D.I.S.E.

Steam rolled out of the shower stall as the door slid open. The mirror had already fogged up, and condensation beaded on the walls. Perhaps it was a longer shower than she’d realized.

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Nina stood in the stall with the door open, watching the multicolor rivers of blood not her own snake down the drain. Arriving too late to the scene of a supernatural conflict was never pretty. The slew of mangled bodies everywhere, some human, some not, some unidentifiable; the scent of burnt hair and flesh, of sulphur, of spilled blood; the eerie, deafening silence that hung over the whole macabre diorama, that not even a sparrow dared break… She suspected the scene would haunt her dreams for several days, if not longer. And it would not be the last.

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There was no more room for pretense. DISE knew exactly what was going on, and while her anger had blacked a lot of it out, Nina was pretty sure she told Hayworth to go fuck himself to his face. Definitely no going back now.

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But it was not over. Far from it. It was not the last time she’d see that infuriating, pretentious face of his, but hopefully next time it would be the one covered in blood, and not--

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The fight played back through her mind like the most realistic horror movie in history. It made sense now why Hayworth and the other executives favored the more bestial monsters as their personal attack dogs - they were far easier to control. All Hayworth had to do was wave a finger in their general direction, and Malus was on them in a flurry of blades and mandibles. Zephran put himself between them, as he always did, and barked at her to run. Sometimes a small part of her wished he was indeed the dumb brute she once believed him to be. She silenced those thoughts the moment she caught them. 

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With an empty clip, Nina had no choice but to comply. Without a weapon of her own, she only put both of them at greater risk. She remembered the relief when he caught up with her, the gnarled gashes across his face and scattered over his body, and the deep indigo pouring from them. The knowledge that he healed faster than humans did little to soothe the pain she felt for him, and she wondered if it hurt as much as his wounds.

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Nina finally stepped out of the stall and wrapped herself in a towel. She cleared a circle in the mirror with a hand rag. Bending over the sink, she dragged her hands down her face and exhaled deeply. Things were coming to a head, and quickly. They wouldn’t be able to hide for long anymore, and Thomas was already talking about going on the offense. Danger was no stranger in her line of work, yet somehow she never felt so intimidated by her own mortality - or that of those around her - as she did right now.

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There was a decent chance she would die if they did make a move, and she was happy to do it, but the thought of losing Thomas or Lockwood or Zeph felt like a stiff punch to her gut. She felt her chest constrict and cut it off with a sharp inhale and a swipe over her eyes. She didn’t have time for this. She shoved a toothbrush in her mouth instead. Maybe the bite of the mint would keep her mind from wandering to dark places.

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Nina opened the door and padded out into the bedroom, leaving wet footsteps behind her. Making sure the shades were drawn, she toweled herself dry near the bed before replacing it around her torso. She was about to pull her pajamas from the small dresser but a gentle knock at the door interrupted her. She glanced down. Tits, ass, crotch, check. All covered.. She turned back to the dresser and called back, “It’s open.”

She heard the door open and heavy, familiar footsteps, but nothing more. Pajamas in arm, she turned to see Zephran standing just inside the doorway, filling the entire frame. His pants were still stained with his own blood, but he was otherwise clean. It was indeed amazing how quickly his wounds healed; he’d be sore for a while, she was sure, but the external lacerations were already fading. The rush of relief threatened to pull her legs out from under her, but the air of anxiety around him locked them again.

 

The world stopped. His heartbeat raced so hard and so fast it practically reverberated through the floorboards. He seemed frozen in place, like the proverbial deer in headlights. Nina found herself unable to move as well, and her own chest pounded inexplicably too. The silence was somehow both suffocating, yet comfortable in its simplicity. Endless words exchanged without a single sound.

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The pajamas slid from Nina’s arm and fell softly at her feet. Eyes locked on his face and expression calmer and decidedly more confident than she felt, her body acted of its own accord.  Her hands opened the towel. It draped down behind her until it slipped from her fingers, leaving her bare and exposed to him. He remained as fixated on her as she was on him as he ducked under the threshold. One hand pushed the door closed behind him with a gentle click.

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Her sternum threatened to burst from her chest as Zephran approached. He looked every bit as nervous as she felt, in stark contrast to his usual aloof attitude. And while his tense posture exuded apprehension, his stride carried all the assurance the rest of him had lost. 

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He stalled in front of her and she looked up at him, unwavering in her unspoken offer. 

He brushed a finger against her cheek until his hand fell to her chest, nearly large enough to wrap around her shoulders. It stopped there, and he was close enough now that they could feel each others’ warmth between them. The silence was deafening, and while Nina’s expression remained even as she gazed up at him, her eyes 

Nina’s head turned upward, guided by a warm hand behind it, and felt a warmth against her lips before she could react. Needing no further convincing, her eyes slid closed and she met him for the kiss. He rumbled deep in his chest, the sound and vibration both sending chills up her spine, and curled his torso over her, hungry, possessive, as much a signal of intent as a logistical necessity. 

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He took a step closer, but stopped there, until she moved with him. He backed her onto the bed, breaking the kiss only to let her fall onto it and swiftly diving in for another. Nina’s arms rose to take his head in her hands as Zephran’s braced on either side of her. His lips were softer and somehow more human than she expected them to be. She also expected her thoughts to be hazy, clouded, unfocused, but found this not to be the case. In fact she couldn’t remember ever seeing with such unmistakable clarity.

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A tongue against the seam of her already parted lips was still enough to draw her back to reality. This was the part she told herself she never considered but knew that to be a lie. His tongue was longer and wider than any unimpressive human one she ever had. Shaped differently, and she suspected textured differently too. What started out ages ago as genuine curiosity had long since evolved into an incessant nagging desire. To know, she told herself. To have, she knew she meant.

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Nina welcomed the answer eagerly, and Zeph was eager to oblige. His tongue dipped into her mouth to give hers an inquisitorial nudge. She reciprocated. Satisfied with her response, he coiled his tongue against and all around hers, filling her mouth more fully than she could have hoped for. It pulled a soft moan from her which seemed to light a match in him. Another bass rumble and he was on top of her, one foot keeping him grounded on the floor and the opposite knee planted on the bed. Nina found herself grateful that all of the beds here were oversized.

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His tongue withdrew but his mouth hung open, mirrored by hers, as they shared breaths between them. A delicate hand ran down his chest, as though afraid his skin would tear like a flower petal, until a thin edge under her jaw reminded her what he was. His teeth rested against her skin, her chin slotting neatly between his lower canines, while his upper incisors pressed against her lips. Not so long ago, having that bear trap of a mouth wide open against her face, her neck, would have triggered her fight or flight response. But now her instincts redirected that fear into a thrill pulsing down her spine and settling somewhere below.

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Nina sat up, forcing Zeph to lift himself as well, though he remained braced over her - god he was big. She ignored the puzzled look from him and leaned forward to brush her lips against his neck and collarbone while her fingers worked deftly at the fastening of his pants. He seemed to catch on quickly and stepped out of them as she pushed. They fell to the floor where he stood, until his claws scraped against the wood and he pulled himself fully onto the bed. Nina readjusted to make room for him and fell willingly onto her back. He wasted no time and descended on her with a hungry growl.

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Another chill down her spine, and she knew exactly where this one settled. She leaned up into him, nipping at his lip and letting her hands roam the immeasurably broad expanse of his chest and shoulders. Her tongue pressed between the seam of his lower mandibles and pulled upward, parting them and his upper lip like a zipper. She’d always wanted to try that.

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And judging by the way his breath caught and his movements hitched, Zeph hadn’t been expecting it either. Glad she could still keep him on his toes. 

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The gesture spurred him on like a sharp kick to the flank, and he redoubled his efforts and planted himself firmly between her legs. His considerable weight shifted to one hand - Nina could feel herself beginning to sink into the crater it created in the mattress - and used the other to reposition her around his waist. Her knees hooked over his thighs, the sheer diameter of his waist more than enough to keep them plenty far apart. She pressed soft moans and whispers against his lips in anticipation for what she hoped, felt, was coming.

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A growl and one barely restrained roll of Zephran’s hips had something warm and wet pressing against her backside. She broke the kiss and looked down in time to see what could only be the smooth, round head of his cock emerging from the small and admittedly mysterious slit in his groin.

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It didn’t take an active imagination to guess what sat chambered within it, but Nina found herself letting hers run wild more times than she could count. She tried to picture what it would look like; what was it shaped like? How big was it? Did it have texture or was it smooth and, ah, utilitarian? It was scientifically fascinating, she told herself. And it was, truthfully, but she knew it was a secondary reason at best, and she did her best to ignore the primary.

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And in all her daydreaming, hypothesizing, whatever she wanted to call it, she somehow did not expect it to be purple. It made sense, in retrospect: his skin was red, his blood was blue. If human skin turned reddish when flushed, it would follow that his would be tinted blue. 

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A second push against her snapped her attention back to the present. She gazed up at him, eyes lidded and pupils blown, breath hot and heavy against his face. She reached down between them with one hand and groped around a bit - his size meant it was a slightly longer reach than she expected - until she found the bump peeking out from its housing. The tips of her fingers surrounded it, pressed ever so gently against the rim of its slit, and Christ he was as thick as her palm.

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Nina swallowed at the thought. This was gonna take some planning. 

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As if he read her mind, Zeph ducked his head down for a surprisingly tender lap at her cheek and a kiss against the corner of her mouth. And yep, that sure was the tip of his dick now trying to push past her hand. She lifted the heel of her palm and turned her eyes down again to watch it slowly slide out from within him under her hand. He readjusted his position to something more comfortable now that his hips didn’t need to be so close to touch her. 
-
Breath shaky, Nina curled her fingers gingerly over the top of his freshly exposed shaft. He fingertips barely grazed it, but the featherlight touch was enough to tell her how warm and slick it was already. Convenient byproduct of internal genitalia, she supposed. 

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He nudged the side of her head with his own, not daring to utter a word but spilling all his eagerness and desperation out in ways words couldn’t. She huffed a silent, humorless laugh, and her fingers twitched, but closed no further. Zeph shifted his weight to one hand and reached down with the other. His massive hand easily covered hers, claws long enough to brush against her wrist when his fingers wrapped over hers. He pushed her hand down against him, gently, tenderly, perhaps for his own sake as much as hers, and lifted his head just enough to rest it again against her forehead.

She gazed at him for a moment, then let her eyes slide shut and her hand move of its own accord. She pulled as he pushed, pinning his cock between her palm and her stomach. He rumbled his approval. Nina slid her hand up his shaft to the head, then back down, and up and down again, excruciatingly slowly at first but building speed in tandem with her confidence. 

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It wasn’t long before he was rocking his hips in time with her and breathing heavily against her neck. Nina opened her eyes again to watch him, but this time he didn’t seem to be watching her. His cock slid over her abdomen, the tip occasionally catching on her navel, but it was clear he was holding back. He wanted more. And frankly, so did she.

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“Hey,” she whispered, and the sound of her voice seemed to startle Zephran. His whole body stopped and he lifted his head to look down at her. She offered what she hoped was a reassuring smile and patted his broad shoulder. “Sit up.”

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He obeyed, confusion still evident on his featureless face. He sat back on his knees, cock standing proud between them, and tilted his head as Nina sat up too. For all his bravado and aggression and raw power, it was downright adorable how innocent he could be - or at least appear to be - at times.

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She pulled herself up onto her own knees and shuffled toward him, gliding her hands up his chest and shoulders and neck to pull him into another kiss. He grunted and she felt his cock twitch hard enough for the tip to tap her stomach. She kept the kiss brief and turned around to face away from him.  She pushed the organ down with just her fingertips and carefully readjusted her position so she was perched over it, and released it with a conspicuous bounce. His breath rushed hot over her shoulders and neck, like an agitated racehorse eager to burst through the gate. Whether it was the sensation or the intent she knew was behind it, or instinctual fear that knowledge brought, it made her hair stand on end.

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Nina reached down with both hands. One slipped between her legs and spread her lips apart. The other cupped the head of his cock and drew it up, until the top of his shaft slotted neatly between her splayed fingers. She sucked in a breath and felt him do the same. Her hand stroked the underside, just below the head, fingers dipping under the soft frills and earning her a shuddered groan in return. Nina looked down at it. It was no longer purple, but now a deep, vibrant indigo. Not a color she ever expected to see emerging from between her legs, but an alluring one nevertheless.

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Her spine arched and slid her hips forward along his length until the rim of his head grazed over her clit. She exhaled sharply at the warm shock it sent up her thighs and repeated the motion. Zephran caught on quickly. He rolled his hips against her once, drawing a sound out of her that neither of them expected. 

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He didn’t need to be told twice. He covered her torso with one hand and leaned forward to brace her against his chest, fingers splayed across her ribcage and thumb pressed against her sternum. Her eyes fluttered closed and her head fell back against his collarbone, offering herself to him freely. 

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It was an offering he was not about to pass up. Zeph’s fingers flexed as he rocked slowly against her. His thumb wandered, rolling over her breast and across a pert nipple. One of Nina’s hands came to rest on top of his while the other found its way up around the back of his neck, pulling and urging him on. He took the hint, gripping her tighter and increasing his pace.

Zeph leaned into her until his weight tipped forward, catching himself on one hand with a grunt while the other held her against his body. Each languid roll of his hips dragged the smooth back of his shaft along her clit and lips in entirety and pulled a gasp or airy moan from her chest. His claws curled into the blanket, his hips snapped sharply against hers, and his grunts and growls and heavy breath grew all the more frantic. 

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The pressure in the root of Nina’s pelvis swelled until it finally spilled over the edge. She sucked in a breath before releasing a string of whines and moans, increasing in both volume and pitch. Her back arched away from him, pushing her chest into his hand, her thighs clamped tighter, and her hips rutted involuntarily against him. Whether it was the increased sensation or the realization that he’d brought her to climax, Zeph shivered from head to toe before doubling his efforts. He fell to his elbow with a deep rumble, the arm around her now clamping her tightly against him, and his head bowed between his shoulders. Reservations gone, he drilled into her, dragging out her orgasm and threatening to push her into overstimulation, before reaching his own peak. A deep roar met the back of his teeth in a vain attempt to silence itself, escaping as a strained groan instead. He leaned back, cock sliding out from between her thighs, and dropped his head to her shoulder. He panted against her back, the rushes of hot air down her spine causing her to shudder. They sat in silence, save their shared heavy breathing.

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Zeph’s elbow slid out from under him and he fell onto his side beside her, head tossed back. Nina squeaked as she was forced to roll with him, but he let her go once he settled. She shuffled away from him and up onto her knees, looking down at him with an amused smirk. She leaned forward onto all fours, peering over his broad chest and thick neck to try to see his face. 

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“I see you’ve been hiding something from me.”

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A quiet rumble came from him. “No. You’re just fucking thick.”

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After showing herself naked to him, his hand on her tits, his cock between her thighs, and literally coming on his dick... that, of all things, made her blush. Best to roll with it. She took his limp hand and placed it firmly on her ass. That got his attention. He lifted his head with a silent question. She grinned at him. “Damn right I am.”

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Zeph rolled his head but couldn’t hide the smile. “And insufferable.”

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Nina shrugged and slid backward off the bed, looking down at herself, now drenched in a layer of sweat. “Look what you did. Now I have to shower again.”

 

She ignored his spreading grin as she turned to head back to the bathroom. She could feel all three of his stupid, beady little eyes raking down her back and lingering just a little bit on her rear.

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She stopped in the door frame and looked back over her shoulder at him. “You coming?”

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Zeph never moved so quickly in his life.