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The Power of Pain

Part 1

For Catsithx

By Draconicon

The end of an adventure was always Kain's favorite part of the whole thing, and this was no exception. Not only had they rooted out the local Bast cultists from the Misty Woods, but they had managed to seize a number of different pieces of loot from them, too. The rest of the party had focused on gaining weapons, gold, and potions, but the scout of the party? He had been looking for something a little more special.

He sat in the corner of the Green Man inn, looking down at the palm of his hand. Lying there was a silver ring, one that was marked with the symbol of the goddess of magic. One of the Bastian cultists had worn it, and even though he didn't have any magical abilities himself, he knew that it would be a great gift to someone that did. Not to mention that it'd be a good way for him to propose to that person.

The thump-thump of other people coming down the steps at the back of the common room snapped him out of his reverie, and the black cat put the ring back in his pocket. He leaned back, adjusted the black leathers that he wore - thieves did need to keep up appearances, after all - and he looked back at the stairs.

The entire party was coming down. Nigel, a Doberman that served as the swordsman of the party, was at the front. He was a tall male, about six-foot-three, and he wore armor that was just short of plate. A fair bit of chain-mail, the sort that would have weighed down a lesser man, and he carried two swords at his hip. He'd been a good friend for a while, and had been the one to suggest that he start looking for items of power for the proposal that he wanted to make.

Behind the Doberman came two dragonesses, Bellatrix and Tatsuo. They were of massively different builds and appearance, with the latter being hardened, broad-shouldered woman with thick muscle and powerful limbs, and the former being more slender, graceful, the sort that looked like she'd be little more than a sorceress that would be snapped by anything that happened to glance her way with too much intensity.

Kain shivered slightly. He knew from experience that it was the opposite way around. While Tatsuo looked like the muscle of the two, the rust-colored dragoness was the weaker of the two, but even that was only in relation to Bellatrix's own power. The white dragoness was a demon-slayer of the highest degree, and he had seen her rip through entire hoards of lesser minions at once. It was a sight to behold, and it was a constant reminder that it was better to be on her side than to be against her. Armored in steel, robed in black and shimmering greens, they were quite the pair.

Shaking his head, he looked past them, his eyes lingering on the woman at the end of the procession. She, more than any others, held his attention.

Cerise was a hybrid, and unlike some that were made uglier by the mixing of the species, she was made more beautiful. She had the soft fur of one kitsune parent and the stern, austere sort of face of her dragon sire, the two species combining to make for a slender, gentle-looking woman that yet appeared intimidating when she so chose to. Not that she generally did; she was a woman that was softer than she looked, and he had spent hours with her trying to make sure that she felt safe and comfortable with the group.

Unlike Bellatrix, she wore soft red and gold robes, the sort that lingered and drooped over her, giving many different hiding places for items and potions and more. She was a promising healer, someone that had a great deal of skill in bringing someone back from the brink of a deadly disease or horrendous injury, and she did it without the power of a god behind her. She did it purely, as he saw it, through the compassion that she held for others, and the sanctity in which she held life.

She was a wonderful woman, and she was the one that he hoped to marry, one day. He clenched his hand around the ring in his pocket as they came closer, relaxing as much as he could as they approached at the table.

"So, anything new?" Kain asked.

"Just more hero worship," Nigel said, shaking his head. "Everyone's happy to see the cultists gone."

"And the contract?"

"I'm heading out to get that now."

Kain nodded. As the ostensible head of the group, Nigel was the one that tended to negotiate what the terms were for their services with the different heads of villages, towns, and cities. Most of the time, it was just first claim to all the loot that their targets might have had, but this time, they had asked for more. The town had been more than willing to hand it over at the end of the mission.

"You want to come with me?" Nigel asked.

The black cat looked at Cerise. She had already started sitting down further around the table, and Kain shook his head. He shifted around the table, sitting closer with her.

"I'm fine here, thanks."

"You sure?"

"I'm sure."

"Might be a good idea, get out, see the city for a bit."

"I'm fine here," he repeated, looking at the hybrid again, his eyes drifting to her face. As she stroked the two black whiskers that hung from her chin over her shoulders, as her five tails flicked back and forth in idle motions, he couldn't help but smile. "I'm very fine here."

"...Okay. Bellatrix, Tatsuo?"

"We'll come," Tatsuo said.

"What she said," Bellatrix added.

"We'll be back soon," Nigel said, looking down. "Just in case they got something else, be ready."

"Yes, yes."

As the rest of the party left, Kain turned his attention back to Cerise. She glanced at him, then looked away, her cheeks burning.

"Do you have to look at me like that all the time?"

"How could I look at you in any other way? You're beautiful, and you know how I feel about you."

"I know..."

He took her hand, and she let him. Squeezing it, he slid his chair just a bit closer.

"Have you, uh...did you pick up any new magic books while you were looking through the loot?" he asked. "Do you need any help with them?"

"I don't need any help tonight, no."

Even in his moment of lovesick appreciation, he could tell that something was off. He cocked his head to the side, looking the kitsune-dragon hybrid in the eye as he leaned forward.

"What's the matter?"

"I'm tired. That's all."

"Do you want to go to bed?"

"Not until Nigel gets back."

"I know. I'll get you a drink. What would you like?"

"Water would be fine."

The black cat leaped to his feet, making his way across the common room to the bar at the far end. He fished through his pockets, finding a gold coin - one must always tip the barman, after all - and he placed the order for some water for her and a small ale for himself.

As he glanced back at the healer of the group, he could definitely understand her being tired. She was half-slumped against the chair, looking like she had been driven right to the edge of her endurance. There was something to the way that she was talking, though, that put him ill at ease.

Something was wrong, and he hoped that she wasn't hiding some injury from him or the others. The idea of her suffering when they were in a place where it could be made better was a horrible thought, and he could only hope that she was just tired, because this wasn't normal. Cerise might have been too shy to say much in front of others, but when they were alone, she had been an affectionate, lovely woman. She had always been gentle with him, touching, teasing, occasionally flirting when there was nobody else to overhear.

More than that, she had been the one to eventually initiate their little bits of fun at night. Never much, never full sex in the way that might have led to children, but enough for him to know that she was the one for him. He wanted to feel that closeness with her every day for the rest of his life, even if it meant that things would be difficult. A cleric and a rogue, two people that were hardly likely to get along, married?

Well, there were weirder things in this messed up world. He hoped that after some rest, she would be more herself again.

He got their drinks and hurried back to the table. He passed her the water, and she started sipping at it. Kain started to take a drink of his own beverage, but it was hardly more than a sip himself. The obvious disconnect that Cerise was going through had him too on edge to enjoy it.

He opened his mouth to ask what it was, but there was something in her expression that stopped him. Something there, something sad, something that was just too much for him to push through. He didn't know what it was, but he knew when he was being asked to leave well-enough alone.

They sat there in silence as he tried to find something, anything to talk about that would break the silence. The only thing that he could think of was the ring in his pocket, but that wasn't the right thing right now. Not only was the mood wrong, but he wanted to put together the whole set before presenting it to her. He wanted to give her both rings of the Goddess, as well as the other assortment of items that he had collected. The floating diadem, the bracelets of power, the anklets of the arcane dance: he had collected all but the second ring, and he wanted to give it all as a wedding gift, all at once.

Just one more...just one more...

Time wore on, and eventually, Nigel, Bellatrix, and Tatsuo returned. The two dragonesses made for the stairs, already handsy with one another, and the Doberman stopped at the table. He nodded at them.

"New contract," the dog said.

"Oh? What's the news?" Kain asked.

"Another chunk of cultists. They're down one of the tunnels nearby, an old mine. We're going to wipe them out tomorrow."

"That soon? No time to rest?" he asked, with a slight flick of his eyes towards Cerise. "I mean, we did work pretty hard to get rid of the last ones."

"The sooner we strike, the better chances we have of getting rid of them before they dig in. Besides, this way, they don't find out that we wiped out the rest of them in the woods. No way for them to realize what they're up against."

Sound enough tactical reasoning, even though he didn't like the idea of pushing their cleric and the rest of the party so hard in so short a time. He rubbed the back of his neck, thinking it through as best he could.

There's going to be more artifacts there, and if they had one of the rings of the goddess, then they might have the other. Two different artifacts to channel their power that much more. It would stand to reason...

And if he went in first, like usual, he would be able to mark the different traps and positions. They'd be safe enough, and it would be less open and dangerous like it had been in the forest. All the tunnels would mean that they could engage as they chose, rather than having to risk having everyone flooding in at them at once and being surrounded. All in all, it was less dangerous for a small group against a large one, this way.

"Alright. Hope it pays good."

"It pays fine."

"And my cut from the last one?"

"...Right."

Nigel reached for his belt, pulling a purse free. He tossed it across the table, and Kain caught it with ease. It had a good bit of heft to it, as well as the soft clink-clink of gold on gold.

"Thank you. I think we should get some rest then, shouldn't we?" He stood up, offering Cerise his hand. "Shall we?"

There was a moment's hesitation, and he felt like something even worse was going on before she took his hand. She had never hesitated to take some time alone together before, and he just hoped that this wasn't the start of something horrible. She was obviously not telling him something, but whatever it was, he hoped that he could find a way to make it better.

Still, it was a strange walk up the stairs at the back of the inn. It felt like Nigel was staring holes in the back of his neck with every step.

The feeling passed when they reached their room. They both stripped down to little more than their loincloths, and he laid down. She joined him at the other side of the bed, one of her tails stroking his arm for a moment before she rolled to turn her back away from him. He hesitated, then rolled to hug her from behind.

"Not tonight, Kain," she muttered.

"Not tonight?"

"I don't want to do it tonight."

"Oh..."

"I just...want to sleep."

"Do you mind if I..."

"...I guess we can do something..."

It wasn't like he had been pursuing sex, but she reached down along his leg and gently rubbed his balls. He groaned under his breath, rolling onto his back, giving her a better way of gripping him. As she grasped his rising shaft, he tried to reach around to her, but her legs were pressed tightly together, not giving him the chance to even reach for her sex. He groaned under his breath in half-annoyance, half-confusion, but no answers were forthcoming.

A good handjob, however, was. She gripped his cock good and hard, stroking him firmly as he reached full erection. He groaned under his breath every time that her fist went all the way down to the base of his cock, and then humped the air slightly as she started dragging it back up. Every stroke, every little flick of her wrist, gave him a good shock of pleasure, and he groaned as the barbs started forming and rising at the tip of his cock.

"Mmmph...are you sure..."

"I don't want anything tonight."

"But why..."

"You do."

She was gentle, but the words were clearly the sounds of a woman that wanted to get some sleep and didn't find herself that interested in this. If he had been less wound up already, he would have asked her to stop, but now that she'd started, it was hard for him to think of ending this right then. He wanted to feel her stroking him right to the edge and then back again, groaning every time that he felt her fingers hit his tip and then go back down.

"Ah...ah..."

He gripped the bed, feeling her fingers getting wet from the sheer amount of pre-cum that he was dripping. She kept sliding her hand up and down, up and down, curling her palm over the head of his cock for a small break from time to time and polishing it when she did, only to ram her hand down and start jerking him with abandon again.

He gritted his teeth, his pleasure helped on by the sound of the dragonesses moaning in the other room. They were always going at it when they had moments of privacy, and sometimes they did it even when the others were looking. They seemed to like an audience, and more than once, he swore that they intentionally let themselves be 'caught' by those that might linger and stare.

More than one innkeeper had come to them with a complaint about it. It always was brushed off later by Nigel, promising to make them behave, but they never did.

Right then, it was enough to keep him hard, but not enough to push him over. He groaned as he slid his hips up, humping against Cerise's stroking hand, feeling the soft tugging she continued to put him through. Up and down, up and down, each stroke hitting him good and hard, making him feel that need to keep going.

"Mmmph...ah...ah..."

"Are you getting close?"

"Mm-hmm."

"Then go ahead...hump away..."

She clenched her hand all the harder, making his next thrust between her fingers feel that much stronger, feeling his barbs flattening as he thrust up closer to the fingers, and then against her palm, and then more straight as she found the right angle for him to go for it. He panted hard, feeling the grip tightening again, making him feel every bit of her pads and fur.

"Mmmph...mmmph...MMPH!"

And that was it. Kain went over the edge, cumming hard over her fingers. His balls pulled up a bit, though not as much as they would have done for her blowjobs, and he came over his belly and her hand.

She pulled her fingers back as soon as he stopped oozing, wiping them on the bed before lowering her head to the pillow again. He tried to lean in to kiss her, but she was blocked off with the positions of her tails.

"Goodnight, Kain."

"...Goodnight, Cerise."

"Sleep well."

"You too."

Something was definitely wrong. He wondered if he'd done something, or if he had been a little too pushy about something else. Whatever had happened, he worried for her. Maybe he'd figure it out tomorrow.

Maybe, just maybe, he'd be able to fix it.

#

They left the Green Man just before dawn, leaving the city and heading to the foothills of the nearby mountain. The old mine entrance was hidden in the lower parts of the mountain, but it was easy enough to find with the remnants of the old paths that led to it. Kain was able to track it with ease, though he was surprised not to find any of the different tracks that they had found in the forest. No recent movements out here.

Figuring that the cultists might be dug in deep in the mountain, he asked the rest of the party to wait at the entrance of the mine while he scouted the depths. For all they knew, the whole place was trapped out the wazoo, and it would be better for just one of them to be risking their lives than everyone. He slid into the darkness and started probing his way through the mineshaft.

Room after room, cavern after cavern received his inspections, and each one proved empty. The dust in the air and on the ground was thick and heavy, and it felt like nobody had been to the surface rooms for weeks, if not months. It was as if the mine genuinely was abandoned.

That's impossible, though. he thought, looking at the rock walls. There wouldn't be a contract for this if the city didn't think that there was a real threat down here. We're helpful, but we're not exactly cheap, are we?

He shook his head, taking the main path and heading deeper. If the cultists were using the mines as a base, then they were probably using the deep tunnels rather than the surface ones. They might just be the super-confident, cocky ones that had retreated to the depths rather than keep an eye on the surface. They'd fought people like that before, and he wouldn't be surprised if that was what was going on this time.

Further, further, further he went, leaving the light behind and relying more on his ability to see in the dark to tell where he was going. Here and there, he was able to find signs that there had been someone here, once. There was a broken tripwire here, a sprung trap there, but there was nothing to indicate that someone had called this mine home in the last year, at least.

Kain didn't understand. What was the point of this? Why were they even here?

He reached the old dorms that had been kept for the miners during their time working, and he slid inside. There were old chests around, and some of them had less dust on them than the others. Still a fair bit, but perhaps that was settled rather than just recently cleared. The cat knelt down, opened one -

Holy...

He stared at the idol inside, but only for a second before the real item that fascinated him grabbed his attention. There was a silver ring that matched the one in his pocket in the chest, and it was pressed just under the idol. He shifted the cat-shaped statuette - one of Bast, the same cultists that they had defeated before - and took the ring. No trap, nothing to stop him. Just a little piece of treasure that would complete the set.

Cerise, I'm proposing as soon as I know that you're okay. Nothing can stop this now.

He smiled as he tucked the ring into his pocket, but there was definitely something interesting about the statuette. Nobody bothered to keep idols of gods that they didn't serve - they were rather good at smiting those that pretended - but particularly not one of this goddess. Bast had been outcast from the pantheon some time ago for her behavior, something about her seeing felines as a more superior species, or for being more selective about who received her blessing, or something along those lines. Theology had never been his strong suit.

Bast had been banned from public worship as a result of whatever the actions actually were, and that meant that punishments were rained down on anyone that kept an idol with the intent of giving worship to it. If there was one here, then that meant that there was a possibility of cultists deeper in the mine. At the very least, there'd be an altar, something that would be used to give worship more extensively than the idol would allow.

He tucked the golden idol under one arm, closing the chest. He'd need this to show the others that this was actually real, that they were at the gates of at least an abandoned cultist hideout. Without that, Nigel or Bellatrix might turn them around before they were anywhere near the deep tunnels. He needed proof.

Before he went back, though, he'd need to scout the deep tunnels. Just because there were no traps on this level didn't mean that they wouldn't start appearing further down. The black cat got to his feet, dusting himself off as he walked back to the main tunnels.

"Kain."

He blinked, turning. Standing in the tunnel and lit up with torches were the rest of the party. For a moment, he worried that they'd been captured, but there was no sign of any cultists around them. They just stood there, looking at him, and Cerise had an odd smile on her face. Kain cocked his head to the side.

"What are you doing? I thought we were doing the usual thing."

"There's no need to go any further," Nigel said.

"What - I have proof. See?"

He held up the gold idol, the feline figurine gleaming in the torchlight. Pointing over his shoulder towards the depths, he started to speak -

Then Bellatrix moved. One second, she was part of the group, and the next, she had her fist half-buried in his guts. He gasped, falling backwards and hugging his middle, wheezing as the air was knocked out of him completely.

"Ugh..."

Falling to one knee, he coughed, almost throwing up from the hard hit. The white dragoness leaned down, whispering in his ear.

"You're not needed anymore. You're old news, now, little kitten."

"Nnngh...what..."

"We have everything we need. There's no cult here; they moved to the forest long before we arrived. This...is just a convenient way to get rid of you."

His eyes went wide, and he stared over her shoulder. Cerise had broken from her position in the party, leaning against Nigel. The hybrid and the Doberman kissed each other, holding the embrace.

No...

Bellatrix pulled back, giving him the chance to breathe again. As he tried to pull himself to his feet, Tatsuo walked up. The bigger dragoness smirked at him as she approached, cracking her knuckles.

"You're yesterday's news, Kain. Never been that good a thief, and now that we're moving up in the world, there's no reason to keep you around. We can replace you anytime we like."

"Cerise..."

He tried to extend his hand towards her, only for the rusty dragoness to stomp down on it. His forearm cracked as it hit the ground, the bones snapping in one blow. He screamed, clutching at his arm, only for Tatsuo to kick him into the wall. His breath was knocked clean out of his lungs, and he slumped forward, managing to land on his other, undamaged side.

"Nnngh..." He wheezed, whimpering, biting his lip as he looked through bleary eyes towards his beloved. "W-why...why?"

Cerise didn't answer. Instead, she just looked down at him. She hesitated for a moment, then slowly reached down, rubbing the Doberman's crotch in full view of the others, something that she had never done for him, something more brazen than she had ever been with him.

The two dragonesses kicked him around, using him as a ball as their greater strength shattered one bone after another. Arm, shoulder, hip, femur. Everything that could hurt him more, they managed to find and break, and soon, his world was nothing but utter pain. He hit the floor, barely able to move one arm and half of one leg, one eye all but blind as he looked up at her again.

Nigel and Cerise looked down at him, but it was the Doberman that spoke.

"I tried to get you to come with me. I could have warned you off yesterday, gave you a chance to leave. But no. You stayed. You kept pushing. And now...now you're going to learn what happens when you try to reach above your station, thief." The canine looked at the hybrid. "Deal with him."

"...Yes, my love."

She whispered it, but she still said it, one more thing that she had never said around him, one more thing that she offered Nigel that she'd never let him do. Kain could barely breathe as she raised her hand, holding it out with light glowing in her palm. She pointed it at him, and he knew that she had completely given up on him.

That, somehow, hurt more than the impact that came next. He went flying backwards, bouncing off of the tunnel walls as he was blasted into both metaphorical and literal darkness.

#

_Kain drifted in dream. He saw things from the past, moments, hours, days where there had been happiness. _

When he and Cerise had first met, the day that they were introduced. She had been a shy woman, someone that hid behind her books, that went to her room and hid every day. He had given her space, occasionally talking to her through the door of whatever inn they were staying at, allowing her privacy while giving her company.

Shift. The day that he had brought her the first book on magic. The day that he had broken through that shell that she put around herself. The day that he saw her smile for the first time. A smile just for him.

Many moments, so similar, as they studied together and he encouraged her. When he shielded her from the others and gave her time to recharge from the missions. When they were alone on a mission and kept each other company, kept each other safe.

Their first time going further than petting. Hands no longer needed, mouths put to work. Lying over each other, tasting, delving, feeling.

All of the good times burned in the light of the spell, and darkness faded, the real world coming back with a crash of PAIN.

#

He woke with his back on black stone, and he barely managed to keep from screaming as all the wounds that he had suffered still afflicted him. The world almost disappeared again, and only a strange thrumming against his back and a soft hum in the air kept him from blacking out a second time.

The humming was the stranger part, he realized. He could feel that he had been placed on something magical, and they were often something that thrummed, but the humming was new. He didn't dare move, not with the way that his spine had been beaten, but he was able to slowly looking around with his one good eye. It flicked around in its socket, trying to find the source of the sound.

The sound, however, seemed willing to come to him. A shadow danced along the wall, and he found himself staring up at a floating, glimmering orb. It bounced slowly just out of the corner of his eye, and upon it was a creature that nearly stole his breath away in terror.

It was a hoofed creature, one with fur somehow darker than his own, with three horns that came out of the top of her head. She floated on top of the ball, one leg extended down, the other curled beneath her as if for a cushion. Shameless in her nudity, she didn't even seem bothered by the fact that she was exposing a throbbing horse-cock to him, either.

Bare-breasted and winged, the image of sensuality, the floating ball, and the horns all amounted to one thing. She was a tama, a creature that went out to capture the souls of others, and she, for some reason, was all that was keeping him alive.

"What..."

He tried to speak, and it hurt. It hurt so much that he did black out for a moment. He must have, because when he opened his eyes again, the tama was floating at his feet rather than at his side. She chuckled as she leaned back on her orb.

"What do I want?" she asked. "It's simple. I want what my mistress wants, and for the moment, she wants you."

"...Mis...stress?"

"Yes. The same one as the idol you carry."

The idol. Bast. This tama served the dark cat goddess? Oh, this was not going to go well. Oh, this was bad. This was very, very...

The reminder of what had just happened, the fact that he had been abandoned and nearly killed by his own party, his own friends, came crashing back down on him. Grief and anger, despair and fury rose in equal measure in his chest, and he wanted to scream. Only the half-cracked ribs in his chest kept him from giving in to that.

"You need not speak. I can see what you are. What has happened. So can my goddess. Personally, I don't care; I think that you could be left to die here, another soul to feed the altar, but she...Well, she has other plans."

"..."

"She looks upon you now, see?"

The tama gestured up with one finger, and he glanced towards the ceiling again. There, looming over him, was the back of a great black-stoned altar, one that was marked with all the sigils of power of the great Bastian cult. A cat head loomed over him, looking down at his battered form. The eyes glowed subtly, the light almost dead, and he wondered just how much the goddess had lost when he and the rest of the team had managed to take out the cultists in the woods.

The tama spoke again.

"She has an offer for you. An offer that will give you everything that you want in life, if you're willing to take it...and if you are willing to pay what she asks. Are you interested?"

The End

Summary: A young feline thief is in love with the cleric of the party. Unfortunately, there are some...complicating factors.

Tags: M/F, feline, hybrid, dragon, kitsune, dragoness, F/F, Doberman, D&D, adventuring party, fantasy, series, masturbation, orgasm, cum, cheating, adultery, goddess, demon, pain,