Chapter 3

Two weeks later, Badger met Morgan and Alice at the Pine Hills pub. "I'd appreciate it if the two of you would come join me and Lucinda. I think I'd really like witnesses." He continued, "Besides, I cannot imagine you passing up the opportunity to see her eat a soul."

Morgan sat down his drink untasted. "Is that really what you want?"

"You to watch? Yes. I think I'd like it to be a gift honored and acknowledged by my friends, not something horrible that happens in the night."

"No, I mean the bigger question."

"Yes."

"Why? You don't have to do this."

"I'd rather answer that once. It's going to be hard enough. This is all going to be hard enough."

"When?"

"Today if you can possibly make it."

"I'll be there. I am honored by your trust and I suspect your courage."

Morgan, Alice and Badger traveled to meet Lucinda. They found her sobbing dejectedly in her clearing.

Badger ran to Lucinda and the lovers embraced, holding each other tightly. "I'd ask why, but I can't help but already know."

"You'd better anyway. They need to know and let's actually get it said."

She nodded. He continued, looking up with pride to lock eyes with her. "I've been thinking about what Silence said. About the value of connections.

"You've made me strong. I'm happy with my life. I have friends; I have the best lover and mate possible. I am proud of who I am.

"What's next for me? I can love, bring my passion to my community. With the exception of Silence before Change, they'd be happy if I didn't.

"I doubt I'll ever build again. Besides, I've done my time, sacrificed enough of myself to hard labor.

"I can watch the person I care most about in all the world die, or I can save her."

"Don't give up on your life," she said.

"I'm not. You know it. Like you, I want to live. I want to be strong. But I can be strong in helping someone else out. Like you, I'm not afraid to pay that price."

He continued, "If you live, you will almost certainly help others grow. You will bring joy and wonder to your mates. Perhaps through those I've introduced you to, you can help more than just your mates. It will hurt, but the price of love is sacrifice. Some day, perhaps you'll find someone who needs to live enough that they will hold you while you pay the ultimate price. That's not now."

Lucinda was proud and angry and sad and so many different things. She'd felt him putting that speech together over the last three days, struggling to find the right words. Saying it though had helped him. She doubted she could turn him away from his path, but she would try.

"You can help others grow too. Anyone can do that."

"Yes. You're better though. You have gifts the rest of us can only dream about."

"I'll destroy them all too. Do you know how many times I've had this conversation before? My mate finally strong in themselves gives up a perfectly good life for me."

"I'd guess quite a few. It's not destruction to give people growth and to give them an honest choice about whether to make a sacrifice. If what you've showed me has meaning, then I am not destroying myself. I'm acting out of love."

"Why now?"

"Why not? If I had something specific that needed to happen within the next year, I'd wait. If you want to do something with me, let's do that."

She sighed. "Do you know how it's done? Do you know what this will be for you?"

"No."

"Well, perhaps that at least will turn you away." She doubted it: Badger was strong enough to make the sacrifice out of love.

She lay with him face-to-face. She stroked him, hands against his face, neck, body, caressing her lover while she still could, her gentle touch contrasting with her grim tone.

"I'll mount you. We'll fuck for the last time. We can take our time, find what passion we will; the magic will make it last as long as we need.

"Our passion will continue to build. I will begin to open my lust for you, sharing more than I've done before. Eventually, my need will grow so great that I breach the defenses of your soul. I'll violate you at the most magical level, forcing myself into you."

"It's not violation if I willingly accept it."

"I will play with your soul, smelling it, licking it, tasting it, watching it curl and twist. Imagine a predator atop her kill running her claws through his entrails, his still thrashing body screaming under her." With the last, she smoothed his brow, hoping that the contrast would finally get through to him what a monster she would be in this.

Badger sniffed. He ran his hand between her legs and found her cunt wet with the juices of her strongest excitement. "You lust for this."

"Fuck it all, yes; can't you see that I'm a monster?"

"A glorious, primal beast strong in the passion of her nature, perhaps, but no monster."

"Then my lust pushes through you, pushing all that you are before it. You come for the last time. The rest of your life actually. Your body spends itself on my passion, pushing your soul before it into my waiting jaws. As your end draws closer, time extends; passion turns to pain so intense that it's not possible outside of magic, each more excruciating moment longer than the last."

"Something surely eventually breaks that cycle."

"Perhaps, or perhaps the last moment of your existence extends out into an eternity of torment. Perhaps it ends when the last soul that remembers or is touched by you dissolves, perhaps not. Physically, most people die of a heart attack, their body eventually unable to meet the demands of the magic. You are probably strong enough to meet some other horrible end as your body consumes itself under my assault."

Morgan said dryly, "Lucinda, I think that may be the worst sales presentation I've ever heard."

"That's the point. I'm trying to convince this idiot to regain his senses," she said, patting the idiot lovingly.

"Will you love me throughout?"

"Yes, of course. Always, for the rest of my life."

"And will I feel the love atop the pain?"

"Yes. I would never hide my love from you during that."

"And this is slut's work for you, finding pleasure and lust?"

She wished she could view this as some sort of humiliating punishment as he forced her to admit again and again how horrible she was that consuming him turned her on. She knew better though. He hope she'd find it pleasurable. He hoped she'd find pleasure so great that it would drive aside his pain and let her take him with joy. The horrible truth was that he'd hit precisely on it. In that moment there would be the thrill of the consumption, her love at his gift, her joy in dominance, and the all-consuming lust that drove the magic. His pain, to the extent she experienced it then would only feed her appreciation for the greatness of his sacrifice. He needed her to say that openly, to admit it. She did. To her surprise, everyone there found it hot. Morgan and Alice were having trouble keeping their hands off each other, and Badger's hand was between her legs cupping her mound.

"I want this to be a celebration of slut and lover. Yes, there's sacrifice and loss. However, it sounds like this can also be a final joining and celebration of our love. If the two of you want to celebrate with us," he said, glancing to the nobles, "I'd be delighted."

"Will we be safe witnessing this? Is it safe to be around her after you are gone?"

She thought for a moment. "If you honor this, yes. I will be aware of myself and sufficiently in control. If you should mock his sacrifice, interrupt, or try to bring guilt on me after, you will learn much of a demon's anger."

Lucinda was impressed. She knew Badger was afraid, but he also trusted her and really was sure of his decision. She wondered if her courage and determination would be this strong if she were the one making the sacrifice. She wondered how she'd behave as the end truly drew near. Badger could be one of her examples in that.

They hugged, kissed, hands exploring each other, touch frantically trying to encompass a lifetime's experience in a few minutes. Their excitement grew.

"I want to taste you."

He was prone, his head in her lap, her hand petting him. He eagerly lapped at her slit, tasting her excitement atop this morning's cum. She moaned and purred as his teeth grazed her inner lips. Soon, she was bucking against him, his hands pressing her legs into the thick pile of blankets. He felt her squirt against his mouth, probably for the last time. She was tangy and wet, just the way he loved her.

She held him, his head pillowed against her tits. "I love you. I will always love you."

"I know. I have no doubt. You will remember me?"

"Yes. As long as I live."

"Do you remember the others? The ones who came before?"

"Yes. Each one of them are burned into my mind as their souls are burned into my essence."

Badger was glad. It gave him confidence that his memory would carry on. Morgan pulled his head away from Alice's cunt to say, "We will all remember your courage and sacrifice." Badger was touched.

"I guess we begin?"

"You could just lie here and let me pet you. You need not do this."

"It will be OK. I am ready to face this. I will be there for you as long as I can be, my lady."

Reluctantly, Lucinda got out from under Badger and lay him on his back. She bent to his cock and held it in her mouth, sucking and gently teasing. She enjoyed his now-familiar taste. She rubbed her face against his wiry pubic hair, her hands gently cupping his balls. He began to harden in her mouth.