She couldn’t show her face. Her pale skin would give away she was human.

He started tying cloth straps to it and her so that it would stay fixed in place but could also be removed during the journey. She only needed it when they were close to the Demon village, and he needed to permanently keep her hidden.

He should have done this when he’d taken the last human to the Demon village. He hadn’t known she’d been spotted looking around underneath a large cloak hood, but they’d been left alone while inside the village. He’d thought all was well.

“There, now you look like a Mavka,” he said, before leaning down to nuzzle his snout against her neck underneath the skull mask.

“Aren’t I a bit short to pass off as one of you?”

He made a thoughtful noise. “A female Mavka, then?”

“There are females?”

Orpheus shrugged as he leaned back and stared at her through the eye holes.

“I don’t know. I have never seen one.”

He walked around her and jiggled the sword strapped to her back. It would look odd that she had one, but he didn’t think the Demons would look twice. They liked shiny things and would assume she did too. That’s why his crystals were good for trade.

A sense of foreboding and dread washed over him as they stepped towards the door to leave. I don’t want to do this.

But he wanted Reia, and that’s what pushed him forward.

The Mavka came closer to the porch on all fours and reached out to touch the deer mask that hid her face. The hood was buttoned around the antlers so they could stick up out of the material like his did. Orpheus’ Impala antlers were only two horned spikes and could fit through the holes, her disguise had forking branches.

He was actually a little disappointed she looked more like the Mavka than himself.

“She looks like Mavka,” he said with awe, stroking a claw over it when they were through the barrier.

Orpheus grabbed his wrist and threw his arm away.

“Do not touch her.” Or anything she is wearing.

She unbuttoned the cloak hood and slung the mask off so she could hand it to him.

“I guess it works,” she laughed.

He tied it around his waist to carry it for her.

“How do you wish for me to carry you?”

She turned her head up to look at him while fixing the hood back over her head to hide herself. “Carry me?”

“Yes.” He gestured down to her legs. “You will be too slow.

It is a four day walk for us. You will make it longer, and I do not want you to be out of the protections for such an unnecessary length of time.”

The quicker they did this, the better it’d be.

“Could you carry me on your arm again?”

“No,” he answered, shaking his head slightly. “You will be too close to the trees and will be easily spotted.”

She folded her arms over her chest before reaching up to stroke her lips. Her soft lips that had felt remarkable against his face and chest when she’d kissed him. I want to play with her tongue again. The fact she’d licked his tongue had brought him joy.

He’d never had a human do that before. It had felt like it was his first real kiss that he could return.

“Your back then?” She eyed his cloak. “I’m guessing you want me to be under it. Will my head fit inside your cloak with yours?”

He loosened the ties and nodded. Then he crouched down and waited for her to crawl underneath it and poke her head through.

“Hello,” she greeted, and although he couldn’t see her face, he could tell by the tone in her voice that she had a smile. “I’m very close to you.”

She kissed the side of his neck, right behind the round of his jaw. A thrill ran through him, sending a tremor through his body.

He stood when she cradled his sides with her legs, bending her knees when he threaded his arms through them.

“You’re a little big to fit between my legs,” she laughed.

“Sorry you have to reach so far back.”

I will have them around me. She was straddling his back, but Orpheus was determined to have her straddle the front of him while his cock was buried deep inside her.

He let out a pant at the thought, his tentacles shifting slightly behind his seam.

“Let’s go,” he told them, his voice a little more strained than before.

They set out, Orpheus filling with unease as he crossed through the salt circle. I will keep her safe and hidden. He turned his sight to the Mavka walking beside them, easily keeping up with his long strides, without his own cloak. He would need one for the future.

Then they entered the forest. Although it wasn’t too late to turn back, he knew he couldn’t.

The journey was long and with very little pause.

They were walking through constant shadows, the canopy of trees above enveloping them in darkness no matter if it was night or day. It was relatively quiet as he didn’t usually go this way, and they had very little Demon interaction the further they went.

None suspected he had a human with him hidden underneath his cloak and the moment they left the border ring of the Veil, the less dangerous it became.

The Veil’s properties were filled with invisible rings of life.

The border ring held those who were crazed for human flesh, living inside this section so they only had a short journey to scour the surface and hunt – with little success.

It had only taken a day to pass it and some of his distress lessened.

It took two days to leave the next ring that held those who hunted humans but were not as desperate for it. They ate irregularly, only when they were starving, and they would consume the first life they found – whether that was human or animal. They didn’t care as long as their hunger was sated.

They were typically medium-sized Demons with a little more thought. There was also less of them, their numbers growing smaller the further in they went.

Orpheus led them along the stream that eventually turned into a slow moving, but deep river.