Chapter 10: The Bad Kind of Bite...

Prophetic dreams, aren't they a bit cliché? Hopefully, what Hina was having... hopefully it was only a nightmare. In this particularly vivid dream, she was watching an angel spear Emily with a blade that looked like it was made of pure, blazing white light... she was a gorgeous woman, objectively, but Hina felt nothing save for hate when it came to this young angel. She lunged toward her, not caring if she was a divine messenger or not... Emily tried to scream something to Hina, but she was choking on her own blood, and the scarlet fluid was spilling over her bottom lip...

~~~

Hina awoke, already sitting straight up in bed, panting hard, covered in a cold sweat. The details of whatever she'd been dreaming were already faint, all but gone, but she was left with a lasting impression that, whatever it was, it hadn't been good. Distinctly, though, she remembered a girl with ridiculously long, white blonde hair and large white wings. An angel...?

"Hina, what's wrong...?" It was Aurelia, whispering, and the Succupixie sat up beside Hina, her mismatched eyes shining in the dark.

"Just a bad dream, is all..." Hina answered quietly, sighing. "Something about angels, I think, but I don't really remember anything..."

"You two need to shut up..." Emily said softly, playfully, and very much sleepily. She sat up, too, smiling her typical fanged grin. "I'm sorry about your bad dreams, Hina... just try and relax, okay...?" She leaned forward and kissed the badger girl, who huffed quietly and returned the kiss, then deepened it.

"You two are so mean, leaving me out..." Aurelia mumbled and giggled, her voice sounding drunken for her half aware state. Emily broke the kiss and lay back down, pulling Hina with her, who pulled Aurelia down as well.

"Are you okay, Hina...?" Aurelia spoke, now, her voice just as concerned and just as tired as Emily's.

"I am, yes, thank you..." Hina sighed. "I don't think I'm going to be able to get back to sleep, though, so I'm going to go and get some air, alright? You two keep sleeping, I'll just get a few mugs of coffee in the morning..." Hina moved over Aurelia and out of the bed, pulling leggings on under the slip she'd been wearing, then socks and boots. Just to be safe, she also strapped one of her knives on, along with her arm guards.

"Stay safe, alright...?"

"Yeah, do that..." Emily and Aurelia mumbled, but they were clearly just seconds away from being completely asleep again.

"I will, thank you." Feeling distracted and ridden with anxiety, Hina slunk out of the inn and into the chilly night air, beginning to walk down the street.

As it happened, this town didn't have enough people to cultivate the amount of surrounding land, so things were going to work out beautifully. Lop's citizens would settle, expanding the town, and in return they would lend their skills to the town, boosting trade, economy and property value. Everybody was happy, Hina thought as she pulled her hair into a sloppy bun, still tired... but for now, she, Emily and Aurelia had nothing to do. They could go anywhere; they were free, in a word. She'd crossed the border with Emily and Aurelia, into a country where she had the same rights as anybody else...

So, what was left to do? In many anime, the summoned hero was supposed to help fight off waves of enemies or take down the demon lord, or... something like that. Hina was just Hina, though, just a high school kid from Tokyo. Not a soldier or a hero, just... barely even an adult.

"Wow... to think, it would be this easy." Behind her, a soft voice murmured into the air, and Hina turned. Behind and now before her stood a cloaked, robed figure, and as that figure waved a withered, gray blue hand, something sharp pricked at Hina's neck. At first, she was only confused.

"What...?" The robed figure turned on the spot, and promptly vanished, leaving Hina very confused as blood started running down her chest. "What the f-fuck?!" Suddenly wide awake, Hina turned and bolted toward where she thought she remembered the healer's home to be, starting to beat on the door like an FBI agent in her old world. "Hello?!" She was bleeding heavily, still, and it was soaking into her thin slip, before long even dampening her leggings, her panties. Oddly, though, she didn't feel the least bit faint... shouldn't she be passing out right around now?? Somehow, the thought made her heart beat faster, and she beat on the solid wooden door harder, careful not to tear it off its hinges with her strength.

"Please, open up!!! I'm bleeding all over!!!"

"I'm coming, I'm coming!!" A panicked man's voice sounded behind the door, and it flew inward. "Get in here, hurry," he said quickly, eyes widening at the sight of a blood soaked, scantly clad Hina. "What the hell happened to you?"

"I don't kn-know, some robed guy, or girl, I don't know, I-I don't-"

"Shh, calm down. Lay here," the man said, practically picking Hina up and lying her across a clean, empty metal table. Tipping her head aside, he frowned.

"You are alive purely because of adrenaline, girl. I need you to stay awake, no matter what, while I get some herbs and gems for my magic. Stay awake, okay?" His voice spoke volumes to the gravity of the situation and the necessity of her staying awake.

"Y-Yes. How bad is it?"

"You don't want to know. It looks like a bite, and its deep... I'll be right back." He was already moving out of the room, and Hina gulped, starting to feel faint.

"Awake, Hina, stay awake... awake!" She felt cold, and cast the spell Aurelia showed her to warm herself... but, it didn't really do all that much, and her vision was clouding, now.

"Awake!!" Hina shakily grabbed her knife, jerked it free of its sheath, and scored a gash across her thigh. Immediately, she screamed and dropped the knife, arching her back and gritting her teeth, but the pain brought clarity to her vision, and she was able to hang on until the man returned.

"You're going to be okay, you crazy bitch! I can't believe you just did that!" He laughed, seeming to be panicked and amused at once. Now, he was working some sort of spell with gray blue mana. "What the Hell is wrong with you?"

"Adrenaline...!" Hina was starting to feel faint again, already.

"Listen, I'm closing the wounds and replenishing your blood, but if you pass out right now, you're still dead, you're half bled out. Stay, the hell, awake."

"Ohhhh I'm trying," Hina groaned, reaching out to grip the edges of the table until it felt as though her fingers would break, and the metal itself gave under her fingers a bit.

"What's your name, girl? Come on, talk to me, you can't sleep yet, this bite doesn't want to close."

"I'm Hina... fuck-up of a Summoned Hero number three! I killed one of their bastards, and I know at least a s-s-second is dead... don't let it be three just yet..." There was silence for a moment, but the healer kept working his magic, slowly easing pain and bringing her strength back even as unconsciousness ripped at her, trying to shatter Hina's will.

"You're Hina-? The HERO Hina?"

"Really just a kid... j-just..."

"It's alright, Hina, you can pass out, now. Rest knowing most folks around here think you and that Lantern Ghost might be the only real heroes out of the lot." Hina didn't even hear the rest of the sentence, though, before she passed out entirely, her titanium grip on the table underneath her slackening until her fingers hung loose over the table's edge.

~~~

"Report to me," spoke the man called Henrik. Before him stood a robed woman with her hood down; her skin was the gray blue of waterlogged, rotting flesh. Her eyes were violet, and her hair fell in long, gray waves down her cloaked back; soaked, split, filthy waves of hair.

"The false Hero is poisoned, but I wasn't able to locate the runner. She made it to a healer and her life was saved, but she will succumb to the illness in one way or another; there are only two options. She becomes a demon, and ends up hunted... or I'm wrong, and the healer fails to save her. Either way, nobody will be rallying behind the bitch, so rest assured."

"Good. Leave me, now, and collect your reward from the courier." Henrik sighed and headed to the door, where somebody was knocking softly, not bothering to watch the Lich vanish. When he opened the door, it was a maid who stood there, short and petite; his favorite, Henrik always thought, but he wasn't in the mood to bend one of his maids over, just now.

"You have the status report, then? I'm surprised they would send it with you... maybe they assume I'll be less angry hearing it from my favorite face around here. Go ahead, what is it?"

"Your majesty... Mirian forces are assembling in larger and larger groups. A small number of your Knights have gone missing in action, and those who were tracking the Non-Human, along with those pursuing the Demon... both groups of knights reached the border town of Lop, where they were wholesale slaughtered. Reports say that Lop suffered no losses at all, while nobody of yours was left alive."

"Damnit..." Henrik began to turn, but the maid wasn't done.

"Your majesty... the Hero, Yukino... he was with the knights, he snuck away. Something about a personal grudge against one of the Heroes... he hasn't come back. Scouts went to Lop, but the town has been abandoned." Henrik froze, slowly turning back.

"So, allow me to get this straight. Our forces are being killed, we've effectively lost four out of ten heroes now, and Mir just had a relatively massive victory over us that will bolster them?"

"That is correct, your highness," the maid muttered awkwardly.

"I see. Well, I must apologize, but they were foolish to send a maid with such valuable information." King Henrik, ruler of Starria, drew the knife from his pocket and, before his mistress could react, plunged it into the side of her neck. Her name was Caroline, and for delivering this message- nay, for receiving it- she was going to bleed out, here on the floor.

~~~

Hina awoke back in her bed at the inn, confused but not alone. Aurelia was there, lying with her, wearing a comfortable-looking band bra and pair of boy-shorts. The badger girl sighed softly; maybe all of that was a dream, and she'd never even left bed... she certainly felt fine, more than that.

"Where's Emily, you adorable Succupixie~?" Hina sighed and reached out, trailing a few fingers through Aurelia's hair.

"Um, Hina? Are you feeling alright? You almost just bled to death at one of the Healer's homes!" She glared, her gorgeous eyes boring into Hina's soul itself. "I mean, I'm glad you're okay, and Emily is in the bath since she's the one who carried you here and gave you some kind of messy sponge bath... she got filthy. Listen, though, what the hell happened to you?"

"I don't know," Hina admitted quietly. "I feel completely fine, though, honestly... maybe a stray demon wandered into the town? I remember some robed figure, but I was half asleep, I might have been mistaken... I don't know what was up with it, but I promise, I'm completely fine."

"Well, that's good..." Aurelia sighed and leaned forward, softly kissing the bridge of Hina's nose. "You should go and take a bath. Even if you aren't dirty, Emily will want to know that you're awake."

"You're probably right... but, first." Hina, feeling an odd streak of possessiveness, slowly moved and pinned Aurelia down.

"Hin-?" Aurelia stiffened, but her cheeks flamed and her back arched a bit as Hina kissed the girl, holding her down tightly. When Aurelia tried to pull her wrists free, Hina pinned them over the Succupixie's head and drove her own thigh gently between Aurelia's legs, grinding down. The girl underneath Hina moaned softly, and Hina slowly pulled away, standing up... only then, did she realize that she'd woken up naked.

"I'm naked?"

"Your clothes were all crusted and soaked with blood, so yes, you're naked. Might want to g-grab a robe or something on your way to the bath..." She gestured to the back of the room door, where a single robe hung.

"Thanks Aurelia!" Hina grinned back at her, grabbed the robe and wrapped it around herself before opening the door.

"W-Wait, why'd you...?"

"Just felt like teasing you, cutie~ now hush, just, pound yourself with your tail or something~" Hina ignored Aurelia's bratty huff and walked into the hall, then down it, toward the bath, where she knocked on the door.

"Occupied~!" Emily's voice called out.

"Hey hey, it's me, Hina~ unlock the door, Devil girl~" She grinned and waited patiently until Emily unlocked it, then stepped inside, setting her robe on the clothing stool beside the door. As she looked up, listening to the door click shut, Emily practically flew into her, Hina, and together they fell to the floor in a wet, slippery mess.

"Emily-?" My turn, huh? That was the thought that filled Hina's head as she felt Emily's lips softly mesh with her own. In a moment, though, the Devil drew back, laughing.

"Sorry about that, love. I'm just really glad that you're okay... the scar looks a lot better, too, but the Healer said that you probably won't be able to get rid of it entirely... it's not a good thing, totally, but it makes you look interesting, sexy~" Emily seemed like she was trying to improve Hina's mood, and the Summoned Hero appreciated the gesture as she slowly placed two fingers to her neck, running her fingers over a small, ropy scar roughly the shape of a dog-bite.

Emily stood and reached down, helping Hina to her feet. "Ah, I took so much time to clean the blood off of you, and you still came to the bath to see me~" Emily smiled a sunny smile, and for once it seemed as though there was nothing the least bit lewd on her mind. If anything, she only looked wholly, truly relieved, and completely clean.

"Yes, I did, but as you said, I was clean, and you got me all wet anyway..." Hina pretended to be upset, pouting in Emily's direction.

"Yes, how awful of me~" Emily laughed and headed across the room to grab a few towels.

~~~

Back in the bedroom, Hina was reaching for her underwear when Emily, with a smirk, gently took Hina's wrist and pushed the badger girl back. Aurelia was watching them curiously, and it seemed quite clear that she didn't really have any idea what was about to happen.

"Hina, listen. You're pretty cute in your usual, modest stuff... but I think you should try out a new look!" The look in Emily's eyes made Hina think that, whatever this was, it wasn't going to be good. Indeed, Emily smirked as she spoke.

"Get ready for the most extra uneseccary, extra convenient spell, girl~!" Emily called forth her silvery mana, like moonlight on her arms, and suddenly, clothes began to piece themselves together on Hina. First, respectable but pretty underwear, stretchy and black... a swimsuit, two piece, Hina realized after a few seconds. After that, stockings wrapped around her legs, cutoff shorts attached themselves to her waist, and a loose black shirt something like a men's dress shirt- but breathable and comfortable- appeared on her torso, open for now.

"What the hell kind of anime girl getup am I in?" Hina laughed, shaking her head. "Why would you want me to wear this? It isn't even practical."

"It is, though! Watch this!" Emily snagged her knife off the bed and moved as if to stab Hina in the stomach, lightning fast. Hina didn't have time to gasp or scream, but she didn't need to; Aurelia was halfway to Hina as if the Succupixie wanted to take the blow when there was a spark of white and Emily staggered back.

"What?" Hina was, for a moment, dumbfounded. Emily only grinned brightly.

"Bikini armor! Enemy fires an arrow for your head or chest, and the armor repels it. It's magical!"

"Magical, huh? Where'd you get your hands on this in a little border city...?" Looking down, Hina momentarily toyed with the strap of her bra. If these flimsy things could repel an arrow fired at her head, just how strong were they?

"The village chief from Lop sent them along as a gift for your thanks in the figh-"

"I didn't really do anything more than anybody els-"

"Hush, Hina~" Emily laughed quietly, sitting on the edge of the bed with Aurelia. "You were motivating, and strong, and you killed the one they're calling the racist hero. It isn't about numbers, you know...? Speaking of, the man said he had another gift for you, but that he wanted to give it to you in person; he's hoping you'll go and see him where he's resting in the Mayor's home?"

"I will!" Hina nodded slowly, stretching. "I really still don't know about this outfit, though, it's really..."

"Feminine?" Emily raised an eyebrow.

"Sexy?" Aurelia shot in with a wink.

"It's just... before, I was wearing leggings and pants and sweaters..."

"Because you were a guy before, most likely," Emily cut in, sounding perfectly reasonable. "You're a woman now, though, Hina, and there's no harm in showing off a little~ you look like any young nobleman's taboo fantasy. Now go, to the mayor's manor~"

"Alright, alright, I'm going," Hina answered, strapping her weapon belt with her knives around her waist. At the door, though, she paused for a moment. "Would... you two please come with me? Earlier feels like a fever dream, but... I guess, I'm a little bit nervous about walking the streets alone, right now."

"Aw, don't worry, we'll come~" Emily, who was until then in her underwear, and Aurelia, hitherto much the same, both got out of bed and got themselves dressed, then accompanied Hina to the door.

"Thank you, you two... I'm sure you can understand, I just-"

"We do, don't worry." Emily smiled and kissed Hina's cheek, abnormally innocent today.

"Alright, let's go, miss hero~!" Aurelia gave Hina's ass a hard, playful slap, giggled, and took the lead.