Killing Beauty

Yes, it is wargs....but at the time I could not locate the exact name. An edit is in the works...sorry.

the idea for elfen ladies being in heat actually comes from a very a human man who claimed he can tell when very human females are in heat. He claimed it made him very excited, that he could tell by the way our eyes dialated and the way we smelled. If a bozo sex guru from the sixties can tell, why not a more sensitive elf? And to quote Mr. Spock "It's actually quite logical" all females of every species go into heat or there would not be any little animals. We just happen to enjoy sex even when we're not. (and no nothing will happen Ashva is a hybrid...too much human blood)

Also I want to explain the short chapters at first....I lost at least three typed pages, and they were good, the first time I tried because I didn't know what the hell I was doing. Mercifully I must write this story or I will never be able to continue my sci-fi story. It's like some demon is refusing to let me refocus. ......Go figure.

Oh, and I confess, I can't spell worth a damn. I will go back and make corrections, my apologies.
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Chapter X

Ashva stayed awake most of the night completely miserable, but she knew it was pointless to speak with him again. When they saddled the horses at day break and readied to ride, he looked at the sky and said it was going to be a damp day. So now Haldir, marchwarden of Lothlorien, was a weather forecaster. She climbed into her gray's saddle and touched spur to his side. He automatically broke into a long ground eating canter. Haldir caught up with her and rode past. In a few days they would be crossing the Kirksten Pass which would take them out of familar lands into reaches of the northlands and the Os.

Riding during the day wasn't so bad, she could concentrate on the horse and the landscape was interesting enough to keep her eyes and thoughts busy. But it was difficult not to occassionally glance at her stoney faced companion. If only she knew what to say to let him know she hadn't meant to offend him. It was just she wasn't used to company. And what she would give for a real bed. A real bed? Reining in her horse sharply, she stopped and looked around quickly to get her bearings. Riding north was automatic, but the place she was thinking about was west. Haldir heard her stop and turned his horse back to see what she was doing.

"What is wrong?" he called to her.

"I know this region," she answered with a devilish smile on her face. "I used to come here quite a bit. And I know where I can get a bed and hot food."

"We don't have time for that," he informed her.

"Tonight we do," she replied and turned her horse's head in the direction of a small settlement named Wolf's Lair, an impressive name for an inn and a couple of houses. Hunters visited the placed and in the spring traded furs with Southerners. She would not have to pretend there; she trusted these people. Haldir frowned and rode after her.


The countryside around Wolf's Lair was hard and rocky, a remote settlement in a remote area where wild wolves, bear and leopards still lived. Ashva had hunted the leopard here a few years back with some friends, and she wondered if she would see any of them. Haldir couldn't get any colder, so what did it matter. Hot food and a warm soft bed, maybe with some company, who knows.

The last rays of light were bleeding red across the sky when they rode up to the small inn named Mug's Jug.
"This is where you wanted to come?" Haldir asked suspciously and covered his head with the hood. He could hear music, if you wanted to call it that, coming from inside, and people singing something off key.

"Yes, and while we're here, you're my brother Lethos," she informed him. "I've given it much thought, and that is the only way this will work. Come on, the boy will put our horses up."

Haldir couldn't believe that he was once more allowing her to put him into close contact with people. Following her inside, he quickly detected the odors of roasting meat and burning wood, of ale and other things he didn't want to dwell on. Suddenly someone a woman laughed out loud, "Ashva!" Haldir stopped as a woman in hunting clothes ran up and grabbed Ashva around the neck and started hugging her.

"Look at you!" the woman crooned, "haven't changed a bit." Then she looked up at Haldir and said, "Oh my, who is this?"

"My brother Lethos," Ashva lied with an enormous grin on her face.

"Oh, my," the woman repeated, unable to take her eyes off Haldir until she had checked out every square inch of him. "I knew you had a brother, but I didn't know he would be so handsome."

Ashva grinned and made the introductions. "Lethos, Etta. Etta, Lethos."

"I'm charmed," Haldir replied and inclined his head. He would be polite even if they didn't know what polite was.

Suddenly a male voice roared Ashva's name from the kitchen doorway, and a very tall dark haired man in hunter clothes charged her with outstretched arms. In the next moment had her up in his arms and was swinging her around. He set her down and then gave her a kiss that left her breathless. Haldir was not amused. He was beginning to wish that he had not allowed the change in route.

Surprised by the amourous attack, Ashva wiped her mouth and said, "Atluf, this is my brother Lethos. We must behave in front of him."

Atluf grinned at her and said, "Then I'll have to make sure we aren't in front of him." Ashva squirmed a little. She had truthfully not expected her old lover to be here. Last she had heard he was off chasing wild horses in the east.

He looked back at the innkeeper and said, "Bring us some ale. Four mugs. Sit, this is my table."

As the four of them sat around the table, Haldir witting with his back to the wall, Ashva thought she would mention that to him. "Atluf, I had heard you were off hunting horses."

"Came back in time for those black bastards from the north to come through," he growled irritably. "Took my entire string. We're all lucky they only took the horses. Riding like a demon of Mordor was on their tail."

Now he had Haldir's attention. "Did you see anyone with them? A young woman perhaps?"

"Didn't notice. It's not wise to become too familar with one of them bastards," Atluf said as the ale arrived. "This is on me." Smiling at Ashva who was between him and Haldir, he softened his voice and asked, "What have you been doing with yourself?"

"Almost being eaten by a warg," Haldir answered with a touch of sarcasm in his voice. "Lucky for her her big brother is such a good shot."

"Wargs, aw now I hate to mess with them," Atluf confessed, one hunter to another. "How many did it take to drop it?"

"My brother is a wonderful shot," Ashva spoke up, actually enjoying herself. "Dropped it with two."

"You are a good shot," Atluf replied with open admiration.

"I've had years of practice," Haldir replied, beginning to wish he had throttled Ashva for even suggesting this.

A man with a a squeeze box started pumping it back and forth and singing something that made Haldir's ears hurt, but Ashva seemed to like it and even got up when Atluf said, "Let's dance." He was going to have to have a talk with her about where he would and wouldn't go from now on.

Ashva couldn't believe that Atluf would just yank her to her feet and start swinging her around the room to Rory's old squeeze box. And if looks were arrows, her heart would be pierced by now. Haldir was not amused by any of this. Worse, when the music stopped, Atluf gave her a kiss that spoke of a desire he couldn't deny. And she couldn't help but respond. His lips were hungry, and she had once stayed with him an entire winter. She knew his body well. But she couldn't be with him, and she couldn't let him go on thinking that she would. She was about to stop him when she heard a chair scraping across the floor flowed by the inn door slamming shut.

"Atluf, stop," she protested and pushed him back. "We can only be friends now," she explained. "That's why I left the first time." There was no way she could explain the fear she was suddenly feeling over Haldir's departure. What if he tried to go on without her? They would recognize him so quickly he wouldn't have time to knock an arrow. And why was she letting the thought of Haldir prevent her from enjoying this good man who obviously wanted her?

Disappointment clouded his handsome face, but he seemed resolved to accept her answer. "I know," he replied without anger, "but you can't blame a man for hoping."

"No of course not," she admitted and unwrapped herself from his arms. "Please, Etta, where did Ha...Lethos go?"

Etta, now sitting at the table by herself, grinned sheepishly and said, " Going to check on the horses, I think." Or leave Ashva thought.

"Atluf, I need to go see about my brother," she explained and headed towards the door.

"I'll go with you," he offered. "I like your brother."

"You are a sweet man, Atluf," she said as they headed towards the door. Running outside, she saw that the horses had already been moved to the small barn off the inn. Both grays were there quietly crunching on some gamma oats hay amidst a small herd of donkeys, goats and chickens. But no Haldir. She went back outside with Atluf following and looked into the few oaks that shaded the inn during the day. No Haldir. Somewhere in the nearby hills a pack of wild wolves called.

"They sound lonesome," Atluf observed thoughtfully and then asked, "Where do you think he went?"

Ashva wished she knew. "Who knows," she replied with a frustrated shrug. Looking at her patient friend, she asked, "When the Os came through, did they stop?"

"Long enough to steal my horses," he replied.

"Where did they stop?"

"Over there," he pointed. "I'll show you."

Ashva followed Atluf into the dark out of the way of the inn's window light. It only took a second for her eyes to adjust in the pale light of the waxing moon. The rocky ground was able to hide the tracks of many horses, but she hoped to find something that the princess might have dropped, a clue or hint that she was still alive. Using her boot to kick at objects on the ground that just might be something, she spotted a black arrow head carelessly lost from someone's quiver.

"Careful," she told Atluf. "They're poisonous."

He smiled and showed her that he was wearing his gloves. "Careful is my last name," he assured her. Squatting down to pick the arrowhead up, his eyes fell on something very small and delicate looking in the dirt. "What's this?" he asked and picked that up too. "Looks like something a lady would wear."

Ashva relieved him of the arrowhead and dropped it into the heavy leather pouch that she wore on her belt. Then she took the delicate piece of jewelry from him and studied it closely. She could just make out the delicate gold leaf design on the tiny button. Galadriel's sister had dropped it. They looked awhile longer and found some more things dropped by careless Os but nothing as important as the tiny button.

"I guess that's it," she said and noticed Atluf yawning. " Is anyone using my old room?" she asked curiously.

"Just you and me," he teased hopefully.

Why didn't males listen to her when she said things were bad ideas? What was it in their brains that said, she doesn't mean it. "No Atluf," she repeated. "It's bad enough I can't find my brother. I'll not ride out of here tomorrow with a guilty concious." He seemed to accept it and started walking back to the inn in front of her. Her room as she called it was over the inn with an outside stairwell. In truth it was kept by the innkeeper Mug for the rare lady that happened by who needed a nice room to sleep in. Hunters and trappers and the other odd sorts that hung out at Wolf's Lair were not permitted to even look inside. That is all but Ashva. She had them convinced that somewhere under her ranger clothes was a lady. Resisting Atluf's plea for one more kiss, she bid him good night and climbed the stairs to her room. The door was never locked because no one dared anger Mug. Most of them owed him money and they didn't want him calling in their tabs at the bar.

Still wondering where Haldir was and pleased that the blood heat seemed to be weaker this night, she opened the window overlooking the stable and let in the fresh night air in. Then surveying the accomodations, she saw that Mug had added a chair to the room. Must had had a real lady visit him. Not wanting to think about Haldir anymore only because it upset her, she stripped down to the light undershirt that she wore under her tunic and checked the crock pitcher for water. Mug was always prepared for his ladies, she thought with a smile. There was even a clean towel. Maybe now she could clean the smell of horse off her.

She knew the moment that she heard chair move behind her that Haldir was in her room, and the plopping sound was him taking the chair. "Did you and your lover have a nice tryst?" he asked venomously.

She didn't answer him but picked the leather pouch up off the bed and pulled the little button out. Without speaking she tossed it to him and went back to her basin bath.

"Where did you find this?" he asked and pulled a small stook out from under the bed table to prop his feet on.

"Atluf showed me where they camped. Found some other things as well if you want to see them in the morning," she said, too tired to put up with his silliness. "I'm going to bed. There's room enough for both, or you can sit there and glare at me. I simply give up trying to understand you."

"I don't go where a man has been," Haldir retorted at the suggestion.

That was absolutely the dumbest thing that she had ever heard. "Now you're being mean," she countered and pulled the cover back from the sheet on the bed. "You already know I haven't been with a man." Then, as she hung her clothes over the back of a wardrobe door, she asked, "Are your ellyths faithful while you are gone?"

" I would know if they weren't," he answered matter of factly.

"Why are they faithful?" she asked wearily and stopped organizing everything to look at him.

"Because I'm in their blood," he answered with a touch of arrogance. An elf warrior was a terribly vain creature when it suited him.

"Well I found out today, that I share something else in common with them. My grief." She climbed into bed, turned on her right side and pulled the sheet up over her. She was so aware of his presence that it started an ache in her breast, but as stated, that was her grief. In a couple of days she would be back to normal, and hopefully so would her thoughts. And luckily she was such a mixed up halfbreed that she had never worried about getting kids. No strings attached, ride away when it was over. So why was she crying? He was so quiet, she didn't even know he was moving until he slipped under the sheet beside her.

"Am I in your blood?" he asked seductively and kissed her shoulder.

She looked up at his beautiful face, saw that he was not teasing her, and said, "You know you are."

"Then I need to tell you something," he purred into her ear, his breath sending delicious shivers down her spine. "If you ever tell me to not touch you again, nothing you do or say will be able to change my mind again. Understood?"

She shuddered as his hand ran down her arm and moved around to caress her left breast. His finger tips just brushed the tip of her nipple, and the sudden surge of desire that bolted like quicksilver through her to settle in her pelvis had her gasping in surprise. He eased her over on her back and kissed her so slowly and seductively that she thought she was going to drown in her own blood. He moved her throat, lingered for a moment and then moved to her breasts, torturing each one with his mouth and tongue until she throught she was going to lose her mind, but then he moved lower. What was he doing?

"What are you doing to me?" she gasped, desperately needing him to give her relief from the ache he was creating.

Haldir raised his head from her navel which he had just kissed and said, "You really don't know what I am doing? You mean none of your human lovers have ever kissed you there?" She shook her head. " A man who will not kiss the pearl does not truely love his woman. " Ashva almost screamed when he repositioned himself and seperated her hot flesh with the flat of his tongue, bringing it to a sharp point over the pearl he had spoken of. She knew now she was going to lose her mind as he built a fire in her belly that promised to engulf her in such seering flames that she was going to be comsumed alive. Whatever small spark triggered it, she did not know, but suddenly she was dying only to be reborn again on the tip of his tongue. He stayed with her, holding her thighs until she collapsed and tried to push him away. He sat up, his chin damp. Ashva got on all fours, her eyes on his mouth, on his most talented mouth, and she crawled to him and licked her own juice from his chin and wonderful mouth. Haldir chuckled softly deep in is chest.

"Now it's your turn," she purred and turned her attention to his beautiful body. She knew how to please a man this way, but in truth she had never tasted one so clean and smelling of the forest. It cloaked him like a perfume, and she loved the little gasps he made when she nipped at his skin and teased his nipples. Trailing a line of moisture down his flat stomach with her tongue she paused just long enough to admire his swollen flesh before taking as much of him as she could into her hot mouth. He fell back on the pillows as she tortured him to that moment of perfection when he could take no more and released himself into her mouth.

Ashva sat up and stared at his beautiful face, at the way he was trying to collect himself, at the way his damp skin smelled so erotic in her nostrils. She swallowed and crept up his body on all fours. She nipped him, her sharp white teeth taking small bites out of skin. She wanted to devour him, to make him a part of her forever.

"Haldir, I love you," she purred and continued up to his body to his wonderful mouth.

"I know," he said as she molded her body to his.


Atluf was waiting at the foot of the stairs when the door to Ashva's room opened, but instead of Ashva, her brother, minus his hood stepped out. He was putting on his gloves, and when he looked up, Atulf had to take a step backwards. Ashva's brother was elf kind.

Haldir stopped at the foot of the stairs, met the man's surprised gaze and said, "I'm not her brother." He then proceeded to the barn where their horses were waiting to be saddled.

Ashva finally stepped out of the room and closed the door behind her. Seeing dear Atluf at the foot of the stairs with a shocked look on his face, she stopped to say good-bye. "If I come back in the fall to hunt wildgoats, will you still be my friend and go with me?" she asked warmly.

"I will always be your friend, Ashva," he promised kindly, "but if you are following the Os with him...." His words trailed off. "Be careful."

She nodded and then reached up and kissed him on the cheek. "In fall." Taking his chin in her hand, she pulled his face down and kissed him on the cheek. Haldir led the saddled horses out of the barn and waited.

Climbing into the saddle, passing her her reins, he said, "You really must quit kissing all these men while I'm around." She saw the humor in his eyes as he touched spurs to his horse's side. If the Os had passed this way, they would simply follow their trail into the mountains.