Sorry its been so long, my family is giving me hell about the baby. (Le sigh) I'll try to keep writing.

Chap: Scents and Hormones

Later that afternoon, a distinctly battered Elder walked up to the small garden shed they were using. Remington cocked an eyebrow at him. "You told her of the situation?"

"More like she held my throat hostage and demanded to know. Azmaria has already explained most of it to her, and I ended up telling her what was being done. Sister Kate convinced her it was for the best. Poor thing's about to go insane with bordom," the old man said with something resembling admiration. "Gah, but that girl's got spunk."

"How'd she take it?" Chrono asked quietly. He was on top of the roof, checking for any serious structural weaknesses. Many a passing nun had been heard to sigh at the sight, for Chrono had taken off his leathers and shirt to work with greater mobility, showing his very nice form to all passer-by. The garden house was to confine him for the rest of the nights until the new moon had passed. Two other priest were there helping to set up the barriers and wards to keep a devil as powerful as Chrono in, and it wasn't easy. Some safety modifications had to be made as well, and the elder was left in charge of that.

"She's not happy about this, and she wants to talk to you as soon as she can. Azmaria's keeping her busy researching to find another way around the spell, but that won't stop her for long."

Chrono paused, taking some nails out of his mouth so that he could speak better. "Should we risk it?"

Remington took a while before he answered, "The phases only happen at night. I see no real reason for you to avoid her during the day. Not to mention, she must be quite worried about how you're taking all of this. Maybe you should go see her, if nothing else, to reassure her that you're alright."

"She worries too much," the devil muttered as he lightly jumped off the roof.

"More that she knows you so well that she can tell your moods before they happen."

Remington sighed. "Poor girl. She does love you, you know."

Chrono froze where he landed. Slowly, he turned to face the priest. "What did you"---

"You didn't think that she was in love with you?" One of the warding priests chimed in, surprised. "Its obvious to anyone with eyes that she loves you."

"Hopelessly," the other priest replied.

"But—but—I'm—she's"—Chrono stared in shock. They could not be serious. They—just couldn't be. He scratched the back of his neck, trying to collect himself.

"Oh, stop teasing the boy," the elder said as he came in. "Sure, she loves him, now quit bugging him about it." He glanced behind him as the sun began to set. "And now things get really interesting."

"You"—the devil paused as he felt the lightest touch on the edge of his ear. It felt like a soft fingertip, just barely touching the rim of his ear. He leaned in---

Then yanked himself back, shaking his head furiously. "You have no idea, elder-sir. You have no idea."

Later that night, the two other priests had finally left, the barriers in place for the night. Remington had returned to the infirmary to both check on Rosette, and to have himself looked over by St. Justice. The elder elected to stay with Chrono, both to keep the boy company, and to be sure that if anything did happen, he could place the outer barriers in time. The inner barriers were active all the time.

Chrono glanced over the rim of his cards to the elder. "You know, Rosette could completely massacre you at this game."

"Oh shut up, you. She's never won against me yet." He grumbled. "I can't believe you're this good."

"I've had a lot of practice with Rosette. Not to mention, I don't have a skirt to look under, so you can't use those distraction techniques you're famous for. In some cultures, that's called cheating."

"Its not cheating to admire a girl's legs while playing cards with her. I would just be paying them a compliment."

"Either way, you don't seem to play very well against men."

"That's why I never do unless it's a special occasion."

"What's the occa"---Chrono's eyes glazed over and he rolled his head forward. Warm lips were kissing between his shoulder blades, right where his wings would form. A small wet tongue made patterns on the skin of his back—

"Er, Chrono, my boy, you know how to take care of that problem of yours?"

The demon shook his head furiously to clear it, the better to focus on the man's question. "I'm sorry, what did you say?"

"Do you know how to take care of that," he gestured to the other's lower region, "problem you got there?"

Chrono blinked for a moment in incomprehension before it dawned on him. "What!? Ur, um, ahh"—

"Nothing to be ashamed of, my boy, every man has needs, you know."

"N-no! You—don't understand. Demons"—he decided to just bite the bullet, a bright

flush working over his face—"demonscan'tdothat."

"What? Say it again, I didn't understand you."

"De-demons can't do that."

The elder frowned in confusion. "They can't?"

"No."

"Not ever?"

"No, sir."

The man's frown deepened. "Really?"

"Yes."

"Well, why the hell not?"

"Why not—what do I look like, a demon physiologist!?"

"Oh come on! That's not physically possible!"

"Yes it is!"

"No it isn't!"

"Yes it is!"

"Prove it!"

Chrono stared, his crimson eyes going wide and nearly started to hyperventilate in shock. "What?!"

"Not that way, you idiot! You give me a good reason why demons can't do that, and I'll leave you alone about it for the rest of the night."

"Alright……" he fidgeted in his chair.

The elder raised an eyebrow, skepticism written all over his face. "I haven't got all night, my boy."

"Alright, already! Criminy." He took a deep breath to compose himself and got down to the nitty-gritty. "When demons mate, we have what's called breeders, females with high levels of power and stamina. Pandemonia would select the strongest of her female demons and take their minds from them, to make sure that all they could ever do is breed and not rise up against her. The other females are rendered sterile."

The old man paled at the image, then grimaced. "That's horrible."

"That's just the tip of the iceburg. The breeders can have dozens, if not hundreds of males attracted to her at once by the scents she creates."

"The scents?"

"Yeah." Chrono looked away, a look of almost shame on his face. "The scents are to alert males that a breeder is in heat and can completely overwhelm a male's consciousness, make him go into a savage frenzy. He'll fight off dozens of other demons for the right to mate with the breeder. That's how Pandemonia makes sure that only the strongest of her subjects reproduces."

"Oh."

"Yeah. Its gotten to the point that while you can have physical contact be enjoyable, nothing works unless the scents are present."

"Nothing works? My boy, you look to be in fine working order to me."

"No, I don't mean like that. I mean that only if the scents are present can a demon, well, you know…."he trailed off, praying the elder would catch his drift.

"Oh, you mean you can't orgasm unless you've got those scents?"

Chrono was about to turn an interesting shade of eggplant from blushing. "Basically, yes."

"Owwwww," the elder said sympathetically. "That has to hurt. This whole situation must really be pushing you past sixty, huh?"

The devil nodded, then flinched as another round of touching began its assault. The feel a warm tongue licking someplace sensitive made his whole body shudder in pleasure and pain, just as the first light of dawn came through the windows. "Oh, may God help me."

A sudden thought struck the elder, and he privately prayed it wasn't true before he voiced it aloud. "Chrono, have you ever"—

Chrono started. He knew the question was coming, but it still unnerved him. "No! No, I—was out of Pandemonium before I was old enough to breed."

"In a way, praise the Lord, in another, damn." The elder stared at him hard. "Does that mean what I think it does?"

Chrono bowed his head, "Yes, sir."

"My god. I didn't think it was possible for a fellow to live more than fifty years and go without, but you're like, what? 200 or so?"

"One hundred and eighty……..seven, I think, give or take a year," he answered. "Why?"

"I hate to tell you this, my boy, but you may have just won the record for being the world's oldest living virgin."

)&((&)

Please review!