Radiance Chapter 13: Blind Love and Secret Admirers.
Ven's heart nearly leapt out of his chest when Gregory told him that he had feelings for him, the utterly adorable, gentle little human was so embaressed and was obviously fighting the urge to run away, but he stayed the course and when the words left his lips Ven's heart both exploded and melted all at the same time.
He simply couldn't remember ever feeling so happy in his life before, he threw his long arms around the slender little human and being so careful not to injure him by accident in his excitement plucked him from the ground and held him tightly against his chest, before just as he'd seen Visa and Seven do he leaned in to kiss Gregory.
It was a bit awkward what with thier size difference and well having two razor sharp horns on the side of his head but Ven managed to line himself up right so that only their lips met, no sooner had he felt the incredibly soft, warm and surprisingly plump human male lips press against his own then electric began flowing down Ven's spine like water.
In that very instant he realised exactly why humans did this, it was the most wonderful and intimate thing ever, just being so incredibly close to someone that you could actually taste their saliva on your own lips was an utterly new experience for him, that's when Gregory parted those soft plump masculine lips and utterly melted Ven's brain as well as his heart, by licking his lips with his small human tongue like he was begging him to open his mouth, so he did.
The feeling of having Gregory's little flat, wide, warm human tongue inside his mouth was utterly indescribable, the way he nervously licked at tasted Ven's long fangs before moving on to explore his own tongue was mind bending, Ven found himself coiling his own tounge around Gregory's like was trying to tie it down so he could never pull it out and it would remain in his mouth for ever.
The pair remained joined like that for a good few minutes before finally his beautiful little human lover had to break to come up for air, human lung capacity was no where near that of a claw but that was just one more thing to add to the ever growing list of things Ven loved about this delicate beautiful little male.
That's when Ven got his next shock, as he stood gazing into Gregory's beautiful eyes trying to guage whether he had done well and whether his little human was happy, there came a clapping noise that was rapidly joined by a second.
Ven turned his large horned head to find both his sister and Seven stood there watching them and clapping, he'd been so utterly lost in the embrace and kiss that he'd utterly forgot that they were even there.
"Well done you two, congratulations, now Gregory remember, claw love club meetings are every Thursday and its always bring your own claw" Seven said in a voice that carried his smile with with it through the air.
Gregory who was still blushing hard making his face got that wonderful cherry red colour smiled at his fellow human brightly, "Well it looks like I got my claw to bring but I thought meetings were on tuesdays?" he said playfully and Seven roared with laughter and clapped him on the shoulder.
"Yeah I realised one meeting a week wasn't enough, they are kinda impatient creatures at times" he said shooting Visa a playful smile before she gently cuffed him with her tail in response.
Then Seven turned to face Ven and the little snow furred human looked up at him his bright eyes shining with a inner fire, "You look after this one Ven, you think finding a human that likes claw's is hard try finding one that likes claws of their own gender, this man here is your diamond in the rough, so you love him as hard as that claw heart of yours can and you prove to him that the gigantic fucking leap of faith he just took was worth it, you hear me?" Seven said his voice filled with the same fire his eyes were.
Ven actually felt flattered by this, because not only did it show that Seven was actively trying to promote love between claws and humans but that he was showing Gregory that he was willing to stand for him and for his love for Ven, which meant that he would be willing to defend their right ot have it as well, a notion that he had never in his life ever conceived of, a human standing up for a claw's right to love a human and visa versa.
"You have nothing to fear Seven, this human is guarded now, while I draw breath nothing will ever either take him from me or harm a single strand of fur on his beautiful head" Ven said turning and very gently running his hand over Gregory's cheek, relishing the feel of his silk smooth skin as he did, suddenly he understood why the beautiful human did that thing with the knife every morning now, it kept his skin so soft it was like a claw magnet.
Gregory lifted his head as Ven's claws gently traced the line of his jaw and stroked his skin and he gifted him with the warmest of smiles that made Ven's heart glow, he kept having so many delisiouss and naughty thoughts about throwing the beautiful human over his shoulder before scampering off with him to find a quiet spot in the mine where he could show him just how loving and gentle a claw could really be.
A heavier footstep snapped Ven out of his beautiful day dream and his lifted his head to see his sister stood before him and for an awful moment he thought she was going to slap him and call him a bunch of vile names, but the blow never came, instead Visa stepped forward and embraced him tightly.
"I'm so glad you finally figured out who really are brother" she said softly and Ven's heart leapt in his chest.
"W-W-Wait! You knew?" he exclaimed and she brought her head up to look him right in the eye.
"You're my brother Ven, I've always known you were different to other claws, I saw the way you looked at female and male claws like they were the same to you, you had the same wanting and dreamy look in you eyes every time, it pains me to know that you had to keep this part of you hidden for so very long because of what our pack would have done if they found our you liked males and females" she said.
Ven just stood there like a statue, it was like all of his muscles had simply turned to lead, then slowly he wrapped his arms around his sister and put his head int her shoulder, "Thank you Visa, thank you for always being there for me" he said his voice choking up a bit.
Visa stroked he scales and spines on his broad back, "That's something you never have to thank me for brother, because you are just that, my brother, you have always been there for me no matter what, now its my turn and guess what we get to be there for one another as we take these first steps down a road that no claw has ever walked before, a road to human love" she said softly.
Then slowly she released him and with a last warm smile she turned and taking Seven by the hand she lead him over to their sleeping nest where she pulled him into mess of old sheets atop the two mattresses that they would be sleeping in for the night.
Ven turned to Gregory who was also watching them and he smiled down at his little human and by the gods did it feel so good to think and also say that, his human.
"About time we turned in too I think, we gotta long walk tomorrow and we'll need our rest" Ven said softly and Gregory nodded allowing him t steer him into the other nest that he had prepared for them both more in hope that the beautiful human would be brave enough to join him rather than expectance, but now, now he had everything he could have ever wanted all wrapped up in a delisiouss skin that he simply could not wait to unwrap and see with his own eyes.
Infact when Gregory took some of those infernal human coverings off to get into the bed Ven felt like he was teasing him, hinting at the beauty that remained hidden below those cloth covers, oh how he wished he could simply mate with him tonight take that final leap of pure faith and revel in the purest of joys with this beautiful human, but it simply wouldn't be right to push him like that, Ven could already see that it had taken every ounce of strength Gregory had to take that beautiful step towards him, for now that was more than enough for him, the rest would undoubtably come because as he lay down next to him he saw a look in the beautiful human's eyes that told him everything he needed to know, he saw desire.
Gregory turned and slid himself across the mattress right into Ven's waiting arms, he felt his slender body press itself against him as if trying to be as close to him as possible, he wrapped his arms around his beautiful human boy as he felt his arms wrap around him as far they would go, "I always feel so safe in your arms Ven" Gregory mumbled into his chest and ven felt him punctuate the statement wit ha kiss to the scales directly over his heart.
"And you always will be Greg, I swear it to you" Ven murrmered back.
"I love you Ven, I don't know how or why it happened, nor do I care, the only thing I care about is that I love you and you love me right back, its like a dream come true, finally i look at a guy and he looks right back at me the same way and i couldn't have picked a bigger more handsome man to fall in love with now could I?" Gregory said lifting his fur topped head to smile up at him.
Ven beamed from horn to horn right back at him, "Well I am handsome..." he said playfully and he felt Gregory laugh and gently push him before smiling back up at him.
"You bet that sexy tail of yours you are" he said playfully but there was also a sultry note to his voice as well.
"Oh so you like my tail do you? Tell me what else of mine do you like hmmm?" Ven asked teasingly smiling in delight as he saw him flush slightly.
"What's not to like? But I suppose if I had to choose, you have awesome legs, they just seem to go on forever" Gregory said and Ven murred softly in his chest.
"Flattery will get you everywhere my beautiful human, do go on" Ven prodded gently.
Gregory smiled shyly, "I will if you tell me what you like about me first" he said playfully and Ven grinned, oh his little human was getting a little bold now was he? Alright then.
"Well you have that super soft fur on you head that just begs me to run my claws through it, you have skin that feels like silk and utterly glows when I embaress you which only make me want to do it more because you look utterly delisiouss in red, you look so tender and sensitive like my lightest touch would make you shiver and writhe in my claws and you have the cutest little rear end I've ever seen, makes my mouth water just thinking about it and before you ask, yes I think about it, a lot" Ven said playfully, getting exactly the reaction he hoped for when Gregory flushed deeply.
"Well I err ummm, t-t-thank you, n-no one's ever said anything like that to me before, y-y-you really like my bum?" he said making Ven''s heart shiver along with his whole body at the beauty of it all.
He nodded his head, "It looks like a juicy apple that just begs me to take a bite" Ven said trying his best to do a sultry voice, he heard Gregory gasp and shiver lightly in his arms, it seems his words had really struck a nerve in his beautiful little human.
"I-I-I like yours too" he said softly and Ven saw an instant opurtunity.
"Oh? And what do you like about it exactly?" he asked smiling as he saw Gregory's flush deepen, at this rate he wasn't going to have any blood left for his internal organs, it was all going to be in his skin trying to escape.
"How it looks like it was carved, it looks so strong and exotic a-a-and I like the way your tail swishes when you walk, its like your teasing me by repeatedly hiding it" Gregory confessed after taking a deep breath before hand.
Ven felt a deep rumbly purr rise up in his chest and he very slowly leaned down and lifted his human's chin with the tip of his claw so that he was looking right into his eyes, "When we get the chance to be alone my sweet human boy I may very well show it to you, if you're a good human boy that is, would you like that, your big, handsome, strong claw boy lifting his tail and showing you what he's got hidden underneath it?' he purred in the most sultry voice he could muster, but in truth inside he was shaking like a leaf, he'd never said anything like that to anyone before.
Gregory's breath seemed to catch in his chest and Ven felt him shiver in his arms and he decided to push his advantage a little, "Oh you like the thought of that do you me sweet little deslisious human boy? The thought of your big strong claw lifting his tail for you and showing you what sweet treats he's got hidden under it all for you?" he said gently stroking Gregory's cheek with his claw along with his slender back.
His little human shivered and squirmed a little in his arms, it seemed like Ven's words were arousing him and he felt his heart beat speeding up enough that he could feel it through his coverings against his scaly chest, he also smelt a deep musky scent coming from his little human that seemed to fog his head with every breath.
"Y-Y-Yes, oh god I want that, I want that so much" Gregory stammered in the cutest way Ven could have ever imagined, it was like he was discovering this side of himself for the very first time, seeing himself in a competly new light.
"Then it shall be yours my sweet little human boy, all you have to do is be a good human for your big claw, and he'll give you all the sweetest claw treats you human heart could ever want" Ven said in a deep husky voice, his own arousal was burning through him like fire, it was taking littraly all of his strength to stop his maleness from emerging from his hidden pouch and trying to worm itself into his human's coverings in search of its new burrow.
Every fibre of his being wanted to tear the coverings from Gregory's body and to take him right there and then, but he knew right in the centre of his heart that would be totally the wrong play, he would scare his beautiful human boy half to death and after something like that he would most likely never talk to Ven again, let alone let him anywhere near him, no he had to make his beautiful human's first time something special, something magical, something that proved to him that he could give him everything his heart had ever dared to dream of and so much more, he had to show him that he was no animal, that he was his equal lover, that he was Gregory's claw and to Gregory only he belonged.
"I-I-I will I swear it, I'll be so good for you" Gregory stammered softly making Ven's heart leap with joy, he leaned down and lifted Gregory's chin, then with a little maneuvering he kissed him full on the mouth sliding his tounge into his mouth this time, letting his long tounge fill it and explore ever single inch, before extracting it and watching his human pant softly.
"I know you will my beautiful one, I know you will, now come, let me be your pillow tonight, this chest of mine is useful for more than just looking good, so lay your pretty head down and let your claw cuddle you to sleep" he said playful and wit that he rolled his sweet human atop him and wrapped him up tightly in his love.
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With the creatures finally asleep she could finally move, slowly she unwound the screws that held the vent covering in place and with a bit of work caught it before it fell and caused a whole lot of noise that would wake them back up.
She was going to have to be extra careful here as the two small things were protected by claws, she had seen these things many times, viscous things that could kill her with a single swipe of those razor sharp claws of theirs, though these ones seemed different to all the ones she'd seen before, these ones talked.
With the vent cover out of the way she dropped down silently into the centre of the room being careful not to let her long tail slap down lest it rattle and wake them all up, she rose up to her full height after steadying herself and looked around the room, her eyes were perfectly adapted to the darkness letting her see everything in perfect detail.
She had deployed her camoflauge before she'd dropped to ensure that even if she did wake one of the claws up she would be invisible to them but these things were never to be underestimated, she had seen just one of these things cut through an entire pack of her feral breathern like they were made of paper before now and she would not make the same mistake as they.
She moved silently over to the first pair, the claw was female and she was holding a male human in her arms against her chest, the pair were sleeping soundly, the sound of their breathing seemed to have syncronised into one single deep breath that they shared between them, she had overheard the two humans talking in the other room before they had reentered this one, it seemed the female claw had somehow taken the male human as her mate, though how such a thing was possible she did not know.
Humans were pretty but they were bad, they hurt and killed everything they saw, they especially seemed to dislike her kind though why she also did not know, it pained her that everything she did know she had actually learned from humans, smart humans in white coats that liked poking things with needles, that liked hurting to see if things hurt and how much they hurt.
But they weren't the only types of humans, she had seen quite a few types since her escape, the ones dressed in odd clothes made of leather with skulls and bones on them that liked killing and stealing from other humans.
The ones that wore metal suits like the one that the human the female claw held had come in that liked killing anything they didn't like.
Humans that lived in big groups in things they called towns, infact she had tried to hide in one of these towns when she had first escaped, she'd thought that maybe it would be a good way to get food, that maybe just maybe one or two of the humans might actually be kind and may help her, but she'd swiftly found out that that was a bad idea.
She subconsciously rubbed her shoulder where a large puckered scar still sat hidden beneath her fur its twin on the back of her shoulder, she still remembered the burning hot pain like it had happened only seconds ago, if it hadn't been for her camoflauge ability she would have never got out of there alive.
She leaned over the pair to get a good look at the male, she felt her heart thump hard in her chest, he was pretty, why did he have to be pretty?
His head was covered in snow white fur and his features looked delicate and handsome, the female claw held him tightly against her chest with his head resting between the swells there and she found herself looking down at her own chest in jealousy, thankfully she could easily see through her own camoflauge unlike everyone else who would see her as nothing more than a shimmer and that was only if she moved, if she remained still like she was now she was nothing but clear air.
Her own chest swells were raised up out of her fur, not exactly small but nowhere near the size of the female claw, which was even more annoying given that she seemed to only be a half foot taller than her at seven and a half feet to her seven feet, they were both certinally bigger than the human that the female claw clutched protectively.
She tasted the air with her incredibly sensitive tounge and her senses were flooded with a barrage of scents, the most powerful of which were the pheromones coming from both of them, they were utterly covered in the others scent and it was so powerful that it seemed to merge into one, mixing and melding together.
As soft sigh drew her attention and she turned her head to look at the other pair, two males by the looks of things, a male claw and a male human, it puzzled her why they were together, she padded silently over to them and leaned in close to look tasting the air again.
The way the pair were wrapped up together they looked like a mated pair, but they were both male, surely such a thing was not possible was it?
A flick across her digitgrade legs made her free in place like a statue as her heart hammered in her chest, glancing down her eyes picked out the culprit easily, the male claw's tail had simply brushed her as he shifted his position slightly, silently she stepped backwards away from them careful not to step on the male's tail and awaken him.
It was a source of constant annoyance and irritation to her how she thought of humans as pretty, she didn't even know why she did, to her they were a constant source of pain and misery, they had never done anything but hurt her and chace her away from places when all she'd wanted to do was live the life she had been given against her will, she'd never chosen to be born, especially not this way.
Oh how she envied her feral breathern, to live a life so care free and in blissful ignorance, simply hunting, sleeping and mating, it was all they seemed to know or care about, but she was different, whether that was to do with the smart humans in their white coats and masks with their pointy needles she couldn't say, they were however her first memories.
She remembered it vividly like it was only yesterday, looking out of her empty little room at the world beyond it, of all the humans in their white coats and masks, moving around, talking to one another, interacting with each other, while she was left alone in her box just wishing that one of them would come and talk to her, that one just one would show her a kind word, or even just spare her an understanding glance, but it never happened, all she got was disgust and pain.
Infact that was something she had come to realise that she shared with the claws that were laid here on the old human bedding, the humans loved their kind even less than they did hers, chasing them out of where ever they found them despite the fact that the claws had been there first and had never gone near the humans.
But then why were these two humans different?
That sudden question rattled around her brain like a pebble kicked down a shaft, these two humans weren't either scared or reviled by the claws, infact these two humans had not only accepted them but by the looks of things and certinally smell of things, well at least from the male and the female pair, mated with them.
Did that mean that there were good humans after all?
No sooner had that question entered her brain she chased it back out, no, all humans did was hurt and kill, these two were no different and she was sure that as soon as they found a way they would kill the two claws she was sure of it.
But then why hadn't they done it already?
Why go to all the effort of getting so close to the strange human speaking claws?
One of them had one of the tin suits and they both had the things that humans called guns that spit hot metal and brought pain and death, they could have easily chased the two claws off at the very least, why would they act like this with them?
These confusing questions began to eat into her brian like maggots tearing through a rotten cut of Molerat meat, they weren't just confusing her now, they were irritating her beyond words, not that she had and easy time using human words as it was, she could understand them easily enough thanks to her lng time in the box, but speaking it was hard.
She had come here only to take their food but now a more pressing matter was eating at her, all these questions and no answers to any of them, she had to know, she had to get answers, the food could wait, there were always mole rats anyway.
But the biggest question was how?
How would she get her answers?
She would need to get one of the humans alone so she could make him tell her, but how could she do that?
Trying to pluck one of these creatures from the arms of their protective claw was a death sentence, a tiny shot of her venom would render them unconscious without killing them, a method she had used many times when she'd been forced to steal food from human homes in her early days of freedom, too much would kill them without anti venom, but a small amount would simply knock them out for a few hours.
Though it wouldn't work on a claw, they were crazy strong and resistant to all sorts of things, she'd seen one of these things get eight full bites from ferals and shrug them off like it was nothing, it hadn't even slowed it down and thats if her fangs could even get through its scales, those things were tough, like a natural armour.
That's when fate rolled her a winner, the snow furred human made a low groaning noise and then sat up stretching himself, his female claw opened her eyes for a moment and he simply mumbled something about needing the toilet, she nodded her big head and lay back down falling pretty much instantly asleep again.
She couldn't believe her luck, this was how she could do it, she followed the snow furred human as he moved the barricade that that had blocked the door in the form of his metal suit and he crossed over into another room taking his weapon with him.
She followed him silently careful not to wander into the circle of light that his lantern was casting, he walked up to one of he once white bowl shaped things on the wall and placed the lantern down on the floor near his feet.
As she watched he undid the lower half of his clothing and with one hand freed his maleness from it and began to urinate into the bowl that was attached to the wall, she had to wait for the right moment, it would be easy to hit him now but she didn't fancy either him or her being covered in his strong smelling urine, so she waited until he was finished, then just as he was putting his maleness away after shaking it dry she struck.
She grabbed hold of him from the rear clamping one hand down over his mouth to prevent him yelling an alarm, she also pulled his head to one side to expose his tender looking neck, she didn't want to risk hitting something vital as she knew that humans had major blood vessels in thier necks and hitting an artery would cause him to bleed to death, she didn't want to kill him, merely knock him out.
So instead she bit into his shoulder, she felt her fangs slide into his soft skin with ease and the human made a cry of both pain and panic as he felt it too, she injected him with a tiny amount of her venom, it truely was a miniscule amount because she knew herself that this stuff was incredibly potent stuff that could kill easily, but years of practice had taught her the right amount to use.
After a few moments of fruitless struggling the humans began to slow as the venom took effect and before long he'd gone as limp as a boned fish in her arms, quick as a flash she sun him around and lifted his unconscious limp form up onto her shoulder, now all she had to do was get him back to her hide and secure him so that the claws and his friend couldn't find him, then she'd have all the time she needed to get the truth out of him.
So with a bit of effort as an unconscious dead weight human wasn't exactly an easy thing to carry through the tunnels she made her way back through the winding passesges, till she reached the safety of her hide that had been her home for quite sme time now, she knew every one of these tunnels since she'd been forced to use this place as her home, though ironically it hadn't been the humans that had forced her in here, it had been the bloody giant hornet things.
They had an annoying habit of being able to find her through her cloak by smelling her pheromones, so she'd been forced to take cover in here and given that not even humans seemed to want to come in here she'd simply stayed put, it had fresh water if you knew where to look and plenty of mole rats and other small prey creatures if you were willing to hunt for them.
She had made her home out of another of the stations like the one that the humans and the claws had been using, except hers was expertly hidden so you could only find it if you knew both where to look and that it was even there.
She had removed pretty much everything from the room to make herself space long ago, all that remained of the furniture that once occupied the room was a single bunk bed that she slept on because she was not an animal and she refused to sleep on the floor when she had a choice, so the beds were good enough for humans then they were good enough for her.
She didn't need light to see so the room had none, it didn't stop her collecting human books though, it had been one of the the only comforts that she had been allowed while in her box and that was only because one day she'd managed to snatch one out of the pocket of one of the white coats, when they'd put her back in the box she'd managed to keep it, at first all she'd been able to do was look at the pictures and imagine what the life in the pictures was like.
Though slowly she managed through sheer perseverence and luck she managed to teach herself how to recognise and eventually read the human symbols, then when they caught her with the book rather than get angry and take it away from her they got curious and gave her even more books, it was thanks to those books that she had managed to stay somewhat sane during those long lonely years.
So now she grabbed them where ever she found them and over the years she had ammased quite a collection, they were her escape from the pains and torments of her real life, escaping into the worlds that those humans had created for others to wall through in their minds, so when all said and done she supposed she had to thank humans for that at least, without them she doubted she'd still be alive, or at the very least, sane.
She placed the unconscious human down on her bed, she'd thought about putting him on the floor to show him what it was like but it would be harder to secure him there, here she could use the strong metal bed frame to her advantage, she quickly picked up the romance books that were piled next to the bed and moved them out of reach, they had always been her favorite types, she ofteren found herself wondering what this love thing they always described in such vivid detail was like, it sounded wonderful on paper.
She found some of the strong metal wire she used to make mole rat traps and snares and she brought it back to the bed, using a couple of pieces of cloth she bound his wrists above his head to the frame and his ankles to the lower frame, using the cloth to put between the wire and his flesh so it didn't cut off the circulation and cause him to have major difficulties, despite all that his kind had done it somehow didn't seem right to her to cause him undue pain for no reason, or at the very least till she got the truth of his plans out of him.
Once she was satisfied that he was secure and couldn't escape she quickly headed back to the door and checked her own barricade and camoflauge to ensure that she'd left no sign as to their whereabouts, the last thing she needed was those two claws busing in here and going crazy, but it was all good.
So wandering back into the room she retrieved the only other piece of human furniture that she'd kept beside the bed, a single solitary chair that she used to sit upon when she was preparing or eating her meals, because it just somehow didn't seem to be civilised to lay on the bed with her food, plus all the pictures of human females shed seen in her many books had always been sat on chairs when they ate or read, so she did the same, though she did read laid on the bed from time to time, it was kinda her guilty pleasure to bend that rule.
Now all she had to do was wait for the snow furred human to wake up and the questioning could begin and she couldn't deny the electric thrill of exitment to actually have one of these creatures under her power, to have a human at her mercy for once, she wondered what he would say?
Would he beg her for his life?
Would he plead for mercy?
Would he break down and cry?
These and so many more questions rushed through her mind as she watched his unconscious form, well soon she would have her answers, those and many many more, all she had to do, was wait.