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Chapter 14

Several hours later I am laying there staring up at the ceiling with Chase laying next me sleeping with his head resting on my shoulder. Shifting my gaze I look down at him and study his face. His eyelids twitch and shift as his eyes rapidly move beneath them telling me he is dreaming. As though to prove this point his left paw twitches and flexes at the same time as a soft bark escapes his lips.

It takes all my control not to laugh at the big alpha having a chasing dream like some pup. With my free paw I gently trace a claw along the side of his muzzle causing him to tense up for a second before quickly relaxes again and nuzzling into my shoulder a bit more as he settles down. For several minutes I just lay there watching him sleep and enjoying the feeling of once again having another lay beside me in bed.

Letting out a sigh I carefully lift his head to pull my arm free and replace my shoulder with a pillow allowing me to get up. As soon as I stand up Chase grunts in his sleep and rolls over snoring, letting his tongue flop out of his open mouth. Grinning I move over to the window and draw the curtains open letting the moonlight flow in.

As I stand there the moonlight glitters off the snow covered tree branches for as far as the eye can see. Despite being the dead of night the whole area is lit with a soft silver light casting deep, slowly shifting shadows. Even my great dislike of the cold crap can't overcome the enchantment of beauty this forest is capable of casting. As long as my furry butt stays warm that is.

Some time later a pair of arms wraps around my waist as a sleepy voice yawns in my ear, "Its nice isn't it?"

Nodding I say, "Yeah I suppose it is."

Chase nuzzles into my neck fur before asking, "What woke you up?"

A chuckle escapes my mouth before I reply, "I wasn't asleep. I told you that I only need to sleep a few hours a month."

After burying his nose deeper in my fur he grumbles, "Fine, then why did my comfy pillow have to get up huh?"

I place my paws over his own and grip them gently as I reply, "Just felt like getting up for a bit is all. That and my arm was starting to go numb."

He chuckles a bit before pulling back and rubbing his paws up and down my back. The gentle massage quickly lulls me into relaxing and closing my eyes. I can feel the tension in my back and shoulders begin to melt away as his nimble fingers find and work out knots I didn't even know I was carrying around. Until I realize he has started tracing the scars which crisscross my back.

I don't say anything but I must have visibly tensed back up because Chase soon stops tracing them and lowers his paws before asking, "Is everything ok?"

Slowly I take in a deep breath then let it out in a long slow release before whispering back, "It has been a very long time since I let anyone see me like this. Im not used to being so... exposed, to another person."

I let the silence grow between us before I ask him a question, "How old do you think I am Chase?"

He chuckles a bit before saying, "What do you mean?"

I turn around and lean against the window sill before asking again, "I asked, how old do you think I am?"

He shrugs, "Not sure twenty-five, maybe thirty. Why?"

Letting out a sigh I look up at the ceiling for a moment. I knew I should have mentioned this earlier. It might have prevented things from advancing like they have. To late for what if's though and time to just face the music.

With another sigh I look back at Chase and come clean, "Nice to know you think I'm so young. But I'm older than that."

His head tilts slightly to the side as he says, "So your a bit older than thirty so what? We wolves can have long lives if we don't get sick or hurt. I still don't see the point your trying to make."

I rub my eyes a bit before pointing a finger over my shoulder at the scars on my back, "Those scars are right at three hundred years old."

I move my paw to point at the one by my heart, "This one is nearly four hundred years old."

Chase's eyes go wide as a light goes on behind them, "Your over four hundred years old?"

With a shrug I answer, "A little over eight hundred actually. With nearly all of it being on the run, hunted, attacked, or... captive."

His eyes flicker from scar to scar as what I have just said sinks in. For a moment he doesn't say anything but just runs a paw over the scars on my chest as though trying to imagine what caused them.

Eventually he starts talking again, "Ok I can understand the long life part, given your demon heritage. I don't know that I will be able to understand what a life that long would be like though and probably never will. I know you don't want any pity but I can't help but feel sorry for what you have gone through for so long. But if you ever want to talk to me about any of it you know you can do so right?"

I lower my gaze down to look at the floor while remaining silent. Before long Chase moves to pick up his clothes from the floor and starts to put his pants on. Its at this point that I break silence on a story I haven't talked about for a very very long time, "Its not really a secret about the scars on my back. There was a time when a lot of people, human and wolves, had them. They are the marks of a slavers whip."

Chase turns around so fast he nearly trips over his own feet and drops his pants which pool around his foot paws before he steps out of them and moves closer, "Slaver whip? You were a slave?"

With a nod I continue, "For nearly fifty years yeah. Someone got it in their thick skull that having a bunch of magic using slaves would be a good idea, and a part demon was very high on their wish list."

He sits down on the foot of my bed, dressing completely forgotten as he asks, "How was he able to keep you prisoner? I mean your other form alone should have been able to make short work of any normal slavers shouldn't it?"

Slowly I shake my head, "You would think so, but like I said, they wanted slaves who could use magic. So all of their traps and weapons were designed specifically to counter and neutralize any and all forms of magic. Including my natural demonic abilities. So once I was in their sights it was only a matter of time before I was their captive. A fact they took great pleasure in reminding me of... painfully."

I move from the window and sit down next to Chase, "I don't know what their end game plans were. I just know that I was finally able to break free of their control and in the process managed to save just one other wolf from that hell."

Chase looks over at me with a confused look, "Would that be the wolf that you mentioned owes you a great debt?"

I nod, "Yeah it is, and it's a debt I fully intend to collect on one day. Just haven't found a problem big enough to cash it in."

He shakes his head for a moment, "Wait wait, all this took place over three centuries ago, after you had been a prisoner for nearly fifty years right? So that other wolf would have to be at least that old now if not older. There is no way he is still alive for you to even collect that debt. Is there?"

Letting out a mirthless chuckle I answer him, "Chase there are things in this world so much older and so far outside of your understanding it would take multiple lifetimes to understand it all. Let's just say that he was a... special case. But even with all of his abilities he was never able to break free of that place. It is only because of me that he lives now, so he owes me a great deal. A life at least... if not more."

I feel Chase's gaze bore into me so I return it, "Im not going to give up my debts or my nature just cause we slept together, Chase. It is part of who I am and you will have to learn to live with it or leave it."

He lets out an irritated huff, "I guess I can't expect that much of a change. I just cant understand why you would be so eager to hold someone to a debt which could involve someone's life like that and not have any reservations about it. I never could."

For a moment I consider a biting retort but instead settle for something less venomous, "You haven't seen as much of the world as I have. Besides, where do you think the term 'deal with the devil' came from?"

He gives a slight chuckle, "Oh come on, you really don't expect me to think your the devil of religions do you?"

Even I have to let a chuckle out at that, "True true the devil has been around a lot longer than I have been. But demons take all contracts seriously. When we make a deal with someone it is a magically binding oath that we have to see fulfilled to the full letter of the deal. No matter how long that takes."

He leans forward and rests his elbows on his knees, "Let me get this straight. Any time one of your kind makes a deal or enters a debt you have to fulfill it. Do promises fall under that category?"

I nod waiting for him to continue, "So when you said that you would be honest with me about any threats your secrets posed to my pack?"

Sighing I answer, "I admit that I was hoping you wouldn't have picked up on that so soon but yes, I am bound to be honest with you in regards to anything that I keep secret which could be a threat to you or your pack."

He looks down at the floor before asking in a softer tone, "Is that the only reason your being so honest with me about yourself?"

Shaking my head side to side, "No its not. Most of what I have told you the last few hours would never pose a threat to you or your pack. It is simply personal history. Stuff that I feel like I can trust you with."

His head lifts up and he looks at me with a mix of sadness and happiness in his eyes, "Well that's good to know."

For a moment he looks at me with those mixed emotions but then blinks and they are gone only to be replaced with a mischievous look I am quickly realizing must be a personality trait of his when he asks, "So this other wolf... Was there anything going on between you two I should be jealous about?"

With a snort I flop back on the bed and cover my eyes, "Have you always been this much of a pain or is it just since I showed up?"

He snickers and lays down beside propping up on his elbow, "Hard to say, but you didn't answer my question, is there anything between you two?"

Grunting I give in and answer, "No there was never anything between us. Not that I would have minded something he was a bit cute. But no, we barely got past the point of trading names before all hell broke loose on the slavers, and I mean that literally."

Chase's eyebrow goes up as he asks, "What do you mean?"

With a heavy sigh I answer, "It means that in order to escape from that place I had to do something I hope never to have to do again. I had to unchain my inner demon."

A concerned look crosses his face, "What do you mean, unchain your inner demon."

I consider my words carefully before answering, "Every hybrid like myself has two personalities. Their primary and their inner demon. The demon can either be embraced, co-existed with, or chained. Depending on what we choose to do determines what we become. I chose to chain mine up and with it a great deal of my demonic powers."

He pushes up so that he's looking down on me a bit more, "You mean you bound your own powers up? You made yourself weaker on purpose?"

Nodding, "Yes I did, in order to protect others. I may be only a quarter demon but even that fourth contains enough power to level this forest and then some."

Even through his fur I can see the color drain from Chase's face, "And Agerex?"

I look him in the eyes, "He chose to embrace his inner demon, in essence the two personalities merged into one. While he will never be as powerful as a full demon, he is considerably more powerful than me. But to go back to my explanation, in order to escape the slavers I was forced to unleash my own inner demon. The shear force of power I let loose was able to break the bindings suppressing my normal abilities, but it came at a cost."

He tilts his head waiting for me to continue, "Unleashing that much... chaos can lead to unintended consequences. Once my inner demon was free he proceeded to destroy anything and everything that had hurt me. In no time at all he made short work of the slavers. There was not even enough left of them to identify before the sun set."

Chase's puts a paw on my shoulder, "Well thats good you got rid of them right?"

For the first time in a very long time I allow guilt to enter my conscious mind, "If that had been where it stopped yes it would have been good. But can you honestly tell me of a single story where the demon was the good guy?"

He opens his mouth to say something but quickly shuts it and closes it again shaking his head. Nodding I continue, "Thought not. Well like all the other stories with demons mine didn't end so nice either. The deal between me and the other wolf made was for one of us to get out of that slaver camp alive and take the other with us. It was implied we would also take as many of the other slaves with us as we could but my demon half didn't care about implied conditions, only the letter of the deal."

Understanding creeps into Chase's face and I can see horror begin to shine in his eyes, "You don't mean..."

I interrupt him him saying, "By the time the sun rose again there were only two beings left alive in that encampment. Myself and the wolf. The sands were caked red in blood and parts of bodies as far as you could see. As I regained control of my body I told the other wolf that my end of the deal had been fulfilled and that he now owed me with his life and one day I would come to collect. At that point we went our separate ways."

The paw on my shoulder tightens, "Over a hundred lives were ended in the span of a few hours. Hell really did come to earth that night and I unleashed it."

I lift my claws up so I can see them clearly and for a moment I can see the blood running down my arms again. I feel a single tear try and break free from my left eye only to have a gentle finger touch the spot and wipe it away.

I lock my gaze with his and say, "So you do you finally understand when I say that I will leave here sooner or later I do it for your safety as much as anyone else? I may have the demon contained now, but there are ways in which he can be set free or escape my chains and if that happens no one around me will be safe and it would take a much greater power to stop me."

He looks at me silently for a long moment before saying, "What happened was a tragedy yes, but I can not believe that the wolf in front of me would ever allow that to happen to any of us. You have said many times now that you owe us greatly for saving your life from Agerex yes?"

I nod silently as he continues, "Well by your own words any debt you owe is magically binding and even your demonic side must follow it right?"

Again I nod thinking I see where he is going with this, "Well then the way I see it you can't harm us. Because if you did it would be breaking your debt, not paying it. Am I right?"

I think over his words for a moment and consider them from every angle I can think of, "In theory you would be right Chase, but the question is whether or not the demon would see it that way if he were to be set loose. That is not a theory I would want to ever put to the test."

He leans down and licks my nose before saying, "Well then I guess we will just have to do our best to make sure that doesn't happen won't we."

In a quick motion he swings a leg over my waist and settles down on groin making a point to settle his ass right over the top of my sheath before growing still and looking down at me. After he gets comfortable he begins to trace a claw over the round scar on my chest and says, "Ebony, I know that we don't really know each other as well as we might like yet. But I just want to say thank you for trusting me with all that you have told me so far. It cant have been easy to drag up some of those memories tonight."

Shrugging dismissively I say, "The past is the past. It only hurts you if you let it. You can either learn from it or run from it. Not much else you can do."

He looks at me with a thoughtful expression etched on his face and asks, "Which are you doing then Eb? Are you learning or are you running?"

I open my mouth with a quick retort but the words stick in my throat and render me mute. For a moment I just stare at him open mouthed unable to speak. Eventually, he uses a finger to gently close my lower jaw and says with a just a hint of sadness, "Thats what I thought."

Just as I think he is about to say something else he lets loose a rather loud and toothy yawn before saying, "Well unlike you I need more than eight hours of sleep a month. So if its ok with you I think a little more shut eye before sunrise would be welcome."

With that he moves off my lap and lays back down beside me snuggling up close to my right side while he gets my shoulder in just the right position for his head again, "One thing about sleeping next to you, it is nice and warm and you make for a rather comfortable pillow. Plus I was having a rather nice dream I would like to finish."

Before I can make a retort he has laid his head back down on me and quickly begins to breathe slow regular breaths. Rolling my eyes I mutter softly, "Leave it to a wolf to fall asleep in ten seconds flat."

Shifting slightly I wrap my right arm around him and begin to trace a claw through his fur in a circular pattern as my mind begins to wander. Over the course of the next few hours as the night sky begins to turn to a murky grey Chase's question keeps coming to the surface of my mind, 'Am I running or am I learning........'