Dead Nico proved to be pretty cadaverous once the sign slashed into him, a peculiar look of aging on a youthful face that spoke of a demon housed in too-mortal a body that held no soul in competition. Maria had seen it in his dumb friend Liam all those months before-something she hoped she would never see again.

"So you're the cock ring of a Throne that got my son killed."

Maria clutched at the jewelry that never left her neck. "Mark!"

The demon limped slowly towards her, pain from the strike still etched on his face-but there was no Mark to stop him. "That dumb bird isn't coming, girl. I made sure he was nice and dick-deep before coming here."

This Nico decided to grab her by the hair and pull her off the couch-Maria barely got her other arm around Ethelyn after that force snapped the chain around her neck. Part of her turned off her ability to feel anything, not even fear. She was numb except for the fire in her scalp.

Nico snarled as he pulled them against his chest. The demon took his other hand and forced Maria to look up at it. "Such a nice little breeder. You will bear my seed until I feel justified in Nico's death. A thousand Throne-filled demons will ravage this earth."

Maria dropped the ring-not because she believed it would bring the crow to her, as he should already be here. She feared it would get in the way of her holding on to her child.

"Drop that baby. That damn Fey only cares about it and will gladly let me have you, you fool!" Nico hissed in her face.

The drop could kill a newborn. "No..."

"Fucking..." Nico spat out before losing track of his threat due to the dip in the temperature in the room.

"I hate when you demons drop a Siderite bomb on me." The same strange monster Mark had lurking underneath his skin was out in full force, black feathers, whirled skin, rawboned musculature in a face that held the red rings of death. The new element was the sulphuric stench that wafted off singed feathers. "How many times do I have to tell you that only works on a full Fey before you stop being stupid? Demons thrive on Siderite."

Nico dug its nails into Maria's flesh. "Come no closer, murderer!"

A single glyph carved in the air and Nico's body convulsed into the frozen shape that Mark's power forced on his prey. Thankfully that caused its hold on Maria to go slack. She landed on her ass, barely jarring Ethelyn into crying.

Mark helped her up and backed off as his feathers were still smoldering. "Do you want out of here?"

Maria shook her head no and shakily sat down on the seat and re-latched her daughter, wishing she had a cover of some sort-which Mark settled into place. He didn't have time to read her thoughts-he just knew he hated whatever threatened to breed her to death with an ill-concealed rage.

Which made sense because Nico was still leering at them. "You Fey whores. Always freely bringing children into the world without thought of the greater glory of your kind."

Mark's grin in his obsidian mask was as nasty as Nico's. "You're female aren't you? Damned demons that talk about glory and breeding aren't men. Maria, I really wish you'd leave for this."

Maria shook her head. She wasn't budging, not for anyone-not even her own sake.

Mark strode over to the demon and took it's head between his clawed hands and pushed as much Fey power as he could towards it, dropping the room into frigidity. "Open Up that mind of yours, you shameless worm."

The scream that came out of that body was bitonal, high-pitched, and warbling. Smoke poured out of every pore in its face as the crow inhaled it. It drew all the vitality that remained in the cadaver out until the body fell in a mushy clump the size of Ethelyn's head.

Mark kicked the offending mass into oblivion then slumped into the rocker by the couch and rested his forearms on his knees, all without changing form.

Maria looked like she could be sick everywhere. "What was that?"

"It's the reason why I can't use force." By the way he straightened up, it was clear he knew that he should have explained this months ago. Of course, every time he tried giving her detailed explanations, it interfered with lovemaking, so she tended to be too pissed to hear him. His timing was as bad as his skills were good. "Living people slowly wither away. The dead, possessed? It's all too fast. Reg doesn't know shit about me-she just knows her crusade, which is overwhelmingly a just cause. She's dealing with a campus full of demons and humans that never needed demons to be evil."

~~~

Consuming a soul's memories-even another demon's-allowed the crow to be free from his chains for the rest of their time waiting on Maria to be ready to travel.

Maria didn't like what changed. There was less affection towards her, no stirring of her memories like he usually did. That included his sleeping most nights on the footboard, no matter if she begged, fought, or threatened him. But she knew it was more than him being fed-it was his fears. It's like Lugh never left us alone.

She was released for sex two days before they intended to go-clean bill of health, healing normally. Mark was right outside with Ethelyn, she went to hug them both. He pushed the child into her arms and walked them around the corner to teleport them into the house.

Maria waited until she had taken care of Ethelyn's needs and she laid down for a nap in her bassinet. Mark joined them by perching on the footboard for the thousandth time and she thought she saw red at that point-she had had enough. She pulled that damn crow off his perch and dragged the monster into the bed with her, where he squawked in protest. The struggle to get out from under the blankets forced him to shift more towards a man, and the moment where he could have overpowered her was when she kissed him. She hoped he didn't take it as he must perform immediately...

That backfired. Well, not the kiss itself, but her intentions. Mark wrapped his arms around her and kissed her back as much as he ever did while starved.

By the time he pulled back, the clothes were gone, she was nearly folded in two and he was close to starting one of their wild rides when it seemed like the fog cleared from his mind. "Fuck!"

He didn't move away, shaft throbbing against her like his heartbeat, nor did he go further.

"Welcome back to the land of the living, baby," Maria deadpanned this as if he didn't mean shit to her.

He let out a slow breath like he didn't know where to start. "I knew that if you touched me, we'd end up like this."

"Is it a bad thing?"

"I'm not starving."

Ethelyn let out a small little snore. They both laughed, Maria more freely than Mark. It took the edge off her anger, leaving her feeling bad for him, if only by an inch. "If you just want to hold me, that's fine."

"I'm right here because this is what I want."

"Then why?"

"I'm trying to give you space for whatever you choose to do with Lugh."

"That's two days from now and we've been denied. Please..."

He let out his breath and let her legs down so he could rub his cheek against her breast as he adjusted himself, pushing in as slow as he could manage, waiting for her to show she was ready for more. He kissed her lips gently and began what he did best: searching for the perfect memory. He chose their second time without aid where he had rocked her against him one half-asleep morning when he finally started resting in bed. It was a much slower pace than he had first responded with, but each slow stroke reminded her that he did care about her, even loved her.

That thought pulled her out of it a little. Does he love me or does he need me to love him?

He jerked back from their kiss. "Stop. Love doesn't cover everything you are to me, as if feelings alone make up everything...fuck!"

Here Mark was, trying to be gentle, but the confusion he had laid out between them shattered his heart in a way that he couldn't articulate. Sex wouldn't show it, words couldn't cover it. Lugh may have been his God, but this was the woman he chose to worship, and she didn't belong to him alone.

Deep stress could bring forward the inhuman-as he cursed, teeth elongated. Out of all the weird ways Mark changed, this bothered Maria the least. Maria reached up and tugged his lips down to hers, and almost cried in relief at the taste of blueberry cobbler. Her man was back in fighting form.

Mark slipped back into the memory and slowed it down further, giving her a fraction of that pace to grind into the depths, letting her readjust to being too full, then pulled slowly out and let her feel him entering her all over again as if it was the first time.

He has a fascination with starts, doesn't he?

Mark stayed in that moment, letting it torment them both. Maria could feel herself starting that climb, but it was not what he was feeding into her.

What resulted was the gentlest climax she ever had. All the stress that had been mounting dropped away for a brief moment and he was there to witness it.

He slowly backed out of the kiss.

But I like blueberries.

Mark smiled and kissed her cheek, then rolled them over to let her fall asleep on his chest with him still inside her.