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Of Fire and Desire

By Searska GreyRaven

The demon heard the soft call of xyr name from the across the planes and stirred. Someone--some foolish mortal--was trying to summon xyr. For a moment, the demon debated not answering for now and going back to sleep. But then the call came again, louder and more insistent, and it had been a long time since xe had stepped foot in the mortal realm. So the demon stood and stretched xyr batlike wings, scratched behind xyr backswept horns, and decided to follow the summons before the compulsion to obey became overwhelming. A flex of will and xe teleported to mortal realm, following the source of the call.

Right into a warded magic circle.

The demon swore in ten languages, four long lost to living memory, and looked around for the idiot summoner. The cave in which xe had been summoned seemed empty. Stone walls gleamed with dark and damp by the light of the circle's candles, danced along the long fingers of stalagmites reaching up for the longer teeth of stalactites above. There were relentless echoes of dripping water and the annoyed sound of the demon's breath. But not a mortal in sight. Not so much as a single panicked gasp. The demon snarled, kicking a stone across the floor. It passed effortlessly through the ward and the demon snarled again in pure frustration.

"Show yourself, mortal. Who dares summon me?" Xyr voice was the crack of glass against stone, of steel against bone. It echoed through the empty halls of the cavern and returned even more distorted. Gradually, it reverberated to silence and the demon sulked. So much for xyr cavorting about the mortal realm. What kind of idiotic summoner calls forth a demon and then leaves them alone in a cave? Madness!

Xe examined the ward that held xyr. Every line, every curve of the ward had been overlaid with purified salt. The circle had been carved into the stone, the groove filled with salt and the candles placed in shallow cups to prevent any dripping wax from fouling the circle. Clever, Peryton thought grudgingly. Xe was just about to test the circle with her toe when a lilting, quavering voice shattered it.

"Peryton, you've come! I mean, Lord Peryton, spawn of Asmodeus, I command you! Turn now and face me!"

The demon turned, tail lashing, and faced xyr summoner. The demon squinted in confusion. An okapi? She was clutching a scroll in one hand, her other hand splayed across her chest in alarm.

The demon canted xyr head, perplexed. Xe expected a human, or an elf. Or even one of the Felidae sorcerers notorious for their dealings with the Nether Realms. Not an okapi, and certainly not an okapi_noble._ The four gold rings 'round her neck glistened in the light of the five red candles set about the warded circle.

The demon narrowed xyr eyes. "Who calls me?" xe demanded.

"Taraneh," the okapi said without hesitation.

The demon grinned. This naive little okapi noble didn't know the danger of names, or in giving them so freely. The circle might be well crafted, but a master summoner she was not. "You're a clever one, Taraneh. I didn't think your kind dealt with demons. How did you come by that scroll, and my name?" Xe put a _push_to the words, a subtle thing but coupled with the okapi's name would compel the summoner to speak, and speak true. Xe watched the okapi noble hesitate, and the demon frowned. No softened noble should be able to resist even that small charm.

"I bought the scroll, at great cost. More than half my dowry," she said, finally. It wasn't a lie, not really, but it wasn't the truth, either. The demon's frown deepened. Perhaps this one was smarter than she appeared.

Peryton paced around the edge of the ward, caprine eyes narrowed and searching for any flaw to the summoning circle. "And why would you pay such a price, little okapi?"

"I'm not little," Taraneh snapped, straightening. "I'm the daughter of kings and I will have your respect!"

Peryton chuckled, xyr blackened lips peeling back to form a cold, cruel grin. "You have something far worse, okapi," xe crooned. "You have my attention. Do you not fear my kind?"

"Yes," she replied. Peryton could hear the parchment flutter under her shaking hand. "But I fear other things more."

Peryton paced around the circle again. There was no flaw here, no weakness xe could exploit. The circle was perfect. Perfect. Not since the fall of Babylon had the demon seen such careful, canny work.

"What do you fear, Taraneh?" Xe pushed again, weaving the spell with each repetition of the okapi's name. "What could you possibly fear more than a demon?"

She hesitated again, and for a moment, Peryton almost wondered if the okapi had given xyr a false name. How else could this soft noble resist a demon's compulsion? The okapi should be spilling her innermost secrets by a second naming. Instead, this one, this Taraneh, was willfully resisting. An okapi noble who crafts a circle that would be the envy of any occults, yet gives away her name? Peryton was vexed. Vexed, and intrigued.

"A cage," Taraneh whispered. "Not of metal and bars, but of silk and obligation. Chains forged not of iron but of gender and station. They would make a broodmare of me, a mother of kings but never a queen herself. There is nothing of my life that is not controlled and contained, nothing that I choose for myself. And once I am wed, I might as well be a beast, one of my father's prize camels instead of a daughter."

"You're a noble," Peryton growled. "These are your birthright. You may be a broodmare, but you'd be a well cared for one. That is the way of your people, is it not? Are you not satisfied?"

"No." She stood before Peryton, proud and defiant. There was a fire to her that the demon hadn't seen in an age or more. Fire, and pride.

The pride of nobles, reaching ever higher until they burn.

Peryton was more than willing to give the noble the spark she desired, if the price was right.

"Then what is it you wish of me, Taraneh?" xe purred. "Do you wish for power, the ability to bend the males around you to your whim? A charm to bend their ear to your every desire?"

Taraneh set the scroll down on the ground near the circle gently, almost reverently. She brushed the dirt from her khalat and stood tall and proud before Peryton, inhaled slow and steady. "I wish--" she hesitated, her bravery crumbling as fast as she'd gathered it. She picked at the edge of her sleeve, fussing with a stray bit of thread.

Peryton sighed and paced some more, blunt claws testing the ward a little harder. It bowed outward at the demon's touch like a soap bubble, but didn't break. Xe could press xyr whole weight upon the ward, and it would do naught but flex. In spite of xyrself, the demon was impressed. This summoner might have a poor grasp on demon nature, but she set a ward that would hold the greatest of xyr kind. Peryton's only way out was to treat with this slip of a mortal. And slip she would. As the sun rises, so do mortals fall in the end. This one was just going to be a bit more of a challenge than usual.

"How did you learn such things, okapi noble?" Peryton wondered aloud.

"With the remainder of my dowry, from the lips of one who paid for my silence," Taraneh replied. "I keep my bargains."

Peryton laughed, a throaty sound like the growl of a crocodile, like a death rattle. Xyr lips peeled back, and back, into an uncanny grimace that made Taraneh recoil to the far wall of the cavern. The sight made Peryton laugh again. "A noble with honor, how rare. But you have yet to tell me what it is you wish of me. You went through a great deal of trouble to summon me here. You must want something quite...precious."

Taraneh said something too soft for Peryton to hear.

Snarling, xe raked the ward with xyr claws, rending the air with a sound like nails upon slate. Taraneh yelped and recoiled, glaring at Peryton.

"You'll have to speak up, okapi noble. I can't hear you from here," xe said, voice far calmer than the demon appeared. Red-tipped hackles stood at attention, white fangs bared.

Taraneh swallowed--Peryton followed the motion of her throat through her gilded rings--and took three delicate steps forward. Taraneh's cloven hooves, so similar to the demon's own, made no sound upon the cool stone.

"I wish to know another woman," she said at last.

Peryton raised a fiery eyeridge. "I am no woman," xe said. "Mortals concern themselves with gender, not demons."

Taraneh swallowed again, twisted the golden band of a ring around her finger anxiously but said nothing. She held her ground and waited.

The demon was becoming annoyed. Xe lashed xyr barbed tail like a cat, sparks flashing across the stone. "Surely there are other females among the okapi that you could befriend. You've summoned me here for nothing!"

"No!" Taraneh said. Then, more softly, "No, not...not like that. I...I wish to know another woman."

The demon blinked as understanding dawned. Still, if a mortal desired anything from a demon, the wish must be stated explicitly. That was the rule among demons. "You're going to have to be more specific, Taraneh Okapi."

Taraneh took a long, shuddering breath. "I do not find the males of my people attractive. Not...not as a woman is supposed to find a man attractive. They are lovely, yes, but they do not stir me. Not as the sight of a lovely woman stirs me. I want...I want to know what it is to love a woman." She blushed. Peryton could see the heat race across the skin, even though her dark fur hid it from mortal eyes. A demon's sight is a subtle thing, able to discern heat and light in ways a mortal could not imagine.

At last, we have something to work with. Peryton smirked.

"_How_do you wish to love another woman?" the demon pressed.

"Carnally," Taraneh breathed. Peryton barely heard the word, but the sound raised the fur along xyr bristled spine. There was something sweet and fresh about this summoner. Something Peryton could not put a claw on just yet, but xe wanted very much to figure it out. A puzzle to an immortal demon is as irresistible as honey to a fly.

"And what have you to sacrifice for this service I'll do for you?" Peryton paced round the magic circle again, not really looking for flaws so much as admiring it. Whatever tutor you found, Taraneh Okapi, is both brilliant and doomed. I will find this teacher and tear him to pieces for teaching a mere noble such secrets. But it was a grudge to nurse later. Much later, when this business with the foolish noble was concluded and xe was free of the infernal ward. "If half your dowry went to the scroll with my name and the other half for the knowledge to craft this circle, what have you left to bargain with? And no, your soul holds no appeal to me. Noble souls are paltry things, weak and tasteless. You'd barely whet my appetite. Unless you brought the one who taught you such forbidden things here, you'll have to offer something sweeter."

Taraneh blushed harder, and the gold earrings chimed as she laid back her ears. "My virginity."

That got Peryton's attention. Xe stopped pacing and looked at the okapi noble. "You're a virgin?"

Taraneh nodded, looking shyly away. "I have never known the touch of another in love."

"You future husband will not thank you," Peryton said, brow furrowing. Demons were brutal and wild, but they were not heartless. Xe knew an okapi male--especially an okapi noble male--would not take kindly to finding out his promised virgin bride was no longer pure. And if he found out she had surrendered her virginity to a demon? Stoning was the kindest fate she could hope for.

"My betrothed will never know," Taraneh snapped back. "He is no more interested in me than I am in him."

At that, Peryton cackled, causing Taraneh's dark eyes to narrow. "A bride with no interest in males, promised to a groom with no interest in females, summons a demon so that she may know love once before becoming trapped in an impossible marriage." Xe hopped from foot to foot in glee. Sparks flew from xyr hooves as xe danced. "Shahrazad herself could hardly concoct a more tragic tale!"

Taraneh straightened. "You are wasting time. Can you or can you not do as I command?" She lifted her chin and fixed Peryton with such a fierce glare that it was Peryton's turn to take a step back. Ah, there is marvelous fire in her, under that composed mask. This one must give her family such trouble. No wonder she is promised to a loveless marriage. It gave the demon a pang of sympathy. Mortals never treasured the fiery ones enough. They quenched them and smothered them beneath layers of taboos and called it civility.

Even demons could not be so cruel.

Peryton gave Taraneh an eerie, hyena laugh. Xe braced one hand on the ward, causing the magic to shimmer and scream beneath xyr palm. "Oh, you are a treat. But why stop there? Why not wish yourself free of this trap, once and for all? Why for just one night?"

"I keep," Taraneh said through clenched teeth, "my bargains. Unless I give back the dowry, I am promised."

Peryton sighed and nodded. A pity, this one showed such potential. "Very well, princess, I will show you a night of pleasures known only among female lovers, in exchange for your virginity. Know that you'll be ruined to the touch of a male, if not all mortals, for the rest of your days."

Taraneh inhaled and nodded. "Done. Show me, Peryton."

Peryton snickered and drew back from the ward. "Oh, my sweet Taraneh, I'll do far better than show." With a simple flex of xyr will, Peryton's form shifted. The androgynous planes of xyr body smoothed and filled, softened in the light. Xe stood in the center of the ward, no longer a "xe" and very clearly a "she." She palmed one perfectly formed breast, delicate fingers tracing the nub of her nipple before smoothing down the length of her side, down the curve of her hip, and across the flat plane of her belly. Her other hand she held out, beckoning Taraneh to her.

Taraneh stood for a moment as if rooted to the earth, her whole body trembling. Her hands were clenched at her sides and her expression was pure desire. With a single sharp motion of her hoof, she struck the lines of the circle, scattering the salt barrier and breaking the ward to release Peryton. She didn't wait for the demon to come to her, instead took two more steps right into the Peryton's waiting embrace. Peryton coiled one arm around Taraneh's voluptuous waist, and the okapi trembled eagerly.

Peryton blinked, surprised. Few mortals willingly allowed a demon to touch them, and she'd never known one not to flinch at first brush. At best, mortal lovers who'd demanded carnal pleasure from her had done so with high ambitions, hoping for more power, more wealth, more virility. They traded their bodies to Peryton with indifference, disdain, revulsion. But Taraneh came to Peryton with no reservations, no regrets. She was willing, more than willing. Hungry.

It was strange to the demon. Strange to be desired instead of doing the desiring. Strange, and pleasant.

Peryton pressed her lips to Taraneh's, slipping the slightest hint of magic into the kiss. Not enough to take the okapi's will, not even enough to influence her, just enough to make each sensation enhanced. Taraneh gasped, her grip on Peryton's arms tightening. Peryton made a sound of amusement and deepened the kiss, slipping her forked tongue deftly between Taraneh's lips. The demon cupped Taraneh's face and drank her desire like the sweetest wine, gorging herself on the emotion. Never had Peryton tasted something so sublime. Innocence laced with pride, with lust, with darker desires the okapi dared not name. The copper bite of treachery was here, the stark, silver sweet of lies kept close. And the bitter, vinegar-and-ash tang of unrequited love.

This one is no mere tasteless noble. Peryton drank deeper, rolling the taste of Taraneh's soul across her tongue.

Taraneh moaned and returned Peryton's kiss reluctantly at first, her unpracticed tongue fumbling and unsure as it danced with Peryton's. But she caught on fast, and in a few minutes, Taraneh was keeping pace with Peryton.

Peryton gently extracted herself and gave Taraneh a minute to catch her breath. "You're a quick study, little virgin," the demon said.

Taraneh dropped her gaze and smiled shyly. "My people are very good with our tongues," she said. She blushed, and Peryton watched it race beneath her skin like a wildfire.

"So it would seem," Peryton said. She hooked one finger under the okapi noble's chin and lifted her face back up. Taraneh's dark eyes met Peryton's fiery gaze not with fear or wariness but with heat, desire, and excited eagerness. Images cavorted through the demon's mind, of other places that limber tongue might explore, the skills she could teach this mortal. Had we only the time, Peryton thought, there's so much I could show you, my sweet Taraneh. I could teach you such glorious things, seven words to make a woman fall in love with you, ten to turn a man to madness, the names of the stars and the fates of kings. I could finish what that fool occultist started with you, and we could take the desert between our teeth if we wanted it.

Peryton set the idea aside. No use dwelling on imaginary banquets when a feast was already before her. She slid her fingertips along the elaborate Zardozi embroidery on Taraneh's sleeves, lingering over the precious and semi-precious stones. The gold thread was scratchy, but the blue silk between was sleek and cool. Peryton stopped at the base of Taraneh's throat and undid the clasp on Taraneh's khalat. Peryton hooked her fingers under the fabric and pushed it down Taraneh's shoulders. Not enough to disrobe her, but enough to see the okapi's form.

Curvaceous was the only word for her. Taraneh's hips were sloped, the fur soft and smooth. The stripes upon her lower body were sharp and bright, like knives laid across oxblood-hued velvet. She held her arms across her chest, still shy of Peryton's gaze and hiding herself from view. No matter. Peryton knew she would see it all eventually. Keep your modesty for now, she thought. It'll make seeing you all the sweeter when you finally yield.

"Lovely," Peryton murmured. "Truly, a princess in her first bloom."

Taraneh began to reply, but Peryton cut her off, capturing her lips once more and cupping one of the okapi noble's breasts through the fabric. Taraneh inhaled and pressed against Peryton's palm, eyelids fluttering. The demon smoothed her hand down Taraneh's body, careful to keep her claws from catching on her khalat. Slowly, slowly, she eased more of the fabric open, until it finally fell from the okapi's fingers to puddle upon the stone. Taraneh moaned, pressing her body as close to Peryton as she could. Finally, the demon broke the kiss and allowed the noble to come up for air.

"You're warm," Taraneh breathed. "I was told demons were cold to the touch."

"Some are," Peryton murmured, planting kisses across the okapi's cheek and one on each ring around her throat. "But not I." Peryton drifted lower, her long, forked tongue flicking across Taraneh's collarbone as she began to work her way lower. Taraneh's dark fur was soft, so soft against the demon's lips. Peryton purred, admiring every dip and valley of the okapi's bare body with tongue, fingers, teeth. She knelt beside her, kissed the noble's hands, lips playing along the length of each finger as she traced the black and white patterns of her hide. Taraneh gasped, writhed, begged wordlessly with her voice and her body for more. The sharp, spicy scent of her desire perfumed the air and Peryton inhaled deeply. Peryton could feel the noble's body sink deeper under her spell, the pleasure almost overwhelming her fear.

Almost, but not quite.

"Will it...hurt much?" Taraneh asked, withdrawing a little from Peryton's embrace.

Peryton paused, head tilted. "Will what hurt?"

"When you...love me."

Peryton glanced up from between Taraneh's breasts, puzzled. "This is your wish, summoner. It only hurts if you will it so. I can make it as pleasant or as painful as you desire."

"No pain," Taraneh replied hurriedly. "Please, no pain."

She growled and swirled that long, pink tongue around the okapi's nipple. "As you wish," Peryton said. She caught the pink nub between the forked tips of her tongue and suckled gently.

Taraneh cried out, shivering. Peryton rained kisses upon Taraneh's collarbone, worked her way up and across the okapi's throat, unclasping each golden ring with her tongue before moving on to the next. The four golden hoops tumbled to the stone, chiming sweetly like four sacred bells. Taraneh hardly noticed their loss. Her fingers curled around Peryton's blackened horns, fluttered across her cheeks, her neck, and went back on her horns once more before settling deep into Peryton's wild mane. The okapi's fingers curled against the demon's fur, almost digging in but stopping at the last second and recoiling. Peryton paused, tongue curling lazily around Taraneh's navel.

"Something wrong?" Peryton asked with more concern than was decent for a demon.

"Can I...may I...I don't know what to do! Do I hold you? Do I stay still?"

Peryton smiled. Something that might have once been the demon's heart seemed to warm in her chest. But Peryton was a demon, and demons had no hearts. Fire of desire, nothing more, she convinced herself. "Let me love you, Taraneh. You need not do anything but enjoy yourself."

"I don't want to hurt you." The okapi's voice was so soft, Peryton was barely certain she'd even heard her speak.

The demon went still. The corner of her lip twitched, a ghost of a smile. "You cannot hurt me, my lovely Taraneh, unless you've concealed holy water somewhere within the folds of your khalat and plan on pouring it upon me. You can hold me, rake your nails down my back and grip me as hard as you like, and it won't bother me." Her smile sharpened, flashing dainty fangs. "Demons are rather durable like that."

Taraneh swallowed and nodded. "But I want you to enjoy this as well."

Again, something in the demon shifted, lightened. It was...strange to be seen as something beyond a means to an end. Different. Dare she think, even good. Peryton remembered it, vaguely, from before she became a demon but hadn't felt anything like it since. This one, this ember of a mortal, fears harming a demon. And not only that, but wishes to pleasure me in turn. In all her long life as a demon, Peryton had never encountered such a thing. Summoners took and used; never gave, never showed compassion or concern.

This one...this one is very different from my previous summoners. She deserves more than a tryst upon cold stone. Perhaps...perhaps something a little softer to lay upon.

While Peryton continued to pleasure Taraneh, she used one hand to cast a spell, to create a lavish bed from thin air. Plush ruby velvet, a feather mattress, and silk-covered pillows appeared just as Peryton pulled Taraneh down upon them. The okapi tumbled into the demons arms with a cry of surprise that the demon quickly swallowed, sealing her lips to the noble's and kissing her again.

What will become of her, once she dismisses me? Peryton wondered. The demon rarely gave a second thought to her summoners, but this one...this one, she wondered about. Trapped in a loveless marriage, to a man who had as little interest in her as she did in him, bearing child after child until one survived to carry on the family name or the bearing of them became too much and she perished. What sort of a future was that? No wonder she sought respite, even a temporary one, in a demon's embrace. This noble okapi who shivered with pure joy in the demon's arms was every bit as damned as Peryton.

_Perhaps..._But the idea shied away like a wayward spark, and another took its place.

Peryton grinned, and pressed her will upon the okapi noble more firmly. "You wish to pleasure me as I please you, lovely one? Then feel as I feel. Know as I know," she murmured, whispering a spell against the fur of Taraneh's thighs. Peryton's kisses drifted lower, past the gentle curves of the Okapi's hips to the place between them. Her forked tongue darted out, deftly parting her lips and tasting of her at last.

Taraneh cried out, one hand flying to her face. "Soft," she murmured. "Sweet."

Peryton smiled and nodded. "Oh yes. You are indeed." She lapped again, deeper this time, more thorough, and Taraneh writhed, her whole body taut with pleasure. Peryton's tongue delved and played, swift one moment then slow the next. She read the motions of Taraneh's body as if the okapi was an open book, and Peryton a flame consuming page after page. Slow, then fast. Slow, then fast again. Each time, she drove the okapi just a little higher, a little farther. She drove the lovely noble past words, past thought, until she was a quivering bundle of pleasure thrumming like a zither beneath Peryton's grasp.

The demon pressed one last time, coiling around the okapi's mind just as her tongue pushed the noble over the edge. Taraneh howled, her back bowed and she bucked almost out of Peryton's arms. Cloven hooves rent the silk sheets, tearing and scattering feathers like snow. The demon held her close, rode her lover's ecstasy until Taraneh finally collapsed, boneless, against the ruined plush mattress.

"I have died," Taraneh breathed. "I have died, and this is heaven, and you're an angel."

Peryton chuckled and curled up around the still-panting okapi. With a wave of her hand, she mended the bed good as new, but left the scattered feathers upon the ground. Her scaled tail flicked like a contented cat's as she caressed Taraneh's face, chest, belly. Taraneh kissed Peryton's claws, suckling the tip of one finger briefly before moving to the next. Gradually, her attentions grew more urgent and Peryton's eyebrows rose.

"Again, my lover?" the demon purred.

"Let me," Taraneh replied. "Let me love you this time."

Peryton frowned and gently withdrew from Taraneh's embrace. "Why?" Peryton demanded. "Why would you do this?"

Taraneh smiled, the very image of innocent confusion. "Because I can. Should I not?"

"Do not fear the stories? That loving a demon freely leads to corruption? That you'd free the demon from a summoner's power?" Peryton asked. She was finding it harder to focus through the okapi's increasingly persistent attentions. "And what of the bargains you wish to keep? Becoming a demon would make marriage quite impossible."

"Tell me to stop, and I shall." Taraneh cradled Peryton's face and kissed her, twining her purple tongue around Peryton's and slowly sliding it free again. "Or don't, and we can both play with fire and find out what really happens when a woman loves a demon."

For an eternal moment, Peryton hesitated. She should stop the noble, push her away, or at least warn the stupid creature. The confused okapi didn't know what she was condemning herself to. But Taraneh's lips moved down Peryton's neck, across her heart, and the demon's willpower blackened.

The demon could weather all manner of cruelty and wickedness, and had inflicted as much as she'd received and more. But kindness and compassion? Against these, she had no defense.

Scorch her promises, Peryton thought. If this is what she desires, I'll not deny her. "What kind of demon lover would I be," Peryton asked with a wicked smile, "if I were to refuse my summoner's wishes?"

"A poor one," Taraneh laughed. She continued to lay a path down the demon's belly, each kiss sending flickers of fire across the demon's skin. Deft fingers raked Peryton's hide, drawing a moan from her throat. Peryton fell back and let the okapi noble straddle her, let the mortal explore her twisted body, her scaled tail and cloven hooves, her slender hips, her delicate breasts. She let the mortal noble smooth her canine hackles and groom her feline whiskers, and when Taraneh was finished, Peryton felt languid, almost peaceful. She felt Taraneh slip lower and lower, soft lips and wet tongue driving away all thought. The okapi was new at this, her motions still shaky, her touch hesitating, but with each stroke and kiss she grew bolder.

Peryton was about to speak when Taraneh's boldness finally reached between her legs, to give the demon a thorough kiss.

The demon gasped. Her eyes flew open and she looked down to see Taraneh's eyes, dark and gleeful. She grinned and flicked the tip of her long tongue across Peryton, savoring her taste.

"Little noble, you learn fast," Peryton breathed, her eyes flicking back.

"I had a very good teacher."

Too good, Peryton thought, gasping again as the okapi noble's tongue set her blood aflame.

She _needed_this. How long had it been since she'd felt pleasure without stealing it from the mind of another? Peryton couldn't remember.

Taraneh shifted, and Peryton cried out. "Right there," she breathed. "Just like that."

Peryton expected Taraneh to tire, to give up. But the okapi continued, relentless, driving the demon's pleasure higher.

"Don't stop," Peryton urged. "Oh flames, please don't stop!"

Taraneh huffed, a single heated breath across Peryton's already burning skin, and it was more than she could take. Peryton came howling, screaming, burning as the magic that bound her seared away.

She was...free. The summoning broken.

Peryton lay prone on the bed, her fur damp and her body limp. She could have stayed like that for an age, had it not been for the sound of Taraneh's cry of pain.

Peryton bolted upright. Taraneh, the okapi noble, was changing. The demon dove to her side and held her as her body shifted.

"Flames, but I warned you it might happen, you stupid, foolish okapi," Peryton spat. Her wings fanned, cooling Taraneh's scorching skin, but it wasn't enough. It had been too late from the moment Taraneh touched Peryton with anything but revulsion. Taraneh's dark fur grew even darker, taking on a bluish tinge that spread across her body like smoldering paper in a fire.

"Knew it would," Taraneh gasped through clenched teeth. "Counted on it."

Peryton blinked, but had no time to consider what Taraneh meant by that. The agony of the change was already robbing the mortal of speech.

"Breathe, little flame. Breathe through the pain. It will all be over soon," Peryton crooned.

In her arms, Taraneh whimpered. Her stubby horns lengthened and sharpened, became twin slivers of gleaming glass. Two bird-like wings tore from her shoulders, spattering the sand with drops of blue-black blood. A brilliant mane of sapphire and ruby sprang up along Taraneh's spine and tumbled down her neck. Finally, from the base of her spine grew a long, scaled tail with four short barbs at the tip. She lay, gasping in Peryton's arms and shivering.

"It's over now," Peryton murmured. "You've made it."

She opened her eyes, the dark iris now cut by silver, ophidian pupils, and snuggled into Peryton's arms. "Are you going to tear me to pieces now?"

Peryton made a wry face and ignored the question to ask one of her own. "Why? Why would you do this?"

"Because I keep my bargains," Taraneh said. She yawned, newly-minted fangs flashing in the candlelight.

"This was not part of any bargain you made with me," said Peryton. "And you broke the one to your soon-to-be husband."

"He taught me," Taraneh murmured with a wide grin. "I gave him back my dowry, and in exchange, he taught me how to summon you, and how I could be free at last."

Peryton stared at the former okapi.

"He is now free to love whom he loves, and I, well. I am free to love as I love."

"You gave him back your dowry, gave up your birthright and kingdom, your noble name and status, all for this?"

Taraneh ran her fingers through her new mane and stretched her obsidian wings as far as she could. "A fair price, I think," she replied. "So, my love, are you as good at showing me how to be a demon as you were teaching me to be a lover?"

Peryton grinned and laughed and held out one clawed hand to Taraneh. "Shall we find out?"