Chapter 0 - Cum to Bargain

The setting sun lay an orange glow on the scene of Kyran Wolf landing gently on his feet after scaling the fence. The witch doctor in Lapvale had heard some kind of spectral call for help from this old manor house, and was paying anyone to check the goings-on. Any loot inside that he found was his, too. Even after being ransacked-which it clearly had been-Kyran figured that the others must have missed something.

The front doors were frozen shut. Not much of a problem. Kyran channeled some Ki energy into his fist, took a second to appreciate the orange glow it gave and punched the gap in the doors. The ice cracked and the doors burst open. Kyran felt what little heat was inside the house rush past him on it's way out. That was fine by him; he worked well in the cold.

He walked through the entrance into the front room: there were two sets of stairs ahead of him, and on each side was a doorway.The ceiling was quite low for such a large house. He supposed there were two or more floors. He sniffed the air but smelled nothing but dust. He took another step forwards, eyes open and ears pricked.

The wolf saw a translucent foot come through the ceiling and knew he was dealing with a ghost or some other spirit. Instinctively, Kyran placed his right foot behind him and brought a clenched fist up to chest level, letting his left arm hang freely. His eyes focused on the ghost and his breathing became slow and deep.

The ghost was undoubtedly female: she wasn't very tall. She was, however, quite well endowed for her height; her breasts, which would be average on an Asmanan woman, looked big on her short figure. Her hips and waist also looked large. Her hair was a pale yellow and her eyes seemed a mix of dark blue and light grey. She wore a heavily damaged dress that was ripped on the left side so it only covered her right breast; it also hung down low enough to cover her nethers, though.

They both asked the question at the same time: "Who are you?"

The girl spoke slightly slower than the wolf. Her voice reminded Kyran of female bards in Asmana.

"I asked first." Kyran nearly crossed his arms.

The girl really did cross her arms as she shot back. "This is my house. You first."

Kyran could see that the girl could argue in circles for hours. He conceded "Kyran Wolf. Adventurer, fighter and all-around problem solver."

The ghost's eyebrows raised. She floated down to his level and placed her feet on the floor. She was barely level with the bottom of his chest. Her hand touched his chest softly as she spoke, surprising him: he thought it would go straight through him. She exhaled and looked him in the eyes. "Vera Alessandra. Are you really a problem solver?"

"Yes. I've been sent here to resolve...something." Kyran answered. He dropped his battle stance, realizing she meant him no harm. "A call for help from here was heard by a witch doctor."
"So my beacon worked? Oh, thank the Gods; I'd almost given up hope." Her eyes looked ecstatic, but she lacked a smile. Maybe she wasn't able to smile? "Mr Wolf, I can't offer anything monetary as reward, but you will have my eternal gratitude."

Kyran smiled at her tone. "Just Kyran, thanks; I'm not one for formality. As for the offer, I'll help you. What do you need?"

She spoke without pause: "In life, hundreds of years ago, I was a powerful sorceress. I was seen as a threat to Hell, so it sent it's forces against me. I fought bravely, and killed many, but they eventually overwhelmed me. To keep my spirit trapped here, they created a binding crystal. It can be accessed via the cellar, but I can't destroy it as a spirit. It takes concentration for me just to let you feel my hand."

Kyran paused. "Just how long have you been trapped here?"

She choked slightly on her answer: "Long enough to forget how to cry or smile. I think the crystal has been sapping away what's left of my humanity too."
"How do I get to the cellar?" Kyran asked, trying to touch her cheek, but his hand drifted through it.

Vera looked a little happier at the attempted gesture. "Behind the stairs on the right, there's a wooden panel that slides away. It wasn't really a cellar as much as a small laboratory for the first owners of this place."

"I thought you said this was your house." Kyran pointed out.

"I moved here to conduct my experiments and practice my spells. It was already abandoned and I thought I'd be safe with a few protection charms. It wasn't enough to keep Hell out." she answered. "Speaking of which, there are still some demons down there guarding the crystal."

Kyran internally groaned (he hated fighting demons) and nodded without another word, but smiled at her he hoped reassuringly. He headed over to the right hand stairs and noticed the panel instantly. He pulled it open (with a little effort-it had also frozen shut) and squeezed himself into it. His feet finding a ladder, he scaled his way down it. When he got to the bottom, he turned around to find himself in a small smooth-stoned hallway, decorated with a torch every few meters. It was a little warmer down here.

He walked over the stones, keeping his ears more open than his eyes. If there were demons down here, he'd hear them before seeing them. It was his nose that found them first though: he smelled the familiar stink of ash and rotten meat. He knelt down and sniffed the ground: nothing. He walked to each side of the hallway and sniffed the wall with the same result. This led him to look upwards. They were in the ceiling of the hallway? Clever.

Kyran snapped his fingers and let the warm Ki wash over his body. He jumped and lay a fist into the ceiling, pulling it out with such force that a great crack shot down both sides of the ceiling. The demons, realizing they were caught, dropped from above. Kyran was slightly relieved to see they were lesser demons; 5ft and wielding crudely fashioned weapons, they relied on sheer numbers to overwhelm opponents. Maybe this would be an easy job after all.

The wolf looked behind him to make sure he wouldn't get ambushed, then titled his head to both sides, cricking his neck. "Afternoon, gents." He magically blocked his nose-a very important spell when fighting unhygienic enemies-and got into his fighting stance. The demons raised their weapons and jumped at him.

Kyran grabbed the first demon to reach him by the neck, span around and threw it back at the rest of them. While there were distracted, he ran straight at them pulling back his left fist, and gave an upper punch to another demon so hard it's head flew off of it's shoulders. He took another step forwards and lay his other fist into another demon's face. One of the demons swung at him with a scythe, but he blocked it and kicked the demon into the wall. This...this was what he *lived* for.

As a bunch of demons all charged at him in a line, he created a quick javelin of Ki energy before throwing it forwards. The javelin pierced through 5 of them, but had worn down too much to kill the sixth. No matter; it only took two quick punches to finish that one off. Yet the demons still kept flooding into the hallway from above. 

As Kyran blasted away 2 demons with a short range blast of Ki, he felt his hand seize up slightly. His vision was tainted with a shade of deep crimson and he felt a pang of fear as he recognized what was happening. "Oh no." He muttered.

"Kyran..." a voice very much like his own whispered from inside. A pressing feeling began on his head.

Kyran stayed defiant. "Argh! No!"

"Let me out..." Feral's tainted whisper pierced the wolf's ear like a dagger. The tightening increased, and Kyran had to grip his head to relieve the growing pressure. His vision turned a deeper shade of red as he began to feel disconnected from his limbs...

"Uh...NO! You're not getting out!" In his pain, Kyran found himself gripping a nearby demon and lifting it by the throat. His head felt like it was in a vice; his grip on the demon's neck also increased. He faintly heard a crack as the demon's neck was snapped. The other demons seemed a little scared of the wolf as he fought for control of himself. 

He concentrated all of his thoughts on banishing Feral's presence from his mind. For a second or two nothing happened. Then the whispers of Feral's voice began to fade away, and after a few seconds the wolf heard him no longer. His vision was no longer tainted and the feeling had returned to his limbs.

He looked at the demons and smirked. "Sorry about that." he dropped the dead demon still in his grip. "Where were we?"

The demons seemed to regain their courage at his words and charged him again. There weren't many of them left, and after the attempt by Feral, Kyran was much angrier. He punched his left hand with his right fist and his aura became a slightly darker shade of orange. It only took him a few hard punches and a counterattack or two to deal with the remaining demons.

After taking care of the assault, Kyran walked along the hallway, keeping his eyes open. He walked for another 5 minutes or so when he saw the hallway expand into a chamber at the end. He fought the urge to rush there; there was no point. Instead, he kept his nose sniffing the air, but smelled no more demons. He stepped into a huge rocky chamber, with the crystal directly in the middle, supported by some kind of floating silver ring. 

"No way." The wolf thought to himself. "It's never that easy." He took a few tentative steps towards the crystal, ready for the inevitable trap.

Sure enough, the earth in front of the crystal began to move. Before Kyran could react, the crystal was sealed inside a boulder. He heard something move above him and only just managed to dive out of the way of the falling rock. He looked up and instantly saw that it was no rock: it was a humanoid creature, kneeling with it's fist punching the ground. The being looked up and Kyran saw that it's eyes were blood red; it was another demon.

A booming sound came from the being's mouth. "You, a mere mortal, fought through all of my minions?" He stood up, revealing that he towered above Kyran. At a guess, he was over 9 feet tall. A light brown hue seemed to radiate from him. "It is of no matter. I am Rilgorath, guardian of this crystal, and no mortal has bested me."

"There's a first time for everything." Kyran answered, getting into his fighting stance again. "And you're not the largest prey I've hunted, either. Let's do this!"

Kyran created another javelin and threw it with all his strength. It hit the demon's chest but simply bounced off like it was a pebble. The demon lightly brushed the spot where the javelin had hit in a taunt. The demon charged him with surprising speed and attempted a right hand punch.

Kyran blocked the attack and threw a punch of his own, but the demon caught it with apparent ease. The wolf landed a kick in between it's legs in answer, but nothing. The demon even gave him a frown, as if to ask if he'd really just tried that. The demon pushed him away with such force that he nearly fell.

"Ugh...where's Ellie when you need her?" Kyran muttered to himself. He only looked up in time to duck the following punch, being forced to weave from one side to the other to dodge the second.

While Rilgorath was pulling his fists back, Kyran landed another powerful punch on the demon's torso but barely made an impact. Losing patience, Kyran landed blow after blow on Rilgorath's stomach, punching with lightning fast speed. Surely the defense had to break soon. He stepped backwards, gathered energy in both his fists and struck at his enemy's chest and torso. The blow made the demon slide back, but it was clear no pain had been felt.

"Are you kidding me?!" Kyran exclaimed, stepping back slightly.

"Your magical energy harms me as much as it would a volcano." The rock demon answered. He walked towards the wolf with an air of victory.

Feral's whispers began inside his head again, but no feeling of pressure or tainted vision came with them. "He's right Kyran. You can't kill this one alone."

"Urgh...as if I can trust you." Kyran groaned back.

"What are you scared of? It's not like I can kill the girl." The whisper asked.

Kyran didn't answer. He ducked an attempted kick and landed another powerful blow on Rilgorath's side, but yet again it didn't seem to do anything. Almost casually, the demon backhanded Kyran with such force that he was lifted from the ground and crashed into the floor. He coughed once and saw the familiar sight of blood coming from his mouth.

"Kyran, for Amore's sake, you can't beat him!" Feral's whispers had turned into shouts pretty quickly. "Fuck, let me kill this bastard and I'll stay in the cage for the next week!"

Kyran was running out of options fast, and another few hits like that would likely be it for him. He sighed and admitted defeat: "Urgh...fine. But if you don't hand control back when you're done, I'll kill both of us." Instantly, Kyran felt his control slip completely and he drifted into sleep. Before he fully drifted, he heard a single word from Feral:

"Deal."

Feral awoke just in time to catch a punch from the rock demon. Rilgorath looked him in the crimson eyes for a split second before Feral jumped and sank a clenched left fist into the guardian's face. The demon was forced backwards and stumbled slightly, almost falling to the ground. Feral didn't waste his chance: rushing at his enemy and hitting the demon with a hard right punch that really did knock him over. He took a moment to flex his hands-it had been a while since he'd been in control of the body he and Kyran shared.

"You...are not truly mortal, are you?" the demon's question boomed.

"Oh, I'm still as mortal as they come." Feral answered, arms spread wide in a gesture of challenge. "It's just that your old dance partner's feet are killing, and I'm his replacement. So shall we dance, milord?" Feral made a slight bow, sticking an open palm out slightly.

Rilgorath's eyes went wide with anger. "Why you insolent little-"

"Yeah yeah, shut up and fight." Feral interrupted, getting into his own battle stance: it was identical to Kyran's but the right clenched fist was raised slightly higher and the left hand also clenched into a fist.

Feral charged, but ducked to the side as the demon attempted some kind of move and lay a fist into his side. He felt the impact of his punch dig into the rocky flesh. The demon staggered back a little. Feral smiled: Rilgorath might be resistant to Ki power, but Kyran's inner beast needed no such cane.

He lay his other fist into the demon's stomach and forced him backwards, spinning around and smacking the demon's face with his heel for good measure. Not giving the demon a chance to recover, Feral aimed another punch at his face, but the guardian was ready. Feral's attack was dodged, and a sharp pain in his stomach was felt as the demon's knee connected with it.
The beast doubled over for a second and felt Rilgorath's fist slam onto his back. He fell to all fours before feeling himself get lifted upwards by rocky arms. He quickly turned over and-unsheathing his claws-jammed his thumb into the demon's eye. Rilgorath dropped him and he only just landed on his feet. 

Blocking out the pain in his stomach and back, he rushed at the guardian, pulling his right hand back with the claws still out. His first and second slashes cut across the demon's stomach, the third across the face, the fourth diagonally down the chest, the fifth vertically across the face upwards. Rilgorath was staggered by the assault.

Seeing his chance for victory, Feral lunged: gripped the demon's neck tightly and pulled. It took a few seconds for anything to happen, but Feral's claws dug deeper into the demon's skin, he felt the flesh rapidly weakening before he gave an almightly tug, ripping the demon's throat out. The demon attempted to choke as he reflexively stood upright, but no sound came out. Feral placed a finger on the demon's stomach and lightly pushed. Rilgorath toppled, dead.

An idea coming to his head, Feral surrendered control back to Kyran, then instantly put the demon's throat in his mouth and bit down as hard as he could. He felt himself slipping back into the cage, but this time, he was content with it...

"PLEH! Puh!" Kyran spat the foul tasting meat out violently into his palm. He saw what was in his hand and nearly retched. "Oh, Gods! Feral, fuck you!"

He could hear Feral's voice desperately trying not to laugh as it faded into his mind. He continued spitting out as much of the blood and taste as he could for a few more minutes until his taste buds were no longer screaming in anguish.

Trying to forget what had just happened, the wolf took the crystal from it's ring and channeled Ki energy into it before lightly tossing it onto the ground, covering his face with his arm and snapping his fingers. It shattered into pieces and Kyran heard a faint whisper from it. He couldn't quite make out the word though. 

As he headed back down the hallway, he couldn't help but think about Feral. When he surrendered control to his inner beast, he expected to wake up surrounded by the bodies of innocent people. But no; the only thing Feral had done was prank him by eating the demon's throat. This had never happened before, and Kyran didn't know what to think about it.

When he climbed back up the ladder and into the front room, he saw Vera still standing where he'd left her. He walked over to her and she turned around expectantly. "I've destroyed the crystal, Vera. You're no longer bound to this place." Her eyes lit up with gratitude at his words.

She spoke in a slightly tentative voice. "Thank you Kyran, but...that's only part of the process. You see I...lied a little bit earlier to get you to help me. In life, I made a deal with the Lord of Lust. In return for my service to him, I was granted the ability to recharge my magical powers via sex." She blushed, embarrassed. "It was only after I made the deal that I felt uneasy and tried to back out of it. The Lord of Lust didn't like that; he's the one who sent the demons here to kill me. After I was killed, he forced me into my ghostly form but gave me a huge appetite for sex, knowing I could never have it... He trapped me within my own lust, and it's been so long I'd almost forgotten I had hope of escaping..." If Vera could shed tears, she would be flooding the room with them. "You've given me my freedom... But I'm so weak, I still can't leave yet..."

"And when you leave? What will you do?" Kyran asked, more curious than anything.

She answered instantly. She'd clearly thought about this before now. "I can hear the spirits of all the unsatisfied lovers out there... All the fantasies they're too scared to share... All the friends in love who daren't ask each other about going further... All the jilted men and women who need solace... I can help them. I've been so lonely for so long, I can't let anyone else feel that way. I won't."

Kyran thought on her words, but had already made up his mind. She'd had hundreds of years to regret her idiocy. There was no need to extend that sentence. "Well, I'm guessing you know the way to the bedchambers better than me." he smiled, gesturing forwards.

Her eyes lit up a second time. She took his hand and led him onward-she didn't even need to concentrate for him to feel her. After heading up the left hand stairs, she pulled him through a door to the right and let go of his hand. He glanced around: it was a small bedroom, and the king-sized bed took up more than half of the space. The only light was the pale white beams of moonlight shining through the 3 windows.

He began to strip off his armour-which just meant pulling it over his head (getting a tailor to make the head and arm holes wider for him was undoubtedly one of his better uses for money in memory). Once it was on the floor, he had no trouble pulling off his boots, and he was completely naked. He noticed Vera looking him up and down, but her eyes stopped at his sheathed cock. He walked to the bed and sat down on it-it had a surprising amount of give.

Her tongue caressed his crotch. Although she left no spit, the wolf felt the wetness of her tongue. She repeated the action and he felt his knot slowly emerge. Vera didn't wait: as soon as it began to present itself, her lips wrapped around the tip and she allowed the meat to expand into her mouth until it was fully inside. She sucked it lovingly, locking eyes with him as she moaned at the taste. He let out a small howl of pleasure himself, and he felt Vera's lips curl into a smile as her tongue teasingly licked at the tip.

After a few seconds, Vera pulled back "Ahh....tasty." however, instead of resuming the blowjob, she placed her breasts on either side of his meat and pressed them together around it. Although he wasn't small by any measure, Vera's plump bosom smothered his cock. She pushed them side to side on his meat, massaging them with her jugs. He let out another moan, but this one was interrupted as Vera pushed her breasts together tighter and stroked his cock with them. The feeling was amazing; as much as he loved Ellie, boobjobs were the one thing she couldn't do well thanks to her furry breasts. He let out a grunt of pleasure as Vera's tongue touched his tip, licking up the drop of clear liquid it had expelled.

After the lick, Vera crawled onto the bed on all fours, Kyran's gaze following her rear. She playfully smacked her plump asscheeks once each before spreading them apart, giving him a perfect view of her entrance. If Kyran looked closely, it almost seemed to breathe. In, out, in, out. He crawled over to her and let his tongue slip along her entrance. In answer, she spread her cheeks apart with both hands, her head resting on the covers.

Seeing her invitation for what it was, Kyran pushed his mouth against her hole. He began with a gentle kiss that prompted a sharp "Ooh!" from the ghost. His tongue set about exploring every millimeter of the hole it could reach. The taste was intoxicating, and his nose-and mind-were being filled to the brim with the scent.

Kyran's tongue ran over the orifice again, and he began to push the muscle against it. Vera opened up her ass and his tongue slipped inside her. It tasted strangely piquant. Kyran pushed his tongue fully inside her and she shook slightly. His tongue flexed in answer to the taste of her sphincter's inside and he made sure to rotate his tongue inside her twice or thrice.
"Please... n-no more forep-lay... I've w-waited so long al...already..." Vera moaned through her pleasure. She placed her hands on the bed again and got onto all fours.

Kyran took his tongue out from her hole and gave it one final lick. He got onto his knees behind her and guided his hard cock to her rear. He prodded at Vera's sphincter, the tip slipping and out. The ghost squirmed needily and let out a sound he'd associate with a dog being denied a treat (a sound he was more familiar with than he was comfortable admitting). Not wishing to deny her another moment, he pushed into her completely, every inch of his knot disappearing into Vera's tightness.

The ghost sounded close to tears again, but for a different reason to before: "Gods... so big... so... nice..."

 Kyran pulled back to his tip, only to push back into her. He didn't do it with any kind of rhythm: he was enjoying her tight asshole too much to think about such things. He pushed in halfway, all the way, just the tip, all the way again. Vera's asshole was tight and warm, and the ghost's short sharp moans and gasps were driving him closer.

The wolf, overcome with primal instinct, suddenly pushed her head into the covers, moved his waist above hers and began quickly pumping her orifice. He didn't pull back all the way-instead pulling back halfway so as to thrust into her faster. Vera's tightness seemed to contract around him on every thrust, and although he couldn't see her face, he could tell from her panting that her tongue was hanging out. 

He felt himself quickly approaching his limit. He bent over her and asked through gritted teeth "You want my cum, you slut?" She nodded her head frantically, enjoying the sensation too much to speak. "Then take it!" he pushed his meat into her one last time and felt his knot grow inside her, preventing him from exiting as his seed shot up her tight ass 4 times.

Vera shook with pleasure as Kyran pulled out of her tight sphincter. Some of his cum dripped down her legs, but most of it was firmly inside her. Kyran couldn't tell for sure, but he was certain that her stomach was bulging out. Just a little. "Tha-tha-thank... yooooou... ssssso... f-full... I f-feel... co-mpl-ete... at la-last..." she shook again as she placed her hand on the covers and lifted herself onto all fours "I th-think... I can le-leave... now..." 

Despite the fighting and the sex with Vera, Kyran wasn't even remotely tired. Maybe some of her sexual restoration magic had rubbed off on him. Looking through the window, he saw the sky was tinged with an orange glow now. He pulled his armour and boots back on and, after taking one last glance at the satisfied ghost, walked out of the bedchamber. He couldn't keep a smile off his face as he walked down the stairs and through the main room.

As he walked away from the house, he felt fulfilled. He'd given a ghost her freedom, and that was something you couldn't put a price on. Plus, Feral was beginning to show a bit of humanity, like that fortuneteller he'd met with Ilyse had told him. He felt oddly free himself as he began to scale the fence again.

"The gate's unlocked, you know." Vera's voice came from behind him. He wasn't able to turn around before the ghostly figure of her drifted through the bars shouting "Wheeeeeeeeeeee!"
His smile grew wider as he continued climbing the fence: he couldn't help it. To see her so joyous after spending so much time trapped there. It truly was a reward. The wolf landed gently on his feet and stared into the coming dawn. He interlaced his fingers, stretched them out, and and set off into the new day.
