Valhaven

She... knew? Ana knew what he was?

Nachytsm deflated somewhat. He didn't know what to say. His past lover hadn't known until he told her. How did Ana know so much about him? Maybe... Aderas told her.

It changed things about the situation for Nachytsm, if only slightly.

"I wanna help," he said gruffly, standing up. His soaked pants hugged his form, making them even more revealing to every muscle, every curve, than before. Nachytsm had noticed this a moment too late. He sat back down, looking at Ana's feet instead.

"Dunno.. how. I'm, uh, just... willing." He felt so awkward all of a sudden. Well, more awkward. His eyes flickered from her face, near his own, to the blood peeking through the bandaging on her shoulder.

He licked his lips slightly. His mouth felt dry again. Nachytsm decided to look down at his sole remaining arm. Then at his phantom arm. He smiled at it, then. He could do a lot with a phantom arm, if only for his own personal amusement.

He was distracting himself nicely. He didn't want to look up at Ana, standing right in front of him as she was, brushing the hair out of his face.

Anaree stared at Nachytsm as he avoided her eyes. He seemed to be in deep thought despite a smile on his face. It was touching to see him smile on his own. Anaree couldn't help but to smile too. It was good to see him have some happiness or joy, whatever it may be, in his life. It made her feel good.

"I will help you help me," Anaree said to Nachytsm. In a swift movement she took off her soaked shirt. There was nothing underneath it aside from a small wrap around her breasts. However, the water had made the fabric cling and near see-through.

More blood soaked through her bandage. Anaree winced. She kept moving her shoulder when it should have been immobilized. There was a large, black and purple bruise around the wound too. It was very painful when she moved but Anaree never showed it too much.

"Do you heal, Nachytsm?" Anaree didn't like force healing but if Nachytsm wanted to help her that way, he could. Her eyes darted down to see what he was staring at. She was perplexed by why he would be staring at empty air until she realized that it may have been his missing arm.

As Anaree's eyes swept over his body again, her focused stopped on his lower body. A warmth crept over her skin. Anaree's face flushed with embarrassment but she couldn't look away. She didn't want to look away.

The warmth started to make its way down her belly. Not trusting her hands, Anaree placed them on Nachytsm's shoulders. Her finger nails dug into his skin and she tucked her face into the side of his neck. Her breath washed over his neck as she attempted to calm herself.

Anaree closed her eyes and mouthed curses at herself.

Nachytsm was still staring at his phantom arm while Ana removed her shirt. He could see her out of his periphery, though. He was glad she had a wrapping on. He could still make out the barest details, without even trying to, however. He could see the subtle curvature of her breast, the point of her nipples. He-

Stopped thinking about that. He'd rather focus on Ana's blood than her body. Turning his eyes past her chest, he looks at her shoulder. He could see she was in pain.

"No magic," he said, shaking his head. "...Spit," he added. He felt... odd, suggesting that. It was true, licking his wounds always worked, in a literal sense. He'd already tasted Ana once out of desperation, but she forced him away. Maybe it had the wrong affect on her.

She was looking at him. Staring at his nearly naked body. He could feel her eyes taking in every detail. Every scar, every muscle... he fought the embarrassed twinge that sought to allow the man in him to come forth.

Suddenly she was upon him. Her hands clung to his shoulders, and she had put her face against his neck. Nachytsm felt his breathing change abnormally. The feel of her bare skin against his own set a fire roaring through him. His urge to fight it was weakening.

He had to stay focused. He only had the one arm, he realized after a moment of trying to work on Ana's bandages with his phantom. He had little choice but to wrap his arm around her again, slowly fumbling with the wrappings. He was careful not to hurt her, but it made his pace painful.

Anaree breathed deeply to make her raging emotions calm down. It didn't help. The smell of fresh soap on Nachytsm along with his natural scent overloaded Anaree's senses. There was something else, too. She couldn't exactly place it but it made Nachytsm even more desirable.

As his breathing changed so, too, did hers to match. As Anaree continued to silently curse herself her lips brushed against Nachytsm. The grazes turned into her mouth's exploration of his neck.

There was a single hitch in her breathing as Nachytsm took away her bandages. Their bodies were close now and it was exhilarating. She wasn't sure if the pounding heart she felt was hers or Nachytsm's. It didn't matter. Anaree let go of herself in that small moment.

Her injured arm fell down to her side but the other tightened around Nachytsm. Anaree's body pressed against the larger man's. Her mouth grew voracious over his flesh.

Anaree's teeth and tongue sampled Nachytsm's taste and the hardness of his skin. There came a pained sound from the back of Anaree's throat. Her nails dug into the muscle of his back.

And then she tore herself away from him. If not for his arm around her, Anaree would have toppled over backward off the stool.

"Spit. You can heal with your spit. That's what you were doing earlier today, weren't you?" Anaree asked Nachytsm in a breathless voice. It wasn't lost on her that Nachytsm liked the taste of blood, but she had only seen him consume animal blood. It made her wonder how much he had enjoyed hers. It was a morbid feeling but somehow it was enticing to Anaree because it was Nachytsm.

Anaree took the last strands of the bandage away from her wound and let them fall. It was still weeping red. Darker, older, blood had caked around the edges and mingled with the discoloration of her bruise.

"Heal me," Anaree said as she threaded her fingers through Nachytsm's hair. She brought his face closer and closer to the wound. Anaree wanted him to taste her, wanted to sate a curious and dark desire frothing in the back of her mind.

Nachytsm's eyes were wide. It was a mix of things. Focusing on something other than their bodies. The fact that he could feel her nursing on his neck. His fears and desires mixing together. He almost couldn't take the rate at which his heart was beating.

The man was further surprised when she wrapped her arm around him, in turn. At least, as much as was possible, given her relative size. She was pulling herself to him. "A-Ana," he managed to stutter before she pulled herself away from him.

Nachytsm simply nodded at her accusation. He was trying to help. It hadn't worked, but he tried. He was about to say as much when she removed the last of her bandages. Nachytsm stared for a moment. "Er... yeah," he replied, moments before she played through his hair with her hands.

She brought his head down to her chest level. Nachytsm was glad. His upper body would be blocking her view of his lower body, which he was having more and more difficulty controlling.

He took a moment to just look at the wound. It looked bad. Bruised, bloody... bad for anyone else but him. To him, Ana may as well have offered her lips laced with a potent aphrodisiac.

Wetting his lips and swallowing, the large man stooped forward to place his mouth over her wound. He unconsciously pulled her body closer as he did so. He was instantly suckling and licking at her open sore, drawing forth what blood would come as he worked to heal her. He was as gentle as he could be. His warm exhalations washed over her chest with regularity. After a moment, he closed his eyes.

Goosebumps rose up on Anaree's skin as Nachytsm's breath washed over her. It was an undescribable feeling to have his mouth on her. There was an intermixed sensation of pain and pleasure. As gentle as Nachytsm was with her wound the bruise was still very tender. Each of Anaree's senses were on edge and it was inevitable to not be able to ignore any feeling whatsoever.

Fire erupted over Anaree wherever Nachytsm's skin contacted hers. There was an overwhelming pressure building inside of her body and a great need to release whatever it may have been.

"N-Nachytsm," Anaree said. Her voice was different; softer and more feminine. It was laced with pleading but not because she was pained. Her fingers tightened in his hair and tried to pull him off of her shoulder.

Her entire body was trembling and Anaree's knees wanted to give out right beneath her. Just by the look in her eye it was no mystery what Anaree wanted from Nachytsm. She knew that his body wanted it too. Her eyes trailed down over him and lingered.

Anaree licked her lips and caught her bottom lip with her teeth. She took a quick breath to say something but thought on it a moment longer. Anaree didn't want to alarm Nachytsm, or scare him away from her.

"Friends help their friends, Nachytsm," Anaree said as one of her hands left his hair. She touched his chest, turned her palm downward, and ran her hand over his body. It traveled down, down, and further down. The hair on Nachytsm's chest created a wondeful texture to his scarred skin.

Anaree's eyes locked onto Nachytsm, asking him a silent question.

Nachytsm had become drunk on a few things. Ana's blood, her scent, her skin against his. He fought to keep himself from ravishing her wound. He was healing her. Helping, that was all. His mind wandered, as did hands. His real hand was on her back, and he had found her chest wrappings. He toyed with them, mindlessly.

His missing hand was other places that he could only imagine. Or so it seemed.

Nachytsm heard his name called. It was a high, soft tone. He opened his eyes and stared at Ana's face half lidded as she pulled his head away from her. He didn't fight it. He could feel that she wanted something more.

He followed her eyes down, briefly. He was clearly aroused now; his soaked, tattered leggings did little to hide the fact. His body was overheated with emotions that he was not accustomed to feeling.

Nachytsm glanced back up to meet her eyes when she began to explore his body. Ana's hand was drifting down his chest, his belly, his navel... he knew what she intended. He could see, from the look in her eyes, what she wanted.

And she would see, in his dark eyes, that he wanted it too.

"Ana," he mumbled. His voice was trembling, much like his body.
Ana had accepted him for what he was. She knew, somehow, and still she wanted him. At least... he hoped she truly knew. The moment of doubt passed in the blink of an eye.

Leaning forward, Nachytsm placed his lips against hers. Unlike Dhaelhel, who he practically mashed his face against, he was tender towards Ana. Even if he was not skilled, he gently nibbled against her lips. Her blood, coppery and sweet, was a bare memory on his lips.

Nachytsm's resistance had been broken.