Devi-ancy by Moonlight

Spoiler Warning : This story is centered around the events and situations in the episode "Devi," so if you don't want to know anything that occurs in there, don't read this. Other than that, there's a brief mention of a side point from "Stranger & Stranger" (mention of what the gods did during the recent Hercules/Dahak arc), and a reference is also made to a matter from "Fins, Femmes, & Gems," as well as generalities about the Rift cycle ("The Deliverer" and "The Bitter Suite" in particular), and there is a sole mention of the villain from "Paradise Found." A single tidbit from "Return of Callisto" is also mentioned, but it's minor - something that even the most casual of fans probably already knows.

Content Warning : This is an explicit alternative fanfic, so if you or your local lawmakers find that objectionable it's best to skip it. Beyond that it's a little hard to classify for this disclaimer : it's sort of a Gabrielle / Other Female tale, but it's also sort of a Gabrielle solo piece. If you decide to proceed, you'll see what I mean.

Xenite Disclaimer : Although Tataka's evil nature was touched, it was not permanently harmed in the production of this work; Gabrielle's own nature however, was well and thoroughly plumbed.

Author's Disclaimer : The muse was upon me. 'Nuff said.

Tataka waited patiently. Her eyes closed, her chest moved rhythmically as she breathed deeply and evenly, pretending to slumber. Thanks to the unaccustomed heat of this (to her new body's) foreign land, and the added security of the sheltering door, she lay naked, covered only by a thin sheet for modesty's sake.

Xena, who accompanied her new host in her travels, slept peacefully by her friend's body's side, unaware of who - what - truly lay beside her. Had she known, she wouldn't have been sleeping - and certainly not so close. She was almost near enough to touch, should Tataka choose to reach out for her. She was close enough for their mutual comfort, though not as near as once she had slept.

Of course, that closeness had been before the rift in their relationship : the raw, still only half- healed wound of the distancing that marred their friendship was something that the demon dearly longed to explore in depth... but that pleasure would be a delight to savor at a later date, when she had the leisure to more thoroughly probe the pain's extent. Tataka could afford to wait.

Xena lay sound asleep - though not deep enough for the demon's comfort. It was still too risky for Tataka to make even the slightest movement. The small sounds that she would inevitably make would be sure to arouse the woman from her slumber. Warriors slept lightly, and the demon's control of this new body was still much too precarious for her to abandon all caution, no matter how tempting the diversion.

And so the demon waited in the dark - silently and patiently listening to the woman sleep. Hidden in the warrior's friend's body, Tataka awaited the moment when the woman would slip into a deeper slumber, and she would be free to perform much more important and pressing tasks.

Not that the time was entirely wasted.

Alone in the dark with nothing else to do, Tataka whiled away the hours exploring the surprising depths of her host's mind, plundering her memories and savoring the darkness and pain that tainted her past.

Unseen in the night, her lips curled into a vicious smile as she felt her host's soul writhing in torment as she was forced to relive evil upon evil. The death of Solan, the rape by Dahak, killing her daughter again and again, being dragged from the Amazon village by her "friend," Callisto's murder of her husband, betrayal and pain and suffering unleavened by any joy or pleasure. Tataka felt Gabrielle's soul weeping in her head and delighted in the pain that oozed from her captive.

Beside her, a faint sigh heralded Xena's descent into a deeper slumber. "She's in Morpheus' arms," her new host's memories poetically informed her. Finally.

Smiling, Tataka slipped as silently as possible from beneath the thin sheets. Tormenting Gabrielle further could wait : she had more important things to do, and delaying her suffering by a day or two would only make it all the sweeter in the end. After all, anticipation could be a torment in itself.

Slipping through the door of their sleeping chamber, Tataka immediately waved her servant back to his watchful position. He returned to his vigilant posture, as unmindful as she of her nudity. The man was well trained, and knew the flesh was unimportant; only the demonic spirit that controlled it truly mattered.

Tataka had turned to leave, when something odd halted her in her tracks. Startled to feel something other than weeping coming from Gabrielle's imprisoned spirit, she cautiously tasted the emanation. To her surprise, the demon realized the bittersweet pang of embarrassment was pouring from Gabrielle.

"Oh!" Tataka silently concluded after a moment's consideration. It had taken her a moment to identify the cause, but she realized that Gabrielle was embarrassed to be seen by a man while she was naked.

The demon shrugged, and was going to dismiss the brief interruption of her thoughts as unimportant, when a sudden realization struck her with an almost physical impact. While searching for the evils in Gabrielle's past, a particular class of memories had been absent. She hadn't even noticed their absence, involved as she was in her more pressing and fruitful search (finding memories that would bring pain to her unwilling host had been much more important at the time).

Probing into Gabrielle's mind once more, she searched for the missing set of experiences, and was utterly shocked by what she found.

Gabrielle was a loving, tactile person, casually touching and even bestowing kisses upon a fair number of the people she encountered. Men and women alike had been touched by Gabrielle as she roamed the world at her friend's side, her easy nature and openness to forming friendships drawing people to her like moths to her flame. And yet...

And yet, despite the air of worldly sophistication she affected, and her pretense of comfort in her own sexuality, in truth Gabrielle had only had sex - in whatever form, shape, or flavor - a single time. (Dahak's violation had been of the spirit rather than the flesh, and so Tataka didn't include it in her count.)

Amazed, Tataka looked through Gabrielle's memories again, more thoroughly this time, and verified her initial conclusion. "Incredible!" Tataka actually gasped the word aloud, so great was her shock.

Travelling with Xena - a warrior whose casual sensuality was enough to make even the most jaded of incubi drool, constantly being on the move, meeting new and exciting people, even being the queen of a tribe of women who would have done anything - and she knew they really meant anything - to please her, and Gabrielle had never indulged in the pleasures of the flesh. The demon simply couldn't believe it, despite the evidence open to her scrutiny in Gabrielle's mind.

Gabrielle was no cloistered innocent; there had been opportunities aplenty. Iolaus and even Hercules had voiced their desire, Autolycus had expressed his willingness more than once, Eponin and Solari had each invited her to join them, and her regent Ephiny had attempted to seduce her on several occasions - but she'd turned all of them down. And those were only the serious contenders! There had been innumerable, more casual offers from literally thousands of men and women over the years, ranging from outrageous drunken posturings in taverns to the almost shy invitation from Toris, Xena's brother.

"But what of Xena?" the demon wondered, surprised by the idea that there had never been an intimate relationship between the two women. Gabrielle loved Xena, so surely she'd acted upon it. Even once...? Not even once. Tataka was amazed to find that they had never done anything sexual together.

Sure, they'd been hugging, kissing, bathing, and even sharing bedrolls for years - but it had never been in a sexual way (though the way Xena had looked at Gabrielle in some of her memories told the experienced demon that she would probably be receptive to an offer). There hadn't even been any casual petting!

It was incredible but true; the closest Gabrielle had ever come to having sex with Xena was being forced to pretend to be asleep while Xena had her way with a man. She'd done it with Marcus. And then later with Ulysses. And later still with Rafe - among others whose names she didn't know (Gabrielle had sometimes wondered if even Xena knew their names).

Tataka snorted in amusement. No wonder the girl was so sexually repressed. Combine small town upbringing with constantly being in the presence of the world's most experienced woman, and of course Gabrielle was going to feel shy and inadequate. Not that the girl would ever let her friend know : she probably wasn't even consciously aware of her distress. And even if she was, embarrassment and modesty would have held her mute.

Regardless of the reasons underlying it, her conclusion was indisputable : other than one confused, fumbling night of "passion" with her husband, Gabrielle hadn't so much as touched herself in the pursuit of pleasure.

Tataka paused in the hallway, debating what to do with this new found knowledge. Eventually, she came to the conclusion that it was simply too blessed and unique an opportunity to pass up. Tracking down the true Devi could wait - even torturing Gabrielle's soul with her memories of past pain could wait. No, tonight, she and her new body were going to become much better acquainted with one another.

In her years of existence, Tataka had possessed many women. From debauched nobles, degraded prostitutes, and even from ordinary housewives, over the years the demon had plundered a vast hoard of memories, ranging from the most loving and intimate of unions, to the most vulgar and base of carnal coition. All were stored for eternity in Tataka's mind, and lay ready to aid her in the corruption of the purity of Gabrielle's soul.

Since Gabrielle's spirit could see, hear, and most importantly feel everything that happened to her body... Gabrielle's face slowly sprouted an evil smile wholly alien to her true nature. This was going to be so much fun, the demon gloated.

Letting a smirk erupt on her face, Tataka turned and changed direction, heading down a different corridor. The house her position as "Devi" had afforded her was large and ornate; surely it held the proper place to initiate the "festivities."

She briefly considered commanding her servants to assist her in her opening sally - all three of the big men - but reconsidered as she walked naked through the echoing halls of the silent house. She had to start slowly, Tataka decided, letting Gabrielle come to accept and even enjoy the carnal pleasures she was introduced to. Too much too soon and her spirit would either simply break from the experience or reject it, not become corrupt. No, she firmed her resolve, tonight would be gentle - probably involving only Gabrielle herself unless a suitable partner could be found, and even "loving," she snickered to herself. Give her a taste of what her inept husband should have given her, and more advanced debauchery would come soon enough.

Stepping through a thick wooden door, Tataka smiled in delight before closing it tightly behind her. The balcony was the perfect spot. Overlooking the marketplace, it was discrete yet public, shadowed yet illuminated by moonlight, and so gloriously exposed - just as Gabrielle's body was about to be.

She looked up at the full moon and nodded in satisfaction. Excellent, Tataka mused. From her memories, Tataka knew that Gabrielle favored Artemis, one of the moon goddesses; her reactions would be all the more intense while bathed in her patron's silvery glow.

Everything was perfect.

It almost felt like this night, this time and place, had been created solely in preparation for this event, and Tataka licked her lips in delighted anticipation.

Walking to the edge of the balcony, she leaned against the railing, searching the deserted marketplace for someone - anyone - who lingered there despite the late hour. She tasted Gabrielle's fear of discovery as she flaunted her nakedness, but saw no one who could be enticed into watching -or participating in - her initiation into debauchery. "A pity," she thought, but was not overly disappointed. There would be plenty of time for such diversions later, once Gabrielle became a more active, willing participant; corruption of the innocent was one of the rewards that grew sweeter over time.

Stretching languorously, the demon paused to glory in the play of muscles under her skin while basking in the cool moonlight. A true connoisseur of human flesh, Tataka was constantly delighted anew by Gabrielle's body. Her hair was a bit too red for the demon's preference, true, and she was perhaps overly muscled for her size, but in height, frame, and strength, she admirably suited both her needs and desires - and Tataka had plenty of both.

"Oh, Gabrielle," Tataka whispered in a husky, seductive tone, pleased by the subtle effect she was having on the soul she held prisoned in her own mind. "Sweet child. You have no idea how good your body can be. Let me teach you. I can show you everything." A subtle shift in her voice, becoming friendlier, "Together we are going to learn how to satisfy the desires you've never dared voice... savor the impulses you've suppressed... satisfy the needs that have gone unfulfilled..."

The fear that washed over Gabrielle's soul was alloyed with both unconscious desire and suppressed curiosity, the mix intoxicatingly heady to the demon. Tataka closed her eyes, savoring the surprising success of her first tentative venture. Despite her ignorance - or perhaps because of it, Gabrielle was ripe for her special brand of seduction.

Moving out from under the brief canopy, Tataka spread her limbs wide, throwing back her head as she exposed herself to the night. The demon stood naked and unashamed, feeling the air play across her body's bare skin, ignoring Gabrielle's soul's response. Moonbeams kissed her sweetly as the cool light played over her supple curves, and Tataka gloried in her exposure.

"Yes, you begin to feel it," Tataka murmured, half to herself and half to Gabrielle as she felt her nipples crinkle into alertness. The slight breath of wind danced across her bared breasts, the feather-light touch stimulating them, bringing the flushed tips to a sloppy half-erect arousal.

A low heat began to burn deep inside her body, rousing a delicate rosy flush in Gabrielle's skin. Even if Gabrielle herself was inexperienced, her body knew instinctively what it wanted; despite her mind's reservations, her body eagerly responded to Tataka's skillful touches and manipulations.

Smiling languidly, Tataka ran a knowing hand down a collarbone. Starting at the shoulder and working her way gradually down its length, she traced its dimensions with a teasing touch. Reaching the end, her hand slid onto her chest to nestle itself in the valley between her pert breasts. Gentle fingers began to trace circles on the soft skin over her heart, the lightest possible pressure of fingernails leaving a lingering tingle in their wake.

Gabrielle's heart began to race, her body awakening under the caress. The low heat smoldering in her core began to spread, until her entire belly was filled with the sweet, quivering warmth.

"Nothing can compare to the pleasures provided by the body of a woman, Gabrielle," Tataka whispered, speaking more to herself than her host, "nothing - and yours is simply magnificent."

Raising a hand to her mouth, she extended her tongue to meet it, then began to lick the offered index finger. The fleshy muscle swirled around the digit, covering it in a light coating of moisture. Saliva glistened in the moonlight, and the gentle motion of the air across dampened skin sent a delicious shiver up Gabrielle's spine, causing goosebumps to erupt all over her body.

The blunt tip of her tongue teased at the knot of callus that years of writing had built up on the side of Gabrielle's finger, and muscles that Gabrielle hadn't known she possessed tightened in automatic response. A low moan escaped from between Gabrielle's lips, and she writhed in her bondage as strange feelings flooded over her. She'd never felt anything like this - not even on her wedding night.

Tataka tongued Gabrielle's hand, and together they shared in the pleasures that erupted in her depths with each laving lick. They groaned in delighted unison, the sounds melding into a carnal harmony in the demon's ears.

Everything was new and amazing to Gabrielle. Each motion that the demon made Gabrielle's body do was innocent in itself; most were even things that she had innocently done herself - yet they had never been like this. Each movement was so laden with raw sensuality that the inexperienced woman frankly didn't know how to deal with the feelings they inspired in her.

Her body, guided both by instinct and Tataka's vast experience, didn't have that problem. The burning in her center flickered brighter and hotter with each gentle touch and swipe of saliva-laden tongue.

Tataka tasted Gabrielle's response with her mind and quickly suppressed the warm surge of satisfaction that welled up. She had to concentrate and stay focused on the ultimate goal; this was only the beginning...

When her finger had been thoroughly coated with the natural lubricant, Tataka drew her tongue caressingly up its length. It curled about the digit, adding a final layer of fluid as it massaged the finger. She couldn't repress the throaty moan that erupted from her lips as her heart thudded wildly against her chest - not that she really wanted to.

She lowered the soaked finger to Gabrielle's shoulder, then let it slide achingly slowly down the hard shaft of the bone, wetly retracing its earlier course. The warm liquid that covered her finger left a meandering trail in its wake that shone in the moonlight, highlighting the bony ridge down the line of her shoulder.

When she reached the center of her heaving chest, Tataka shifted direction. Her hand turned back to follow the curve of her breast, rather than return to the cradle of her bosom.

Moving in a slow, circular path, her finger teasingly traced the shape of the firm swell of a breast. The nail pressed lightly against skin as her finger circled around and around, the route it followed bringing it spiraling ever nearer to the dusky shadow of her turgid nipple.

Long since denuded of moisture in its exploration of her chest, her finger briefly retreated to her mouth to gather more. Quickly remoistened, it returned to its proper place, circling and teasing the outer edge of her areola.

The finger traced each tiny ripple and bump in the tender flesh, spreading saliva over the flushed and swelling skin, though it carefully avoided touching the nipple directly. That point, already erect from the teasing caresses, quickly tightened into a clenched pout as the skin surrounding it was pleasured deliciously. The warm saliva cooled in the night air to add yet another sensation to the others that continued to send gentle shivers of delight rippling through her body.

Bringing her other hand to her mouth, Tataka began running her tongue over the new index finger, moistening it in turn. She paused her efforts briefly to inform Gabrielle, "Your body can be the source of infinite pleasure - if you only let it."

She repeated the caressing motions on her other breast, the nipple stiffening in anticipation even before her hand left the collarbone. "So responsive," Tataka thought, delighting in Gabrielle's body's reactions.

Drawing her arms across her chest, Tataka wrapped them around her upper body, cradling her breasts and teasing both herself and her host with the warm sensation of skin against skin as she cupped and supported their weight. Almost giddy with mounting desire, the demon asked breathlessly, "Do you dance Gabrielle? I love to dance."

Without waiting for a response, Tataka began to sway from side to side, moving to the beat of an unheard rhythm. Her arms glided sensuously across her torso, never breaking the contact of skin on skin, yet always touching somewhere new, continuing to cradle and caress as much as support. Her feet slid over the polished stone as she began to pirouette, teasingly rubbing her thighs together before moving them apart once more, alternating the gentle stimulation of her core with its absence as she danced.

"Dance can be so incredibly sensual," Tataka continued, arms still teasing at her nipples as her legs moved fluidly through the stances and positions of the exotic dance. "Your body moving, muscles tightening and releasing, your skin brushing against your partner - or yourself..." She suited actions to words, tweaking her nipples before continuing on.

Her arms unwrapped themselves, hands sliding over her torso to lift the weight of her breasts as she danced in the moonlight, cupping and stroking with each finger in harmony with her rhythmic movements. She danced for herself, solely for the pleasure the sensuous movements brought her, adhering to no traditions or set patterns, feeling her body respond more and more eagerly with each sure step, instinct making up for her inexperience as the demon used its stolen memories to teach her new body a path to sensual pleasure.

Sheer seduction underlay the dance Tataka performed in Gabrielle's body, and the eroticism of the moment flowed through both of them like liquid honey. Her muscles began to pleasantly burn from the exertion, but neither minded, too enraptured to do more than note the feeling amidst the host of other, sweeter feelings.

Her breathing deepening, Gabrielle's body spun and pranced under the midnight sky, arms and legs ever in motion and ever sending new and powerful feelings racing through her. Tataka delighted in the pleasures made possible by being embodied once more in living flesh, while Gabrielle delighted in the new messages her body was sending her.

Gabrielle's powerfully muscled legs flashed in the moonlight as Tataka's vast experience guided her through each overwhelmingly sensual movement, each gentle touch and flexing muscle stoking the desire burning in their core.

Running her hands down Gabrielle's sides, Tataka's eyes hooded as the gentle strokes crossed and caressed her torso. The memory of the touch lingered in tactile impressions on the skin; the trail of the digits' movements glowed warmly on her body as she twirled in the moonlight.

A fine layer of perspiration sprouted on her body, exertion and mounting desires wringing the fluid from her. She glistened as the moon kissed her sweating body, and pearls of liquid argent dripped over flushed skin only to be flung aside as she danced and swayed.

Tataka was becoming distracted - it had been ages since the demon had possessed such a youthful beauty, and the pull of the moment was intoxicating. Her plan of corrupting the inexperienced soul was beginning to seem less important as she grew more and more enmeshed in the pleasuring of herself and Gabrielle.

The pleasures of the flesh were intensely seductive to both mortals and demons alike, and Tataka was succumbing to the burgeoning heat of the moment with an avid and almost feverish interest - an interest that Gabrielle matched.

Gabrielle's initial reluctance, and her horrified denial of the potent seduction that had been launched against her was fading fast. The terrible reality of her situation was becoming lost in the haze of pleasure her soul was experiencing as her body was guided to previously unknown heights of bliss under the hands of the demon.

She felt each touch, each stroke, each caress as though they had been drawn in fire upon her very being. They burned inside her, feeding the heat that was growing to dominate her, body and soul. Tataka was spawning a passion within Gabrielle that she feared, yet ached to fulfil - and it continued to grow ever more powerful.

With each teasing circle her finger traced around her nipples, and each line brushed against the quivering muscles of her firm stomach, Gabrielle found her resistance to the fiery passion unleashed within her soul diminishing. She found herself yearning for more, even as she feared the intensity of her mounting but untapped desire.

"But some of the best dances," Tataka throatily moaned to Gabrielle, enabling the woman to regain a measure of control of her passions as she brought the dance to a panting close near the railing overlooking the market, "can be done by yourself... to yourself..."

Forcing her lungs to breathe more easily, Tataka quickly readied herself, all but drooling in anticipation as she did.

Lifting one foot in a yoga move that Gabrielle recognized from her training with Aiden, Tataka lifted it until it was perpendicular to her body, then planted it firmly atop the railing. Bracing herself against a stone carving that both decorated and thrust out of one of the pedestals holding up the railing, she positioned herself carefully. Flexing the powerful muscles in her buttocks, she slowly spread her thighs, opening herself to the empty market and letting the moon's rays illuminate and penetrate her womanhood.

"Let me show you the way..." the demon whispered, lust and desire roughening Gabrielle's voice until it was nearly as husky as Hope's had been. "I want to be your guide..."

Gabrielle's inexperienced body had happily responded to all the gentle caresses, the soft touches, and the sensual movements, flooding her center with moisture even as her soul was flooded in bliss. As her legs were slowly spread apart by the demon possessing her, Gabrielle felt a surge of fresh desire race through her, and, as her labia briefly rubbed against each other before being pulled apart, and the air rushed in to kiss her heated core, a flood of excitement suffused her center.

Droplets of her escaped essence joined her sweat to glitter in the moonlight, the moisture bedewing her womanhood dampening the soft thatch of light curls surmounting it. The cool air breathing against her core sent a delicious tingle racing through her matrix, rousing a moan of desire from Tataka. "Oh yes, feel what we can do..."

A hand reached down, gathering the fluid that had leaked from between pouting lips. Breathing deeply, Tataka and Gabrielle swallowed the jolt of pleasure the intimate caress invoked, smelling the musk of arousal that rose to fill their nostrils.

And then they were lost. Where one ended and the next began grew impossible to tell. Together, the two freely gave themselves over to the moment, ignoring reality to wallow in the sheer bliss of their union, even as they began to strive to reach for the final, ultimate moment of perfection.

"Oh," they breathed as one, raising the moistened hand to rub their collected essence into the aching points of their breasts. The fluid was warmer and stickier than their saliva, and their areolae darkened, blood racing to further swell the already thoroughly aroused tissues.

They reached down with their other hand and cupped the gentle swell of their flushed and leaking sex, lifting and parting the small mound and the rosy, turgid labia to hold open their entrance. As one, they reached inside, the middle finger slowly probing past the swollen, opened lips.

Moaning in unison, woman and demon were indistinguishable, truly united in their pursuit of pleasure. Gabrielle's body and its joys became their world, and together they explored its contours, sharing the sweet sensations each electrifying movement of finger and body sent shooting through their souls.

Nipples, teased and caressed to almost painful arousal, were abandoned, the hand that had gripped them sent sliding down across the chiseled planes of the stomach. A finger swirled into the tiny cavern of Gabrielle's navel, briefly dipping inside to feel the traces of sweat that had pooled in the hollow, inducing a breathless moan of desire to fill the air.

The hand sank lower, brushing aside the damp red-gold curls. Even as the hand tangled in the coarse growth, Gabrielle's hips rocked forward, pressing her pubis hard against the heel of the exploring hand, grinding her womanhood against her hands in blind pursuit of more.

A second finger joined the first in exploration, sinking cautiously between parted lips. The tender fingertips caressed the clutching inner walls, feeling the rhythmic contractions that pulsed within their core as their passion mounted.

Knees quivering, they shook with both desire and frustration. The position was simply too uncomfortable, too unstable to be maintained any longer. Neither Tataka nor Gabrielle cared any longer if they were exposed to the city or watchful eyes, so together they sank back onto the floor of the balcony.

The warmth of the day lingered in the stone beneath them, and the heat felt delicious as their flushed, but night-chilled skin flattened against its unyielding strength. Lying back, feeling the heat of the polished stone on their sweaty back, they opened themselves to the moon's probing rays once more, now fully able to bring both hands into play.

Labia opened for the questing moonlight like night-blooming jasmine, and together they reached inside themselves. Stroking the walls of their inner channel with their fingertips, they gathered and spread the luscious juices over the yielding silken flesh of their core as the soft squelches of their moist caresses rose to fill their ears with each movement. With gentle rubbing strokes, the digits began to slide in and out, teasing and caressing both the entrance and their depths with each thrust, gradually building up speed.

Moans of pleasure began to ring in their ears, and a hand squeezed the firm nubs of their nipples before reaching down to join its twin in its pleasuring. Their heart raced as muscles tightened, and they arched, lifting themselves off the ground in a taut bow as they opened themselves fully to their hands and the moon.

Hips rocking as fingers explored, they bit their lip as a tiny shuddering convulsion coursed through their body. Unused to the feelings they were experiencing, Gabrielle's body rapidly approached a monumental climax. The small precursors that shivered through their frame thrilled them with each movement as the impending orgasm loomed ever nearer.

As one, they teased the juncture of their labia, guiding a small pink shaft from under the sheltering confines of its hood. Rubbing against the moistened bit of flesh with a thumb, they gasped at the sensations yielded by the slightest caresses upon the ruddy bit.

Eyes fluttered as the pleasure grew more intense, and the smell of their arousal surrounded them. They voiced their desire in wordless sounds, grunts and moans echoing through the deserted market as they found themselves unable to intelligibly articulate the pleasure that filled their body in any other language.

The fingers questing inside Gabrielle's body moved faster, each pumping motion of the hand thrilling sensitized flesh and spilling ambrosial nectar upon the barren stone beneath them. Hips and hands swirled in constant movement, searching, wanting, needing fulfillment.

Shaking fingers, dampened by the virtual flood escaping from their overflowing channel, lightly gripped a ruddy pearl, stroking and teasing along the short length of its shaft. Short thrusts and caresses, matched and synchronized to the movements of hips, added to the melting pleasure burning in their core.

One final thrust, firmly stroking all the way from the entrance to the deepest core of the silken inner reaches of their body, and they achieved completion. Back arching, they screamed their fulfillment into the silence of the night, voice straining as hands continued to move over and inside them, sending the woman and the demon ever deeper into the throes of ecstasy.

The climax raced through them like a lightning bolt, exploding in their souls and overcoming them with orgasmic intensity, the sensations too primal, too visceral to be consciously borne.

Blindly, hands and hips continued to work without conscious direction, thrusting and probing, milking and guiding them as they leaped from one pinnacle of sensation to the next, until the pleasure was all but indistinguishable from pain. Overcome at last, they collapsed back onto the damp stone in a faint, consciousness washed away by the pleasure that flooded through them, even the last lingering remnants of it still cataclysmic in intensity to the inexperienced Gabrielle.

Together they panted, muscles quivering both in their limbs and in their depths as they began to recover from the stupor love's sweetly explosive finish had induced. Though they remained united in their efforts, a subtle difference now existed : the quivering jolt from the climax had sundered the unity of being; they were divided in twain once more, and the shock of that separation was nearly as enfeebling as that from their orgasm.

Gabrielle returned to awareness first, gradually emerging from the haze of unconsciousness to find herself prone on the balcony, bathed in the moonlight, with her butt sitting in a puddle of her own juices. She tried to sit up, but found herself unable to move. Her body was still solidly under the demon's control - even if the demon wasn't awake to be aware of it.

With no other course of action open to her, Gabrielle gazed through half-open eyelids at the silvery disc of the moon, praying to Artemis for salvation.

Under the demon's touch, she had... enjoyed herself. Pleasured herself. She had felt things unlike anything that her husband had inspired in her during their sole night together, and as the intensity of the moment began to fade, recriminations rose to begin to take its place.

Softly, unseen by any, she began to weep, fearing for the first time not only for her survival, but for her very soul. How could Xena rescue her when her own body betrayed her, she wondered, when she took pleasure in the actions of the very creature that controlled and imprisoned her? Her strength of resolve fled and she wept all the harder, thoroughly disgusted with herself, as her heart began to break.

Something... feeling almost like the gentle touch of her mother's hand when she'd been sick as a child, caressed her brow, startling her from out of the depths of her misery. She looked out of eyes she still couldn't control, but could see nothing, only the perfect circle of the moon gleaming in the cloudless night sky.

For a moment, she contemplated returning to the blackness of her despair, but somehow managed to resist the impulse. Her resolve seemed to strengthen itself as she absorbed the moonlight into her naked skin. Yes, she'd enjoyed herself - but it was her body she'd taken pleasure in, not the demon. The touch of her hand and her reaction to those touches, not the demon who was guiding it. If she could only remember that fact, she would be able to keep away from despair's smothering pall.

Her body was under a demon's control, she resolved, but her soul would never surrender. Xena would save her - just like always - and together they would find the answers to the questions that had plagued her. They would! she all but shouted to herself, the words echoing hollowly in her mind, unintentionally rousing the demon who shared her body.

Tataka groaned, blinking as she awakened in a pool of moonlight and bodily fluids. Sitting up, she rubbed her eyes, rubbing the sleep out of them but also smearing some of Gabrielle's spilled essence across them.

That had been... strange, the demon mused, yawning widely. Pleasurable, yes, but she'd also felt an odd resonance with Gabrielle's soul - one that had both guided and hugely moderated how she'd acted and reacted. She'd planned to keep it gentle and almost loving, true, but what had happened had certainly not been what she was planning to do. It was much too... too... The demon couldn't find the right words to describe what had happened, though she had it admit, it had been a lot of fun.

Could one of the gods have taken an interest? she briefly wondered, a chill running down her spine at the very thought. Gabrielle's memories were filled with many different, quite personal encounters with the gods, both Olympian and otherwise, occurring over the course of many years. She was surely watched over - if not necessarily favored - by the gods.

Testing her control over Gabrielle's limbs and the spiritual shackles that still held Gabrielle's soul captive, the demon eventually relaxed once more. It simply couldn't have been a divinity, she decided. If a god had intervened, Gabrielle would have been freed, not left under the demon's control. "It's been even longer than I thought since I've been in flesh if I can't control myself any better than that," she muttered, standing up to brush herself off.

She was tired, the demon abruptly realized, as she stretched and yawned again. Looking up at the moon and the position of the stars, she realized it was nearly dawn. Sighing at the wasted time - time she could have used to locate the true Devi - she eventually shrugged and calmly made her way inside. There would be other chances.

The demon staggered past her servant, uncaring of what he thought of her appearance, and collapsed into her bed, swiftly falling into a dreamless slumber. Totally drained by the excess of emotional overload and the exertion of melding with and controlling Gabrielle's body through the throes of passion, she needed the surcease and refreshment of sleep. "I need my pearls," she muttered to herself before succumbing to her mental and physical exhaustion.

Tataka didn't notice the pale blue eyes that opened as she sank into Morpheus' arms.

Xena frowned as Gabrielle slumped against the bedding. Gabrielle was asleep virtually the instant she was on the ground, though she muttered something under her breath as she did. No matter how normal the action, something was still very wrong with Gabrielle. She knew it with a bone- deep certainty.

Her sensitive nose had detected the symptom of it as soon as Gabrielle walked into the room. To be blunt, she reeked of sex.

Breathing deeply through her nose, Xena tasted the air, and couldn't quite suppress the small sigh of relief that rose from her heart as she did. She could only smell Gabrielle's arousal; the sweet, musky scent of her wasn't commingled with anyone else's.

Gabrielle had taken things into her own hands, Xena thought - and thoroughly too, she added with a small grin, considering how wasted she looked.

Of course, even that was highly unusual... In fact, now that Xena bothered to think about it, that had never happened before; Gabrielle had probably feared the sharp-sensed warrior would be able to tell (she would have) and would tease her about her self-indulgence (she wouldn't have).

The warrior princess was hardly a prude - Gabrielle had accidentally caught her in the midst of her own self-pleasuring a time or two and the less said about Marcus and Ulysses and Rafe and all the others the better. But for Gabrielle to do something so... so... so wanton, so unlike herself... It was obvious that something had to be troubling her severely - though after everything that had happened between them lately, she told herself silently, it was hardly surprising that Gabrielle was troubled.

Still, Xena reassured herself, further investigation of the matter could wait. Gabrielle was clearly exhausted, and it was nearly daybreak. Let her rest, the warrior decided.

Scooting closer to her friend, Xena spooned herself against Gabrielle's back, her eyes closing as she cuddled against her, silently offering herself to help ease whatever demons troubled her. She'd take care of whatever it was that was bothering her in the morning, she promised herself - and she'd find Eli, too. He had to be involved in - or at least aware of - whatever was really going on in this crazy, "Gabrielle the Devi" obsessed town.

Deeply asleep, Gabrielle's body unconsciously sighed and leaned back into the comforting warmth of Xena's body, acting on impulses ingrained long before Tataka's possession of it.

The three females - two humans and a demon - sank into a deeper slumber, nestled together against the terrors of the night.

The moon silently continued to gaze down upon the small puddle left on the stone of the balcony, the liquid shimmering as it bathed in her glow while slowly drying. Her unblinking gaze could do nothing more for Gabrielle.

Before the moisture could evaporate into the dry, stale air, a pale, fine boned hand reached down, dipping into the liquid with delicate fingers to gather it into the cradle of a palm.

A booted foot immediately slammed down, holding the hand captive as it ground the pinioned wrist painfully against the unyielding stone.

"Ow! Knock it off, Arty!"

"THIS was your idea of helping my Chosen?" a harsh female voice responded.

Aphrodite pulled her hand from beneath Artemis' boot, her perfect coral lips pouting as she absorbed her sister's irritation without wilting. "Hey, you want blood and guts, you see Ar', you want the love thing, you come see me - and you came to see me. And let me tell ya, after being trapped in that disco ball in the mirror world for so long, you're lucky I could do anything for her."

"You let that demon take her," the goddess of the Amazons bit out, refusing to lose her righteous wrath despite her sister's offhanded air.

"As if," Aphrodite retorted. "If anything the Gabster took her. All it took was one little kick in the butt and she's already so over it. Weren't you watching? It was so totally bitchin'! It was all I could do not to join in!" She shivered deliciously and briefly stroked herself through her diaphanous robe with her dry hand. "And don't worry - your precious queen is still pure."

Aphrodite quickly extended her dripping hand to the goddess of the hunt. "See? Taste." She stuck out her tongue to gather some of the liquid in demonstration, smacking her lips in pleasure as she savored the flavor of Gabrielle's awakened passion. "Mmm... Almost virgin. Absolutely scrumptious."

Tentatively, Artemis tasted her Queen's juices as well, then reluctantly nodded her agreement with Aphrodite's assessment. The demon's touch hadn't tainted her chosen queen. "But why..."

The goddess of love actually laughed out loud. "Are you kidding? If not even a full whammy of my Obsession could get her to," she lowered her dry hand and wriggled her fingers obscenely by her core, showing what she meant, "how long do you think its gonna take the warrior babe to figure out something's wrong with Gabrielle after she crawls into bed smelling like the morning after an Amazon festival?"

Artemis conceded the point with a wry shrug. "Not very long," she admitted.

"And if you're this pissed, knowing what happened..." Aphrodite trailed off, letting Artemis finish the thought for herself.

"Xena will be livid." Artemis' smile was vicious, fully befitting her role as avenger of the despoiled. "It's just a pity she can't truly harm the demon..."

Waving her other hand in dismissal, the love goddess reassured her while helping herself to another quick taste. "There you go! Y'know, you worry too much, Arty. There's an avatar in this burg, and between him and Xena, she's almost as safe as she'd be in... in..." she tried to think of a town where Gabrielle hadn't been held at knifepoint, and failed miserably. "Nevermind. Let's just get out of here before the local gods figure out just how weak we are. This whole Dahak thing's been a real drag and it would be a major bummer if somebody did unto us as we did unto the Titans, ya dig?"

"True," Artemis conceded, reluctantly accepting Aphrodite's handling of the situation. Seeking forgiveness for her earlier overreaction, she cautiously extended an invitation in apology, "Before I left, Apollo told me he broached a fresh keg of nectar. Why don't you join us?" She flickered out of sight with a small flash before the love goddess could respond, headed back to the safety of Olympus.

Aphrodite paused long enough to gather the rest of Gabrielle's essence, then departed as well, leaving only the fading echoes of her lilting peals of laughter behind.