Chise gulped and shuddered. He stared at her and hummed to one side. She was clearly still frightened. About this 'unknown' rubbish she kept spouting. "Chise?" He spoke softly as he nuzzled at her cheek. "Trust me when I say I…have become fond of you. I do this, all of this, for you."

"M-me?" Chise stammered and turned to look up at his eyes. "Th-this is for me?"

"Yes. The lifeforce I give you through my feed will strengthen your magical core, and more importantly your vessel. Your body." He clarified when she blinked up at him. "Remember I told you that Surei Bega die before they reach 30? Well, what we are about to do, and every ritual we carry out, pushes that day back. Makes you stronger. More capable…safer." He purred and this time she didn't lean away when he licked and nipped at her neck. The soft glow of the runes beneath her pale skin gave them a crimson glow akin to his eyes as he spoke to her. "I won't lose you when I've only just found you Chise. You are mine. I won't lose you to your own weakness when I can fortify you. Now let me do all the hard work." Elias chuckled and used his hand on her lower back and nape to bring her into a firm embrace. "I've got you Chise. I won't let you fall. I won't let go. I won't fail to keep you alive. I refuse to lose what we have."

"What we have?" Chise let her hands move from his shoulders to cross over the back of his neck.

"…you are…mine. Truly mine. I'm not prepared to not have you as mine. To be…without you. I have…these last two months…I won't be without you." Chise looked up from his chest, her cheek at pecks, and smiled. That had to be the sweetest thing he had almost said since they first met.

"…I've been happy too, if that's what you mean."

"…I don't know what that means." Elias turned to stare into the distance over her head. "…Lindel tried to teach me that one…but he always failed. What I thought happy meant, he didn't." Elias cleared his throat and then craned his neck down to lick at her cheek. "I resented when he tried to show me. Force me. Make me be like him. But…I think I like how you make me feel. I'm different with you."

"Oh?" Chise enjoyed the warmth of his body and the runes glowing on her skin. It as almost like they were alone in that moment. "Different how?"

"I'm think I'm patient. I don't find myself irked by your shortcomings like other mortals." He then chuckled. "I don't even mind how bad your tea is."

"What's wrong with my tea?" Chise bristled comically and looked up at him. Elias' red eyes rounded cutely as he answered her.

"It's too weak. You don't let the tea infuse long enough, and you put far too much milk in." Elias shrugged, then chuckled at the blush on her face.

"W-Well I'm Japanese. I make a mean cup of Oolong tea. Or Jasmine?"

"Hmm…I could try that, but Lindel did get me the taste for European teas when I was last here."

"Yeah…time to upgrade buddy." Chise giggled, astounded that whilst knelt, naked, in the middle of a dark ritual and in the arms of a demon, they were discussing preferences of tea… "Or, you know, get a damn maid if you don't like my tea."
"That's a thought. Someone who can cook and clean for us. Though then they'd be in a position to know our secret…unless…I bind their tongue so they can't tell anyone what they learn?" Elias started formulating a plan to 'acquire' a new maid. Chise gulped, not keen on him taking her suggestion literally. Some poor woman was going to get demon-napped and forced into servitude if she didn't say something.

"But then it wouldn't be the two of us anymore. And I like it being just you and me." Chise stammered a little, but she smiled as she nodded.

"…you do?" His voice was soft and perhaps even bashful…for a demon.

"Yes. Trust me, first it will be a maid, then a dog, then neighbours and family friends, and before you know it boom. Busy house hold of people who could interfere with…this stuff…so it's probably better if we remain as just me and you." Chise licked her lips nervously and smiled. "I'll let you teach me how to make a better cup of English tea?" Elias stared at her for a moment, then shrugged.
"Alright. But under no circumstances do you put the milk in with the bag before the hot water. That's just sacrilege." Elias chuckled, and then rolled his shoulders, her hands still at the back of his neck, and he was still cradling her body to his. "Now where were we? Ah yes. I was about to begin the feed…unless…you are still unsure about anything? Are there anymore 'unknown's you need me to address?" Chise sighed, smiling and shaking her head as she pressed her cheek to his pecks. He really was trying to be considerate of her. Chise would almost be touched, if the sound of howling whimpers and the rattle of chains hadn't ruined the moment. How could she allow herself to ignore the suffering and imminent death of the five people around her? Did they have family? Jobs? People who would notice they hadn't collected their mail or turned up to work?

In the end it didn't matter. Chise was powerless to stop Elias. So what else could she do but obey? He was doing this so she wouldn't die. Chise hated the thought of anyone else dying because of her…but selfishly she wanted to live long enough to learn how to make Elias a cup of tea he liked. To continue their blissful existence. To…be alive with him.

Another piece of her soul darkened as she closed her eyes and braced herself.

"Nope. I'm all good now. You do your…thing, and let me know when it's over." The deep chuckling that vibrated through his chest and into her head made her heart flutter.

"You will be made aware, long before the ritual is 'over' Chise. I am sure you will enjoy this almost as much as I will."

The fur robe on his back shifted and out of five slits came long, spiralling thorny tendrils. They arched back from him and began slithering slowly along the grassy floor. At first Chise knelt up and peered over his shoulder to watch. But as soon as the ends of those tendrils leapt up and coiled around the necks of the five human offerings, she closed her eyes and shielded her face against his chest. "MMmmmmmmmmm." He moaned and she felt him arch his back and writhe with pleasure. Elias never released her back and neck, so she opened her rebellious green eyes once more to see the offerings were thrashing against their restraints. Something seemed to pulse down the tendrils from the necks of the poor sacrifices, all the way down the length to where it met Elias' back. His tongue swiped over his fangs and he shuddered with delight. Chise held his shoulders and her mouth gawked with horror.

His five victims were getting darker, more grey, wrinkled and shrivelling up like all the life and liquid had been drained out of them. Their eyes were wide open, as were their mouths with the gag still in place, as they became husks of their former self. "Ch-Chise."

Elias slid his hand down from her lower back and scooped her knee up to pin it to his waist. He was growling as he used his hand at the back of her neck to lower her to the ground.

"E-Elias what are you-" Chise whimpered with both fear and delight. Elias pushed his purple cock deep into her as he lowered her to the floor. He was still knelt, his tendrils still draining the very last dregs of life from the offerings, as he held her hips and rocked his pelvis into hers. He held her ass off the ground as he pulled her onto his cock. Elias was hissing and speaking a strange snarling language. Chise couldn't make any sense of it. But she could hear it coming from his jaws, the grass around her, from the rustling trees surrounding them and even the wind in the sky above them. It echoed around her head and vibrated through her bones.

Chise struggled to keep hold of her mind as he crashed his hips forward, pulling her deeper onto his cock with each thrust, and never stopping his haunting chant. "Ah-ah E-Elias! T-Too much it-I-I can't-" The runes on Chise's skin were burning red hot. She was covered in sweat and it was hard to breath. He was fucking her so deeply that she thought he was hitting her soul every time he rocked forward. The same heavy feeling of something twisting and slithering through her veins that she felt during that first fateful ritual with Elias returned to her tenfold.

Elias was right.

He was changing her.

She leaned on her elbows beneath her and looked down at where they joined. Her eyes winded and she tensed. Past her heaving breasts, the dip of her navel, his firm hands on her hips, and the sight of his slick purple cock ploughing past her dark pink labia…the surrounding pale skin was changing. Branching veins of black were spreading up through her thighs, her hips, her navel, and even high enough past her bellybutton that she was able to shift her weight onto one elbow and reach out to touch her stomach. She hissed, feeling such heat coming off the runes and black veins she laid back and whimpered.

On the one hand, pulses of pleasure were rocketing through her with each thrust, but on the other hand…Elias was doing something to her body. Something unnatural. It scared Chise and she felt her green eyes watering as she looked up at him. "E-Elias? I-I'm scared. I-I know you said this was to help me live, but I'm burning up a-a-and the black veins and-" Chise flinched as he dragged her along the grassy floor towards him, the heat from her glowing red runes to hot to notice the friction with the floor. She didn't come to a stop until she was directly below him. He was now able to lay down with her, wrap her legs around his waist, prop his weight up with his knees and one hand, as he nuzzled, nipped and licked at her. Elias used his free hand to stroke her face, offer her cheek up to him do he could lick away her tears.

All the while he never stopped chanting or grinding into her. Yet this seemed more intimate than before. Chise couldn't fixate on the runes or the deathly looking veins spreading over her lower body. Not with how close he held and caressed her. Chise realised he couldn't break the spell, or he would have spoken, but this action of holding her close was tender. Reassuring. She sniffled and wrapped her arms around his neck, surrendering and trying to enjoy his touch more than the burn of the magic flowing through her.

Elias tensed all over, and held his hips flush to hers and exhaled choppily. Chise felt like all the air had been sucked from her lungs. Like she was drowning and being held tightly inside by some unseen force. So tightly she dared not move in case the hand made a fist and snuffed her life out.

"Chise?" Elias nudged her cheek and stared at her frozen expression. "Chise you need to breathe. I know it's a shock to have that much power settle inside you, but you will accommodate. Right now you need to breathe…Chise?" Elias licked his palm and held it over her nose and mouth. She wasn't breathing. He pushed her chin down and inhaled deeply. His red eyes gleamed with magic and he opened his jaws wide over her face. The gust of wind that flew through his mouth and into hers inflated her chest and she immediately started coughing. Chise was still spluttering and gasping as Elias closed his jaws and knelt over her. "Chise? Breathe deeply. Take a moment." He watched her with thin black slits in his crimson eyes, watching for any sign of her body going into shock again. "Are you alright now Chise?"

Chise held her mouth and whimpered. She nodded up at him and tried to keep her sobbing in, but her eyes filled to the brim with tears. "Was that scary for you?" She nodded, her hands still firmly over her mouth. In that moment, she didn't trust herself to speak. "Because it was unknown?" Chise nodded again. "Hmmmm." Elias slid out of her and lowered his bulk to lay beside her. Chise remained on her back, her knees up and turned her crying eyes to look at him. Still she held her mouth. "Well I suppose there were some aspects of the ritual I couldn't explain well enough. Things you had to experience to understand. But now you do, it won't be unknown to you next time." Chise strangled a yelp in her throat. She was still horrified by this time. How could he speak of a next time?! "The stronger you are, the stronger your body becomes. The easier the ritual is for you. In fact it should be more of a sting next time than painful, and a lot more pleasure." Elias purred as he shifted to lay right up next to her.

He groaned as the five thorny tendrils retracted into his back, and he held his furry robe open to blanket them both from the night air. "You did so well Chise. I only made five offerings because I didn't expect you to be able to absorb that much life force. I intended to give you as much as you could take and then devour the rest of their mana myself." Elias chuckled and tapped her nose affectionately with his finger. "But you ate them all up! All five! I'm impressed." Elias was still purring as he leaned up over her and let the same finger fall from her nose to her caged hands over her mouth. "In fact you felt like you could have taken more. I won't underestimate you next time." He crooked a finger to take hold of hers and pried her hands back from her trembling lips. "The more offerings I make, the more lifeforce you absorb, the stronger you become, and the more offerings I can make the next time. And the next time. And the next…" Elias chuckled and pushed her hand down her body and away from her face. Chise stared up with watery green eyes at his ruby ones. "I'm impressed with you Chise. If I didn't know for a fact how much your body likely aches, I would have you again out of admiration."

"I…burn…" Chise sniffled. "…the runes-"

"Have gone." Elias lifted the fur robe up for her to look for herself. "You still feel hot, but that's your body getting used to the new magic I have stored within you. Knitting itself into your flesh. You will cool down soon." Elias tried to lower his arm around to pull her close. Perhaps even to his chest.

"The…black veins."

Chise sat up and shuffled back from him. Her hands flew to her stomach and navel, and she felt at her skin. But they were gone too. Not a dark mark in sight. "What were those?" She lifted her green eyes and looked directly to him for answers. "Those dark veins?"

"Not veins." Elias cleared his throat, annoyed that she had moved away from him. He began closing the fur robe around his body and stood to walk around the clearing. Chise still sat there and watched him as he busied himself with collecting the white stones from around the used husks.

"What were they?" Chise hissed as she tried to stand. She fell to her side and winced with pain. Every bone and joint seemed to pulse with pain when she moved. "Elias? Please? I want to know?"

"Me." Elias stopped, holding a basket half full of sacred stones and watched her reaction intently.

"You?" Chise propped herself up on two hands, ignoring her nakedness and watched Elias as he walked back towards her. "What do you mean?"

"You see these?" Elias rolled his shoulders and neck, and five tendrils from earlier slithered out to feel at the air around his menacing form. "My vines of shadow and thorn. How I feed."

"Yes?"

"Do they look familiar?" Elias lowered to one knee and lifted her chin to make her look right in his eyes. "I can summon as many vines as I require. At any length or size…" her heart skipped a beat and her eyes widened.

"…you…inside me…were-"

"I had more than just my cock inside you Chise. It's how I transferred the mana of the offerings to you. I fused my magical network to yours, temporarily, to gift you my feed." His tone was stern, like he was losing that patience he spoke of earlier. "I joined myself to you during the ritual. I shared my very being with you. Next time…I hope you enjoy that same closeness as I did. Or you might hurt my feelings." Chise felt her heart plummet to her stomach, and she decided that she never wanted to learn what it meant to upset Elias.

"I'm sure I will. Now I-I understand what's happening." She tried to reassure him.

"Good." Elias' tone lightened, thankfully, and he pressed his bony snout to her cheek. "Next time we can snuggle for a while afterwards? I've read that modern women like that. I had wished to try that this time, but you moved away…" His tone darkened again. Note to self, let the scary demon cuddle you after making you part of a dark ritual and forcing his cock, vines, and the lifeforce of his victims into you. Or you might hurt his bloody feelings!

"We could still-"

"The moment has passed." Elias released her face and dropped the half full basket at her feet. "Collect the rest of the channelling rocks. Unless you'd prefer to deal with the corpses?"

"N-no master I can get the rocks." Chise nodded and forced a brave smile to her face. "Thank you for the choice though." She gulped and bit her lips together. She waited for Elias to walk over to one of the offering circles and reached around her to collect the rocks from the fusion circle.

Clearly the fusion part meant his body to mine. Chise turned a few of the stones over, finding her earlier suspicions about the dripping red paint to be blood. Eww.

Once Chise had managed to hobble on her hands and knees to collect the stones of her circle, she realised she couldn't put it off any longer. She was going to have to stand. Elias had disappeared with three of the husks…hopefully to bury them somewhere…so she didn't have to fear an audience. "S-son of a-holy moly." Chise hissed as she fought through the white-hot pain of her joints. The first time she tried to stand she fell completely on her ass and left hip. Pain ricochet around her body from the impact. She hissed again, and this time clawed her way up the nearest tree. Her whole body trembled as fought through the cold sweat and haze of her suffering. One foot at a time she staggered back over to the basket and panted with a victorious grin on her face. "…there…stood…just need to bend down and…"

Fump.

Chise passed out cold and hit her nose on a channelling rock, breaking it and busting her lip too. She was ass up and face down, unconscious and totally vulnerable. Elias stepped out of the shadows and shook his head.

"If you were in that much pain, why didn't you say so?" He sighed at his silly little human and used his paw to push her to roll onto her back. her crimson hair tousled cutely around her face and blades of grass were strewn to her cheeks. Elias clicked his tongue against his teeth and tutted at her bleeding nose and mouth. "If I were less fond of you I'd leave you like that." Elias lowered to one knee and parted his jaws. He tenderly traced the tip of his tongue across her injuries, healing her like it had never happened. He even blew the grass off her face. Elias indulged himself when healing her lips, slipping inside of her mouth and enjoying the feel of her velvety tongue as payment for his 'kindness'. "I wonder…why I am so fond of you?" Elias stared down at her and mused for a while, before resolving to scoop her up and hold her body to him like a bride. He used his tendrils to finish the rest of his work. Once all the husks had been burned to ash and the clearing returned to it's normal state, devoid of any sign they were there, Elias carried his prize back to their home.

He walked them through the back door, allowing one of his tendrils to lower the basket of channelling stones to the floor in the kitchen and lock the door. Elias still carried her in his arms as they scaled the stairs, and he turned left to go into her room.

Until a wonderful thought occurred to him. He could place her in her bed…or…

Elias turned his skull to look towards his room, the master bedroom, and then inclined it to look down at her softly breathing form. "…I don't know why I'm fond of you Chise…but I know I am. For now, that's enough. I'm free to do what I please simply because I please to. I am my own master this time, and you belong to me. If I want to snuggle…I will."

Elias walked straight into his room and felt giddy as he executed his plan. He kicked the blanket off the bed, placed her in the middle and then looked down at her softly sleeping form. He put a foot on the mattress, then looked at his paw and decided to shift into his refined form. That way he would fit in the bed next to her without discomfort. Once he saw toes wiggling at him from the mattress instead of hound like paws, he crawled onto the bed and wriggled down next to Chise. He pulled the thick covers around them both and propped pillows beneath Chise's head so gently, it would have been sweet.

Had he not been doing this without her knowledge. Not that the demon understood that… Elias turned onto his front, rested his mighty skull on his own pillows, wrapped an arm around Chise and sighed. This was nice. He didn't have much need for sleep, but he could get used to it if it meant he could feel this warm and bubbly sensation.

He let his eyes vanish in his skull and purred. In Tír na nÓg he was always shunned for being a dirty half thing. In the mortal realm he was always the monstrous minion of the Mage he was bound to. Sometimes he slept in a dungeon, other times a cage, and sometimes just outside in the cold. Even with Lindel, he had always slept alone, albeit he had a bed. Quite a lot of the comforts he sought out this time round had been due to Lindel exposing him to them the last time he was here. Tea. Cakes. Fresh air. His own bed. Yet one thing had always intrigued and eluded him…until Chise…Elias hardly had any physical contact with anyone his entire immortal existence. Yet Chise allowed his touch. She normally welcomed it. I…could get used to this.

A piercing need thundered through him as he turned his skull to look down at Chise. Spooned against his side and blissfully asleep. I…do enjoy you Chise. Your scent. Your taste…your…presence…that way you…look directly into my eyes. I know you fear me, but you've never let that stop you either. You enjoy me as well. I know you do. Is this what it means to feel happy Chise? Why am I afraid, if this is what it means to be happy? Elias hummed with thought as he watched her. You will need some time to recover from the offering, but as soon as you are ready I will feed you again Chise. Perhaps ten souls next time? Or a few more, so I can feed as well? He licked the top of his mouth sleepily and let his eyes vanish as he settled down to sleep. …in the morning I'll teach Chise…how to make a decent cup of tea…