“Yep,” Daniel said leaning back with a nod of approval. “I like your kisses just as much as hers, Falla. I like them because they’re from you. That’s what means the most to me. They’re from someone I love.”
“Daniel,” Falla breathed out. She leaned closer to get another kiss before Luna suddenly hugged him and knocked away her sister with a fit of maniacal laughter.
“I WANT TO KISS YOU TOO! I WANT TO KISS YOU TOO! HAHAHAHAHAHA!” Luna screamed with wide, twitching eyes. She quickly embraced Daniel close with pressing lips, arms held tightly around his neck, wings fluttering like crazy, and all eyes watching from around them with blank stares.
“So you don’t even have a clue as to what happened to her?” Specca plainly asked. “Even a guess?”
“No idea,” Falla said with annoyance. “She’s always been… like this. And had a knack for horrible timing too.”
Daniel watched with a calm and understanding look in his eyes while Luna laughed uncontrollably in his mouth and hopped about on her feet. Holding her close and resting a hand on the back of her head he kissed the butterfly with more passion, seeming to bring her back to her senses as she then calmed down and practically melted in his arms. When the kiss finally ended Luna took a few deep breaths before snuggling her head closer to his against his shoulder.
“I love kissing you,” she purred. “It makes me so happy.”
“Anything to make you happy and smile, Luna,” Daniel promised before kissing her cheek. Breaking from their embrace Daniel walked over to Clover, the elf smiling timidly and stepping back before hitting the wall behind her.
“Sorry if I was bothering you this morning,” she said looking away. “That wasn’t my intention.”
“I had a beautiful elf rubbing her naked and soapy body against mine,” Daniel recalled as he brought Clover into his arms and turned her gaze to match his. “What part of that would have bothered me in the slightest? If anything that would make me one of the luckiest men in Eden to have experienced that.”
“You think I’m beautiful?” she faintly asked.
“I know you are,” Daniel said before kissing her. The elf quickly grabbed his vest and pulled him closer as he held her in his arms, her heart pounding to the point she thought it would break through her ribcage from hearing him say such words to her. When they finally pulled back to breathe Clover lowered her head and hid in his chest, something that brought an amused chuckle from Daniel as he saw the elf again concealing her face.
“You don’t have to hide from me, Clover.”
“I’m not hiding,” Clover said shaking her head. After a pause she glanced up to him with a sharp smile and tilted her head slightly. “I’m just trying to calm down. You keep making my heart and soul burn for you when you say and do stuff like that. It’s really hard to restrain myself from mauling you with much more than kisses right now.”
“I feel the same way,” Daniel replied with a wink. “Hopefully we won’t have to wait much longer to take care of that together.”
Clover froze with wide eyes and a deep blush as he gently brushed aside a few strands of hair that fell before her face. He gave her another kiss before heading closer to Doku, with the elf gulping before quickly turning her head and trying to hide how red she was while stuttering something under her breath with a shaky smile.
“I feel the same way about all of you,” Daniel said taking the harpy into his arms. “I love you all so much. Each of you makes my world so much brighter and better to be in, and I honestly couldn’t imagine going on without you girls in my life. I need you.”
“You need me?” Doku quietly said with a deep blush. “You- you- you really need me? Even though I-”
“If you dare say my Doku isn’t good enough or hasn’t earned my love after all she’s done for me and my family I will bend you over my knee right now,” Daniel warned, with Doku squeaking before trembling slightly. “My Doku is a wonderful woman, a pure soul in this world, and she spoils me rotten with how well she treats me and my family. If anyone, anyone, dares to speak ill about my beautiful harpy I will not forgive nor go easy on them.”
“Beautiful?” Doku whispered.
“From head to toe,” Daniel promised before kissing her. The harpy ruffled her feathers to the sides before holding her wings around her mate, the two sharing a kiss that each could feel the other’s love from very clearly. After what seemed like forever to Doku the kiss ended, her eyes focusing from behind her bangs and seeing Daniel smiling gently at her like he always did. He brushed aside her long hair, admired her golden eyes that gazed at him with burning admiration, and then gave her another kiss before making his way over to the jinx who sat on the bedside with slowly waving tails.
“You’re all beautiful in my eyes. You’re all perfect just the way you are. And you’re all the ones I want to take care of as the man in this family,” he swore before holding the cat’s cheeks with a gentle touch. Star mewed softly with a calm smile on her face, seeing her man returning the look as he caressed his feline mate.
“I’m going to love and protect each and every one of you. All of you, and not just one,” he promised before kissing Star who held a hand to his head as she returned the loving gesture. Daniel felt the jinx moving her tongue around his with equal passion as he cherished the affection from the monster girl, feeling not only her aura in his mind brightening but also those from his mates all around him. Leaning back from the kiss he saw his jinx staring deeply into his eyes, the cat giving a wink with her green one before she sat back and perked her chest up a bit to obviously flaunt before him. Daniel eyed over his feline companion with a smirk at seeing her watching him with a coy look before he turned to the last member of his harem that was present.
“All of you, and our little ones we’ll be bringing into this world,” he continued while making his way over to Cindy. “Daughters of ours that I aim to love and care for just as much as all of you.”
Cindy coddled Snapper close and giggled as Daniel held a hand to her cheek. The sand wraith smiled at him then down at Snapper, her expression then slowly changing to a saddened frown as she turned the child around to see her snapping her teeth with boundless energy.
“Cindy?” Daniel asked as everyone saw the sand wraith becoming depressed by something, with even Snapper halting and looking at her curiously with a small gurgle and twitching antennae.
“I’m so happy here,” she softly said. “So much yummy food, so many nice friends, and Snapper is here with me too. And you, Daniel. You make me feel happy and safe, you make me so happy. Happier than I’ve ever been.”
She sniffled before closing her eyes, with Daniel and the girls showing concern while Snapper pawed at Cindy’s chest with quiet murmurs.
“What’s wrong, dear?” Doku worried.
“I love you,” Cindy said to Daniel with a tear in her eye. “I do. I know I want to be with you. To be happy with you. I don’t want to ever leave, I want to stay right here and be happy with you forever. I want us to do lots of fun stuff together. But… but…”
“But what?” Daniel asked.
“I can’t have a daughter with you,” Cindy mourned. “I can’t have a baby like they all can. I have to kill others to have a daughter. I have to eat other people to make another sand wraith. I want to have a daughter, I want to have a family, but… I don’t want to kill anyone anymore. I don’t. I don’t want to do that now that I know it’s wrong. I don’t know if I can anymore.”
She broke down crying and held Snapper close, the swarm’s face being smothered in her chest while her little hands lightly batted the girl’s shoulders.
“I don’t want to be a bad girl, but I want to have a daughter! It’s not fair! I want to be a good girl for you, Daniel, I want to be good! I don’t want to be bad and kill others again, I don’t want to do that anymore! But that means I can’t have a daughter too, and that’s not fair!”
Daniel and the girls saw the sand wraith sobbing with tears falling from her cheeks before
turning to each other in question of how to console her. After thinking about how her words were true Daniel realized that at the same time they were not, and gently pet Cindy’s head to get her attention.
“You’re wrong, Cindy,” he said, with the sand wraith looking up at him through teary eyes. “You can have a daughter. You can be good and still have a family with a daughter of your own to take care of. In fact you already have.”
“I do?” Cindy asked. “I don’t think I had a daughter before coming here. When did I make one? Where is she? I thought I didn’t eat enough people to make another sand wraith. When did that happen?”
“Your daughter is in your arms, Cindy,” Daniel explained, with everyone looking to Snapper as she watched Cindy with a wide smile. “Snapper may be a swarm but she’s just as much your daughter too. The way you care for her, love her, cherish her. The way you’re always holding her and watching over her. The way you’re always protecting her and treating her like your own offspring. We may be her family, but you most certainly are her mother.”
“I’m her mom?” Cindy wondered with a sniffle.
“Why not?” Daniel mused as he sat down beside her. “You love her like your own. You care for her like your own. Without you she wouldn’t have made it out of that cave, she would have died there, lost and alone. You saved her and treated her like a beautiful baby girl right from the start, you took it upon yourself to be her guardian without anyone ever asking you to. I’m sure she sees you as someone like a mother to her. I know I do.”
Cindy sniffled and wiped her tears away then watched as Snapper cawed at her with a buzz of her wings. The youngling squirmed out of her hands and quickly clung to her chest, buzzing her wings while smiling up at the sand wraith with all her teeth showing. Cindy saw the swarm holding onto her with humming wings then looked to Daniel in wonder as he gently smiled at her.
“You brought the first child into our home, Cindy,” he congratulated her. “You’re the first one of my mates to have a daughter in our family. One that wouldn’t be here at all if it wasn’t for you and your caring heart.”
“I did?” Cindy quietly asked.
“You did. And I’m so proud of you, Cindy. The world may see sand wraiths as dangerous monsters, but you’re nothing like that. You’re a wonderful girl, a mother to a child who needed you in this world, and someone I’m thankful to have as my mate because you’re such a good girl in life.”
Daniel leaned over and kissed the sand wraith while holding her cheek, the girl slowly closing her eyes as she felt a wave of joy rolling through her body and resonating with her soul. The others smiled at seeing Daniel cherishing his mate while Snapper looked back and forth between the two with the same wide smile and unblinking eyes. After the kiss finally ended Cindy slowly opened her eyes, seeing Daniel smiling at her before giving her another quick kiss.
“I love you and everything about you,” he promised while gently caressing her cheek. “You’re a wonderful girl, Cindy, and living proof that humans and monsters can-”
With a sharp snap he jumped with a stunned smile on his face, silence befalling the room before Cindy looked down to see Snapper now clinging to Daniel’s chest and chomping on it. The little swarm growled and shook about with a buzz of her wings while the other girls were staring with exasperation at the child’s impeccable timing.
“Snapper, goddammit,” Alyssa quietly groaned.
“Every fucking time we have a nice moment,” Clover grumbled shaking her head.
“Daniel?” Luna slowly asked. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” Daniel said without moving an inch. “Just surprised me is all.”
“Snapper?” Cindy wondered as she watched Snapper holding onto Daniel with hungry growls. She then smiled happily at Daniel who retained his frozen expression of surprise. “She loves you too, Daniel. Hey, if I’m her mom then that makes you her dad, right? You love her just like I do and take care of her like I do, so that makes you her dad because I’m her mom. I’m the mom and you’re the dad! We have a daughter together, Daniel! Isn’t that great?”
“It’s simply splendid, Cindy,” Daniel said while holding perfectly still, feeling very clearly Snapper’s teeth making it through his vest and shirt down into his skin. The youngling growled and tugged with her mouth a few times before looking up at Daniel with a few quick caws and rapid buzzing of her wings. Daniel blinked then slowly looked down to the child with a weak smile, arms then gently cradling the youngling as he took a few steady breaths to regain himself.
“I’m not sure if she sees me as her father, but I do look at her as a beautiful young girl that I want to help raise right in this world. She may be a swarm, but she’s not a monster to me.”
Snapper cawed a few times and snapped her teeth before she lunged forward to bite him again, this time missing as Daniel held her away at just enough length with a small laugh while he watched the youngling snapping her teeth and waving her arms around. He then, to everyone’s surprise, lifted the child up to face him nose to nose, the swarm purring with a wide smile on her face as Daniel peered into her yellow eyes with a mischievous grin.
“You just love to snap everything, don’t you?” he mused playfully. “I think I’m starting to understand you much better now, Snapper.”
“Dan? Dan!” Clover exclaimed as she pointed to the swarm that was pointblank from Daniel’s face.
“I think that’s a bit too close, Daniel,” Specca nervously insisted.
“She’s going to bite your nose off!” Alyssa said waving her arms around.
Daniel saw the swarm growling with a hungry leer at him, his nose resting against hers while he held the child around her back and under her legs. He then quickly gave her nose a kiss before returning to the same position, with Snapper flinching slightly before watching him curiously as she seemed confused by his sudden gesture. Daniel gave her cheek a quick peck then returned to touching her nose with his, the swarm squirming about in his arms with a playful gurgle. The girls watched in wonder as Daniel kissed her other cheek, getting a giggle out of the youngling, then her forehead which got her to bat her hands against his cheeks, and then gave one more on her chin which made her shake her head about while buzzing her wings. Snapper giggled and purred with a few light clicks of her teeth then gave Daniel’s nose a big lick, with him laughing and bobbing the child in his arms as she started licking his cheek and then his chin with playful gurgles.
“What is she doing?” Falla asked.
“Is she tasting him?” Pip feared.
“I believe she’s kissing Daniel back,” Doku mused with a smile forming.
“I think so too,” Daniel said before closing his mouth as the swarm licked his face again and again.
“Why is she doing that?” Clover wondered. “She was about to bite him a few seconds ago, now she’s licking his face like a puppy.”
“She’s mimicking him,” Specca realized. “She’s doing what Daniel did to her.”
“But why?”
“Daniel showed her affection,” Alyssa said with an amazed smile. “And she’s returning it. She’s learning to act how we do by example.”
“I figured that’s how they work,” Daniel said leaning back and wiping swarm saliva off his face. He watched with a gentle smile as Snapper nuzzled closer to his chest and cawed at him with buzzing wings. “Swarm learn to do what they do from their families, their parents and sisters. They learn by watching and copying what they see from those around them when they’re young.”
“Like when she tried to copy Squeak the other day?” Falla asked. “And threw up all over your lap and shoulder because she thought saliva and apparently puke made you feel better?”
“That was a good example of it, yes,” Daniel laughed. “Snapper’s learning how to act by what she sees others doing around her, namely all of us. She saw how Squeak was tending to my injury and wanted to imitate it. She saw how I was showing my affection towards her and she wanted to do the same to me. I’m not
sure if she can understand our words, but she does learn by watching and matching our behavior.”
He then showed a solemn expression as he cradled the youngling in his arms, one hand lightly tickling her feet and making her giggle while the other held onto her as she squirmed about with buzzing wings.
“And that’s probably why she bites everyone she sees,” he continued, with the girls watching him with concern as he slowly shook his head. “From the moment she was born, imagine what she was seeing from the swarm around her. Her mother, her sisters, her entire colony that she traveled with, you know as well as I do how they would normally act, and what Snapper would have learned from them.”
“She bites everything because that’s what they did,” Specca said softly. “Swarm eat everything they lay their eyes on. She copied what she saw, and wanted to eat everything she could get her hands on because that’s what her family did.”
“She doesn’t know it’s bad to bite others,” Daniel agreed shaking his head. “That’s all she was probably taught to do by her kin. She’s too young to want a man to breed with, so the only other thing swarm would naturally do is eat. It makes sense actually, she’s a young girl and she needs to eat in order to grow.”
“So she learned to eat everything she could,” Alyssa empathized. “And everyone. She learned to bite and eat any she could get a hold of and that was it.”
“Just like me,” Cindy sadly said. “That’s all my mom told me to do. Eat everyone I meet. Eat everyone I could so I could have a child of my own someday. And that’s what I did. I ate people. People who didn’t want to die. People who probably had friends and family that they’ll never see again. I ate them up without knowing what I was doing. I… was a very bad girl.”
“You weren’t a bad girl, Cindy,” Daniel assured her. “You just didn’t know what good or bad was. You only did as you were taught by your mother, something you can’t be faulted for. Now you know better, and you’ve chosen to be a good girl because that’s what you are.”
Chronicles of Eden_Act XI Page 49
