the air around them; after all that time among mammals, to scent another reptilian was intoxicating. And, apparently, the same was true for the dragon: despite what sie said of him, it was clear from the way he moved and the particular hints in his scent that he was arousing, too. A swift bob-glance under him revealed the appearance of his cock dropping from his foreslit and becoming hard. Taking a moment to time it sie darted forward, dipped hir head under and licked, then just as swiftly darted back.
Heth paused, one foreclaw raised, and groaned. Kesha grinned, and hissed with laughter when he narrowed his eyes at hir. "Come over here and do that again," he snarled.
"Make me." The words were out of hir muzzle before sie could think what sie was saying. And a moment later, he did, darting forward and snarling, biting at hir neck firmly. Unthinkingly sie responded, claws scratching at his scaled hide, biting back at him as he continued to bite at hir. The sensation of sharp fangs, really sharp fangs, drove hir further into the mating lust that had been sparked by his walking hir around the jewel. When he moved around behind hir, still biting at hir neck and back, hir fingers went to hir pants to release the clasp; sheer fabric slithered over hir heated scales, down hir thighs and most especially over hir now-drooling, fully erect raptor cock. Sie leaned forward and raised hir tail, displaying those two sets of genitals to the only slightly larger dragon, sheath and cloaca visible to him and available.
Heth wasn't thinking, just acting. His head full of the scent of reptilian herm, as sie positioned hirself in a mating crouch and braced hirself he took full advantage, coming up behind hir, raising himself upon hir back and letting his tip find the entrance to hir vent. It didn't take long, it went in quite naturally for someone accustomed to reptilian mates, and with a groan of pleasure and lust he sank into hir heated body and began to thrust, hard, deep and urgent already. Within barely a minute he felt his orgasm coming and raked down Kesha's side, leaning forward to bite at the back of hir neck, automatically holding hir in place. Unaccustomed as he was to mating with females he couldn't tell if he was doing much good for hir but he didn't care: he took hir hisses and snarls as approval and then simply let it happen, felt the warm rush of pleasure hit him as he came, long, black cock buried deeply in hir spurting and pulsing his large load of thick, hot seed.
Kesha hissed back at him, turning hir head to see him shiver his way through his orgasm. Despite him being a old je'eshaaq, sie supposed there was sufficient similarity between male and female cloacae as to make it comfortable and pleasurable for him. That said, he had been pretty quick, and although hir vent tingled nicely from the fuck it hadn't been anywhere near as satisfying for hir as it was for him. Beneath hir, hir cock twitched hungrily, tickles of precum dripping from it to the floor and spattering in light arabesques; thin drools of hir vent-juices followed likewise as Heth slid out from hir and stood at hir side, tail swaying pleasedly. He nosed at hir neck as sie leaned up and gave a soft purr; his cock dripped postcum onto the floor.
Sie grinned, baring fangs again, and nibbled his neck, and was pleased to see another shiver pass through him. "Mmmmmhhhssssssss," sie breathed, and caught hir breath in a little snarl at the return nibble. "Mmmh... not bad... not bad for an old je'eshaaq... Not bad at all."
He panted lightly, tongue lolling out easily from between fanged jaws just a few inches parted. "Heh... hunh... glad you think so. Neither are you... for a raptor and a thief..."
Hir head tilted sharply and hir eyes narrowed. Thin scaled lips curled high in a grin. "Is that so?"
The dragon's eyes glittered. "Indeed quite."
"Hhheeeeeeehhhhh..." breathed Kesha, grinning still. A couple of steps bumped hir flank against his own. "Well... I should say, you weren't bad, but... hardly satisfying... Do you always fuck the way you steal?"
Heth chuckled. "In and out, and leave them wanting more, that's me."
"Well, you certainly do that, dragon..." Kesha paused and eyed him, then bumped his flank. "So... what about the rest of me?"
The look of innocence on Heth's face was utterly ridiculous. "The rest of you? I don't know what you mean."
"I mean this." Kesha reared back, displaying clearly hir pointed, long cock that emerged from the sheath in hir loins. Hir head dipped so sie could see Heth's reaction and sie was gratified and smugly delighted to see the look of blatant desire on his muzzle. He glanced up at hir, grinned, then leaned in for a little lick along it; sie gasped in pleasure, then grunted as his tongue left hir member.
Liquidly sie lowered hir stance to find him grinning at hir. "Now we're even."
"We're ev --- Oh, no." Frustration swamped hir as sie remembered that little lick sie had given the dragon's cock during their earlier game of taunt-and-dance. Hir emotions bubbled free and with a growl the herm raptor darted forward to bite at the dragon's body. Their current positions meant that hir fangs met his side, near his haunch; flesh, hard scale, taut muscle... warm male body right there in hir mouth. Musk. Heat. The depth and richness of his scent filled hir head again and hir mind clouded.
Heth arched into the touch as his body sang with desire. His tail swayed in wider and wider arcs until at last it came to rest at his side, arched up just a little. In response to some guiding nudges and praise-filled encouraging nips and nuzzles from the herm, he turned, little by little aligning himself with hir body as sie stepped in the opposite direction. A moment later and he felt hir chest bump against his rear and slide up upon him; he crouched slightly, spreading his hindclaws apart and lowering his haunches enough to make himself more accessible to the smaller creature. The pointed tip of a distinctly, delightfully male member nudged around his nethers, seeking access to his cloaca, hot trails of liquid drooling over heated scales. Seconds later the tip found his entrance and with a grunt from the raptor it was shoved inside. He heard an echoing snarl from his own voice, and opened his eyes, and a slow grin of satisfaction spread upon his muzzle.
Kesha thrust hard into the dragon beneath hir, pounding at him with the full length of his cock. A cloaca was a cloaca the reptilian world over, but Heth's was somehow different: tighter in some places, slightly less so in others. Not that he was loose, not in the slightest - and certainly not when he clenched down around hir and tugged on hir with his vent. Sie snarled at him in warning, and he simply growled right back at hir and did it again. A rake down his flank with two sets of sharp claws, followed by a grasp of his haunches and a renewed battery of thrusts seemed to put him in his place. Sie took a step forward, trying to get deeper still, and he took one, too, and another, and another, letting hir push him forward across the floor until at last he seemed to come up against something and simply accept hir fucking, hir pounding, aching cock buried again and again beneath that arched, curved-aside tail. Sie raked his sides again and was gratified to hear him snarl. Another clench of that slick muscular passage around hir cock and sie lost it: hir brain fogged with simple animal lust, hir hips tattooed a barrage of thrusts into him and then sie came, hard, deep, long, hir back curving up in tension as sie came in a volley of short, violent jets.
Heth lifted his head and growled softly, looking back over his shoulder at Kesha's closed-eyed bliss. He shifted his stance a little, taking the weight first one one foreclaw, then on the other, then settling back down again. _That's better... that's much better._The ache beneath his tail, that itch which had been annoying him for days, was now quiet and the grey drake felt calm. A smile spread on his face as Kesha's eyes opened, slow and languid, and hir tongue lolled from one side of hir mouth. Hir cock slipped easily from his well-fucked vent as the herm stepped back from him; delicately, urbanely, he lifted his haunches and moved his hindclaws together again as his tail lowered.
Kesha panted, grinning, feeling hir cock slithering slowly back into its sheath. Sie knew sie'd stink of Heth for days, but it was worth it. _Maybe I could pull off a few small jobs... make them think it's him._The thought elicited a soft hiss of amusement which ended the moment Heth's muzzle touched hir own and gently licked; to hir surprise, sie found the sound that replaced it was a churr of contentment.
He was grinning. "Not bad," he said. "For a raptor, a thief... and a breeder... Not bad at all."
Sie flicked hir body around and swatted him with hir tail. "Egg-stealer," sie growled, but hir voice had more amusement and affection than heat. "Egg-stealing, sib-fucking je'eshaaq."
The grin he gave hir was similar to hir own. The soft swipes of his tongue on hir muzzle felt good; when he pressed his cheek to hir own sie slipped out hir tongue and licked in return. "Mmm-hmm," was his only response. "'Know theyself.' Good advice. And I do."
"You know yourself?"
Heth hiss-laughed. "Frequently. Biblically, where necessary. Masturbation being sex with someone you love, after all."
Kesha's hiss of laughter joined with his own. "Narcissist."
"Well, when there isn't another option..." He raised his head, drew it back; Kesha realised he was looking straight at hir. His eyes surprisingly liquid, his head tilted just so. Sie clicked hir fangs in puzzlement, tilted hir head the same way to his and then the opposite way, leaving them looking at one another.
That smile on his face... "Heth, are you... are you proposing..."
"If I did, would you accept?"
"I..."
"I mean, think of it... the two greatest thieves in the known Systems, working together... there isn't anything we couldn't steal. We'd be unstoppable."
Kesha's lips curved into a smile. "We'd kill each other in under a month, Heth."
Heth hissed in amusement. "Oh, please. Don't say that. I'm sure we could manage it in a week, tops."
The herm's hiss of laughter was totally genuine this time. "I do like you a lot, Heth..."
He grinned. "I know. And I like you, too. A lot. Which is why... I'm sorry."
Sie felt hir head tilt as confusion struck. "You're sorry? Whatever for? There's nothing to be sorry --- _Oh you fucking JE'ESHAAQ! _" The scream ripped its way out of hir as Heth, a wide grin spread on his muzzle, had stepped back and reached into what had looked like one of his scutae but was now revealed to be a hidden stash as he produced from it the Star of the Seven Queens. A huff of flame from him, small as it was, caused the gem to glow with its famed inner light, droplets of liquid beauty coruscating off the other cabinets and the walls and floor; in the ceiling, the reflectors in the lumines scattered it back in crystalline rainbow fragments.
Lust forgotten, sie jerked forward, trying to reach him and the gem; he darted back out of reach and then laughed - laughed! at hir! - when hir legs tangled up in the fabric of hir forgotten pants and sie crashed flat on the floor. The gem vanished back into the safety of his chest as sie looked up at him, and in hir eyes sie could see the display stand still bearing what looked like the gem.
"Sorry about this, Kesha, my darling... You are an excellent fuck, and you are very dear to me... but you know what they say about pretty things and dragons."
"When..." Sie huffed hir way up from the floor, and, snarling at hirself as much as at him, tugged up hir pants.
"Oh... oh, when you were fucking me, I'm afraid. You seemed lost in your own little world."
When I was fucking you... I... Oh, shit. Realisation hit hir: when sie had mounted him, he'd been facing the display case. Dammit, dammit, dammit! I should have realised! Dammit and fuck him for doing this to me!_On the heels of that came the recognition that as sie'd fucked him across the room he was stepping forwards to get within reach of the display case, and pluck from the conveniently un-alarmed velvet padding the treasure they had both coveted. _ FUCK! _ "Fuck you, Heth, you... you... you _dragon!" sie snarled, stepping closer, fangs bared, taut tail radiating pure anger.
"Oh, I wouldn't, if I were you. Those guards I mentioned? I dosed them with alpha-nitrosyl, so they'll probably be waking up any moment now. It was nice to see you again, Kesha, my dear... still, we really _must_stop meeting like this." Heth, with one more grin, leaned back on his haunches; before sie could dart forward he had jumped into the air and sailed upwards, landing on a balcony two floors above. Sie snarled up at him in frustration, and the jaunty he wave he gave hir as he trotted towards his own exit did nothing for hir temper.
*
"Did you get it?" Vallia asked as Kesha jumped into the ground transport and slammed the door after hir.
"Shut up and fucking drive," the raptor growled out from between clenched fangs. Only once the car was moving did sie begin to relax even a little.
"I take it you didn't." The Sarkar's long, flexible tongue came out and tested the air for a moment, perfectly mimicking the gesture of the Terran serpent which Vallia's species resembled a large, four-armed version of. Her coils twitched and she glanced to the side. "Though, this one would say you got something..."
Kesha darted a glance at her colleague, driver and the closest thing sie had to a friend. Sie was about to snarl out at Vallia to mind her own fucking business and keep her egg-stealing opinions to herself, but then sie changed hir mind. What would be the use? She can smell it, after all. The raptor hissed a low sigh. "Heth."
"You got heth?" Vallia turned her attention to driving for a moment, accelerating up the ramp to a speedway that would take them out of the city towards a remote, barely-remembered spaceyard. "What's a heth?"
A thought struck Kesha and sie hissed again, this time in bitter amusement. "An old _je'eshaaq_of a dragon." Another sigh and sie relaxed a little into the supports, watching the scenery flick by at high speed. "He got there first."
"And he got you, too. I hope you gave him a good scar to remember you by, at least." There was silence for a while, and then Vallia said, "You... you did scar him, didn't you?"
"No." Kesha's voice was small.
"You --- you what?! You let him take you? And you left him unscarred?!"
"I don't scar every male, Vallia!"
"No, just the ones who try to force themselves on you!... So why didn't you?"
There was a pause. In the same small voice as before, Kesha replied, "Because... maybe... I wanted him to."
It was Vallia's turn to be silent.
"... and maybe I wanted to fuck him, too."
"Did you?"
"Yes."
"Was it good?"
Silence, for a moment. Kesha looked past the frustration and anger, and found her answer. "I've had a lot worse, for sure."
"Do you love him?"
"WHAT DID YOU SAY?!"
"Do you love him?" Vallia's voice was mild, unflappable; her large eyes regarded her employer-friend steadily and without malice.
"Love Heth?! Hah! Fuck no. I hate Heth. I hate him! Arrogant, sneering, mincing piece of --- Me, love a dragon?! A dragon who's such a je'eshaaq it's a miracle he can still shit?! Fuck! Fuck no. I'd sooner rip off my tail and walk like a human."
Vallia regarded her boss for a moment. "Good. I'm glad to hear it. Now, where to?" she asked, turning back to the road.
Kesha considered. "The ship. And then... then Cestus al-Qabar. It's time to mix business with pleasure." A thin tongue licked over her lips and sie grinned over at Vallia. "It's high past fucking time."