Deliverance (Book 1)

Job Five: Blood Drive

After all the usual going-back-to-sleep-for-a-minute impulses had worn off, Neil found it was a little after eleven, and a shitty day to boot. Rain was drumming on the roof in the precise way that it tended to when it wasn't planning to stop any time soon, and the outside temperature was in single digits.

Inside it was warm, though. He felt the bed beside him. It was also warm. Maon hadn't been up long. He rose and padded through the house to the kitchen, where he found her eating a mikan, waiting on the kettle. She still wore the cuffs from the previous night, and had put the shoes back on, but had left the rest distributed around the bedroom where it had landed. Her nipple piercings glinted in the low, wintery light from outside.

"Good morning, dear," she said, with a smile that was half sleepy and half seductive, and swept her hair back. He answered by crossing the room and kissing her, the mikan flavour transmitting from her lips to his.

"You taste even better than normal," he told her, taking a mikan from the bowl.

The kettle began to boil as he peeled it, and she started pouring tea. "Would you like a coffee?"

He gulped the remains of the little fruit down, the sweetness seeming to surge in him. "I'll just have a glass of water, thanks love." He admired the slenderness of her naked form in the subdued light as she bent to get the water jug from the fridge. "Nice out, eh?"

"Horrible. I don't want to go out." She poured the water, the rings on the cuffs chiming gently. Shadow and shine played over her back, muscle moving beneath that soft skin and hair glistening as it swung. He knew what they were doing that morning. She turned and passed him his glass, and he pulled her along after it. Her heels clacked across the tiles as she stumbled off-balance into his arms.

"That's not for some time." One hand was on her back, revelling in her skin's smooth warmth, the other stroked her tumbled hair.

"Oh, you have an idea what we could do if we stay in? Feels like you do," she said, eyebrows arching as she reached down to investigate the disturbance at waist level. She ran her other hand through the hair across his chest.

"I have some ideas," he said, catching her wrists and clipping the cuffs together. She squeezed him in return.

"Then you better explain them. In detail."

"In this lecture," he murmured, tearing free of her grasp and turning her in his arms, his hands exploring her, "I will prove, with examples, that you are the sexiest thing that ever walked this good green earth."

Her hands grasped at air, trying to find something to hold on to as he gently manipulated the small rings through her nipples. "Actions speak louder than words," she said, and leaned forwards, pulling him forwards over her. She took hold of the kitchen counter, grinding back into him. "So act."

– – – –

In Misato, Suzu was also waking up, although less pleasantly. She was cold and hungry. She reached out from the sanctum of her bedding and groped for the remote for the air-con on the little table and the dressing gown, where it was carefully hung on the floor. Having used them, she dozed a few more minutes, then fled into the shower. Having warmed up, though, she felt less ghastly, and the room was small enough to warm up respectably in the time it had taken to shower. She threw on some clothes and wandered down for breakfast.

Her dad was, of course, watching television. His dedication to it was like a second career.

"Suzu, have you seen this?"

"No, Dad. What's going on?"

"Road chaos, by the sound of it. There's been some sort of havoc in Kobe, something about Yakuza fighting in cars. And then Americans causing trouble in Nagoya. Look at that – see that little Turbo II? That thing managed to wreck two patrol cars!"