Chapter 14

_-_-_-_

_-_ Brief note from author on odd use of punctuation marks

_-_ "Dialogue"

_-_ ~Thoughts~

_-_ "~Dialogue through thoughts (telepathy)~"

_-_ End of note

_-_-_-_

Ezarin turned to leave. The moment she turned around, "Hi again!" There Jane was, grinning innocently from ear to ear. "Please, don't banish me! I only want to learn at the feet of a master!"

"I will teach nothing to an ally of my enemy."

"Who's your enemy?"

"That hunter, and you are his ally."

"Sammy?"

"Indeed."

Jane pondered for a moment. "If I got Sammy to leave you alone forever, would you teach me?"

"You attempt to bargain with me," Ezarin scoffed, questioningly.

"Please?"

Ezarin gradually began to accept that she was not getting rid of her and began trying a different approach. "Remove the hunter from the picture. Then we shall see."

Jane's face brightened. "Your wish is my command!"

_-_-_-_-_

Sampson was still fruitlessly scouring the Kingdom's underbelly. He paced back and forth, seriously contemplating skewering all the under-folk giving him dirty looks.

Just before he decided to reach for his quiver, "Hey, Sammy, she went this way!" Jane took his hand and tried to lead him away but he did not move an inch.

"Where in the Maker's name have you been?"

"I tried to follow her, but she is REALLY fast, which makes sense coz she has THOUSANDS of legs! Cool, right?" Sampson sighed and allowed himself to be led toward his target. Jane led him deep into an area within the underbelly that was rather secluded and devoid of any residents.

"Are you sure the insect scurried in through this area?"

Jane eventually stopped and began looking around. "Oh..."

"What?"

"Before we go any further, I... I wanted to thank you."

"For?"

"Always visiting me."

"Sure, now lets-"

"You didn't have to, but you did it anyway. Regularly too."

"Yes, well..."

"You're my only friend." Sampson's eyes began darting about from walls to the ceiling to the floor and back. "You always treat me like a person and you're super sweet."

She moved closer with every word she uttered until they were face to face and she could see him trying to push away his blushing and struggle to make any eye contact. She held his hands.

"Even when you fired arrows at me, you always picked the harmless ones."

"I uh... couldn't find the pointy ones," he muttered.

"You know that's not true. Even when we first met and I scared you. You never once hurt me."

"I..."

"You're really sweet."

"..." All Sampson's attempts at remaining level-headed were completely betrayed by his ever-increasing heartrate.

"I know you don't like admitting you care and want people to think you don't care and that people even think that you don't care, but I know you care. I can see your huge heart, Sam, and I want to be near it for as long as we live." She embraced him and buried her face in the side of his neck. Sampson, on the other hand, just stared straight at the wall, flustered, speechless, and tranced. "Lets stay together for as long as... well, forever."

"...yeah..."

Sampson, who was melting in her embrace, did not feel the dozens of thin, needle-like fangs seep into the side of his neck. Rather, he felt an explosion of pleasure burst from his neck and travel all throughout his body, making his legs give out. Jane gently lowered him to the ground as she continued drinking his blood. The more blood left his body, the more elated he began to feel as though he was inadvertently trading ounces of his life for all the oxytocin the world had to offer.

As Sampson slipped in and out of consciousness, he began hearing a voice, too dazed to be able to discern if it was inside or outside his head.

"~Please, stay with me, Sam.~"

"J-Jane?"

"~Please, don't let your dark ambitions take you away from me.~"

"W-what... no... I'm... not... I won't leave you, Jane... ever..."

"~Promise?~"

"...Ye... yeah... promise."

"~That makes me the happiest girl in the world...!~"

Still on the verge of unconsciousness, Sampson found himself surrounded by dozens of Janes, all trying to embrace him. Two Janes slipped their hands up his robes and began caressing his legs. One Jane slipped her whole head up his vest, resting her face on his stomach, another rested her head on his chest, while another slithered into his undergarments. One Jane slipped up the back of his vest, resting her head on his back as her hands travelled up to his chest. Two other Janes buried their faces into the side of his neck and continuously kissed him. Two other Janes floated around his head by his ears, one on the right, one on the left.

At this point, Sampson was no longer lucid. The Janes by his ears began taking it in turns to speak while the one not speaking sucked on his ear. "Anh..."

"~I feel like... you where brought into this world to be with me, Sam. This can't have been an accident, right? We find the same jokes funny, we read the same types of books mostly and I love your taste in music.~" Sampson's mind had become filled to the brim with thoughts on Jane. Every word and every touch sent him deeper into a world of pleasure and deep emotion. All of his thoughts of hunting down Ezarin, of rulership, of his sister, of the monks, the fisherwoman, all had been replaced with the desire to remain eternally by the side of this entity that claimed to be his soulmate. "~You make me so happy, Sam.~"