Innocent Sacrifice - 5. Chapter 5

Su Yin still acted shy about looking at himself as Zhihao opened the front of his robe with delicate movements, pulling the heavy fabric aside, but leaving the boy’s arms and hands obscured. But the yaoguai could tell, as easily as listening to the jumping heartbeat of his lover, that watching himself be exposed turned Su Yin on. The boy’s dark eyes followed the patterns his hands traced, over the pale smooth skin of his chest, the undulation of his abdomen, stopping before reaching the swelling length of his erection. Su Yin whimpered in frustration, and Zhihao decided that teasing his lover would make for excellent fun. He smoothed his fingers along the boy’s upper thighs, bringing him back against Zhihao’s own crotch, then raked his claws, gently as he could, across the sensitive skin near his arse. The boy panted, lips open and damp, watching as his flesh quivered, a soft pink blush spreading attractively across his cheeks. Zhihao walked his claws up the boy’s body, still avoiding his cock and pinched at each honey coloured nipple in turn. Su Yin moaned, face pressed against Zhihao’s neck, even though he still watched. The demon turned his head and began to lap at Su Yin’s shoulder, the soft shell of his ear, and the leaping pulse in his throat.

“Look at yourself,” the yaoguai commanded in between long strokes of his tongue. “Look how your body desires me. You quake under my touch, blush so prettily, but your cock is wet and hard with desire.” He flicked each nipple in rapid succession, bringing forth a litany of high pitched moans, and purred. “You are so beautiful and so helpless, unable to stop me from pleasuring you….”

Su Yin whined with need, apparently having lost the ability to form words, his hands trapped by the long sleeves he wore. Zhihao pulled down the back of his collar, kissed the nape of his neck, and ridges of his spine while his other hand roamed across Su Yin’s chest, then held the boy’s gaze in the mirror as he touched a fingertip to the shiny head of his cock. Su Yin lapped precum from his digit hungrily, and Zhihao growled low at the sight. He’d not lied when he’d told the boy he’d never known another as sweet and beautiful as he was, but now Zhihao was realising there were untapped depths within his lover. He wondered how long it would take to explore all of them.

“Do you want me to touch you?”

Su Yin whimpered, and Zhihao growled evilly.

“Boys who don’t ask don’t get,” he replied, gathering another bead of precum from Su Yin’s penis. Su Yin didn’t say anything as he licked his fingers, but his dark eyes were full of need.

Zhihao reached into the pocket of his silk trousers, and withdrew the little bottle of oil he had acquired from Stores. Uncapped, it filled the room with a heady sweet smell like jasmine flowers in full bloom. Su Yin watched him nervously.

“Relax.”

“Yes sir.”

Su Yin watched as Zhihao poured the oil over his fingers. The demon swept the great folds of his robe aside to expose his pert little rear, and slid his lubricated digits into the cleft of Su Yin’s arse.

“Ahhh….”

“Good boy.”

Zhihao found his lover’s tight opening, and began to smooth the scented oil over him in deliberate movements, watching in the mirror as Su Yin’s cock jerked and bounced with each motion. When he finally slid a finger past the tight ring of muscle, the boy cried out, not caring how loud he was, and his entire body vibrated with the mix of pleasure and pain as he was breached. Zhihao removed his hand, added more oil, and repeated the process until his invasion brought only moans of pleasure and silent thrusting demands for more from his lover. Kissing Su Yin’s neck, he set aside the lube, and removed the other object from his pocket.

“What’s that?” Su Yin stared at the unfamiliar thing in the reflection as Zhihao warmed it in his hand. The demon offered him the shaped length of jade, but Su Yin didn’t touch it.

“A toy. I will use it to prepare you, and make you ready for me.”

The scavenger at Stores had known exactly why he’d wanted the beautiful jade phallus, and made a lewd joke Zhihao was glad the boy hadn’t heard. The toy was as long as his palm, gently curved, slightly narrower than Su Yin’s own swollen erection, with a ridge near the base allowing for a good grip.

“You must watch.”

“Yes sir.”

Zhihao used one hand to push Su Yin’s knees further apart, and the boy shivered as the smooth rounded end of the toy was trailed down his spine towards the firm mounds of his arse. Zhihao pulled his cheeks apart, and positioned the jade phallus at his entrance. Between Su Yin’s legs he could see the green shaft and his own red fingers, framed between the pale thighs. Su Yin quivered, and Zhihao thought for a moment he had pushed the boy too far. He turned Su Yin’s face, and kissed him. His lover responded eagerly, and Zhihao used the distraction of their tongues to ease the tip of the toy into his tight passage.

Su Yin gasped, eyes wide, as he was reamed. The jade had been warmed by its time in Zhihao’s pocket and hand, but the stone was still cool to the touch. Zhihao turned the boy’s attention back to the mirror, and they both watched with rapt attention as with unrelenting pressure, Zhihao pushed the entire length of the hard shaft into Su Yin’s slick channel. He drew back the toy by slow fractions, tilted it inside the boy, and inserted it fully again. Zhihao used his palm to rotate the head within Su Yin’s tender body, and with every pass across his prostate, the boy cried out with desire.

“Down.”

Shaking, Su Yin leant down on his palms, and Zhihao positioned the extra fabric of his robe to leave his breached arse exposed. The demon sighed with pleasure at the sight of his lover, and smiled broadly.

“You are beautiful, Su Yin. Always, and especially like this. I do so love seeing you in pleasure.” Zhihao squeezed the parted flesh of his rear hard, and Su Yin whimpered. “Do you think you are beautiful?”

“I don’t care if I’m with you,” Su Yin panted. “Please Zhihao, I want you so badly.”

Zhihao reached down and cupped the weight of Su Yin’s soft balls for a moment, then drew away as the boy pushed back into his touch.

“Not yet.”

“But…” Su Yin whined.

The yaoguai removed his trousers and walked slowly around the bed, admiring from all angles the boy he had brought home to be his lover. Su Yin’s cock was hard between his thighs, his legs trembled, his back arched automatically to present his arse as fully as possible, and his pink lips were especially inviting as he groaned out his pleasure at the foreign invasion of the jade toy. Eventually, Zhihao knelt on the bed in front of Su Yin’s face, and without a heartbeat’s hesitation, the boy opened his mouth and took in as much of Zhihao’s erection as he could. The demon groaned aloud as he was sucked, Su Yin’s talented tongue and eager lips swallowing him down with obvious delight. As Su Yin drew back to taste the head once more, the angle of his hips tilted the toy in his arse, and he moaned around Zhihao’s cock.

“Good boy,” Zhihao praised.

Su Yin swirled his tongue over Zhihao’s length, and the demon grunted as the pressure around his member increased. Su Yin swallowed, forcing the head of the demon’s cock into his throat, and Zhihao thought he was going to lose control and come right then. Eventually the need to breathe over took the desire to pleasure, and Su Yin drew back. The action once more brought the toy into direct contact with his prostate, and he whimpered. Zhihao was tall enough to easily stroke along his lover’s spine all the way to his upturned arse, and as he adjusted the jade phallus, Su Yin continued to suckle eagerly at his hard flesh. Zhihao withdrew the toy until only the very tip remained, then slid it back in right up to the base. Su Yin pushed back against him, completely abandoning any sense of propriety as his muffled groans expressed more pleasure. Zhihao fucked his lover slowly, tortuously slowly, with the implement as Su Yin pleasured him, and growled when the boy’s throat closed around the head of his cock once more.

“Swallow,” he ordered, and Su Yin did just that, pressing his face tight to the skin of Zhihao’s abdomen as the demon lost control of his orgasm, and filled the boy’s gullet with his hot seed. “Good boy.”

Zhihao bent to kiss his lover, tasting himself on Su Yin’s tongue, and smiled.

“Stay.”

Su Yin’s entire body quivered in anticipation as Zhihao stroked firm hands down his back, cupping his rear momentarily, before placing his palm over the base of the stone toy still stretching the tight ring of his sphincter. Su Yin groaned as the jade shaft was pressed once more against the tight bundle of nerve endings inside him.

“Nnnghhh!”

“Don’t be shy, Su Yin.”

“Oh gods! Ah! Fuck…!”

Zhihao smirked as he began to rock the toy against his lover’s prostate, never letting up from the sensitive spot as Su Yin’s moans became an unending litany of profanities which ran together into incomprehensible pleasure. He touched his fingers to the head of the boy’s slender erection, and his hand came away wet and shiny. Zhihao fed the boy his own leaking precum again and again as he massaged him from within until Su Yin was barely able to support his own body. With a lewd sucking noise, he removed the jade phallus from Su Yin’s tender arse and set it aside.

As he lay on the bed, Su Yin very nearly collapsed into his arms. Zhihao nuzzled his neck, then frowned in confusion as he felt the boy move back against his body in a deliberate manner.

“Am I ready now?” Su Yin asked, though he could not keep a note of tiredness from his voice.

“My love, are you sure? You are not exhausted?”

“No.” Su Yin covered his mouth with a yawn. “Is it wrong to like the idea of falling asleep with you still inside me?”

“Oh, pretty one… nothing we do together is ever wrong.”

Zhihao brought the boy tight against his chest, and thrust himself inside Su Yin’s hot sheath without delay. The boy moaned, kissed and licked his fingers, holding his wrist as Zhihao used his other hand to press their bodies together. He whimpered when Zhihao climaxed within him, mewled as the demon’s continued fucking brought forth his own orgasm, splattering messily all over the sheets in front of him, and Zhihao rocked his hips gently and relentlessly, filling his lover’s body with his cum as the boy drifted in and out of consciousness. By the time Zhihao was sated, Su Yin was asleep, still holding him tight, smiling as he dreamt.

The demon wrapped himself around the smaller man, closed his eyes, and joined him.

*

Atoki kissed his mate goodbye on the path, and watched as Vruuaska loped away on all fours to join Sitka and Shindae. The three demons are were off on another scavenging mission, this one with some very specific requests from houses all over the circle, and they were likely to be gone well into the following day. Atoki had decided to use the time to brush up on some basic fire building techniques, even though he was never going to need the knowledge in a practical sense. But it was nice to fill the time with something: the history of refrigeration had been a fun way to pass a season after all. As he turned to ascend the steps, he paused, because waiting at the huge wooden doors was a person he’d never seen before.

“Hello?”

The young man was young, slim, Asian, dressed in a high collared green silk jacket and fitted trousers, and he looked nervous. He was also alone, which was unusual enough to make Atoki approach him with caution.

The boy inclined his head respectfully, and smiled.

“I was told this is the library?”

“Yes. I’m Atoki.”

The young man’s face lit up with relief.

“Jin-Ha told me I should come and find you. He said you could help me?”

“Indeed… why don’t you come inside?”

It had taken a good few years for Atoki to get used enough to demon life to start getting restless, but there were advantages to living in the most favoured house on the hill, and Nassau had waved his hand, and declared that if he, Jahke, and others wanted it badly enough, they could have a library. Atoki had immediately stamped on Kiaza’s flexible magic skills and declared that his library would be built by hand, and not by wishing. Jahke had mumbled it would take forever, but Atoki had simply shrugged. Forever was something he had plenty of.

The young man followed him into the building, and gazed up at the wide wooden spiral staircase which lead all the way up to the big coloured glass dome high above. Every wall was lined with books in a nearly unending number, and down passages similarly lined with texts, were other rooms filled with quiet knowledge. Regardless of his efficiency though, there were still piles of books, untagged and unsorted, waiting for Atoki beside his desk. Eventually he coughed politely into his hand, and the Chinese man smiled at him guiltily.

“Don’t worry about it. Everyone gets distracted by the dome. We have the only glass window in the inner circle, outside the palace of course.” Atoki knew the pride was obvious in his voice. “So, tell me, might you be the new recruit from Xingjhao?”

“Yes!” The boy smiled warmly. “Do you know Zhihao?”

“Not well,” Atoki admitted, “but Zai told us all he’d recruited. He was very impressed with you. What’s your name?”

“Su Yin.”

“Respectful Sound? You’re Chinese?”

“Yes… but you speak Chinese too.”

Atoki laughed.

“No, we’re not speaking Chinese.”

“But-?”

“It was one of what Kiorl calls Sathriel’s ‘better ideas’,” Atoki rolled his eyes.

Twenty years had passed, but he still disliked remembering that the devil even lived in the same realm as him, let alone had any control over what went on in their lives. In all that time, he had seen Nassau’s father once, when the Prince had invited him and Vruuaska to Court, and Vruuaska’s coat had been thick with rolling smoke, his eyes blazing. Sathriel had said nothing.

“The confusion caused by the million languages of the multiverse causes enough problems Upstairs, back in the beginning, the devil decided that there was only one universal language of suffering, and did away with all the misunderstandings. We all understand each other down here.”

“Except when one of us isn’t listening,” Tobias spoke from the doorway, dusting invisible soot from his boots. He frowned at Su Yin. “Did you walk here by yourself?”

“Yes?” Su Yin looked suddenly nervous, and Atoki tried to remember that to people who didn’t know him, Tobias’s strong shoulders, hard eyes, and skin decorated with the remains of obvious scars, were intimidating.

“Fuck… none of us were brave enough to go anywhere without someone we lived with for months after we got here. Zai says you showed up last week.”

The boy frowned at Tobias.

“You know Zai?”

“He’s my mate, like your Zhihao… only probably not much like Zhihao. I see he gave you jewellery.”

Atoki watched the boy as he fingered the string of beads and jewels around his throat with a soft smile. He’d seen a similar necklace, silver and set with gems like those, in Zai and Tobias’s room. Never before had he wondered if it had meaning.

“I dare say he’ll take you to Court soon enough. After all, until you meet Nassau, you’ll still age. And who wants to be eighteen forever?”

“Er, you are?” Atoki smirked at his friend. Tobias grinned back.

“Says the nineteen year old in love with a fucking dog. I’ll be in the recipe books.”

“Still trying to get through Larousse Gastronomique in the original French, are you Tobias?”

“Fuck off, Nami.”

“Uh-huh.”

Atoki half watched as his house mate climbed the spiral staircase for two turns before vanishing off down a side corridor. Knowing Tobias, he wouldn’t be down for hours, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t be listening. Atoki had gotten pretty good with his mental shielding over the past two decades, but he doubted Su Yin would even understand what Tobias could do. He turned his attention back to the boy, surprised to find that Su Yin basically hadn’t moved a muscle during their entire exchange. Atoki took a deep breath. It might have been twenty years, but he still remembered what it was like to feel new and afraid, nervous of all the things he did not know.

“Come, let’s find somewhere to sit, and I’ll make you some tea.”

*

When he’d lived in the foundling home, Su Yin had made a skill out of being quiet and going unnoticed, in the hope it would allow him to finish his studies, find an apprenticeship, and get out of life in the dormitory. Of course, he hadn’t counted on being selected as a sacrifice, but kneeling on the soft cushion in one of the library’s many chambers, drinking a substance not entirely unlike the soft green tea he was used to, Su Yin found that the skill of listening was just as useful as it has always been.

“We always like to know about new recruits in Zinkara Rumah, probably because there are so many of us. Tobias, myself, Jahke, and Jem are all former humans. You’ll meet the others in time I should think. We all tend to gravitate together, even if we’re from different worlds.” Atoki smiled at him, and topped up his own cup. “Do you like the tea? It’s definitely the best blend so far. Your Sazae Oni house mate, Wakumi, has been helping us perfect it. We grow the leaves down here now, in one of the outer rings, they get dried over the cooling lava whenever anyone has spare time to sit and make sure they don’t catch fire.”

Su Yin arched a well-shaped eyebrow.

“What is a Sazae Oni?” Wakumi had seemed shockingly normal to him. Unlike Fan He Ling, he had to remind himself consciously that she was a demon.

“Oh, you should be super thankful you’re not straight.” Atoki got up, crossed the room, and selected a large cloth bound volume from a waiting shelf. He laid the book on the low table between them, and began to turn past thick pages of coloured plates, speaking softly. “The Sazae Oni are Japanese turban snail demons, which doesn’t sound particularly terrible, but… oh here it is.” He directed Su Yin’s attention to to the page.

Su Yin stared at the image. Several beautiful women, naked and voluptuous, reclining on ocean rocks or waiting in the clear blue water, clearly luring a ship full of sailors closer and closer to them. One was smiling as she writhed, and a man on the ship’s deck leant far too far over the edge for comfort.

“They appear as lovely women who appear to be drowning. Then when human men come to rescue them, the drag them into the water, kill them, and eat their intestines.”

“That sounds horrible.”

“It’s not fun, no.” Atoki continued to flick through the book, moving past other images, some of which were things of great beauty, though others showed bloody panoramas of death and destruction.

Su Yin sipped his tea, wondering if he dared to ask the question hovering on the surface of his mind. Wakumi was dangerous, Fan He Ling clearly so, and Su Yin already knew he didn’t trust the little kitsune with the silky voice very much. But Zhihao had been good to him, kind and sweet, and Su Yin shivered to think he was spending his nights wrapped in the arms of someone who killed for fun. He chewed his lip for a moment, and took a deep breath.

“Is Zhihao in there?”

“In this book? No. Jahke will have his details in the Records department. Yours will be added to, in time. You’ll join Jem, he was the last recruit before you, though it seems like forever ago.” Atoki frowned at him. “Did he tell you what he does?”

“He’s a trickster, but I don’t know what that means,” Su Yin admitted softly. To his surprise, Atoki laid a hand over his own with a smile.

“Not all demons kill people, Su Yin. Many do, some make careers out of it and I get to live with a few of them. But down here that’s deemed normal. Tricksters are very low level demons, not particularly powerful. The fact that Zhihao recruited successfully will be of great interest to everyone, especially in the Palace.”

“Why?”

“Put simply? Everyone I live with outranks your mate, possibly including me. A demon’s rank is judged on age and power, and while Zhihao might have been around for what seemed forever to you, he is still young in demon terms. And tricksters aren’t hugely respected down here, though slightly more than empaths.”

Su Yin blinked a few times as he absorbed the information. Atoki paused, and waited until Su Yin nodded before continuing.

“Tricksters deal with the little things. Rather than put lots of effort into collecting a whole soul all at once, they bring tiny amounts of misery to hundreds, tarnishing souls a little at a time. Ever had your brush go missing when all you did was lay it down a moment ago, then not been able to find it for hours?”

Su Yin nodded.

“That’s what trickster demons do. Getting kitchen drawers stuck, losing keys, ensuring you never have matching socks. They are incredibly irritating.”

“And hugely undervalued.” Tobias was back, standing in the doorway with a large book under one arm, and a small wooden box in his other hand. “Small irritations cause the biggest arguments.”

“What, like your rule about not having sex in the kitchen?” Atoki replied with a wicked grin.

Tobias glared at him, but his gaze softened as he focused on Su Yin.

“I found something upstairs I thought you might like,” he said with a smile, holding out the slim box. “And you have a lot of questions you aren’t asking.”

Su Yin frowned, but bowed as he accepted the gift. He slid the lid of the box to reveal a small black ink stone, several short ink sticks, three natural bamboo and hair brushes, and a tiny blue and white ceramic pot which he knew would contain red cinnabar paste for making seals.

“Three out of four treasures. There isn’t a seal, but I’m sure you could make one. We can ask Vruu to find you some good quality paper when he returns?” Atoki nodded in agreement with Tobias’s words.

“Thank you.”

“Ask your questions.”

“Sorry?”

Su Yin didn’t want to meet Tobias’s eyes as he spoke. There was something hard and dark about the man who looked no older than he was, but acted as though he’d seen horrors Su Yin didn’t want to imagine, and kept on going. Su Yin hated to think he was scared. After all, Zhihao didn’t scare him, and he was a demon with fangs and the physical strength to snap him in half.

“How I got my scars is a story for another time. But if you don’t ask Atoki if he can finish teaching you your words, you aren’t going to get an answer.” Tobias stopped speaking, and stilled. His eyes flashed darkly as he looked at his house mate. “That line of questioning is not something I am ever going to share with you, Nami. I’ll see you for dinner.”

“Bye Tobias.”

Su Yin bowed automatically, but he shivered as the other man left. When he turned back to Atoki, the boy looked thoughtful.

“How did he know what I wanted to ask you?”

“Because he’s an interfering git,” Atoki muttered. “Tobias is a good guy really, being with Zai has rubbed off on him a bit though.”

“Oh.”

“You want to finish your education?”

“Yes please!”

Atoki cast around the little room, and sighed.

“Ah, shit.”