Part 10 (1/2)
”You did it because I asked you to,” Emily reminded him again. ”And it worked, right? So it was worth it.” She tried to smile at him as he pressed the cool cloth very, very gently to her wounded bottom.
He sighed, looking deeply troubled.
”Worth it to keep you alive, I suppose and to keep your Tenrah from progressing. But I will still carry the memory of what I did to you to the grave.”
”Hey, come on,” Emily said, trying to ignore the awkwardness of talking to him while he was gently bathing her a.s.s with the cool cloth. ”I mean, you kill people for a living, right? How much worse could giving me a little whipping be?” Then she wanted to bite her lip-last time mentioning his career as an a.s.sa.s.sin had set him off in a big way. But this time he only answered quietly.
”Infinitely worse. The ones I killed-they were just targets. And I was ice inside-I felt nothing when they died.” His eyes had a faraway look, as though he was remembering someone or something only he could see. ”I never thought to feel anything ever again. Not after Landra and Jalex...”
”Who?” Emily asked in a low voice.
The faraway look in his eyes faded to be replaced by a closed coldness.
”No one,” he growled. ”I am getting off track. Sufficient to say I do not wish to beat you again.”
”Well, I hope you won't have to but if the other starts coming back, I-ow!”
”What is it? Did I hurt you?” He withdrew the cooling cloth at once, frowning.
”No, it's not that...” Emily s.h.i.+fted again and again the sharp pain lanced through her. But it wasn't her a.s.s that was hurting this time...it was her b.r.e.a.s.t.s. ”I have to sit up,” she said, turning on her side. No matter how much her backside still stung, it was nothing to the sudden, stabbing pain she'd just experienced.
Tragar helped her up without comment and she sat gingerly on the edge of the bed, grateful that the cooling cloth he'd used on her had helped a little at least.
”Where are you hurting?” he asked.
”It's nothing. Just, um...” Emily didn't exactly want to say she'd felt like someone was poking hot needles into her nipples although that was certainly the sensation she'd had a moment before when her b.r.e.a.s.t.s rubbed against the bed. She tried to look down as un.o.btrusively as she could, wondering if she could see anything through her nightgown. To her mortification, she absolutely could.
The pale blue, silky material, which had been loose and comfortable when she put the nightgown on, was stretched tight across b.r.e.a.s.t.s which were much, much larger than she remembered. She'd always had a fairly large chest-a full C cup verging on a D. But what she was looking at now was in E cup territory at least. Her nipples were poking out too, pressing obscenely against the thin fabric and making her look like some kind of a p.o.r.n star.
”Oh my G.o.d!” Emily whispered, horrified. ”It looks like I went and got really bad breast enhancement! What's wrong with me?” She looked up at Tragar and saw there was a grim expression on his dark face. ”What?” she demanded. ”What is it-you know something, don't you? Tell me what it is!”
He sighed heavily. ”I hope I am wrong but...you may be entering Scintil, the second stage of your s.h.i.+ft.”
”What? No!” Emily protested. ”You mean I'm further along than I was? But how is that possible?”
”Because Tenrah is a natural progression that all Khalla go through.”
”But you spanked me! It made the other go away and I thought-”
”Your Kit'tara might have been driven underground not by the beating I gave you, but the onset of Scintil.” He looked troubled. ”If I remember my training correctly, your second self is in a kind of stasis or hibernation during the second stage of the s.h.i.+ft.”
”Well that's good, I guess,” Emily said doubtfully. ”But I don't know about the trade off. On one hand I'm glad not to have some other ent.i.ty trying to take over my body. On the other hand I apparently had to get p.o.r.n star t.i.tties to get rid of her.”
Tragar frowned in evident confusion.
”p.o.r.n star t.i.tties? I'm sorry-I thought I knew your language but some of the vernacular still confuses me.”
Emily blushed. What was getting into her? She felt like she was changing and not just physically. She was more a.s.sertive-less scared and shy than she had been. Was it just because of everything she'd been through in the past twenty-four hours or was it part of what Tragar had called Tenrah or the s.h.i.+ft?
”I, uh...” She shook her head. ”Never mind. The point is, how long does this stage last? And how can I reverse the whole process and just go back to being normal?”
Tragar sighed. ”As for reversing the process completely, there is no way that I know of. And any of the stages of Tenrah may be gone through quickly or slowly, depending on your body's own rhythm.” He looked grim again. ”In your case, we have to hope you go through them slowly or we'll never make it to Rageron in time. I just hope you're only in the early stages of Scintil and not the later stages.”
”What? There are stages to the stages?” Emily shook her head. ”This is crazy. How can you even tell what part of Scintin I'm in?”
”Scintil,” he corrected. ”And there is a way to tell-a small test which may be preformed.”
”There is? Well then let's do it-what are we waiting for?” Emily demanded. ”I need to know where I stand and what's going on with me!”
He looked uncomfortable.
”You may not...wish to perform it.”
”What? Why not? Is it embarra.s.sing?”
”Potentially.” He cleared his throat. ”It would involve showing me your b.r.e.a.s.t.s.”
”What? I mean, you're already looking at them,” Emily protested, feeling her cheeks heat with a blush.
”I would need to see them without your night garment in the way.” He kept his tone absolutely neutral and Emily suddenly had the feeling that this situation embarra.s.sed the huge warrior almost as much as it embarra.s.sed her. It was that feeling that made her bite her tongue instead of demanding to know if he was being a pervert. Clearly he was strong enough to take advantage of her any time he wanted and just as clearly, that wasn't what he wished. He didn't want to hurt or embarra.s.s her-this was somehow necessary.
”All right,” she said at last, taking a deep breath. ”Here goes.”
Grasping the stretchy lace neck of her nighty, she pulled it out and peeled it down, bringing it just under her extremely full b.r.e.a.s.t.s. As she did she brushed one of her nipples with her hand and gave a sharp little cry of pain. d.a.m.n, that hurt! And she had barely touched herself!
”Are you all right?” Tragar was looking at her with concern and Emily was surprised to see he was looking at her face rather than her naked b.r.e.a.s.t.s.
”Yeah, I just-I had that sharp pain again when I barely touched myself. I just don't know what's going...” Her words trailed off as she looked down at her chest again, examining herself more closely. ”Oh my G.o.d,” she whispered. ”What the h.e.l.l? My b.o.o.bs are huge. And the nipples are all weird and puffy.”
It was true. Along with her b.r.e.a.s.t.s, her areolas seemed to have grown as well. They had been the size of quarters before-now they were bigger than silver dollars. Also, they were a much darker pink than usual and strangely puffed up-almost swollen. Her nipples were tight, erect points that poked out like exclamation points from the tips of her b.r.e.a.s.t.s, as though to emphasize how strangely obscene the whole situation was.
”So this is not your normal appearance?” Tragar asked, breaking her horrified contemplation of her new b.r.e.a.s.t.s.
”No...no of course not!” Emily looked up at him. ”I mean just look at me! This isn't normal for anyone who isn't shooting an X-rated film about giant b.r.e.a.s.t.s!”
”They are larger but not out of proportion for your body,” he offered.
Emily scowled. ”If you're trying to make me feel better, you're failing miserably. This is just so weird. I mean, how could this happen all of a sudden?”
He shrugged, his broad shoulders rolling. ”It's part of Scintil. I just hope you are in the early stages yet.”
”Well can't you tell by looking?” she asked.
The big Kindred frowned, looking uncomfortable again.
”Not exactly, no. As I said, there is a...test to be preformed.”
”I thought looking at them was the test. What kind of test are we actually talking about?” Emily looked at him warily.
”We must determine if your nectar is flowing or not.” He sighed and ran a hand through his long, black hair. ”Your nipples must be pinched to see if they are producing or not.”