Elegy for a Star

Tess was struggling to sleep in the middle of the night. Not only was it cold, but there were so many thoughts screaming in her mind. That, and Miri.

“Listen, I’ll let you fuck me when we get out of here and you’ll forget all about these dopes,” The demoness whispered into her mind, “We don’t need anyone else. Just you and me, and as I just showed you, we can take care of ourselves. Well, I can take care of you.”

Tess replied softly, not wanting to be overheard, “As much as I would love to take some aggression out on you, we need to get out of here first.”

“Ooh~.. well, I sure am excited for you to find a way,” Miri giggled. She must be feeling better, Tess thought. She wondered why. Did she know something that Tess didn’t? Did she figure something out? Would Tess be okay in the end?

She hoped that Miri had a plan. It would be nice to have a backup in case she couldn’t muster up a spell in time.

A sound caught her attention then. Voices from the other room. Tess closed her eyes and focused, leaning in toward the sound until it was barely audible. She had to scoot a little closer along the floor until she could hear it reliably.

It was Gwendolyn’s voice, “...lay off her a little bit.”

“That demon in her tried to kill me, Gwen,” Mairaela replied under her breath, “Would you be so forgiving if it’d been you?”

“Don’t be dense,” Gwen responded harshly, “You tried killing her first.”

“Which is something I will never forgive myself for,” Mairaela hissed, her voice cracking, “I like Tess. I like her a lot, Gwendolyn. She is my friend and I hated having to do what I did. I hated every second and I will despise myself for it. But I had to do it. You know I had to.”

“I didn’t try to kill her, did I? I know the standing orders, too, Mairaela. I know the dangers of a Dark Wyrden,” Gwendolyn replied softly, “Not every situation is black and white; We need to think this shit through.”

“I didn’t know about the demon,” Mairaela spoke softly now, “I didn’t know about the ritual.”

“That’s why I was trying to get you to stop and talk to me.”

There was a long pause. Tess could hear tears.

“I want to believe her. I want to believe her so badly,” Mairaela sobbed, “But even if she’s telling the truth, how will she ever forgive me?”

Gwen whispered back, “I think you underestimate her quality of character.”

“I wouldn’t deserve her forgiveness,” Mairaela replied, “Gods, Gwendolyn, either way I lose her as a friend. Either she’s evil or I don’t deserve her.”

“It feels bad right now,” Gwendolyn whispered, “But it’ll dull with time. Let’s wait and see what happens before we go kicking ourselves, alright?”

“It would just be easier if I hated her.”

Gwendolyn replied, “Is that why you’re being this way when she’s around?”

Silence. Eventually, Gwendolen spoke again, “You need to give yourself a chance. We should just be grateful that nothing permanent happened. We’ll see what we can do about Tess, and in the meantime, just hope that she’s being honest.”

“I hope so,” Mairaela whispered back.

“I hope so too,” Gwendolyn replied.

“Well, isn’t that sweet?” Miri hummed.

Tess slipped back to her original spot and whispered below her breath, “Stop being an asshole.”

“What if I really meant it?”

“Then you wouldn’t admit it,” Tess grunted with a roll of her eyes.

She could feel Miri’s hand on her shoulder. She couldn’t see anything, or smell the lovely demoness, but she could feel her. Was Miri pulling strings in her mind? Another hand joined it, and Tess felt the pressure of a massage between her shoulder blades.

“You’re mad at me,” Miri said. Tess could hear the pout on her lips. “How come?” She asked, “I saved you.”

“I appreciate that,” Tess whispered, “I really do. I was terrified and you saved me.” 

“Thank you.”

Tess let out a lungful of air between her lips, shifting as Miri’s invisible massage slipped lower. “You went too far, Miri,” Tess said softly, “What you did to Mairaela is inexcusable.” She could feel Miri’s hands pause before starting again.

“Yeah?” Miri asked, “You only just met her, Tess, and she tried killing you. Why are you that upset? Because you fucked?”

Tess couldn’t respond, but her heart started to race.

“That’s it, isn’t it?”

“No.”

Miri chuckled, “Then what?”

“She’s on our team. We’re a party,” Tess replied with a raise of her voice. She glanced toward the door where the others slept and lowered her voice again, “This is all difficult enough. Scary enough. You and I are in enough shit with the Corps, we don’t need the rest of the team distrusting us.”

Miri sighed, “Then what should I have done? Seduced her?”

“I don’t know, Miri,” Tess replied, bringing a hand up to her forehead, “But not kill her.” She took a deep breath and said, “I’m just so glad that Joyona was able to save her.”

Miri was quiet for a time, before replying softly, “Me too.”

“What?”

“I said ‘me too.’” Miri huffed, continuing her massage at Tess’ lower back. Her hands were slipping down near Tess’ ass.

Tess rolled over onto her stomach, as feeling the floor underneath her as well as Miri’s hands was beginning to feel strange. She folded her arms under her head and rolled her hips slightly to get the best angle against Miri’s pressures. “Yes, but,” Tess started, “Why? I thought you were all ‘I’ll cut you in half.’”

Miri was quiet. The massage continued, but the horned one wasn’t speaking.

“Miri?” Tess whispered again.

“I can lose control,” Miri replied, “Normally it isn’t such a big deal. I’ve done it almost all my life. You know, I killed someone when I was eight?”

“So why do you care this time?”

Miri grunted, continuing lower. Her hands cupped Tess’ plump butt, squeezing and rubbing firmly.

Tess tucked her head in against her forearms, making a little, muffled sound.

“I don’t know,” Miri said softly.

Tess squeezed her eyes shut, arching her back a bit to push her ass into Miri’s hands, “Think on it for me, okay? I want to know the answer s-someday.”

“Alright,” Miri replied. There was silence then, before Miri spoke again with a much lighter, happier voice, “I know just how to make it up to you and Mairaela.”

Tess perked up, “What? How?” There was no response, and anxiety grew in Tess’ chest. “Miri? What are you going to do? Miri?” The demoness was gone and so was her touch. Tess gulped, shaking her head and burying herself back against her arms. Being worked up by Miri’s massage, she rolled back over and let out a frustrated sigh.