Poppins’ Return

Chapter 9 – Battle Ground

I awoke for the second time that morning much more like a typical Saturday. In other words, my head felt like it was going to explode and my sinuses were so packed that it was as though I had inhaled about six pounds of mashed potatoes.

But I wasn’t terror-stricken.

I let the sun (blessed wonderful daylight… wait, daylight?) peek through my eyelids enough to realize that it must be nearly noon. When memories of the previous night came flooding back to me, I did start to panic, especially when I realized that Marly’s warm form was not laying next to my own. I noticed a note on my bed-stand, and I relaxed a bit.

Sleeping next to Marly (naked no less!) is a joy and a privilege. I was far too exhausted to take advantage of our position, slipping almost immediately into a dreamless slumber. The mere thought of her supple breasts pressed up against my bare back was enough to wake up another part of my anatomy, and I cursed myself for being so damn weak. I snagged the note and rolled onto my back with a sigh.

–Mark,

We need to talk as soon as you are able.

MP

Short and sweet. MP? I never thought to ask Gran what her last name was. I hopped out of bed, and caught myself on the bookcase as my legs gave way under me. I guess I was a lot weaker than I thought. That weird bitch really did a number on me, fucking with my mind as well as my humanity. As I carefully stepped into the shower, my brain kept slipping back to the dark-haired girl and her lithe body. I could still see her; her shadowed form sitting astraddle my thighs; her breasts like beacons as she slowly rocked in and out of the moonlight from the window, fucking me… Killing me… Even now, I wanted her. I wanted to feel the warmth of her sweet sex as she gently eased down over me, sealing me into her web of lust and pleasure. I longed for her soft gasps of breath as her naked thighs slowly worked me closer and closer and closer…

My vision started to tunnel, and I violently shook my head. The pain that breaking from the vision caused couldn’t have been from a simple hangover. I slumped to the floor and reached for the cold water knob. When it hit me, I nearly screamed, but the effect was instant and wonderful.

Putting on my jeans and a simple t-shirt, I headed over to knock on Marly’s door. She opened it as my knuckles were just about to touch the wood, and I sighed again. To my delight, she was dressed in denim overalls and a sports top, which left a creamy white swath of flesh at her midriff whenever she turned to the side. It was just what I needed to take my mind off the freak with the pointy ears, and I smiled like a puppy as she took my hand and led me into her room.

I noticed at once that she had moved the small table off to one side, and in its place on the floor were several large pillows encircled by a ring of what looked like flowers, grass and leaves. She motioned me not to disturb the formation, but carefully guided me into the circle. Together, we sat facing one another Indian-style. Almost as though driven, I sucked in a deep breath and let it slowly pass out my mouth. It was like blowing out six years worth of deadly toxins and my hangover was abruptly gone.

“Holy shit…” I whispered in awe. She just smiled. As my head became clearer and clearer, I understood just how mentally burdened I was. Like huge weights falling off my body, my mind was once again under my own control. The temptation to return the deathly visions was gone.

“Right,” she said, reaching behind her for a pad of paper and a pen. “How do you feel?”

I stared back at her for a moment, trying to understand. “I feel like a million bucks! What just happened?”

“This,” she replied, pointing to the ring of vegetation, “… is a Faerie ring.” I was about to interrupt her again, but she held up her hand. “It acts as a shield against Bazerith’s influence on you.”

“Who?”

“The Faerie who tried to kill you last night.”

My eyebrows went up. “Faerie? That was a Faerie? I thought Faeries were tiny little winged females that lived in flowers and kids’ story books.”

“No. And as you found out, they are not to be trifled with. Mark, I’m so sorry about last night. I almost lost you, and it’s all my fault…”

“Your fault?! Marly, I remember what happened. You saved my ass! That chick was pumping me right into the grave!”

At this, her face turned bright red, and she stared down into her lap. “But don’t you see? It shouldn’t have happened at all! If I were doing my job, I would have seen that attack coming a mile away.”

“How? You said yourself that you can’t see the future. I’m more concerned as to how she managed to get into a third story window without even making a sound…”

Marly waved off my words and then looked up at me with a pained expression in her eyes. “Mark, getting into your room was nothing to her. It was easier than walking into an unlocked room. And that’s because **I** failed to lock it. I sent you to bed and didn’t even warn you of possible dangers. It was stupid!”

“Hey there…” I said reaching for her hands. They were cold. “Come on, Marly. Don’t be so hard on yourself. You can’t see everything coming, and it was late. Hell, we were both so tired that we weren’t thinking clearly. I don’t blame you, and damned if I’m going to let you blame yourself.”

She breathed a deep sigh and looked a little better. “I still say I should have prepared you.”

“Okay, so prepare me. I take it that this circle thing is some kind of magic whatzamahoozit.”

“It’s called a Faerie ring, and yes, it has magical potentials.”

“It does wonders for a hangover too,” I said smiling.

Smiling back, she brought the pad forward. “Are you sure you’re ready for this? It gets pretty spooky from here on out.”

“Ready or not, I had better understand what I’m dealing with before somebody else shows up in my bed.” I was starting right at her when I said this, and her mouth dropped open for a moment, then snapped shut.

“Alright then… We’ll start with the basics. What I’m putting down here is the basic structure of the previously unseen part of the world known as the Fae. It’s really much older than human history, but we won’t go into that right now. I’ll only be dealing with what is true as of today. Got it?”

“Right,” I replied, trying to see what she was writing.

“First, and at the top of the list, are the Powers. These are the really big entities that are for all practical purposes, goddesses.”

My brows perked up again, but I held my tongue.

“The Powers don’t mess too much in the dealings of humans or Fae, so they really don’t fit into the picture except as a reference. Just know that they’re there.”

I nodded.

“Next down the chain of command are the Dominion Queens. They oversee entire races, and are very powerful. They are also direct links to the human world. Currently, there are no Dominion Queens.”

“Why not,” I asked.

She paused for a few seconds, then looked me steadily in the eye and swallowed. “Because they were all killed off.”

“Oh…” I said, regretting my interruption.

“Just below the Dominion Queens, however,” she continued, writing on the pad, “…are the Principalities. Each Domain has four Principalities, each named after a wind, or North, South, East, and West. Are you still with me?”

“I’m there.”

“Okay. Below the Principalities are the Lands, and then your average Fae folk, who make up the majority of the forest population. There are nine primary non-fallow races which make up the current population, and about another eight that make up the fallow, or ‘lost’ races.”

“Lost, how? As in extinct?”

She took on that cute pondering look and held the pen to her chin. “Not extinct exactly… More like missing. They are simply not participating in the world at this time. Let’s move on. That makes up the races, but within each race, there is currently a division.”

“What, like a civil war?” I was thinking that Marly would make a great history teacher, especially if she dressed as she was now. My dick started to stiffen every time I looked up at her. It was the way the swell of her breasts just slightly protruded from the sides of her overalls that got me.

“Yes, exactly. What it basically boils down to is those of the Fae who are pro-humans and those who are… well, anti-human. The pro-human ‘Court’ as it is called, is known as the Seelie Court, and the anti-human Court, the Unseelie.

“And just like there are political groups within our own governmental system, there are also groups in the Seelie and Unseelie. Let’s start with the Seelie so you know who your friends are.”

As much as I was never into political science in high school and college, this was different. This was the dynamics of an entire world that as of an hour ago, I didn’t know even existed. I stared up at my tutor in silent awe while she scribbled on the pad in front of her. It was simply amazing to me that she had access to the information she was presenting, and I felt like the luckiest man in the world. Apparently, she caught me staring at her and looked up at my childlike grin with slight concern.

“Are you paying attention?”

“Oh yeah…” I answered, somewhat lustfully. She ignored me and returned to her pad. After a few moments she turned the paper around and handed it to me.

Powers
Queens

Queen of Trees

Dominion Queens

Principalities
Four Domains for each known race (NSEW):

Pixies

Dryads

Nymphs

Faeries

Brownie

Nixies

Rusalki

Naiades

Sprites

Within each Domain there are Lands.
Fallow Races:

Dwarves

Gnomes

Hobbits

Orcs

Goblins

Leprecauns

Trolls

Elves

There are two Courts:

Seelie Court – Composed of Factions

Ellyllon

Daoine Sidh

Gwragedd Annwn

**Tuatha dé Danann

Tylwyth Teg

Unseelie Court – Composed of Factions

Gwyllion

The Sluagh

“As you can see,” she said pointing to the section regarding Courts, “It can get a little complicated. The ones you want to pay particular attention to in the Seelie Court are the Daoine Sidh and Tuatha dé Danann.”

“I noticed you starred that last one…”

“Oh, that was somewhat subconscious.” She was looking at the floor and I knew something was up. I pressed by leaning forward so that I could look under her face and up into her eyes.

“Do tell,” I prodded with a smile.

“Well,” she said hesitantly, “that’s my own clan.”

“Your clan? Are you… what did you call it? Of the Fae?”

“Hmmm.. Not directly. Those are my ancestors.”

I let that sink in for a while and mulled over the list in my hands, thinking.

“So where does that faerie in my bed last night fall into this chart? What was her name again?”

“Bazerith. And you should be very careful not to think about her outside of this circle. A faerie knows when you are thinking about them, and can use it as a channel to influence you. Your attacker last night was a particularly strong one who I have had dealings with before. More than three dozen men have fallen prey to her deadly lovemaking, and you came very close to joining them. Her spell is still woven in your brain, so be careful!”

“No kidding… But if she’s so tough, how were you able to deal with her? She seemed downright afraid of you!”

She smiled. “Like I said, I’ve been trained by some pretty damn good warriors. That, and I’m especially good at temporal attacks. Humans seem to have a knack for that. Bazerith is probably stronger and faster than I am, and had a ton of magic tricks to throw at me, but I have a few of my own tricks, and I’ve got the moves to boot.”

“The moves?”

“In the land of the Fae, the most deadly attacks are all by hand. Weapons are too easy to track, remember. Going after a faerie with a gun for example would be completely ineffective.”

This one caught me up side the head and made me stagger a bit.

“Wait a second… Are you trying to tell me that you could shoot a faerie and the bullets would just bounce off or something?”

She just smiled back at me. I was the poor stupid child in this little game, and she knew it. “No. What I’m saying is that the bullets would never even come close to hitting her at all.”

“Huh? How?!”

She sighed.

“Remember when we talked about weapons in temporal space? Well, shooting at a faerie is useless because they can see it coming. Then they just step out of the way at the right time, or push you into a temporal lane where the gun jams, or make you miss. For them, it’s as natural and easy as breathing. In fact, you could stand a faerie in front of a twenty man firing squad and you still wouldn’t be able to hit them.”

I was dubious. “And yet, you can take one out with your bare hands?”

“It’s the only way.”

“Show me,” I said rising.

She sat on the floor for a while and then looked up at me.

“Mark, I’m not sure you’re ready…”

“Ready or not, I’m going to have to learn how to fight the enemy sometime. And I can’t do that unless I believe that my teacher knows their stuff.”

“Alright,” she replied, tossing her hands in the air. “But I warned you…”

I stepped back, and did a little Rocky Balboa dance with my hands up. Smiling, I motioned for her to bring it on. She just stood there for a while, then sighed. Dropping slightly, she entered what looked like a squat Karate stance and locked eyes with me.

I was cocky. I was in love. I was stupid.

One moment she was facing me, her arms just above her hips, the next she was a blur of straight red hair and blue denim that zagged around my left side. It wasn’t how fast she was moving, which was remarkable in itself, but rather the way that she moved. I couldn’t focus on her. Her arms and legs and torso all seemed to be moving in different directions, but with such grace and control that it was stunning to behold. And then I was falling.

I never even remember her touching me, but she must have, for I abruptly landed on my rump on the floor, my feet in front of me. A fraction of a second later, there was a thump on my chest, and I was knocked flat. I expected to hit my head on the hardwood floor, but I landed with a whoosh on one of the pillows that we had been using in the faerie ring. The air left my lungs, and while a struggled to re-expand them, Marly whirled around in the air like a frisbee and landed like a cat with her knees astraddle my chest. Her hands blurred one more time, and her left palm stopped just a millimeter from the end of my nose. She braked it so close that I felt the concussion of the air as it was pushed quickly out of the way.

Her eyes were still locked on mine, and her face was completely passive and relaxed yet serious at the same time. I knew I was beaten; that much was a given. What had perhaps surprised me the most was the nearly complete silence that had accompanied her actions while doing it. The only sounds at all were the air moving, and my own body as it thunked to the floor. There were no “hiyaaa’s” or grunts. No footsteps on the hardwood flooring. Just motion and energy focused around one place… me.

She let out a long breath and moved her hands to her lap. I was still trying to catch my breath, which wasn’t helped by the fact that she was resting her whole weight on my upper torso. She was staring down at me with a very odd expression. It was the kind of look that showed thinking processes so deep that that person was unaware of the world around them. I saw that she was biting her lower lip.

“Marly…?” I choked out, my breathing starting to return to normal. Her stare was almost trace-like, and I was just starting to worry when she reached up and popped first the left, then the right suspender of her coverall. Her eyes never left mine as the heavy material fell forward revealing her smooth belly and the sports top. My eyes widened when I noticed the two straining points in the form-fitting garment where her aroused nipples made little tents in the tight fabric. Then she leaned forward, closing her eyes, and brought her lips against mine.

Some girls kiss you like they really didn’t mean to do it. They hold back and pull away just when things are starting to get good. Not Marly. She let herself fall into that kiss like it was her last. Her tongue was halfway down my throat, and her whole body settled on top of me in a way that simply can’t be done in public. I felt her hands come up and wrap around my head, while her thighs squeezed my waist and left me short on air again. Her breasts flattened into my chest, and I swear that I could feel her pulse increasing in her nipples. That Lycra does nothing to hide every slight bump and curve.

Not quite knowing what to do with my hands, I let them fall on her back. They contacted with the warmth of her bare flesh, and I was dizzy with lust. My dick threatened to burst from my jeans as my fingers descended into her pants and over the round and joyous swell of her posterior. Little mews of pleasure floated up her throat and into our kiss, which was quickly beginning to suffocate me.

Sensing my need for air, she broke our lip-lock just long enough for me to draw in a deep breath, and then she was on me again. Her hands dropped down my chest and then gripped the belt of my jeans, working the clasp with wild desperation. Moaning now, she pushed my pants down over my hips using a combination of her hands, thighs and general willpower. I sprang loose with a grunt, and started looking for the buttons on the sides of her overall. Marly found them first, and after a moment’s work, slid the garment down her body in an amazing feat of gymnastics such that our lips never parted. I was working on the sports top, and had just pushed it up out of the way when her hands seized my manhood.

“Ughnnn! Shit…” I groaned, breaking away from the kiss as my arousal went through the roof. My lovely redhead wasn’t waiting. She arched up and pushed me under her in one smooth motion. Shuddering, she angled her hips and forced my length into her with tiny gasps of joy. Her open-mouthed smile reassured me that this was what she wanted, and that nothing short of an atomic warhead was going to stop her. Buried to the hilt, I was stunned and speechless. Marly became still, her tense body slowly relaxing on top of me.

I took the opportunity to surprise her, and pushed with my right leg while using my elbow to leverage myself up. She didn’t resist, and a second later I was rolling her onto her back. Her thighs wrapped around me like an octopus, and she wasted no time but arched her back down, and her hips up, pushing her pelvis tightly against mine and sending me even deeper within her sweetness. I was trying to concentrate on the treasure that had been placed before me in the form of her breasts, and since my arms were busy keeping my torso up, I let my mouth fall over her left nipple, covering it entirely and sending her into a low groan of lust that nearly caused me to cum right then. Between her throaty gasps and the now powerful motion of her hips, I found myself unable to hold back. I ground her pelvis into the floor with three more solid thrusts and then spent; my release like a wall of pressure that suddenly fell away and left me utterly content. Marly joined me, but was quite a bit more vocal. Her cries of ecstasy could probably be heard back on campus.

We just laid there in the middle of her living room for about ten minutes, neither of us saying a word. I rolled slightly to take the weight off her hips, but she wouldn’t let me withdraw from her. She kept her legs wrapped around me possessively while she gently stroked my hair and chest.

“Thank you, Mark,” she said smiling. “I needed that.”

“Damn, Flame-top. I think you’re more distracted by sex then I am, which is saying a lot.”

She blushed all the way down her body, and her nipples perked up again.

“I forgot how horny sparring makes me…” She said smiling.

“Hey, it’s okay with me!” I continued. “But I think I missed that last move you did. Do you think you could show it to me again sometime?”

She laughed heartily, her breasts jiggling wonderfully at the mirth. Then she did something that made me really appreciate the detail of her knowledge. Reaching behind me, she pressed the fingers of her left hand on a spot just above my tailbone. I made a little gasp, and immediately noticed that I was getting hard again. As my length reached into her lovely body, she smiled wickedly.

“I think we had better practice that one right now until you’ve got it just right,” she said, pushing with her leg and rolling me underneath her. Even as her hips began to hump mine, I knew that this was going to be a very educational semester.