Marked 3

Previous chapters YEMF44, YSTEMF20

Xander had taken Tara to the state park and walked the trails with her. The park was wonderful, filled with life and the beauty of nature. The only downside had been the fact that since she was no longer hiding her demonic nature, she attracted lustful gazes everywhere she went.

Xander had stuck close to her and scared off anyone who had gotten too close and made her nervous. Was it strange that she felt a warmth in her chest from how protective he was? She wasn't sure. It was nice to be valued and have someone who both said and acted like they cared, he even projected the emotions to match, which was comforting even though they had to be lies.

"Tomorrow we'll head into town and check out that magic shop," Xander told her as he followed her into the RV parking area and opened the door to the motorhome.

Tara nodded shyly, a small smile on her face as she climbed inside. They'd used the campground toilets to shower and had a couple of burgers while watching the sun set. It was time for bed and she was both yearning and dreading what would happen next.

Xander changed the table and benches into a bed and retrieved extra blankets and pillows from the closet. It had been a long day and he was worn out. "Your bed is up there," Xander said, pulling back the curtain in the small section over the front seats where the smaller bed was.

"Oh," Tara said surprised. She stripped down to her shift, blushing at how little privacy there was in the small RV. She obediently climbed into the bed over the cab and laid down.

Xander stripped down to his boxers and climbed into bed, looking forward to a good night's sleep. The last week had been hectic and he'd barely gotten four hours sleep a night while scrambling to get the resources to rescue Tara. He made a mental note that next time he made a wish he'd include the resources to do the job.

He was asleep the moment his head hit the pillow.

Tara laid in bed waiting for something to happen. She wasn't sure what, but surely she wasn't going to spend her first night after being kidnapped by a demon quietly sleeping, right?

After almost half an hour had passed, she peeked out of the curtains and saw he was asleep. Maybe it was a trick? She thought about it but couldn't see what the trick could be.

She watched him sleep for a few minutes before she realized she was waiting for him to come and get her. For an evil demon he was being surprisingly patient. Maybe he was waiting for something?

Maybe she was supposed to go to him? Tara's heart beat loudly in her ears as she slowly slipped out of bed and climbed down into the cab. She was a succubus, of course she was supposed to go to him.

Tara slowly tiptoed towards the sleeping demon. She was ready to fulfill her destiny and put an end to all her doubts once and for all!

Looking at him sleeping peacefully, illuminated by the moonlight through the window she could almost believe he was just a man, but her demonic senses told her otherwise.

Taking a deep breath she stripped off her shift and crawled onto the bed. He was so deeply asleep that he didn't stir even when she lifted up the covers and slid in next to him.

Tara could feel the heat he radiated just inches away from her. She hesitated to cross those final few inches and cursed her timidity. She reminded herself that she was a demoness created for the sole purpose of fornication and corrupting good men like her daddy.

With those comforting thoughts in mind Tara decisively scooted right next to him and laid an arm across his chest.

Xander instinctively turned and wrapped his arms around her cuddling her to him.

Tara lost herself to the sensation of warm skin, and the musky smell of the demon. It was everything she'd been hoping for. Feeling comfortable and safe all the tension she'd built up drained away and she fell asleep with a smile on her face.

OoOoOoOoOo

Xander woke up slowly, noting a weight on his chest. Glancing down at the shimmering black hair and then up at the open curtain he realized Tara must have climbed into bed with him.

It was not something he'd expected, but if Tara had felt lonely and didn't want to sleep alone he could hardly begrudge her. He was a bit surprised, to put it mildly, that she already felt comfortable enough to sleep next to him, but he supposed getting away from the poisonous and repressive place she'd called home would have improved anyone's outlook.

"Morning Tara," he said as she slowly stirred.

Tara froze as she realized where she was until she recalled how she'd gotten there. "Morning," she said softly.

"How does breakfast sound?" he asked cheerfully.

While she was relieved that he wasn't upset at her actions her arms tightened around him not wanting to move yet. It felt good to be held. She was a succubus so obviously she needed intimate contact and there was a gnawing hunger that wasn't yet satisfied.

"Or we could lay here for a few more hours," Xander offered.

"Yes," Tara said softly.

"Any idea on what you'd like to do today?" Xander asked. "I figure we'd find an IHOP for breakfast then head for a magic shop. Not sure what to do after that, I mean my whole goal was to get you. Now that I've got you, I don't have anything else planned."

"I hop?" Tara asked.

"The international house of pancakes," Xander explained.

"Oh," she said, her stomach growled but she ignored it. Hunger for food was nothing new, having been forced to fast many times, the hunger she was feeding right now was more important.

"We can eat and then come back to bed," Xander offered.

"Really?" she asked doubtfully, recalling all the broken promises her life had been littered with, from her father's promises of the church providing solutions, to her mother's promises that she would be fine.

"I 'Alexander Lavell Harris' do swear on all that I hold sacred, that if you feel the need to be held, I will do my best to fulfill it," Xander swore melodramatically, thinking he'd get a giggle out of her.

"I… suppose," Tare said slowly and her arms loosened but she'd scarcely lifted a few centimeters away before she lunged back down and gripped him even tighter. "Food isn't that important," she said hopefully, her legs wrapping around one of his as well.

"I have bottled water and granola bars in the RV," Xander said. "It's a bit light for breakfast, but it will do for now."

"Ok," Tara said.

"So, I can get them?" Xander asked.

"Yes," Tara agreed.

"Are you going to let go?"

"No," Tara admitted.

"So, I need to get food and water without letting you go," Xander said thoughtfully.

"Yes," Tara agreed.

"I can handle that," Xander said. "Ok, what we'll do is move your legs around my waist and I'll carry you to the cabinet and back, Ok?"

"Alright," Tara said.

Xander slowly sat up, Tara keeping an iron grip on him. "How long has it been since you've been held?" he asked softly.

"Since before Mama got sick," Tara whispered. "Three years… maybe a little more."

His arms tightened around her. He couldn't imagine going a week without a hug or some form of friendly or affectionate contact, much less three years!

"I… I started to affect the men folk," Tara said shamefully, "touching me would just be asking for trouble, papa said."

Sitting up he buried his face in her hair and stroked her back, which was a lot barer then he'd expected but didn't matter to him at the moment. "Looks like we are spending the day in bed."

"Really?"

"Really," he said firmly, making a mental note to send as much legal problems her father's way as possible. He made sure to keep an arm around her as he removed the blanket and scooted down the bed, so he could stand up.

Tara shivered a little and squeezed him tighter.

It only took a minute to retrieve a half dozen bottles of water and a box of granola bars before returning to the bed and lying back down.

Tara relaxed a little once they were under the covers once more and she had her legs wrapped around one of his. "Can… can you stroke my back some more?"

"I'll do it while you eat a granola bar," Xander bargained.

"Ok," Tara agreed.

Xander unwrapped a granola bar and passed it to her. Once she took it, he softly stroked her back, alternating hands so one stopped as the other began.

Tara's eyes closed and she sighed, feeling happier than she'd recalled feeling before.

"Eat," Xander reminded her. After a few minutes of silence Xander asked, "Is there anything you'd like to talk about?"

"Why me?" Tara asked softly. "There are other women in my family. Beth is a lot more… outgoing."

"You deserved to be rescued," Xander said. "You see… I'm not exactly from around here."

"I noticed," Tara admitted.

"I remember things that haven't happened yet," Xander explained.

"You can see the future?"

"I can see one future that happened when I couldn't see the future," Xander said. "I don't get updates or anything, just the one future that will no longer happen."

"So, you know everything you would have learned your entire life?" she asked curiously, thinking of having all the knowledge and skills she would ever learn available right now.

"That would be useful," Xander said, "but sadly I just have over four years or so, maybe a bit closer to five."

"Having instant knowledge of four years of college would be wonderful," Tara said wistfully, knowing her family would have never allowed her to go to college and not sure if demons bothered with it.

"I didn't go to college, I got a job in construction and became a foreman," Xander said, "but I also met a lot of people during that time and one of the people I met was you."

"Me?" she blurted out surprised. He knew her after she'd became a demon?

"Yes, you," Xander said. "I remember how miserable your family made you and I decided you didn't need to go through that when I could prevent it, so here I am."

"What kind of relationship did we have?" she asked, suddenly finding the answer really important. What were relationships between demons like? Were they anything like humans?

"You were seeing someone else on and off," Xander said tactfully, "but you were always my friend and my friends are the most important people in my life." He stroked her back.

"We didn't date?" she asked disappointed, but happy to learn that demons had friends.

"I would have said yes in a second," Xander told her, "but you were already seeing someone. Anyway, that's minus a bunch of secrets, pretty much the whole story. I knew the future, I changed the future and now we return to the Mouth of Hell and get enrolled in school."

"We're going to Hell?" she asked, while wondering what kind of schools they had. Corruption 101, Fornication for beginners, Legal Possession Pre-law?

"The Mouth of Hell," Xander explained, "Sunnydale California, a small town that sits atop a closed portal to hell."

Tara wrinkled her nose, recalling what her family and the people in church had said about California. "Hell sounds better."

Xander laughed. "I have it on good authority that Hell sucks as much for the demons as it does the humans, though there are still a number of demons who haven't gotten the memo, so I spend a lot of time trying to keep the Hellmouth closed."

"You spend your time preventing the End of Days?" she asked in shock.

"Some of it," Xander said, "in between work or school and hunting vampires."

"You hunt vampires?" she asked, wondering if that was a common demonic hobby.

"I hunt anything that is hurting people," Xander said. "Vampires killed a friend of mine, so I may have some anger issues in that direction."

"So, you like the world as it is, just with less vampires and… more people?" she asked, thinking Xander was a very complex demon.

"Some of my best friends are human," Xander joked with a grin. "But seriously, most vampires and demons I could do without. There are only a couple of vampires I find even tolerable and most peaceful demon races avoid the Hellmouth."

"Peaceful demon races?" Tara asked curiously.

"While individual demons may vary, most Brachen are stand up guys," Xander said recalling Cordelia telling him about Doyle. "They intermarry with humans so much the only way to tell them apart is that they transform when they sneeze and when you get below a quarter Brachen they don't even do that. Strong and tough, nose like a bloodhound, but often have drinking problems. Me personally, I avoid drinking; too many alcoholics in my family."

'Ah, he's part Brachen,' Tara realized, deciding she'd have to read up on all the different demon breeds if she got the chance. She smiled at the thought that maybe he wasn't acting and the reason his aura was so at odds with his behavior was because of his demon blood.

"I should probably get some books on the subject," Xander said thoughtfully. "I don't have much of a library at the moment and I'm kinda used to having at least a decent reference section on magic and demonology."

"What about science and literature?" Tara asked, thinking of all the books she'd seen but wasn't allowed to check out of the library because they were 'trash and nonsense.'

"I mostly went for practical books," Xander admitted. "Which reminds me…"

OoOoOoOoOo

Tara stared around her fascinated. Ingredients her mother used sparingly, hand crafted tools, and books of forbidden knowledge filled the shelves around her.

"Anything you want, just bring it to the counter," Xander told her. "Don't worry about the cost, it's on me."

Tara nodded. He had been spending a lot of money on her since kidnapping her, far more money than her father ever had in fact. When the preacher had been talking about the wages of sin, she had never imagined it would include paying for her books, else she probably would have fallen into the devil's hands even faster than she currently seemed to be.

Xander smiled at seeing Tara showing hints of life and curiosity. Turning away he started browsing the shelves himself, looking for anything of interest. Recalling some of the things they had run across in the future, he picked up several books on protection magics and easy to use rituals. He hadn't even realized they'd made 'for dummies' magic books.

Tara looked at the stack of books on the counter and then at the stack in her hands. Was she being too greedy?

Xander placed a stack of books on top of the ones she'd set on the counter and then took the ones out of her hands to place on those. "Don't forget the herbs," he reminded her.

Tara stepped forward and hugged him tightly, like a shameless hussy, not even caring that they were in public.

"Flowers are cheaper," a college aged man noted with a grin.

"Books don't wilt," Xander replied as he held the ecstatic witch.

The woman next to the man elbowed him. "Take notes Harry," she told him, "that's the proper way for a man to treat his girl."

"And yet you don't treat me like that in public," Harry retorted.

"You don't buy me stacks of books," she replied.

"What would you do if I bought you a stack of books like that?" he asked curiously.

She smirked. "I wouldn't let you out of bed for days."

"Suddenly I feel the need to buy a lot of books," Harry said brightly.

Tara slowly released Xander, blushing bright red. She hadn't even been aware one could whore themselves out for books. On considering the matter, she decided it was probably a good thing she hadn't known until now.

"Let's finish up here and get some lunch," Xander said.

"Ok, but then straight to bed," Tara said firmly.

"A whole lot of Books!" Harry told his girlfriend.

Typing by: fyrewolf5 (so happy to see this one picked back up, and still a complete lack of proper communication, I feel like I need to be snacking on popcorn while reading this)