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CHAPTER 4

The citadel was cold, dark, damp and reeking of mildew and rot. Exactly how Orgnul liked to keep it, except for his private chambers of course. Those he preferred warm, dry, and smelling lightly of a certain very "useful" oil. He kept the rest of the keep in such a dismal atmosphere because it served to remind the demons and devils that served him of the hells they originally hailed from. It served to remind them why they were helping him in the first place.

Orgnul stepped into what had been dubbed the "summoning room" due to the fact that this was indeed the room where the various demons and devils that did his bidding had been summoned from their original planes of existence. The room was actually exactly like every other room in the citadel, with no adornments on the bare stone walls, and few torches in the brackets. The only thing that set it apart from the rest was the enormous violet runed circle in the exact middle of it. There were small lit candles all around the edge to the circle, making shadows chase each other on the walls, the torches made useless in the glow of so many tiny flames. He stepped a few feet into the circle, the candles illuminating the eight foot demon and showing the waiting servant the body of a giant lion with crimson fur and black horns. Nothing but the literally glowing red eyes and the horns betraying what he really was.

"Leave, now." Orgnul told the demon in his cool commanding voice. When the creature had scurried from the room and shut the heavy wooden door, Orgnul closed his eyes and and raised his arms his hands glowing with a black light. He began to draw runes in the air with the light from his hands, and started to recite an incantation to begin the summoning.

"Ego dico veneficus quod copiae copie ut run per abyssus quod cosmos audire mihi quod voco pro mihi unus quisnam ego postulo. Ego voco everto Tazina praesto mihi quod servo meus mos." He chanted in a low mono-tone voice that seemed to resonate up from the bottom of his torso. As he chanted the words and completed the ritual the candles guttered, and there was a shifting of the space in the middle of the circle. The space seemed to twist and bend and flex as if something was trying to bore through. Then for a small moment a hole appeared in the air and he could see into a realm similar to his own original home. And a single form was forced through the hole a second before it closed.

When the form had landed on the floor Orgnul could see that it was indeed the one he had intended to summon. The creature he had called to him slowly stood up and showed herself to him. She was a woman with blood-red hair, and possessed of an incredible alluring beauty, she had large draconic wings growing from her shoulder blades and a tail growing from her spine that were a deep maroon color, and she wore no clothes. She was a succubus.

Orgnul stood studying her, completely unaffected by her physical charm, taking in the sight of his new demon underling. "Tazina, so good of you to join me here. I trust you had an enjoyable journey?" He said with a smile, himself knowing just how painful a summons from one of great power could be.

"As if I had a choice in the matter. Why have you summoned me here Orgnul? Why could you not just let me enjoy my little stretch of hell?" Tazina replied with her sultry voice dripping with malice as though it were venom. She crossed her arms in front of her chest and folded her wings against her back, looking at him as though she could force him to answer simply with the force of her will.

"Ah, I see you know of me. It's good to see my reputation for stealing demons and devils has reached the planes. Now, as to why you are here, I find myself in need of your particular talents for persuasion and mental acuity. The seers and scryers I have enslaved have told me that there is one that could stop the plans I have for this world. They have told me that this one could destroy the seals I have placed on the arcane energy of this world. I want you to go to the seal in the Tiljan Wood. I want you to stay there and wait for my command to dispose of this whelp who I am told can stop me."

"Alright, a natural desire when ones plans are being threatened. But what what would you offer me in return? Even you cannot bind a demon of my power into absolute slavery." She looked at him skeptically, knowing there was nearly nothing he could offer her that she could not get herself. Nearly nothing.

He stepped a little closer to her and said in a little lower voice, "I have heard of you Tazina, and I know of your desire. It is why I chose you. Tazina, If you complete this task for me, I will grant that desire. You will be a goddess of the new world, and you will grow powerful off the belief and faith of the people."

Tazina's eyes grew slightly wider and she raised an eyebrow. "And should I fail?"

"Then you shall face the same fate of all those who fail me." He replied calmly.

Tazina raised a hand to her face and started to weigh her options. She thought about it for all of ten seconds. "How would you like this "whelp" disposed of?"

Orgnul smiled widely. "That my dear, is entirely up to you."

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The northern side of the hot springs was on a small cliff overlooking the vast expanse of pools. The large pool on the cliff fed a few smaller ones with a waterfall, which served to drown out any noise that might be made from any distance away. It was also surrounded by a ten foot high wall made of logs, with twenty feet to either side of the pool, and could only be accessed by a large metal door with a heavy lock and a small iron bar on the inside. Tabol owned the only key to this door, which he had lent to Hatako with the intent that she was allowed her privacy. This was the first time she had actually deigned to use the northern side.

Hatako shifted back into her bipedal form when she and Kanto reached the wall surrounding the pool. She fumbled through a tiny bag at her hip as if it was much larger than it was and finally withdrew a brass key, which she then slipped into the lock and turned. She led the wolf through the door and shut the door behind them, relocking it and lifting the bar into place, just in case. The vixen sat on a rock near the pool and spoke for the first time since they left the Temple.

"Kanto, there are a few things you should know before we continue..."

Kanto sat on his haunches and looked into her eyes. "Alright, I'm listening." He said rather seriously and a little softly.

"For the start, the only reason that I'm doing this, at least the only reason I'm doing this now, is that I have to. Trust me when I say that I want to, but I literally need this." She drew a breath before she tried to explain. "In order to gain greater magical abilities, many of the people where I come from make promises to spirits or deities to do or not do certain things. For instance, I cannot wear the color white. I once knew a rat that could only speak in a dead language few others understand. One of the vows I made was that I would mate every thirty days. I made it a few years back when I thought I would never have to worry about it, because I thought I had found the one who was my true mate. Our relationship went south about a year after that, we just kind of grew apart. We stopped calling each other pet names, the mating became meaningless... it was gradual, but it happened. One day we just realized how far apart we actually were, and decided it was best if we went our separate ways. Well, to get back onto my point, I'm nearing the end of the thirty days. And in order to keep my power, I have to mate. It sounds extremely cold, even to my ears, but know that I could have just as easily ridden into town and found a male willing to spend the night with me just by walking twenty yards past the first buildings. In fact I had planned to tomorrow, but when I saw you walk into Tabol's office today, I knew you were going to be the one to share my bed tonight. And I hope, in nights to come."

He looked at her, seemingly a little lost. "Okay, I think I got most of that, but could you sum that up into a couple sentences just to make sure?" He said, doing what he could to effect a smile.

Hatako gave a small laugh, "Basically what I'm saying is that I'm wanting to mate with you now, because if I don't I'll lose my power. I want to mate with you because I think I might be interested in pursuing a realtionship with you. Simple enough?" She asked with a smirk.

"Yeah, but why tell me?"

"For two reasons. One, I've blown a few minor relationships by keeping it a secret even for a few days. Two, because I need something you can't give me right now, and I want you to trust me." She put her left paw on his cheek and just held his face.

Kanto turned his head into her palm and licked her palm. "For some reason, I trust you, even though I just met you. But what can't I give you?"

She looked deep into his eyes and said "I need to feel the touch of a male, not just a release. And you can't let me feel that as you are right now. That's why I need you to trust me, and hold still. There may be days where your current form will please me to no end," Using her right paw, she dug through her bag for something. He saw her crush something in her paw and heard what sounded like breaking glass, she started to make signs in the air, "but right now, I want you to adopt another one."

She started chanting under her breathing, taking her left paw from him to start making signs with it as well, all while Kanto just sat there and stared into her eyes. They had turned an almost silverish color with hints of blue, green, and even a little red. Her paws began to glow with the power she was channeling. Before he realized she had moved, he found Hatako's paw on his forehead, and felt an awesome rush of power flooding through him.

"Just don't fight it." She whispered.

Kanto felt the power rushing through him, permeating every fiber of his being, down to the last cell... and then he felt his body changing. He felt his limbs extending, his bones stretching. He felt his muscles being forced to greater lengths and his skin became more taut before starting to conform to his new shape. He felt every inch of his being changing in some way, even his facial muscles adapting, and he thought of how much it should hurt. But there was no pain. He felt everything except the pain that should accompany such a drastic change. And then it was over.

For a while he just lay there on the ground, absorbing what had just happened. He started to push himself up and saw his paws. No longer did he have wolf paws. Now he had paw like his brother's. Like Hatako's. He pushed himself to his new feet, slowly standing up, bracing himself on a rock next to Hatako till he got used to only standing on two legs. And then he examined his new body. What he saw when he looked down was the body of a Lupanos male with the same gray fur he had always had, but with everything he had dreamed of possessing ever since he realized that he and Firus were different. He fully realized what she had done to him and a tear formed in his eye. He reached up a finger to wipe it away and smiled, and as he did so he looked at her.

Hatako was sitting on her rock watching him examine himself, and apparently not finding the view half bad herself to judge from the small grin on her face. He was taller and broader than her, but that was a given, but she thought he might be a little shorter than his brother still. But if she was honest, she wasn't interested in his height, and it certainly wasn't what she was looking at.

He followed her gaze, and when he saw the very tip of his shaft poking out of his sheathe, he realized also that with the new body came new rules. Unfortunately for him, as he thought, modesty was one of them. But right now, it didn't matter. All that mattered to him right now, was the vixen who had given him this wonderful gift.

He knelt down in front of her and looked her in the eyes. He took her paws in her own, even though he was still trying to get used to the fact he had thumbs, and kissed them.

He whispered to her, "You have no idea what you have done for me. You've just fulfilled a dream I had long given up on. I always looked up to my brother and envied him his body, I wanted to be like him in every way. But mostly I wanted the freedom that comes with this kind of body. I can never thank you enough for this."

She stared at him and smiled. "Then I shall make this form's permanency a gift to you. But you know why I did it in the first place. Even though you'll have to get used to it, right now, an amateur touch will be better than none. If you want to express your thanks, then come here."

She rose up and grabbed his newly changed paw, leading him closer to the center of the grassy area. She pulled him down onto the grass and began to kiss him passionately. He was still getting used to his fully mobile lips, but he managed to figure out how they worked and what was better. As she started to lean back on the grass with him on top of her, he whispered "Thank you."

"If you're thankful, then don't stop." she replied with a playful nip on his ear. And with that they lost themselves in each other, and gained a taste of what could be between them.

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Sayuri followed Firus into the room that had been established as their quarters, holding tightly to his paw and laughing at the story he was telling.

"By the time the gnome realized he was on the field of play, the ogre had already mistaken him for the ball and sent him flying through the goal. And, when the ogre figured out that he hadn't actually kicked the ball, all he could think to do was throw up his arms and yell 'It's good!'." Firus said laughing. "True story, I swear."

"And when did this happen?" Sayuri asked with a mischievous twinkle in her eye.

Firus hesitated a little before replying, "Twenty years ago."

Sayuri laughed and said "Hun, if you had payed more attention to the lessons on History they taught us at the academy, you would have known that those races along with most elves, and the humans, and several others had either been exterminated or driven into hiding almost twenty-five years ago. And therefore even if the story was true, you couldn't possibly remember it, only being about three yourself." She shut the door behind them and put her arms around him, staring into his eyes. "But I forgive you, since it makes a great joke anyway." she said with a laugh and a lick on his nose.

Firus looked at her with an amused face. "Well, you know history was never my best subject. Actually I'm surprised I was as close as I was. But enough of the lesson, Professor, you'll just end up burning out my brain."

She laughed and kissed him. "And without your brain the rest of you wouldn't function, so I guess I have no choice." She laid her head against his chest. "I love you Fire, you are what has kept me warm and brightened my life all these years."

Firus laid his cheek on her head, pulling her closer. "And I love you Sayuri, my lily. You have brought beauty into my life, and shown me that life itself has it's own beauty. Without you, I don't know what I would have done after I killed my father's murderer."

Firus suddenly realized that while she had gleaned some of his past from Kanto, he knew little of hers. Before now the past just didn't seem to matter. Before now.

"Sayuri, what was your life like before the Academy?" he asked.

She raised her head and looked into his eyes with a sad expression. "Worse than what you did to your father's killer, because it lasted so much longer." She sat on the bed. "It all started with my father, and my heritage."