Inutaisho was in a towering fury. He stormed down the hallway, his bootheels ringing loudly against the cold stone floor. He couldn't believe the nerve, no the sadistic gall of the woman. Passing servants dove for cover in an effort to escape their lord's red eyed glare. He ignored them, tight lipped and almost glowing with his incandescent anger. He reached the woman's quarters, pausing for a moment in front of the thick wooden door. He first raised his fist to knock but instead slapped his open palm against the shiny polished surface and blew the door out with a sharp blast of youki.
He swept through the smoke and debris and glared around the room imperiously. Azaryu servants scattered before him, ducking away from the lord's wrath. His wife rushed out to meet him, her hair still wet from her recent bath as she pulled on a delicate pastel pink kimono. "How dare you invade my private apartments," she hissed, her ice blue eyes snapping furiously.
He held up his hand, stopping her tirade. "Where is it?" Seshiko turned her chin up at him, her eyes sliding away. Inutaisho reached for her, taking her roughly by the arm. It was all he could do not to start beating her to death where she stood. "I said, where is it, you miserable Azaryu bitch!"
She wrenched her arm out of his hold, tearing the fine silk of her sleeve. "I don't know what you're talking about." He shoved her away and sniffed the air. The bedroom, he thought.
She trailed after him as he kicked the door open. With an effort, he restrained himself now, not wanting to scare them more. Two human children sat on the bed, a boy and a girl, maybe two or three years old. They wore richly embroidered clothing, Seshiko had obviously dressed them up like dolls. The tiny girl even had paint on her face as she sat holding tight to her brother's hand.
Inutaisho looked at his wife. "You make me sick," he breathed, flushing with the effort it took not to murder her on the spot.
She laughed lightly, circling around him while keeping just out of his reach. "My lord, they're so cute. I just couldn't help but bring them home with me. Can't I please keep them?"
He moved across the room, hoping not to startle the children. They sat perfectly still, just like the toys she dressed them as. He knelt in front of them. He had been mistaken, it wasn't paint on the little human girl's face, but smears of blood. The children didn't react to his presence at all, for all he could tell they weren't even aware of him. He reached out to touch the girl child's cheek, her skin was ice cold and he could hear her rapid irregular pulse fluttering.
"They're in shock," he muttered. "Probably from watching you butcher their parents right in front of them. Gods woman, don't you have any sense of decency?" He rounded angrily on her but Seshiko just folded her arms and pouted. "Does that mean I don't get to keep them, my lord?"
"No, you can't keep them." His self control was definitely slipping, he heard a tremor of rage in his own voice. Seshiko grinned, a wicked look in her pale eyes. She moved behind the children, crawling sensuously over the wide bed. "Very well, my lord. I will dispatch them if you so desire." Inutaisho glowered at her. "The hell," he snapped. With one fluid movement, he swept the stunned children up and stalked out of lady Seshiko's rooms, her amused laughter echoing evilly in his ears. They were like scared rabbits in his arms, they weighed as no more than air to the demon lord who carried them. More than one person he met on his way back to his own quarters gave him a curious look, striding around in his full battle armor with two frightened little babes in his hands. Personally, he had as little as possible to do with the humans that inhabited his territory. He still didn't approve of his people hunting them like animals and forbid the youkai who crossed his lands to harm or harass the peasants as a matter of policy.
He decided he would have to summon a healer to treat them for the shock they'd endured. Seshiko must have found the family while out on her morning run. She preferred to rise early, transforming into an elegant long haired hound and running at her top speed for hours. She said she wasn't used to the sedentary life of a lapdog. He ground his teeth, feeling a fresh rage beginning when he thought about what must have happened to the parents of these two innocent creatures. His patrol had alerted him when they found the site of Seshiko's amusement. Not enough left of them to bury had been the patrol's disgusted assessment.
The youkai lord knew that good judgment could be impaired when a youkai assumed their true form. Instincts took over, pure and simple. She might have attacked the humans without meaning to and then spared the children out of guilt. He shook his head, his long topknot of hair brushing his face. That would give the Azaryu bitch too much credit. Undoubtedly she'd stalked them and then taken the children as playthings. After six months enduring that woman, he knew well the type of demon his bride was.
He reached his own quarters, sweeping through the rooms and past his startled attendants with his unusual armload. He gently rested the children on his own bed and covered them with the thick blankets. He knew enough about human physiology to do that much. "Ansako," he called, pacing around the end of the bed.
His long time retainer nervously poked his head in the door. "My lord?" He gave the man a sour look. "Send for a healer, my lovely bride has given me an unwelcome gift. I can't undo the damage, but I don't want them to die of her callousness either." Ansako ducked out without another word.
Inutaisho sat on the edge of the bed and brushed back the boy's hair. The child's eyes were tightly closed now and the demon lord was aware of an almost inaudible whimper beginning in the boy's chest. He laid his hand over the child's forehead. "Hush," he said, barely brushing the boy's mind with his own. The child instantly fell into a deeper sleep, his breathing becoming more regular.
The youkai sighed, one hand rubbing his eyes. Damn her anyway, she just loves to find ways to piss me off. This was a new low, but he understood that the Azaryu had always viewed humans as vermin to exterminate. In the morning he'd send one of his men to the nearest village with the children, a few gifts and gracious words should ensure that they were well cared for. A pitiful substitute for the murder of their parents, he thought. For a brief moment he even considered sending Inoki, but changed his mind knowing that his brother's anger over this incident would make him impossible to deal with for weeks afterward.
No, it was his curse to deal with the woman. He looked forward to the day when she would finally deliver a child and he could banish her back to the barbarian wilds that had sired her. Inutaisho tucked a leg under him as he settled on the bed, absently reaching up to discard his armor. As Seshiko hadn't quickened yet, he was unfortunately bound to put up with her a bit longer. Alliance or no, he wasn't sure how much longer he could keep himself from strangling her. He knew she wasn't any happier about the situation than he was, but her contempt of him was really beginning to wear on his nerves.
Inutaisho tried to relax, finally able to put his feet up. It had been a very long day and the demon lord of the Western lands was at last alone. He'd dismissed his personal servants for the evening, it was rare enough he didn't have some kind of obligation that would take up his private time. Tonight he just wanted a chance to sit and stare blankly at the fire.
The healer had come and gone. She'd examined the human children carefully to be sure that lady Seshiko hadn't inflicted any lasting physical damage. Mental, emotional damage was an entirely different story. The healer thought that they could make a full recovery, their youth meant that it would be easy for them to forget and heal from what had been done to them. She'd sedated the children with some mild herbal concoction to assure them a dreamless sleep. In the morning, two of his junior lieutenants would take them to a nearby village. He'd instructed his men to tell the town headman that the children's parents had been killed by some wild savage beast. It wasn't all that far from the truth in his opinion.
He took a long drink from the cup he held in his hand, his eyes closed as the strong liquor trickled down his throat. He willed his muscles to relax, it would do him no good to try and sleep while this tense. He'd had a bit more than was his usual habit, anticipating a quiet evening of solitude.
It was not to be. He turned his head, Inutaisho's sharp ears detected some kind of commotion in the outer apartments. He waited, knowing his personal guard would hold fast to his order not to be disturbed. Finally one of them gave a perfunctory knock at his door before entering. The man clapped his arm to his chest in a brusque salute. "My lord, the lady Seshiko demands to be admitted to your presence."
Inutaisho sighed, the last thing he'd wanted tonight was to have round two with her. "Is she being verbally abusive?"
The guard nodded. "Very much so, sire."
He twirled the drink around in his cup, still looking at the fire. "I see. And is she threatening physical violence if she doesn't get what she wants?"
"Of course, sire. Shall I send her on her way?"
Inutaisho grinned at the disgust in the man's voice. This was the same guard who'd carried the patrol's report to him earlier. "No, Ari, send her in. I will attend to the lady personally." The lord's smile became positively bloodthirsty. So after the atrocity she'd committed that morning, Seshiko still had the gall to think she could bully his guard and make demands. Better and better, he thought, feeling his own blood start to rise.
Seshiko swept into the room with a furious glare for the guard who escorted her. "Your man needs a lesson in manners, my lord," she said in a waspish tone.
He sipped at his drink. "I'm sorry to hear that. I had instructed him to treat you like the murdering guttersnipe you are. Can I ask what the purpose of this visit might be?"
Her eyes flashed. "You destroyed the door to my quarters. It has not been repaired. I demand you order someone to see to it at once, my lord."
He snorted. He'd known that would annoy her. "It would have been fixed already if I hadn't ordered them not to make the repair."
Seshiko was taken aback. "You ordered them not to fix my door?"
Inutaisho grinned at her. "I most certainly did. You deliberately violated my standing provision against attacking humans. You want to act like a savage, you can live like a savage. I see no reason to respect your privacy when you have no respect for anything other than your own cruel amusement."
"Bastard!" she spat at him, turning on her heel and heading for the door. He jumped up and reached the door just as she opened it. He slammed it shut again, knowing the guards on the other side had to be confused. He spun her around and shoved her hard against the wall. "I'm not done with you yet."
She glared at him defiantly. "Don't think that you can intimidate me like one of your simpering servants, my lord. I cower before no one. You forget that Azaryu blood has not been thinned by living here like pampered human pets."
He struck her hard across the face for her insolence. Gods, he'd been wanting to do that for six months. She didn't so much as flinch. He knew it would take more than physical violence to shake fear into her. It was one of the few things he did like about the vicious woman. He towered over her just the same, letting his hatred of her seep into his voice and the youki blaze in his eyes.
"Seshiko, I may have agreed to the terms of the treaty by allowing you to live within my household. I have put up with your insulting behavior, your complete lack of judgment and decency. I have even gone so far as to tolerate your violent habits with the staff. I have made every effort to treat you with the respect your position deserves. Now I have had enough of you and your evil temper. You will begin to treat my staff with courtesy, you will no longer abuse your privileges of rank by destroying anything that suits your temper. And the next time you so callously slaughter anything, human or beast, within my territory I will by the gods beat you senseless myself. Then I will have you gagged like the common hill witch you are and send you back to that worthless, stupid, disgusting degenerate of a father who sold you to me."
Inutaisho knew he'd pushed her too far with that crack about her father. She flew at him, hissing and clawing for his eyes. He wrenched her arms back and grabbed a fistful of her hair. Why was it that the more she enraged him, the more he wanted her? These fights could almost count as foreplay between them. Just because he hated her didn't mean he wasn't enjoying having the little monster in his bed.
He pressed her back into the wall, pinning her body with the greater strength of his. One hand took her chin as he forced his mouth over hers, driving his tongue between her lips. As usual, she tried to bite him. Not that he hadn't tried gentleness before, she'd damned near killed him. He wondered if all Azaryu females were like this. It had to be her cussed nature that drove her to fight him so. Maybe her pride obligated her to turn every conversation into a confrontation, every attempt he made at gentleness or affection had been violently thrown back in his face. Not for the first time, Inutaisho wondered at the sheer perversity that had caused such a vicious spirit to be born into such a perfect form.
Seshiko leveled a kick at him, aiming for the groin. He evaded her with a practiced ease. It seemed to vex the girl that she couldn't outfight him. He took hold of her wrists and flung her across the room and onto the bed. She did bring out the demon in him.
He approached her calmly, grinning at her as he started to pull off his clothing. Her expression had changed, there was a new eagerness in her gaze when she looked at him now. Seshiko pulled her legs up and knelt on the bed as he came for her. He seized her, grinding his fingers into the soft flesh of her upper arms but her resistance had all but disappated by this point. Now when he kissed her, it was her tongue that was thrusting into his mouth. He sucked it gently, enjoying the sweet taste of her. As she bent the girl over on the bed she hissed into his mouth and bit down on his lip. He shoved her away only to reach for her again, biting her along the neck and jawline, letting her feel his fangs.
She sighed and because limp under his hands. He pressed her into the bed, moving slowly and deliberately. She twisted her face away from him and he ran his mouth down the smooth column of her throat. He grazed the soft skin with his teeth, growling softly from deep within his chest. He held her face in his hands and forced her to meet his hot, demanding gaze. Then he slipped aside the silken robe she wore and ran his hands down her body.
Seshiko moaned softly, almost a submissive whimper. He bent his head to nip gently at her breasts, running his tongue over the stiff nipples until she cried out. Her hands grabbed for him now, drawing him to her urgently. He hadn't yet begun to possess her and left off tormenting her breasts to slip his hands between her legs. She writhed against him, a feral, beautiful creature.
The girl snarled as he continued to bring her closer to the edge. She grabbed onto his shoulders, levering herself against him. A fine sheen of sweat had broken out over her body and his sensitive nose told him when her musk filled the room. Seshiko flung herself back against the bed as the pleasure rocked her body. He stared down at her, fascinated by her primal response. It was difficult for him to concentrate. A deep flush covered her body and he couldn't restrain himself another moment, her body elicited such a powerful response from him.
She lay utterly relaxed now, no resistance in the lines of her body, only sweet satiation. Inutaisho took hold of her, staring down at her face with undisguised lust. She cried out as he seized her hips to force himself deep inside her. He strove for the depths of her, letting his body fall forward and pressing her into the yielding surface of the bed. Crushing her with his weight, he rode her with an ever increasing rhythm. Her body was slick and tight around him. His hands slid under her shoulders to brace her as she raised her legs to clench desperately around his hips.
Seshiko started to wail as her body clenched and spasmed under his. Inutaisho's teeth were set in a fierce grimace and his breath came ragged and short. Wit a last gasp he tensed and buried himself deep, his teeth biting into her shoulder as her claws raked his back. He collapsed suddenly, their chests heaving as one as they both fought for air. He licked a bead of sweat from her throat and she shuddered in response, burying her face in his shoulder, against a pillow of long white hair.