His initial response was the want to tell him no and to be gone as soon as possible. However, he understood what the Mavka was feeling. The more humanity they possessed, the more they ached with loneliness, darkness swallowing them up with desolation and anguish.
He may be a less developed Mavka, but Orpheus was similar to his state when he started trying to ease his own loneliness – only to discover the pain of being abandoned.
Of feeling more and more like a monster when he was rejected, when he ate those he wanted to befriend because the scent of their fear drove him insane.
With a sigh filled with understanding, he nodded.
“Remain there, I will bring what you need and explain everything.”
If this Mavka was interested in his relationship with Reia, wanting what he did, what he still didn’t truly have, then he had a long and hard road ahead of him.
I will aid him as best as I can. He would share of everything he knew, what he would have to do, to even be able to start this path.
For two days Reia was stuck inside.
She wasn’t allowed to go past the porch. She wasn’t allowed to sit in the sun in the garden.
She’d been worried about what it would be like to be inside in close proximity to him constantly, but that didn’t happen. Orpheus had spent most of his time outside making sure the house was safe since the circle couldn’t be placed down because of the wet ground.
He came inside often to check on her, finding her using the lemons to dye a dress yellow, or cooking, or even reading one of the two books he owned – not that she was much of a reader, and they were dull and boring. Since it was no longer windy and rainy, he was able to watch her while she cooked. It always seemed like he wanted to linger, wanted her to stay within his sight, but then would feel compelled to walk around the yard to make sure there were no Demons.
It appeared he’d frightened most of them away or had killed them after the incident with the spider one.
The main thing that brought her entertainment was being able to practise with her sword. He’d given it to her, said she could keep it, and he helped her every day as much as he could.
They trained on the porch since the area was just long enough and wide enough to allow her to. Thankfully the house had been built to fit his height with ease because it meant she could swing the sword as high as she wanted and didn’t hit the porch roof.
She was getting better, more confident, every time they did.
It allowed him to be outside and to listen out for movement, while allowing them to be together.
And... and Reia found she liked being near him. Perhaps that was because he was her biggest source of entertainment, maybe it was even because she liked him, but she often found herself thinking about the big Duskwalker whenever he was outside and she was inside by herself.
It was ridiculous. She should want to be as far from him as possible, to avoid him. She shouldn’t be upset being by herself, but that was how she felt. He was growing on her steadily.
Bath time was also becoming something she was growing fond of. He knew it, too.
Whenever it was growing to that time of the day, when the sun had finished setting over the horizon and she’d finished cooking and eating her dinner, he no longer needed to mention it. Her body seemed to be doing that for them.
Anticipation for it would begin to slick her core, and his eyes would change to that deep purple in reaction like he could smell it on her.
Then her arousal would grow when she watched him prepare, no longer disgusted by the ritual of the candles, incense, and him drawing his own blood. Not when she knew if she wanted it, if she asked him to – since she’d learned he wouldn’t if she didn’t actually ask – he would touch her intimately. He would stroke her clit, nipples, and insides until she came and went lax in the water to float in the heat in a euphoric haze.
He didn’t try to touch her unless she instigated it, didn’t speak to her or approach her about it even when he knew she was aroused. He also never demanded that she reciprocate.
He wasn’t cocky or trying to use her desire against her.
Everything was totally in Reia’s control, and it made her feel completely at ease. It made her feel… safe.
The other Duskwalker had also made her more curious about Orpheus. She never found out what they spoke about while she was inside where it was safe while they stood in the yard speaking, but she’d seen his feet!
Odd-shaped feet that were like hoofs near the toes but had a long foot behind it. She wondered if Orpheus’ were like that but, considering he was able to wear shoes, she didn’t think so.
So, what lay underneath his pants and shoes then? She knew what his torso looked like, knew he had dark-grey skin and possibly fur beneath it, but did he also have more bones on the outside of his body? More fins?
She wanted to learn about him.
The questions she had about the mystery woman were slow to be answered, and if she asked too many of them at the same time, he’d stop answering. She wanted to know what had happened to her, where she’d gone, and why.
She’d come to discover that she was the first human who he’d come across who he hadn’t eaten straight away. Like Reia, she hadn’t been afraid, and he found a companion in her. He built this home when she told him she didn’t like his cave, and they’d lived quite a few years together.
How long? Reia wasn’t told. His answers were sometimes vague. Just enough to quell the worst of her curiosities, but not enough to quench them completely.
She was also the one who gave Orpheus his name.
Then there were the other questions about his past, like where he came from. He didn’t know and didn’t remember
much about it. He knew he had been a mindless, hungry thing.
He didn’t think he’d had a face until he ate for the first time. A wolf, and then he was given his skull. When he’d eaten an Impala antelope, he’d been given his horns. She’d been surprised to discover that he’d eaten animals for the beginning of his life, and the first time he ate a human was when he really started to think.
He also knew of four Duskwalkers, Mavkas as he called them, and they also didn’t remember how they came to be, only knew they were other in the world.
Her fascination in him was growing, but she knew her many questions made him uncomfortable at times.
“Hey,” she started, sitting at the dining table with him while they were making trinkets since the old ones were beginning to wither. He’d not long ago come inside and remained after carving a new salt circle because the ground was dry. “You mentioned there was a town of Demons, but I was wondering how that’s possible?”
