Ash's Hideout

[Red Gypsy]

Dameon Black

Ash gave a soft sigh of relief that she wasn’t upset or hurt. But he had to give a soft laugh at her comments on sex, “You’ll develop more stamina over time, my love. I promise you that. I only hope you’ll survive it when I go into heat. Three solid days of it with very few breaks between bouts. You’ll be walking funny for a week after and telling me not to touch you for a few days after,” he warned her softly, knowing that she was going to need the warning to be able to prepare herself mentally for it.

After a few moments in silent peace, he heard someone open the outer door to their rooms and leave what had to be Anna’s clothes and boots in there for her. He could guess at the comments they’d overhear if they were anywhere near the kitchen when the female werecat showed up to cook dinner for the boys. He could also guess at the ribbing they’d bet from the boys over the shredded clothing that covered half the kitchen…

His amusement over the whole thing got through to her through the Heart she wore and it wasn’t hard to figure out what he was trying not to laugh about. Especially since the boys were going to have their own opinions on Anna’s impending new style.

He was going to be hopeless in the clothing department… Except for when they hit the fun shop… That one sold lingerie, sexy nightgowns and robes, and much more interesting items for consenting adults… When he’d been with Alice, he’d been such a regular customer there that after she died having the twins, he’d gotten a personal condolence letter from the shop owner who remembered him by name and size.

The rest of her clothing choices were going to be interesting this trip since she’d apparently have Ash and the boys along now that they were awake. They’d insist on helping Anna shop…

He could even hear them in the outer room speculating on exactly what had been shredded in the kitchen and why… And why Anna would have to go shopping in the marketplace now…  

[Dameon Black]

Red Gypsy

Anna
Anna gave a quick nod when he mentioned that she would develop more stamina over time. "I know I will," she said. "I just need more practice. And I'm planning on getting quite a lot of that. As for your heat, I know I'll be fine. I'm a lot more durable than you'd expect. But if you really want to make sure that I'll be fine, we'll have to get a lot more practice before then."

She laughed a bit when she felt his amusement through his Heart. "We left a bit of a mess in the kitchen, didn't we? You shredded my clothes all over the room. I guess that's partly my fault, though. I played with your horns while I was wearing clothes. I should have expected something like that. It's good to know for next time, though. I'll have to be more careful."

She placed a quick kiss on his lips and got out of bed. "As much as I want to lay in bed with you all day, I suppose that we actually have to get things done." She reached into the shadows and pulled out a fairly large trunk that was covered in strange symbols. She set it on the ground near the bed and opened it. She pulled out the last of her modest outfits and started getting dressed. But if Ash looked in the trunk, he would see that there was one more outfit in it, one that was quite different than anything he had ever seen her in. Instead of her usual clothes, it was a set of dark fighting leathers that she hadn't even aknowledged in a very long time. It wasn't something one would expect to see with Anna, and something that Ash may want to ask about.

 

[Red Gypsy]

Dameon Black

Ash moved to get dressed with a heavy sigh then found himself very distracted by watching Anna get dressed. It suddenly meant more to him than anything else in the world. And it turned him on like nothing else she’d done so far. So he moved over to lean against the post of the bed where he could watch her better, now wearing nothing but a pair of dark jeans that he hadn’t buttoned up yet and his hair was still a complete mess.

He noted every movement she made from putting on her shirt to brushing her hair. His eyes traced every line of her face and every line of her body as if he were trying to memorize this moment but knew that it wasn’t necessary; he’d remember it all anyway.

“Will you marry me, Anna?” the words were out of his mouth before he knew the thought even hit his mind. It just came out that suddenly as he watched her.

But as he considered it, he truly meant the question. He truly wanted her to be his wife and mate as well as the one he’d bound himself to. He truly wanted it all with her and found himself breathless as he waited for her answer. He had no idea what she would say and wondered if he’d gone too far, too soon, or too much.

He stayed where he was, not realizing that he looked like a fallen angel or a living sex god, though he was a bit of both in the opinion of a great many in his past…

He could already picture her walking down an aisle towards him wearing something he was already designing in his mind that actually looked similar to the leather she was very obviously ignoring. But before he questioned her about the leathers, he had to have the answer to his question.

After a moment of total silence, as if the world had stopped around them, he actually moved to a stop right in front of her and dropped to both knees to look up at her briefly. Then he shifted to his full demonic form, lowering and turning his head so that he could gently rest his head (and horn) against her belly, closing his eyes as he shivered from the sensation. But the demonic portion of a proposal demanded that he go through the steps for what he was asking her, and that did include making himself vulnerable to a strike from her if she refused.

Through his Heart, the knowledge of what Ash was doing flashed through her mind: he was submitting himself to her in this moment and allowing her the chance to strike at his precious horns, a stabbing blow to any bit of him from behind since the position put him at great risk as she would know all too well, and by rubbing his horn against her, he was showing her that if she accepted him… all of him would fully belong to her…

The demonic instinct demanded that a male petition a female like he was doing now or the marriage was little more than a farce at best or pure force at the worst. That Ash was acting on instinct was a mark in his favor – and not because she was wearing his Heart.

He’d seen one male ask a female as he was doing now, though that incident had gone terribly wrong… The female had rejected the male rather brutally by cutting off both of his horns then sliding a dagger in his back that the male carried to this day. He was now known as Nergui, Mongolian for ‘no name’…

In that moment, he gave her something that he’d never given Alice. Alice had proposed to him instead of the other way around.

What he was giving her now was his throat as much as his Heart, literal and proverbial…  

[Dameon Black]

Red Gypsy

Anna
Anna wasn't paying much attention as she got dressed, so it took a moment for Ash's question to register for her. She was in shocked silence as Ash moved to his knees in front of her and changed to his demonic form. She took a moment to think about the knowledge that was going to her mind through their bond. He would feel one emotion overwhelming her, an emotion that she didn't really know how to process. It would probably take him a bit of time to realize that she was feeling incredible happiness, more than she had ever experienced before.

After a minute or two that felt like eternity, Anna finally smiled and began to gently stroke his horn. "Of course I'll marry you, Ash," she finally said. She allowed him to remain on his knees for a bit longer and then pulled him to his feet so she could kiss his lips. When she finally broke the kiss, one hand moved to linger at his horns. "I'm very tempted to play with your horns again so that you'll go wild on me. I don't even care if you shred my clothes again. But I'll behave for a bit." She moved her hand back down to stroke his face. "I'll warn you that I plan on going wild on you when we get back from the market, though. I may not be very experienced yet, but I'm feeling so good that I know that I'll be able to keep you busy for a good long while."

 

[Red Gypsy]

Dameon Black

He couldn’t help but give off a low growl as her hands touched his horns, the spike in desire totally predictable. Her kiss he had no problem returning eagerly and hungrily, her response still working on sinking in.

She’d taken him from ‘hopeful but not really expecting a yes’ to ‘let me tie you to the bed for a week’ just by touching his horns and initiating that kiss. So it shouldn’t have been a surprise that it took a bit for it to sink in.

When it did, his eyes went huge and he simply stared at her for a moment. His shock was such that he shifted back to his human form without realizing it, “You said yes… You actually said yes…” he gasped out softly, as if saying it like that would make it sink into his brain a bit better.

Another moment passed and he lifted her by her waist and spun her around with a surprised laugh before putting her back on her feet then kissing her until he had to help her stay standing. When he let her up for air after that one, he couldn’t help his happy-yet-still-stunned look that was still beautifully handsome but goofy at the same time.

“I’ll buy you enough clothes to fill that monstrosity of a closet that I’m not using and take unholy glee in ripping them to shreds whenever the opportunity presents itself, Anna… Which means that you can stroke my horns whenever you feel like it… But I’m going to design what you’re wearing to the ceremony… Though you do have a choice there, you know… There are two versions of the ceremony, after all: the public one, where everyone we wish is invited as well as a few important parties to act as witnesses; or there’s the private one where only a few are invited to act as witnesses to the main part of the ceremony, then we do the rest in private,” he explained to her, still hardly able to believe that she’d said yes.

Both versions of the ceremony married them together, but only the private one also gave them the Soul Bond of Mates, complete with Mating Marks.

With Alice, they’d been forced into the public ceremony and hadn’t been Marked. So he really had no idea what it meant to have that bond. The bond they had now was limited for him: he could only pick up on things like when she was hungry, when she needed to feed, when she was needing his attention, what kind of food she was craving, and her basic emotions. Though with the latter, he could only pick up on certain things that were related to making her happy…

As a demon of desire, his specialty was desire. Desire of every kind, actually: desire of the heart, the body, the stomach, the loins, the mind… All of it fell within his purview. It wasn’t compulsion, it was simply who and what he was.

Right now, he was finding it really hard to deal with what she said she wanted and what the rest of her wanted…

He leaned in and nuzzled her neck, part of him grateful that he wasn’t in demonic form for this because if she touched his horns again she wouldn’t be leaving this suite until someone demanded proof that she was still alive. His lips gently touched the thinned skin over her artery there then trailed further until he kissed the ultra-sensitive spot right behind the earlobe, his breath warm and teasing.

“You have to make up your mind, my Anna… Do you want to go shopping… Or do you want to be tied to the bed while I make sure that you won’t be able to walk for the next week?” he whispered to her softly, “After all… I already know all of your measurements and can easily pass those on to the seamstress and have clothes made for you…” he added, knowing that his attention to detail in regards to her figure (meaning her measurements) had been complete and absolute.  

[Dameon Black]

Red Gypsy

Anna
Anna considered her options with the wedding ceremony. "The private ceremony sounds better to me," she said. "I want the deeper bond the private ceremony will give us. And I've always preferred not to have many people looking at me anyway." She gasped softly as Ash nuzzled her neck and kissed such a sensitive spot. She was panting when he spoke again, offering to pass her measurements on to the seamstress so that he could take Anna back to bed and make sure she wouldn't be walking again.

Ash would be able to feel the desire she had for what he described. But she shook her head. "I want to go back to bed, but we have things to do. The boys have been trying to get me to get a new wardrobe for months now. They wouldn't be happy if I just got new clothes without going to the marketplace and letting them chime in. And while I want nothing more than to let you shred my last outfit, I don't want to disappoint the boys. You'll have to wait just a bit to tie me to the bed." She looked back over to the trunk, her eyes resting on the leathers she hadn't acknowledged in a very long time. She moved over to pull them from the trunk and looked over to him. "If you can agree to wait, I'll change into these. I haven't worn them in a very long time, but I should look pretty good in them."

 

[Red Gypsy]

Dameon Black

Ash was still in a bit of shock from her answet to his proposal but there was one thing he knew for certain and his eyes showed how serious he was, “Anna, my love… If you leave this suite wearing leather, I’m not sure how much control I’m going to have. If you leave this suite wearing leather, you’ll have to go with just the boys because I won’t be able to keep my hands off of you,” he told her very clearly, his voice carrying a hint of a demonic growl.

His meaning couldn’t have been any more clear: he really liked the thought of her wearing leather…

At the main door to the suite, the boys could be heard knocking on the door and calling out for Anna to hurry up so that they could go shopping. So her decision time was fading by the seconds…

The moment she’d picked up the leather, his desire had gone through the roof. He really loved the fact that she was a warrior in her own right; that she was able to keep up with him in the fighting ring as well as in the bedroom. He didn’t care that she couldn’t cook; he was domestic enough for both of them. He loved the fact that she could keep up with his sons; that she was dominant enough to put them on the ground when they needed it as well as being the one they went to when they just needed a sympathetic ear.

In short, she was everything he could have asked for in a Mate and partner.

And he really liked the thought of her wearing the leather… Or… Rather… He liked the thought of getting her OUT of the leather…  

[Dameon Black]

Red Gypsy

(Feel free to describe the leathers if you want to. I'm not really sure how to describe them.)

Anna
Anna grinned when she heard Ash's response. She let out a soft laugh and then shook her head. "I'm afraid that you don't have any choice in this matter, Ash," she said. The shadows moved around her and removed her clothes, leaving her naked in front of him again. She examined the leathers for a moment and then moved to put them on. It took her a bit longer than expected. She hadn't put them on in centuries, so she had forgotten exactly how to do it, and she had forgotten just how tight they were. As the leather moved over her skin, the light around her seemed to dim, like the dark leather was absorbing it. Once she got them on, she turned around to face Ash, stumbling a bit as she tried to adjust to the fact that her boots had heels. She blushed a bit as she looked at him. "I haven't worn heels in such a long time. This may take a second to get used to." She walked toward him and stopped when she was within his reach. "Like I said, you don't get a choice here. You're coming shopping with us. I put these on for you. I'm wearing them to celebrate our engagement, so I won't let you stay here while I go shopping with the boys. You'll just have to try really hard to behave yourself." She sounded as polite and gentle as she always did, but the feelings going to him through his Heart would be telling him that she wouldn't budge on this. She wouldn't be happy with him if he chose to stay behind instead of going out with her and the boys.

 

[Red Gypsy]

Dameon Black

Ash actually growled at the sight of her in the leather outfit and held still only by sheer force. Then she was telling him that he had to go shopping with her and the boys and knew in an instant what she intended.

“You’re gonna kill me…” he growled out but somehow managed to take her hand to steady her until she got used to the heels and led her out of the suite.

The boys didn’t help. They talked about the leather outfit all the way to the market.

Then they all really decided to kill him…

The boys insisted on taking her to the specialty adult shop…

((Exit for a bit… Hopefully to return with Ash still living… lol))  

[Dameon Black]

Red Gypsy

Anna
Anna tortured the captured assassin ruthlessly until Ash forced her to stop for a bit out of concern for her. She had never really tortured anyone before, but she found that it was incredibly easy to do so when she was dealing with someone that had hurt one of her boys. She couldn't help but go all out on torturing him. She took a moment to relax a bit and looked over her leathers that had caused Ash so much lust and discomfort throughout the day. While Anna was covered in blood from the torture session, her leathers seemed to be completely clean, clearly enchanted to reject dirt and blood. She sighed a bit and allowed her thoughts to drift for a moment. She didn't want to tell Ash that she wasn't torturing the assassin for information. She had reaped the souls of the other two assassins, causing her to gain all of their knowledge after a bit. She didn't need to hear anything from the captured assassin because she already knew more than he did. She wondered how Ash would see her if he discovered the truth that she was hiding. She shook her head and looked over to him. "It would probably be a good idea to take a short break," she said quietly. "We've been at this for hours. We should probably take some time to eat and rest. I can assure you that he'll still be here when we get back." She stood and held out a hand for Ash. "Come on. Maybe we can even take a bit of time to discuss our wedding. We do have quite a few details to work out, after all."

 

[Red Gypsy]

Dameon Black

Ash simply gave her lips a tender kiss and led her upstairs to their room. Once past the sitting room portion of the suite, he paused in the bedroom and had to give a small grin, "Apparently the boys wanted to make up for cutting your shopping trip short," he said simply, allowing her to take it in.

While they'd been busy, the boys had apparently taken it upon themselves to arrange the new furniture and put Anna's new clothes up for her. They'd even added a few other things that Ash knew they hadn't picked out on the shopping trip: a vanity table with an ornate mirror on it, complete with a brush-comb-and mirror set laid out on it; a small portrait they'd had made and framed of her with Ash, sitting on the vanity for her to see; a small owl statue on the bedside table they'd picked out for her in honor of Pandora and Anna's connection to the goddess...

The new dresser was in place, her chest was at the foot of the bed, all of her clothes in the dresser and closet, neatly put away...

In the bathroom were other things: a set of soaps, shampoos, and conditioners in her favorite scents; bath salts for those days that she overworked herself, and even bath towels in her favorite colors.

All of it done while they'd been busy with the assassin.

Before he'd gone in with her, Ash had seen to Cinder's wounds and left him with Torrent and the housekeeper on loan from Egan's pack. She'd promised to feed them and Torrent had promised to keep his brother out of trouble.

How little he'd realized....

They'd planned and plotted this little bit of mischief that he knew Anna would appreciate so much...

He let her process the finer points as he helped her get out of the leather, not enjoying it as much as he would have before,, but he knew that he'd enjoy it later. He wasn't getting much from her through the one-way bond, only her desire to see the assassin suffer for hurting Cinder. But he was perfectly fine with that. Hell, the only reason that he hadn't killed the b*****d was that he'd wanted him to suffer for hurting his boy. He knew that assassins were going to be a part of the boys' lives since they were the heirs to at least two Council seats, but he'd hoped that there would be more time to prepare them for it...

As he helped her with the leather, he was also channeling her towards the bathroom where he started up the shower, wanting her to be come out of her vengeance-induced haze before he answered to his own desires for her...


At least, that had been his intention... Instead, they both received a summons they couldn't ignore from a source that refused to be denied. Pandora was summoning them both to the graveyard....  

[Dameon Black]

Red Gypsy

Anna
Anna didn't start to calm down and move past her fury toward the assassin until she and Ash arrived in their bedroom. She was stunned to see everything the boys had done for her, her eyes darting all around the room as she tried to take in everything at once. She moved over toward the vanity and examined the portrait of her with Ash. "When could they have had time to get this done?" she asked, clearly touched by the display. "We only just got together. How long were they planning this?" She looked over the vanity table and everything else, her fingers trailing over the small owl statue. "It seems unlikely that they did all of this without any sort of planning. Everything here is so perfect and personalized for me. There's no way that they could have gathered all of this in a single afternoon. Learning enough about me to get all of this just right and then finding it all must have taken ages. I never realized that they cared enough to do something like this for me."

Ash would feel her starting to get a bit angry again as she began to process how much the boys would have to love and care for her to do such a thing, causing her fury over the attack on them to reignite. She didn't resist as Ash began to try to help her out of the leather, knowing that she needed the distraction to help her deal with the raw fury that she didn't really know what to do with. She gave a soft sigh when she felt Pandora's summons, knowing that it had to be extremely important for the goddess to summon both of them like this. She turned and looked up at Ash's face. "We should go see what she needs. If she's taking the time to summon both of us like this, it has to be something important." She held out a hand for him to take. "We can go and see what she needs and then come back and pick up where we're leaving off. I think that I've tortured you with the leather enough for today. And since you managed to keep it together for so long, I think that you've earned a bit of a reward. Let's get everything taken care of so that there won't be any interruptions when I go to give you your reward."

 

[Red Gypsy]

Dameon Black

Ash gave her a pained look and shook his head slightly, "She has the worst timing in all of creation, my love," was all he said on that issue. He'd address the issue on the boys when they got back. After he'd gotten her out of the leather...

Instead, he simply put his hand around her waist and transported them to the location of Pandora's summons. Though it was most certainly not what he'd been expecting...  

[Red Gypsy]

Dameon Black

Ash and Anna were both back from Sebastet's funeral and feeling a bit somber, but not really sad. He took the Remembrance Roses and placed them in a crystal vase on the dresser, intending to find a better place for them later. Instead, he focused on Anna right now...

He put his arm around her waist and pulled her into him so that he could kiss her senseless, fully intending to distract her for the next few hours. And he started with the leather...

He got her out of the leather then into the shower. From there, he set to work and didn't stop until she demanded and begged for sleep. Only then did he let her sleep, knowing that she was exhausted enough to sleep through a bomb blast.

He pressed a kiss to her forehead then left the room briefly. He stopped in the torture room downstairs, then stopped in the kitchen and went back to the room. Yes, the assassin was now dead. But he didn't think she'd mind when she found out what he'd done with the body.

He brought up a small meal for them to keep warm over a burner then joined her in the bed and pulled her into him so that he could hold her.




Later on, the boys came back from the hospital, where they'd gotten Cinder's wounds tended better and allowed Cinder- Saber as he preferred now, to show that while he'd been wounded, he certainly wasn't dead.

He and his brother were almost old enough to sit behind their father when the Council met, allowing them to learn how the council worked and how to work their Seats when they took them up. But even the boys had to wonder why Saber had been the target instead of his brother... As per Alice's final wishes, Torrent would take her Seat; Saber would take Grann's Seat. Right now Ash held both as a sort of Regent for them. Grann had been the head of the Council before he'd died and that position had fallen to Ash as Regent for the boys.

Still, it was curious that the focus of the assassins was on Saber instead of Torrent...

The boys hit up the kitchen for a snack then went up to their room, the nursery having long since turned into a suite of rooms for the boys. While Torrent simply went to sleep, Saber decided to read...  

[Dameon Black]

Red Gypsy

Anna
Anna lost herself in Ash's kiss, just as he'd known she would. There were few things that could distract her when she was focused on important matters, but Ash had quickly figured out that he was the most distracting thing on the planet for her. She simply couldn't keep herself composed when he started to kiss and touch her. Especially when he started to peel the leather off of her. He wouldn't be able to miss that she was just as worked up as he was but had been hiding it far better.

Her senses were simply a haze of lust and pleasure once he got her into the shower. She really did need more practice if she was going to keep up with him during sex. As she was now, she simply melted into him and let him take total control the moment his lips met hers. But she would never complain about that. That would require far more focus than she could currently manage.

She remained in that haze of pleasure for what seemed like ages. But she did eventually start to come to her senses when the consequences of their fun hit her. She was a tireless, unstoppable warrior in the ring, but she still needed to build up more stamina in the bedroom. She forced him to stop when she started to run out of steam and immediately got comfortable and passed out in the bed with him.

She didn't get to remain asleep for too long. She started to get brief flashes of raw, chaotic energy swirling around her in her dreams and was forced back to consciousness by the voice of Pandora ordering her to wake up. She immediately bolted upright despite Ash's hold on her, instantly letting him know that something wasn't right. She was out of the bed in an instant and looking around, quite dazed by a sudden ringing in her ears.

She managed to get herself back under control and shook her head as she tried to deal with the sudden bursts of information that Pandora was pouring into her head. "Something is happening," she muttered. "Something has the Goddess extremely concerned." She took a deep breath to steady herself as she sorted through the rest of the information. "Something dangerous is making moves, and She doesn't like it. There's some sort of being trying to rise up, but he's stuck in his own realm without a proper body. The body he needs is here in the Sandman city, but one of his agents is already here to collect it. I need to stop that from happening. But I'm having trouble figuring out exactly where the person he's looking for actually is in the city. There's some sort of magic on the person that's making them so hard to sense."