Message-ID: <53484asstr$1144573802@assm.asstr.org>
From: Shalon Wood <dstar@pele.cx>
Subject: {ASSM} Pandora's Box 5 (Mf Mff MMf rom ws exhib bdsm)
Lines: 272
Date: Sun, 09 Apr 2006 05:10:02 -0400
Path: assm.asstr.org!not-for-mail
Approved: <assm@asstr.org>
Newsgroups: alt.sex.stories.moderated,alt.sex.stories
Followup-To: alt.sex.stories.d

Standard disclaimers apply; this story may or may not contain, in any
given part, graphic depictions of lesbianism, homosexuality, group sex,
bdsm, underage (teen) sex, magic, occultism, violence, and biting 
sarcasm.  If you're underage, or if for any other reason it's illegal 
for you to read this, or you're disturbed by the content, please don't 
read it.

Archived at http://pandora.pele.cx, and we've got a web-forum at
http://playground.pele.cx/forums as well, for discussion of both
Pandora and our other stories. 

Comments *greatly* appreciated.

Enjoy,

Velvet
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Gabriel woke first, to a bed covered in transparent, glassy roses which
glowed faintly where they touched Pandora. He smiled, looking at her, and
slid down her body, trailing little kisses, until he was kneeling between
her legs, lapping at her cunt, tasting her juices mixed with his cum,
wanting her to wake to the feel of his tongue on her clit.

Gabriel's eyes widened at the taste of blood, and he remembered suddenly
that he _did_ have claws. There was a strong scent of blood coming from the
bed, and he had an instant of surprise that he could _smell_ the blood
before he sat up abruptly. "Oh God! Pandora? Wake up! Wake up!" He slid one
hand under her butt, trying to roll her to the side and see how badly he'd
injured her.

"Mmm? Mmmm....gabriel..." she murmured dreamily, not opening her eyes. 
"Mmmhmmm....s'wrong?"

"How bad does your back hurt? Is it really bad?"

"Hurt? Oh god no, I don't hurt _at all_...I feel wonderful."

Gabriel blinked. "You don't? But...I can smell the blood...and I think I
remember...or was that you?" He wriggled his shoulders experimentally.
"Maybe that was you raking your nails down my back, not me clawing you, but
then where did the blood come from?"

Pandora sat up, reaching for the lamp by the bed.  When she flipped it on,
he could see the blood on the sheet...a dark stain the shape of her
body...and on her back, a glistening candy-red coating. But she wasn't
moving like she hurt.

Gabriel leaned closer. "Your back is covered in blood, and so are the
sheets, but I don't see any cuts..."

She flexed her shoulders. "I'm fine. I don't feel anything-- Ohhhhhh...."
Her eyes widened as she looked down at the bed and saw the fragile,
magic-created roses.  "Oh how beautiful..." But she went a bit pale when
she saw them outlining the dark stain where she'd been laying. "Oh my...I
don't _think_ I'm hurt? But..."

Gabriel reached out, running a finger across her back, and his eyes
widened. "I...think I _did_ claw you. But it healed. You've got...there are
scars running down your back."

"Scars? Oh...I remember...something. I think. Your claws cutting me,
but..." She blushed, not meeting his eyes. "It was so...good. I
just...didn't care. I...I better go shower, I guess. I'm sorry. Um. About
your bed, I mean." She was more embarrassed than he'd seen her all day.

Gabriel smiled, reaching out to pull her close. "That was...that was
incredible. I never...I never even _dreamed_ it could be like that.
I...just for an instant there, I was you, underneath me. Were you..."

Pandora trembled when he touched her. "yes," she whispered, and he could
tell that it wasn't just shyness or even embarrassment; she was afraid of
something now, when she wasn't before.

Gabriel pulled back, looking at her, worried. "What is it? Did I do
something?"

"No! Oh god no, I just..." She looked up at him. "I don't understand what's
going on. What's happened. I...I don't know what to think. And
I'm...scared. This isn't what I expected. I mean...how _could_ it be? And
the way I'm reacting, the way I _feel_..." She trembled in his arms. "It's
scary. It's...it's not very much like me."

"I don't understand it either. There was an instant there...where you were
completely...completely open to me, and I had to choose whether to be open
like that to you, and when I did, it was...was...I don't know what
happened. I don't have a clue. But it was..."

She ran her fingers along his lips. "I'm not saying it's bad. Or that I
don't like it, or would change _anything_. I just...don't know what to
think right now. It was so..._fast_. And...and if something goes wrong, if
I'm wrong about...things...it's going to hurt...so bad..." She swallowed
hard, dropping her hand and her gaze. "I'm just scared," she whispered.

Gabriel put a finger under her chin, tilting her head up, and leaned
forward, planting a gentle kiss on her lips. "Wrong about what?"

She shivered, and he could feel her aura starting to coil around him  for a
moment before she pulled away and it jerked back as well.  "I...about
how...whether it's right to...feel the things I do. Whether it's _safe_."
She looked at him, her shadowed eyes showing her confusion. "Whether it's
even real," she finished sadly. "I...just need some time to think."

"Define 'safe'."

She slid out of bed. His aura reached for her automatically as she took a
step away, but seemed to recoil when hers reached out and batted at the
creeping tendril. She didn't seem to notice anything, though, as she
crossed her arms over her chest tightly and paced a couple of steps. "I'm
not even sure. I'm so confused right now."

Gabriel looked at her for a moment. "Pandora...Siren...I...what do you
want? I'll give it to you. It's yours. I never..." He looked away. "I never
expected to feel this again. Ever. Maybe it's...it's because of whatever
happened to me, but I don't care. I don't _care_. I don't care what caused
it, how it happened, anything. It exists, and that's all that matters." He
looked up at her, the pain clearly visible in his eyes. "If...if it seems
too sudden, think about this. We've known each other online for over a
year. I really liked you, even when that was the only way I knew you.
You've got a delightfully wicked sense of humor, an amazing amount of
common sense, a razor sharp mind...what's not to like? It's not a matter
of...of..." He swallowed, actually blushing a little. "Of love at first
sight. Maybe this is the first time we've met in person, but it's not the
first time we've met. I think I know you better than I did Lissa until we'd
been married for over a year. So...so I don't think it's that surprising."
He swallowed again, looking at her, clearly terrified now that he'd come
out and said it.

Pandora trembled, letting her head fall forward so that her face was hidden
behind her hair. "Gabriel," she whispered, voice choked. "I...oh god. I
knew what I wanted when I came here. I tried, so hard to be...be rational,
logical, fair. I didn't want you to think I was some...some silly teenager
with a crush, or some dumb virgin who couldn't separate sex and...love.  I
was so determined to be mature about things, to be happy with what I could
get, to be a...a good friend and for that to be _enough_, because that's
all I was going to ask for.  That's all it would be _right_ to ask for.
Then...then you..." She looked at him hungrily for a moment, then closed
her eyes and turned her back to him, shaking. "It's not fair! You shouldn't
be _better_ than all my fantasies! But you were...then you offered me so
much more than I'd even let myself dream of...and I was scared, but it was
worth it. Way worth it. Then...then this. And now I don't know what you
are, or what you want, or what you might...might need.	I just know that I
want you so bad it scares the hell out of me. That, suddenly, I _need_
you...the idea of not being with you is like...like imagining the most
horrible torture, worse than dying.  And I don't know what to do about
that. Part of me wants to just throw my arms around you and hold on and
laugh and sing and dance because it's so _amazing_ and I'm so h...happy..."
She sniffed, raising her arm and wiping a tear from her cheek. "But the
smart part of me, the part that I try to leave in charge, says that
this...isn't possible. That it's a trick, or a mistake, or I don't
understand, and it's all going to go away and oh god that's going to hurt
so bad..."

Gabriel just looked at her for a moment. "If...if it's not going to last,
then I...I want to enjoy as much of it as I can before...before it's too
late."

She whirled to face him, stepping forward and reaching for him, looking
afraid. "You sound...do you know something? Something...bad?"

Gabriel frowned. "Huh? No, it's just..." He met her gaze. "I couldn't take
it again. Once was bad enough, but...not again." He patted the bed beside
him. "Let met explain something?"

She shivered then sat as close to him as possible, pressing against him
with a little sigh of relief...the first physical sign he saw that
maintaining the distance had been causing her the same discomfort it did
him.

"I...talked about this online, but I doubt you really believed it. You
probably thought I was just...trying to make the best of things, but I
wasn't. I _loved_ Lissa, with all my heart. And she loved me. That's what
made it so horrible. We really, truly loved each other, and...sexually, we
were almost perfectly compatible. Except that I had a _dick_, not a pussy."
He looked at her, miserable, and it was obvious that even after a year and
a half it still tore him up. "She tried, she really did, and so did I,
but...it just wasn't something that could work. We'd have still been
friends, really good friends, if...if things had gone differently. I...I
nearly killed myself, afterwards. The only reason I didn't was that it
would have made her sacrifice be in vain."

Pandora asked, very softly, "Her sacrifice?"

Gabriel looked away. "Her parents...the alimony would have been over ninety
percent of what I made. They ensured that she never got the chance to
testify in court -- her 'testimony' was written, and it wasn't written by
her. When she found out what the judgement was going to be, she knew -- she
knew that it would destroy my life. And she knew that as soon as it was
done, her parents were going to put her in an institution to 'cure' her.
They couldn't do it until after the divorce was final, or it would have
raised some questions they didn't want asked." He looked back up, cheeks
wet with tears. "So she...she wrote an email, to my lawyer and the judge,
spelling out what really happened, and what her parents were doing. The
last -- it ended with 'Please tell Gabriel I'm sorry. I really did love him
-- _do_ love him -- and I never, ever wanted him to be hurt. I'm going to
make sure my parents can't ever use me to hurt him again.'" He swallowed,
closing his eyes in anguish. "As far as the -- the police could tell, she
waited long enough to be sure that the email hadn't bounced, and then --
then she took a kitchen knife and cut her throat."

"Oh god..." She wrapped her arms tightly around him, leaning her face
against his shoulder, hot tears seeping onto his skin. "Oh Gabriel...I..."
She slid up and onto his lap, straddling his knees, and pulled his face to
her chest, cuddling his head protectively in her arms, stroking his hair
and back, trembling as she rocked gently.  

Gabriel held on to her, tightly, crying for the first time since Lissa's
death, strangled, choking sobs.

She held him, crying with him, burying her face against his hair.  "I'm
sorry...I'm so sorry..."

Gabriel rolled to the side, lying next to her as he cried, desperate,
wrenching sobs.

Pandora rolled with him, holding him tightly. "Oh love," she whispered
miserably, "I'm so sorry. I'm here...I've got you.  I'll take care of you."
 She buried her face against his hair.	"Whatever you need."

"Don't leave...please don't leave..."

"I won't. I'm not going anywhere. I won't leave you, not ever. I swear it."

He clung to her, desperate, as if terrified that she would vanish if he
relaxed his grip. "Please don't go..."

Pandora kissed every bit of him she could reach...his hair, his forehead,
one long, curved ear. "I _won't_ leave you. I'm here...and this is where I
_want_ to be. Here, with you. I'm not going anywhere, and no one..._no one_
can take me away from you."

Gabriel raised his head, looking her in the eyes. "Marry me."

Pandora blinked, staring down at him in shock. "Wha?" she said
articulately.

"Will you marry me?"

She licked her lips and brought her hand up to run her thumb gently over
his cheek.  "You need that to be sure?" she asked gently.

Gabriel shook his head. "No. I believe you. I just..."

Pandora kissed him softly. "Just what?"

"I don't know. I just want...I want to give you everything."

Pandora kissed him again. "I don't want everything. I just want you."

"I know. But I want to give it to you." He looked up at her, eyes soft and
vulnerable.

She looked down at him, heart melting.	"Alright," she whispered. "How
could I possible refuse you anything you want?"

Gabriel smiled up at her happily. "Thank you." He pulled her down for a
kiss. "Why don't we take a shower, change the sheets, and go to bed?
Together?"

She laughed happily, returning his kiss with interest. "That sounds
wonderful," she said, her eyes soft.

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If you like this, you might want to take a look at Strange Love, an
e-zine of sf/fantasy/paranormal erotica. The first issue is on sale
now for $2 at:

http://strangelove.pele.cx

Take a look!

-- 
Pursuant to the Berne Convention, this work is copyright with all rights
reserved by its author unless explicitly indicated.
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