The hunter approached the tower and felt the same quiet high energy she often felt when she was on assignment. It was literally do or die now. She had either prepared well enough for this encounter or soon it wouldn’t be her problem anymore.

This particular creature seemed to be more or less unaggressive itself but it happened to be the focal point of some kind of miasma that killed crops and made the surrounding settlers sick. What was a small grouping of settlements had lost as many as 12 people to the sickness and now an entire season’s harvest. With no stable food source and no close by towns prosperous enough to send supplies, it was clear that many more would not survive this winter despite a retreat to the more barren but unaffected area they had currently taken up residence in.

This mission was deemed lower-middle importance, it was clear that this was a cleanup operation, one done only as a sign of goodwill to the region. When she had first joined HLS this mission would have been staffed with 2 senior officers and one junior. Possibly, even a researcher, if the interest struck one of the few that had remained even 5 years ago. She had joined after the supposed glory days were over anyway. A full team was standard during the times when she grew up, on stories of the heroes who kept the darkness at bay and gave everything for humanity to have one last chance. After her single year of training every mission had been solo. The woman sighed and cracked her aching back.

She removed her glasses that granted her the sight of nonhumans and affixed the mask that would supposedly keep the air breathable as she traveled into the killing mist. It was a relic of generations past and made of a now rare material that reminded her of soft leather, although it was flaking and slightly warped from age and use.

She began her final decent to what appeared to be the entrance of the building. The height of the structure was staggering. It was easily the most impressive tower she had ever seen in person. The building itself seemed to be made just as much of glass as stone or metal that formed its skeleton. Despite her curiosity she knew it was best to move quickly, the mist, although causing a slow set wasting illness, would only get more potent the closer she got to its epicenter. And she had been with HLS long enough to know better than to trust the equipment they managed to scrounge up apart from the weapons themselves.

The doors inside were also glass, set into a larger wall, once again, made of glass. She wondered at the marvel of magic that must have been used to achieve the uniformity and withdrew her halberd, ready to smash through if she couldn’t find any alternative method of opening the door. To her surprise it pushed open with no problem.

As she cautiously stepped inside and silently cursed the fact that the project to attune hunter’s masks to also provide the sight had died along with its head researcher, Dr. Actus. As she walked inside she instantly noticed the the brisk autumnal temperatures were not present. It was pleasantly warm inside the building despite having no obvious source of heat. The visible mists of the outside were also not present. She debated switching her mask out again for her rounded orange-tinted glasses but decided against the long term health risk.

She spent a moment in the entrance room to try to find a good plan of action to search such a large building. When she mentally resigned herself to have to almost certainly spend multiple days and trips inside the tower she continued on ahead. There were massive white pillars on either side of the hall and as she passed a large white desk she realized how clean everything was so far. There didn’t seem to be any dirt or dust on the floor or any other surface. All of the strange things that made this place seemly hospitable did nothing but set her on edge.

As she entered the next room, she noted that the electrical lighting that was present in the hall was significantly dimmer and got gradually more-so as it neared the center of the room. She nearly sighed in relief. Other than a cursory sweep after the main job it looked like the hunt would be short. With her weapon at the ready she stepped forward.

“Honestly, I’ve gotten a bit bored waiting for you,” a dispassionate masculine voice called to her from the end of the dark.

She felt goosebumps raise on her arms. Their intelligence suggested a bestial formed creature at best. A humanoid was a exceptional rare occasion nowadays and always warranted 3 person teams. It didn’t need to know that of course.

“Are you the one who’s been poisoning the people in this area?” She called out to it, weapon at the ready but not moving yet.

She heard an exasperated sigh and the sound of fabric slowly shifting as if it had risen from a seat, “No, they’ve poisoned themselves by choosing to trespass here.”

She grit her teeth slightly before responding, “So, supposedly trespassing is worth a death sentence?”

It humorlessly chuckled, “Maybe not but in this world stupidity certainly is.”

The lights slowly gained brightness row by row until it revealed what appeared to be a man; tall, pale, and with long silver hair, standing unarmed. What obviously set him apart from a human were his piercing yellow eyes that cut through the darkness before the light had a chance to reveal him.

“And,” he said while pointedly looking to her raised weapon, “There is no question of trespassing.”

He looked at her with a sense of bored expectation, “Will you kill me to enact some misguided idea of justice, little hunter?”

“Would you let me just leave now?” She asked knowing the true answer despite whatever he might say in response.

“So that more of your little knights templar can come and harass me further?” He said while he ran one hand through his hair casually, “No, I don’t think I will.”

With that he was already in front of her. She had a fraction of a second to parry his spear. Up close she could see now that despite her uncommon height he still towered over her. He had muscle that on a human she would judge for vanity. It was at a contrast to her near sinewy form that had suffered like most of her peers due to unstable food sources. And now that smile.

He seemed surprised that she had even managed a single block and was maybe a little amused. As if she was a passing curiosity to him. She took a fainting swing at his head and quickly redirected when he predictably moved out of her range. She advanced forward on him. The spear he had summoned vanished back from his hands and he effortlessly and gracefully dodged every powerful swing of her blade. She took a few steps back knowing full well that with his speed the small distance wouldn’t mean much.

He gave her a condescending smile, “Have you gotten tired already?”

He could clearly keep this up for as long as he needed to and wouldn’t break a sweat. The longer the fight, if it could even be called such, the more of a disadvantage she would be in.

She was suddenly aware she would die here. With that knowledge she changed strategy. If she could keep him from her for only a precious few seconds after realizing what she intended, she could at least take him with her. She grabbed the necklace with a simple charm from her neck and touched it to the grip of her halbert. With that the charm hissed and burned in an ominous red, signaling that it would detonate.

Instantly realizing his mistake in playing with her he once again charged at her, faster this time and the force of blocking his blow seemed to rattle all the bones of her arm.

She attempted to off-balance him by pushing forward with all her strength where their weapons met but he seemed unfazed and suddenly pressed his spear down with tremendous force, making both weapons loudly clank into the floor. In a single move he swept her halbert across the floor and tore her charm from around her neck. It sizzled against his skin but the glow faded before crumbling into ash.

He turned his attention back to her, no longer amused. She punched him in the face with all her strength.

Before she could do so again he captured her fist in one hand and her neck with the other.

His expression once again changed. No longer angry he looked at her with stark confusion. It morphed in front of her eyes to realization and then a mix of emotions she had no hope of identifying.

His grip on her neck loosened, “What is your name, my hunter?”

He stared at her with that same unidentifiable expression waiting for her answer.

She attempted to pull her hand back and failed before stubbornly meeting his gaze.

“My name is Thane,” he said simply while lowering her hand still in his grip and running his thumb over her jugular.

She instinctively tried to lean away from him but his grip held fast, “What are you doing?”

He looked at her, still curiously, “Tell me your name first.”

She knew that the faerie stories of names holding power were by and large only myth but the danger she felt as she told him seemed no less immediate, “It’s Jamie.”

“Jamie.” He repeated, as if testing the feel of it in his mouth. A fond smile spread across his face. He released her neck and pulled off her mask.

She fought the urge to hold her breath since it was clearly a lost cause if the danger was ever present in the build itself to begin with.

He dropped the mask to the floor and brought his unoccupied hand to gently cup her face. His face was so close to hers now. God, the way he was smiling she could see his too-sharp teeth. Not fangs but also not-not fangs either. He was so disquietingly close to human while blatantly being something other. Something dangerous.

“What are you doing?” She asked again, unsatisfied with how underwhelming her voice sounded to her now.

“Have you ever heard of a fated mate?” He asked her softly.

Her blood ran cold and she could have sworn her heart stopped, “No.”

As her hand relaxed from a fist in her shock he laced their fingers together and gently touched his forehead to hers with a nearly reverently whisper, “Humans have a similar concept, soulmates?”

Panic tinged her suddenly small voice, “I don’t believe you.”

His hand slipped from the side of her face to find the tie in her hair and gently begin undoing it.

He barely lifted his head away from hers, “So, you have heard of it.”

She’d learned all about mates of demon and fey and all other manor of creature that walk in human form. For the first time in her half a decade of service, Jamie wanted to run.

He successfully freed her tight ponytail and captured some strands of wavy raven hair between his fingers and brought it to his lips. She watched transfixed in fear and a dark curiosity that she would have forced down if she were of more sound mind currently, as he kissed her locks and drew a shaky breath as if even this was too much for him before releasing them to hang by the side of her face.

“Do you know how we bind ourselves to each-other then? Both the act and what it means?” He firmly caught her as she tried to take a step back and pulled her against him.

Oh god. She wouldn’t beg him not to do this. At least she wouldn’t give him that satisfaction. She wouldn’t.

He released her hand and tipped her head to meet his gaze.

“Our lifespans will match, you’ll live forever,” he told her what she already knew.

It was a curse. To live unendingly until you are finally put out of your misery. If you ever were.

When no response came from her he continued, sliding a hand languidly over her armor, working out how to undo it, “Once you are a demon as well you’ll feel the connection I already do.”

He moved away from her in the slightest to let her chest piece clatter to the floor.

“That’s-this is insane!” she yelled out, “You were about to kill me less than a minute ago and now you want to bind yourself to me?”

He held her gaze, “Demons only get one chance, one partner that can be bound to them, and one chance to have someone made for them and that they were made for in kind.”

He began to make quick work of her arm and leg bracers as he continued despite her protests, “I had waited patiently for you to appear before the reckoning but after the war and nearly a century of waiting I’ll admit it is a intense relief to have you finally deliver yourself to me.”

She stood before him now weaponless and armor-less, only in her plainclothes of a shirt and pants.

He dragged one hand down the side of her torso to playfully tease just under the edge of the cotton where the tiniest bit of skin was exposed. He looked at her with a widening grin as he began to leisurely pull the shirt off of her as well. With the only Free movement she had, she cracked her forehead into his face.

In slight surprise he dropped her shirt but remained frustratingly uninjured.

“You are certainly a violent thing aren’t you?” He said with slightly less of a smug grin.

“I guess I can only be grateful you were not born a demon, with equal power and time to hone it I never would have had a chance, my hunter,” he told her while tearing down her shirt with one clawed finger.

“Then wouldn’t making me a demon be foolish?” Jamie said, trying to keep panic from her voice.

His glowing yellow eyes flicked up from appreciating her small breasts to her face, “How do you figure that, my hunter?”

“You just admitted that with equal power you wouldn’t stand a chance against me!” She stated with as much conviction as she could muster as one of his cold hands began languidly teasing her breast, thumb circling a hardening nipple.

He seemed remarkably pleased with her defiance, chuckling and then dipping his head to her ear, “Power and the experience to properly use it.”

He paused his ministrations to slip the remains of her shirt off her shoulders and added, “You will be sublime, a real force to be reckoned with, in 6 or 7 decades, of course.”

She grit her teeth at his words and he hummed in satisfaction at her expression.

“As enticing as you are all strong willed and out for blood, I think you could use something to help you enjoy our first mating,” he told her, waiting to see her reaction.

She stiffened in his hold. She couldn’t think of anything more humiliating than being forced to enjoy what the smug bastard chooses to do with her body. The image of her openly moaning for him while he treated her like a toy brought a mortified blush to her face.

“And I had begun to fear I wouldn’t see such a lovely blush from you,” he told her before trailing kisses down her neck until he suddenly bit down into the juncture of her shoulder.

“What the hell?” She yelped at him without thinking.

She felt him lap at the puncture and it heal quickly after. He smirked against her skin and pressed one more kiss to the spot before pulling away, “Just a touch of venom, my hunter, wonderful healing properties aside from its intended use.”

She was about to offer another retort when she felt warmth spread from the already healed spot. A slight confused gasp left her before she could stop it and she snapped her jaw shut at the self satisfied look in Thane’s eyes.

“Worse venoms to fall prey to, aren’t there, my Love?” He pulled her flush against him and let her feel the evidence of his own lust.

The sensation spread across her chest and made the areas he had previously touched and teased ache for him to continue, the places his clothes brushed against her horribly sensitive, and his hands that were suddenly caressing her back and tangling themselves in her hair feel like the only things that mattered.

She felt her head tipped back and his lips sealed against hers. He was right when he said she was a violent thing, she had never indulged in the distraction of Sex or Romance despite being well into her 20’s. But his lips seemed made for hers, something more than lust filled her mind as he deepened their kiss. So focused on his kiss, she had stopped paying attention to the further spread of his venom, when suddenly the low pooling warmth in her belly intensified to an ache. The feeling was intense, a place that had mostly been theoretical to her suddenly felt so empty. With each pulse she suddenly realized her clit ached to be touched and her womanhood begged to be filled. She was holding onto Thane for support and he was openly enthralled by her reaction. A haze of lust taking the edge off the cocky looks he had been giving her. A bit of sense returned to her as she realized once again the situation she was in.

“You’re a monster,” she told him, embarrassed at the weakness of her statement.

“We should move this to the bedroom unless you want to be taken on the floor,” he said, gathering her in his arms, ignoring her comment.

He moved as quickly as he had in their short bout and the combined effects of the venom left her feeling dizzy. She was deposited on his bed and she looked up to see him begin stripping his own clothes. He paused only to pull her own boots off as well, depositing them haphazardly on the floor. She had already known he was muscular but as he revealed more pale skin she understood suddenly why her allies had fawned over each other. The appeal of his arms holding her down, what his muscular chest might look like as he thrust into her, or what his exposed neck might feel like if she showed it the same attention he had shown her had suddenly enticed her in ways that horrified what little sense remained.

He quickly finished removing his clothes and the reveal of his manhood brought her back to reality. She brought her legs together and moved away from his encroaching form until her back was pressed against the headboard.

She had seen naked men before and even politely ignored her comrades on the occasions they thought they were quiet enough to indulge in one another in the shared sleeping quarters. It was another thing to be faced with the reality of doing it herself.

He settled against her, manhood pressed against her thigh and with his pleased face hanging close to her own.

“You seem rather nervous, my little hunter,” he told her with a indulgent smile, “Not much experience with these things?”

He began toying with the button of her pants and waited for a response.

“In fucking monsters?,” she sneered at him and reached down to still his hand although he refused to remove it, “No, I can’t say that I do.”

He chuckled lightly and in a playful way that still managed to infuriate her he ran a finger across her lips with his Free hand, “Such a dirty mouth, but can you use it for anything else?”

“Biting,” she returned simply.

A devious smile crossed his face, “Feel Free.”

With that, despite her struggling he also made short work of her pants and then paused at her panties. They were simple, grey cotton and he could see the evidence of her arousal as a damp spot in the fabric.

“Wait,” she said and he returned his gaze to her intense expression.

“If you do this, bind me like this, I’ll hate you for the rest of our damned lives until I’m strong enough to kill you,” Jamie told him, grasping at straws, determined not to give up hope.

His thumb rubbed circles on her thigh and he sighed at her, “My little, violent, hateful hunter.”

He pressed a kiss to her clothed mound and then tore the scrap of fabric away as well.

“The connection that affects me already, it will weaken even your stubborn resolve,” he told her as he made a show of slowly spreading her thighs for him against her shaking attempts to keep them closed.

“Besides,” he began as he spread her flower to look at her more closely and licked his lips approvingly, “I’d like to think I have my own advantages.”

He lowered his head between her legs and licked her. A cry of protest strangled in her throat in confusion before she bit back any other noises that suddenly threaten to spill from her. He trailed his tongue from the source of her slick to her clit and the path he licked felt Hot and unbearably sensitive. She realized then that once again she was being dosed with the same aphrodisiac, now directly to where her body most wanted his touch.