I laid there and held Isabella while she slumped listlessly in my arms, until the skies darkened even deeper and I could almost taste the rain on the horizon. Figuring that being outside and getting drenched wouldn’t do either of us any good, I gently eased her up in my arms, carried her inside the steps, and sat down on them. I just didn’t feel like going all the way in and dealing with Brandr and everyone else at the moment. One thing at a time is all I can manage, and sometimes I don’t even feel like I can manage that.

After a while, Isabella whimpered lightly and then moaned a few times before waking up. Her face was red and puffy – whether from her crying, or my beating, I couldn’t be sure – and she looked up at me with bloodstained eyes. “I’m sorry,” she croaked hoarsely.

“Do I need to kick you again?” Lord, I hoped not, but I tried to sound rough and harsh saying it.

Hesitantly she shook her head side to side. “I hope not. I hurt.” A few tears slowly leaked down her cheek. “If you think I deserve it, then you can,” she whispered.

All I could do is pull her up tight and squeeze her. “I don’t think you deserve anything like that. I just didn’t know how to get you to stop crying so I could talk to you last time.”

“You could’ve just asked,” came her sniffled reply as she looked up at me with a pout.

“Ummm…” I was panicking and didn’t think of that to be honest, but how could I tell her that! “Well.. Uh.. “ I was stuttering like an idiot. “Let’s dry those tears this time and try talking to me.”

Slowly I leaned up and wiped a tear from the corner of her eye. “What happened, anyway? How’d you end up like this?”

“I don’t know,” she told me again. “I was reading the skill book and it had the same skills as before. Since I didn’t want to change class and risk losing all my work, I took the same class over again – Lifestealer. After that the book started changing me again and I blacked out.”

Well, she’d told me that much last time before Brandr dropped the “you killed Drake” bombshell on her. Twice! I thought it’d be best to move on and not mention that again. “You can get effect and advantage information, right? What do they tell you?”

“I don’t know. Let me check,” Isabella told me softly. “Advantages. Effects.” Slowly she stared off into the space in front of her and then slowly she nodded to herself.

“I’ve changed once again,” she told me. “I now have the Ka’Lani Elder Bloodline. Before, it was just Ka’Lani Bloodline. Apparently, I’m an Elder of my race now. I’m not fully certain what that means, to be honest.”

“I think it means you’ve got wings, fangs, and horns now,” I tried to say with a chuckle. How the hell was I supposed to know what it meant, if she didn’t know! “Can you do something about those,” I asked.

“Maybe.” Isabella sounded uncertain. “Let me try.”

A few long moments of silence passed where I just held her awkwardly in my arms – it’s hard to hold someone with wings, no matter what a story might claim about an angel lover or whatnot – but eventually a light-blue glow seemed to rise up out of her skin and flicker around her body. As the electric current slowly moved across her back, the wings spasmed and I had to let go of her. After a few moments, they seemed to shrivel up and somehow fade behind her long hair and disappear. The two horns on her head simply seemed to almost pull into her skull and disappeared completely as well. When the flickering stopped, Isabella sat there in front of me looking almost fully human again. Curious, I leaned and pulled her lower lip down slightly, and I was relieved to see that the fangs were gone as well now.

Slowly, I pulled her back up into my arms and held her tight. Maybe it was my imagination, but somehow it didn’t seem like she snuggled into me quite as much as often. Perhaps it was simply me not being used to the feel of this new body yet, or perhaps she really does hate me now. I hope it’s not the second, but I guess I’ll have to find some way to manage if it is.

“Are you OK now?” I asked her softly.

“Just tired. I still hurt, and my magic still seems out of balance somehow.” Isabella sounded like she was going to go back off to sleep anytime.

“Let’s get you back to the room,” I told her as I picked her up gently in my arms and carried her. She was a little heavier than what I remembered from before, but I was still able to easily manage her weight in my arms. Slowly, I walked down the rest of the steps and towards the teacher’s lounge. I was happy to see the goblins were back in their rooms tending to the mushrooms, or whatever they normally do, in them.

At least on the surface, things looked like they were getting back to normal – and I suppose that’s a good start. Act normal; be normal. Right?

Getting into the lounge, Brandr was sitting in the floor meditating. She looked up as I came in, and seeing me carry Isabella, she moved and cleaned a few things off the couch so I could lay her down on it. She asked, “Is she better?”, as I slowly stretched Isabella out on the couch. She was already asleep once again and twitching fretfully.

“I think she’ll be OK now,” I told her, “but I’m not certain. It seems like she might still be going through the changing process, or something. She says she still hurts and her magic seems out of whack.”

“Good,” came Brandr’s stern thought. “She deserves to hurt for being weak and losing control. She never should have harmed you my Lord. If she was loyal, she would have ended her own life first.”

All I could do is sigh and shake my head. I wasn’t entirely certain I felt the same way. Some things are out of our control sometimes, but how was I going to convince Brandr of that? When I slowly I sat back in my chair and tried to relax, Brandr came over and nestled herself down in my lap.

“I don’t know if it’s that simple, Brand,” I told her. “Isabella wasn’t herself. The book had changed her again and I think her mind had more or less blacked out under the strain. What we saw was nothing more than her body trying to feed to complete the changes, I think. I don’t think she meant to harm us,” I told her honestly, “but, I think I may have did something which can’t be forgiven.”

“What did my Lord do?” Brandr asked.

“When she awoke, and you told her she’d killed me, she started crying and I didn’t know how to make her stop. I ended up .. umm.. spanking her.” Slowly, I sighed. Might as well tell the whole truth and get it out there so we can all deal with it together. “Actually, I stomped and kicked her while she laid on the ground until she passed out.” Slowly I tensed for that lecture about ‘men don’t beat women, you’re a beast’ from Brandr.

“Good,” was what she told me instead. “When she wakes up, you should do it again.” I couldn’t believe what she was telling me! “Pain builds character and teaches respect. She needs to know – even in the primal parts of her being – that you are our Lord and not one whom she should ever disobey or harm. "

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing! Here I was thinking that I’d went too far, and Brandr was suggesting that I repeat the lesson. If I’d ever thought my mother had been strict on me, it must have been leagues easier than her father was on her. I suppose it takes a special discipline and training to raise a daughter to become the type of woman she’d became. At least I’d never have to worry if ever facing such a situation with Brand! She’d never blame me for beating her – in fact, she’d probably apologize because she thought she failed me to the point where it was necessary!

I was even less certain now about what was right and what was wrong then I was before! I felt like crying. I felt like running out and beating the shit out of something. I was a lost jumble of thoughts and didn’t know what to think, or what to do. Out of a sudden impulse, I grabbed Brand by the back of her head and pulled her face down to force a long hard kiss from her. She didn’t resist me, and when I let go she leaned back and beamed a large smile at me that just seemed to be an invitation to continue.

And so I did.

With a force that surprised even me, I pushed Brand out of my lap and down to the floor and tossed myself upon her. I pulled her arms up and held them, and then I simply indulged myself in the warm comfort of her body for the next several hours. I didn’t want to think. I didn’t want to worry about Isabella, or if I was too rough on her, or if she was even going to be OK. I just needed something to distract me, and Brandr was my willing distraction.

If I’m honest, the next several hours was probably anything but pleasant for Brand. I lost myself in the passion of the moment, and indulged myself completely upon her. I wasn't thinking of being gentle, or trying to share the moment or passion with her at all – I was simply using her body as a means to let my mind go. I was rough, hard, demanding. I didn’t ask; I simply took – and I took until I was simply too exhausted to take any more.

I pushed myself to the point where I simply couldn’t go any longer and slumped exhausted upon her body. Brand was sprawled helplessly under me, her stamina long since vanished before my own, and I simply laid upon her soft warmth and let the darkness of exhaustion settle over me.

Knowing my luck, both girls will end up hating me tomorrow, but at least I’d have a dreamless, peaceful rest tonight.