�������

Jas rounded the corner, paying attention only to pavement beneath his front tire. He was late getting to Mike's house. To make up for lost time, he was traveling at twenty five miles per hour over the speed limit. He never saw the cop off to the side of the road as he flew past him.

As the lights on the police car flashed behind him, Jas started to slow. The weight of his gun against his rib cage reminded him that he was caring it illegally. He cranked the throttle back, and watched he the needle climb to eighty five. " I can't let him catch me with my gun. There is no way I want to go to jail tonight. " Jas thought as he barely controlled his Night Hawk around a corner.

Another hundred yards ahead was a right angle corner. " Shit, I am on Manor Way. I got to slow down. There is no way I can handle this corner at high speed. " Jas thought as his bike lurched side ways in the middle of a straight away. " No way this is happening . " as his bike slid out of control down the street and through a heat mirage on the corner.

The ground underneath him turned into broken asphalt on the other side of the mirage. Jas was to busy just trying to keep his bike under control to notice. The house on the corner also disappeared at the same time. Jas was look at the speedometer and try to slow down before he hit something, so he did not notice.

The bike went vertical and Jas felt the asphalt bite his leg through his jeans. Then the tires hit a ditch, and he was catapulted through the air. He left the bike when it was doing forty five on the speedometer. He passed through a bunch of branches, hearing them snap and feeling them rip his skin through his clothing. The branches slow his forward motion a bit, but not enough. He heard the helmet crack as his head contacted a tree trunk.

His back, butt, and then feet slammed into the trunk. He had just enough time to look around before gravity grabbed him. He was twenty feet up the trunk looking back toward his bike and where the road was just a minute ago. The problem was the road was no longer there. Twenty feet behind his bike was the edge of a pond. On the opposite side was what Jas thought as the back side of a naked women climbing out of the water. He could not be sure as his vision was starting to blur as he noticed the moving form. The world as Jas knew it then plunged into darkness as his limp body hit the unyielding ground.

Celo heard a noise as she broke the surface of the pond but could not see the source. Her nose caught the scent of a deer from some where ahead of her. So, she wrote of the noise as the deer being spooked as she broke the surface of the pond.

She Climbed out of the pond as the sun was setting. She toweled off , but her clothes were still damp by the fire. While she prepared a meal of fish by the fire, she thought back to when the wise one sent here her.

"You shall go to the lake to the lake of sticks up north. Find the west side, then travel south west to a pond. Camp there until the Warlock arrives." The wise one said.

Celo had thought the Wise One had gone mad with old age. "A Warlock, wait until a Warlock arrives, are you crazy. The last Warlock died over one hundred and fifty years ago. There is no way possible that a Warlock will show up." Celo yelled at the wise one, then realized her mistake.

"Anything is possible with magic, is it not? Am I not the village Wise One? Do I not see the future with my magic? Do I not set the laws? Do I not command my warriors? Are you you not one of my warriors? Do you question my commands?" The wise one asked in a quite voice with her eyes blazing with anger.

"No, Wise one, I am your to command. But how long will I have to wait? I am coming in to season in a week or two. I would rather not be out of the village when it happens. Also, how am I to recognize this Warlock? I have never seen one." Celo pleaded.

"The Warlock will arrive on the day you go into season. He will protect you. He will also need your help. You recognize him by his actions. He will bring us out of the darkness we are traveling through now. He will change the lives of all he comes in contact with, weather for good or evil only those whose lives he touches can say. Now, pack up and get ready to travel. You leave at dawn." The Wise One turned and left the room.

"Well, Warlock you had better arrive soon or you'll make a liar out of the Wise One. I went into season today." Celo said to the air as she sat down to eat.

As Celo finished her meal. she heard someone trying to sneak through the woods behind her. She dove for her sword and shield. She rolled into a crouch, sword up, and shield back to defend, as three men stepped in to the clearing. One of the yellow clan, one of the stripped clan, and one of the brown clan.

"You are mine female, I will be the first to take you this season." The brown male yelled as he lunged toward her.

"No, she is mine to take first." yelled the yellow as he attacked the brown.

The Striped clan male advanced slowly towards her ignoring the others. His sword coming down on her shield as she sliced out with her own. The night then filled with the sound of metal on metal.

Jas awoke in darkness, his mind in a haze. He couldn't remember where he was, how he got there, or what the day of the week. " Must have been one hell of a week end." He thought, "Now where the hell is my bike."

Jas stood and the ground seemed to turn to liquid. Before he knew it, he was sitting on the ground again. He saw the out line of a lump on the ground. He crawled over to it. His vision blur and star flew past his eyes as he moved toward his bike. He slid his hands over it in the dark, finding dents and scraps all over the bike. "Don't tell me I was stupid enough to drink and drive." He said to no one in particular.

Jas's hands then hit on what he was looking for, his pack for the weekend. Good it is still here. Now, where is my sword." He dug throughout the pack strapped to the back of the bike. His hand finding the handle of his Ninjato. Good it still here. He pulled it from the bag and examined it, for bend s or nicks in the blade. A fire behind him reflected in the blade. Where the hell is that light coming from?

Jas turned and started walking toward the camp fire with out thinking about the sword in his hand. Jas was not thinking at all, just walking forward out of curiosity. He reach the edge of a small lake, and heard a mans voice yelling ahead of him. A seconds later Jas heard the sound of metal on metal and a women's scream.

Every fiber of his being screamed in outrage as he ran toward the distant fire. He had not realized he was running until he had cleared about a hundred yards. His sword a distant and discarded memory of being in his hand. He was not wondering about the sounds of metal on metal still continuing to rage ahead, or what he was going to do when he got there. He was just plain scared that he would not get there in time to save the women.

As he got closer to the fire he could make out the forms of two men battling on one side of the fire and closer to him was a man attacking a women. Jas ran straight at him with out a fear of being hurt. His rage at the boiling point. He tackled the man at a full run. Jas rolled out of the tackle coming to his feet, his forgotten sword coming up to block any unseen attack. The sword seeming to come alive in his hand, pulling the practiced forms of years, out of thin air. His vision still fogged and his mind still swimming in it on juices, the sword pulled him forward to attack.

Even though Jas felt as if he was going to pass out, he knew his forms was perfect. The swordsman in front of him was good, real good. If Jas was thinking, instead of just reacting, He would be hard pressed to keep the mans blade from cutting him. The man he was fighting made a fatal mistake, lowering his guard to block a faint to his crotch, then lost his head for the effort. As the man body fell in front of him, Jas saw a blade being pulled free from chest of one of the men just across the fire.

The woman was still standing behind Jas. "Friend or foe of yours young lady?" Jas asked as he unzipped the front of his coat. Jas knew he would only be on his feet a few more minutes. Blackness was creeping into to his vision.

"Foe." was all she said. But, her voice was sweetest sound he had ever heard. If you could fall in love with a woman for her voice, his was there.

"Leave this place, or I shall be forced to kill you." Jas yelled at the man as he approached. Jas dropped his sword and reached in his coat for his gun.

"You will kill me. Are you joking sir? You are barely able to kept on your feet, let alone fight. You have even dropped your sword. Step aside the female is mine." The man yelled back.

"You are right. I don't have time to fight you with a sword. But, I am defending a woman and with that I can forgo the way of the sword." Jas said, pulling the nine from it's holster. "I do not have time for your shit."

The report from the gun shattered the night, as a small red hole appeared in the front of the mans head. A fine mist filled the air behind his head as he slowly tipped backwards. Jas reholstered his pistol and kneeled to pick up his sword. He spun on his knee to the woman behind him.

There she stood totally naked, sword at the ready to defend. Jas plated the sword tip in the ground so he would not fall over. His eyes scanning the most perfect body he had ever seen. His every breath seemed to increase his desire for this women. Every second that passed he fought with every ounce of his will to stop himself from reaching out to touch this beautiful woman before him. His mind went numb and his mouth going dry as he saw her gorgeous eyes starring at him with shock and fear. With a trembling voice he said, " Is there anything else I may do for you, Milady?" Then the darkness he had been hold at bay over took him and he slumped to the ground.

Celo reached out and poked him with a finger, but he didn't move. Wondering why he had passed out she search his body for wounds. There was a lump on the top of his head, but she knew that he had not been hit during the fight. He must have been hit before he had fought for her favor. The Warlock had fought better then anyone she had seen before. If he was capable of fighting at that level with this kind of wound, he could take out her village without his magic.

Celo decided that that the only thing to do was keep him warm. So, she rolled out her bedroll next to him. Celo undressed him starting with his coat and shirt. When she got to his boots, she found them bound with a skin that she had never seen before. It folded back on it self and stayed there. She gave an end a pull and it came free with a sound like it was ripping. She hoped the Warlock would not be mad and could fix it when he awoke.

When she had his boots off, she found more foot ware. As she pulled them off, she wonder what the purpose was of the second pair of boots so thin. She pulled off his pants and stared in disbelief at the second smaller pair underneath them. With a shrug she pulled them off and rolled him in to the bedroll. She climbed in with him for warmth, noticing a few dozen small bruses and scraches on his back. She drifted off to sleep with a million questions that would have to wait until he awoke.

Jas awoke from the blackness once again, to find himself under a blanket completely naked. He was surprised to find an arm wrapped around him and what felt like a naked breast squished again his back. He slowly climbed out from under her arm, wishing not to wake whoever she was behind him. As he stood, the blanket folded back exposing her upper torso to the night air. He reached down to put the blanket back over her and was almost overwhelmed by the strongest desire that he had ever felt for a woman. He stopped himself a fraction of an inch away from touching the sun baked soft smooth skin of her breast. Quickly, he grabbed the blanket and covered her up. Every step he took away from this lovely creature was a battle in and of itself. It was not like him to try to take advantage of a sleeping woman. It was not in him to even be in the same room with a naked woman he did not love. Yet some how he had found himself in the middle of the woods with a beautiful naked woman arm wrapped around him. In a fight to the death for her, and he had killed twice last night.

Time seemed to stand still as he looked for his clothes. Her mere presence tore at him, asking him to make love to her. He could not understand this attraction. He had to force himself to put his clothes on, then he tried to find some thing to bury the bodies. In the end, he had to use her shield as a shovel to dig three shallow graves for them. The effort seemed to take his mind off the girl sleeping only a few feet away. A wind had picked up blowing at his back as he looked at her. he welcomed the coolness of its presents and seemed to gain a little more control over his lust.

The sun was rising slowly as he finished the graves. He walked away from her, to the edge of the woods. He sat up against a tree, and watched her sleep. If she was anything like her outsides, inside, he would be in love with her in a few days. She was the only thing good to happen to him in the last few days. As he watched her, his eye lids fell slowly down and he returned to sleep.

Celo awoke at dawn and was surprised to find her arms were empty. Without casting a sleep spell on her for him to have left. She had always been a light sleeper, not even a mouse could have walked within ten feet of her without waking her. He must have cast a spell, but why would he, she was in season. All males want to mate with a female in season.

The Warlocks of old had been mean and evil rulers. This Warlock did not seemed to be Evil. She had believe at first that he saved her from being raped by the others so that he could rape her himself. Now, that he had shown restraint against pheromones she was producing, she wanted to be his mate. There was no other male that she had known that could have withstood the power of the pheromones. They would have raped her as soon as they awoke, even it they were good males in the first place. The scent she was producing, made them have to mate, they had no choice in the matter, at that distance. But this Warlock got up in the middle of the night and walked away. She was sure he had not taken her, even though he had cast some sort of spell to keep her sleeping. If, he had mated with her she would be sated for at least half a day. But, her body was telling her how bad she need him to try to conceive with her. So, there was no way he could have touched her in the last eight hours. Plus, she was suppose to bleed with the first time, and there was no blood on her legs.

She walked over to him. He was asleep again next to a tree. How could he fight this, her cravings had to be only half of his, and she was at the breaking point. If he had not been a Warlock, she would rip off his clothes and rape him right there. Even though every male that had such treatment from the females in her village said that it was not rape. They thought it was fun to have a woman that had just gone in heat run out and take the man they wanted in such a fashion. She just wished she knew if the Warlock would like this form of mating also.

Before he had passed out last night, he had offered her any other service. She wanted him so badly now that if he was awake she would tell him the other service she wished of him. Instead she sat next to him and start to stroke his hair. Her hand ran down the side of his cheek. She pulled his head to her chest and she started to clam herself by singing a song she had heard as a baby. It had just soothed her craving to a controllable level as the Warlock started to wake.

He awoke with the soft touch of her hand running down his cheek. Her sweet voice singing something that he did not recognize. His other cheek was press up against something warm and soft. He lifted his head to see that he had been against her breast and he felt his face change to red. He knew that from his ears to his neck line, he had a deep crimson shade now. She had not bothered to dress. He scramble to back away, but the tree was in the way.

"Sir Warlock, if I may ask, how did you get over here without waking me?" She said with a voice that ran down his spine and grabbed his lower region.

He have never wanted anyone as much as he did this woman. His hormones kicked into high gear. Every sexual position he could possibly achieve ran through his head. After a few minute, he manage to get his thoughts under control enough to ask, " What is your name?"

"My lord Warlock, my name is Celo." She answered.

"My name is Jonathan." He managed to stammer. "Jonathan Alexander Snow. My friends call me Jas."

Celo just sat there staring at him as if he had just stab her through the heart. Then as if she was unsure if she should say it, she said timidly. "You truly fear nothing, do you, Sir warlock?"

"What do you mean by that Celo? And please call me Jas." He said softly, because at just that moment she smiled and he felt as if his heart might brake from the beauty of it.

"It is just that you told me you full true name. I may not know how to use it against you. Nor would I want to. But, there are those out there that could and they may be able to work magic to just your name from me. Telling me your true name is a great risk and a true sign of trust. I am very honored Warlock Jas." Celo answered with a light bow and a smile that out shined the sun.

Jas could not get her naked body out of his mind. The little bow she did drove him almost to the breaking point. He had not even held a women in three years. He was sure that she did not know what she was doing to him. Every move she made was innocent enough. He closed his eyes and asked, "Celo, Could you please go put your clothes on ?"

"Why, yes, Warlock Jas. I did not know my form was displeasing to you. I am sorry that I offended you." She said as she stood up. She turn and was walking back toward the camp by the time Jas opened his eyes.

"Your form does not displease me. Quit the opposite. I hav....." As he said this, his mouth stopped working. Besides the fact that her butt was the most perfect he had ever seen. He was staring at a two foot tail that extended from the base of her spine. Raven black hair covered it and there was a two inch wide section of it running up her back to the short cropped hair on her head. All of it was the most beautiful black he had ever seen. The result of which made him forget to speak. He almost forgot to breath.

She turned and said, "Yes, please continue Warlock Jas." Smiling at him as he stared at her body.

He came back to reality as she said Warlock. "Please just call me Jas. All my friend do. I am not a warlock. I would like to consider you my friend. More then just friends. But friends will do if that is all you wish from me."

She appeared to be struggling not to say something that she may have wanted to scream. It appeared painful to Jas for her to say simply. "Then we shall just be friends." With that she turned and walked back toward the fire.

She must be from the convention. That could be the only explanation for her tail. It must be a perfect part of her costume. Hell I got to find a phone and call the cops." He stood to go get his bike. His head did not spin this time. He only had a dull ache on the top of his head. He had many headaches before that were much worse then this one. He could deal with it and fixed what ever had happened to his bike.

Celo turned at that moment and said coldly. "There are people waiting for us. Just as I waited for you. We must hurry or there will be more blood shed before we reach my home." She turned and started to dress thinking, "I come all this way and wait for days. And what does the warlock want from me. He just want to be friends. I thought the wise one had insinuated that we were going to be more. I want more. But he leaves the choice to me, when he knows I have no right to ask for more. What kind of sick game is he playing with me. Her mind never letting it go as she dress and did not even look at where he was going.

She was pissed and she did not even know why. It was not as if he had turned her down. She had not even asked him for what she really wanted from him. He had asked her to be his friend. No one had ever done that before. Somehow, she just had friends, but no one had ever asked he for it. After getting dressed, she packed the camp site, gathering up everything in sight.

She noticed that he had left his sword. She picked it up and cleaned the dirt off it's blade. It looked new, but felt incredibly old to her and it was magical. That was her one magic, to tell her everything about any inanimate objects she touched. The only reason she could think of that she could not tell its age was that the magic in it somehow mask the sword from her talent. The sheath was at her feet so she took it and placed the blade inside it. Then went looking for the Warlock, because he had left the clearing while she was dressing. She heard the grumble of a beast she could not recognize, and head off in that direction to see if had something to do with the Warlock.