The following day, it was Mark who woke up first. It was still early morning, and the sun had not yet completely risen, but the moon had vanished, and the sky was not pitch black anymore.
Chill of the morning air filtered through the leaves, carrying that faint scent of sulfur along as it brushed past his hair.
Groggy from sleep, Mark rubbed his face and looked in front of him. Dona's back was facing him. A bit confused at first, he quickly understood.
That was true…
He had become a demon.
"What a way to wake up…" Unwilling to move, Mark sighed. Instead of being responsible and moving, he hugged the woman tightly.
She seemed to shrink herself to his size to be fully embraced by him, and in the cold environment in the early morning, her warm body was extremely comfortable.
Man, such an adorable creature Dona was.
Just as he was enjoying the moment, Mark suddenly frowned.
From underneath the tree, a faint blue light was brightening the dark forest, and that light stood out from the light of the sky at this near-dawn.
What was going on?
He was reluctant, but Mark moved away from Dona and slowly crawled to the edge of the tree top to get a better look. Sleepiness, tiredness of just waking up, grogginess, laziness, and all such things all but vanished from his face.
Extreme wariness and alarm flashed through him.
Mark's heart was thudding against his ribs.
Tens, hundreds, thousands of demons lined below the tree. All of them were somehow very disciplined and didn't even make much noise. Mark saw multiple demons like the half-spider, half-human, that he couldn't even gauge the strengths of.
[Demon] [???]
Looking at them made his mind buzz.
Question marks that made him gulp were on a multiple of the demons. Rather cowered, Mark's gaze slowly moved away from the demonic legion and slowly turned toward the place they were all headed.
A huge accumulation of light, a blue… electrical wave like agglomoration. It was extremely bright, and all of the demons entered the gate silently and vanished.
What it was, Mark didn't know, but did it make him worried?
All too much.
The number of demons was in the thousands!
Then, he thought of one detail and immediately remembered how Dona always got nervous when nights arrived. Was this the reason?
Does this number of demons crawl the ground after night deepened?!
Every night?
His skin crawled. Their fangs, their violence, they were all somehow calm now but what if someone like him gets trapped in their middle?
Mark hadn't even noticed when he was sleeping so soundly that these ferocious bunch were just below him. That made him even warier.
Just like that, all his thoughts gone, Mark kept a gaze on the demons, and time trickled by. As the sky became bright, the portal closed, and the blue light dimmed. Everything returned to normal, and the forest once again became familiar.
All of the demons had vanished.
That didn't settle Mark's thoughts.
All of those strong and mindless demons became so obedient and well-disciplined.
What was that blue portal?
Where did it lead?
Did this happen every night?
As he was lost in his thoughts, a warm pair of hands embraced him from the back and Dona growled sleepily as she pulled him towards her. Then, she gently rubbed her cheeks against his and tightly clung to him.
"Gaa…" she growled, comfortably cuddling up.
Mark smiled awkwardly and rubbed her head. "You are so carefree, aren't you?"
She closed her eyes when he caressed her and took in all the comfort. He wanted to do something else, but she just closed her eyes, and they laid like that silently for a while.
Dona sniffed him gently.
He was a bit confused at first, but Dona just began to sniff him all over and then just laid against him.
"Aw…" Mark's eyes twinkled. "So you were remembering your mate's smell. Well, aren't you a cutie?"
"Grr…"
He began sniffing her, and she showed all her body parts for him to sniff. Maybe because she was a flame demon in particular, but she never smelled bad. She had this smell of wildness, grass, forest, and fruits that always seemed to linger around her.
And his nose took it all in. Somehow, he acutely began to remember her scent.
When he sniffed her neck, she bent it so as to allow him better access while sniffing him herself. When he sniffed her chest, she sniffed the top of his head.
When he pushed her down and began sniffing her belly, she shifted her body on her own and began to sniff his… member. Her nose pressed against it, and she took in deep and comfortable breaths.
Aroused and gulping, he pressed his cock against her lips, and even though she didn't open her mouth, she planted her face onto his crotch and aggressively began sniffing. He could feel her breath on him.
As he moved down her belly, she pushed her hairless red crotch towards him so that he could sniff that area, too. Luckily for Mark, Dona was clean otherwise, even though she had grime all over her.
Crisp grain wasn't that bad.
Dona was very clean for a demon.
She pressed her crotch against his nose and began grinding on him. Only when he gave it a sniff did she once again turn and begin sniffing his other areas.
She smelled nice there, too, and she seemed a bit reluctant to stop grinding on him.
He only smiled as they continued their ritual.
***
They continued doing the ritual until a vivid picture of each other's scents entered their mind.
Dona didn't even seem to need to brush, as her body became similar to a refinery (hot and active) when she was asleep—it was warm outwardly but incredibly hot inside her.
Of course, that's why even her teeth were very clean. She didn't smell bad.
And in all of her wildness, Dona appeared in his mind in the form of scents. It was like remembering someone with their appearance, but this time, using one's nose and ability to smell instead of eye and vision.
It was a deep sense. It made him long for the smell to be near. The same must be true for her.
The duo then just laid against each other, and Dona rubbed her warm cheeks against his, purring in satisfaction. He kissed her neckline and under her jaws, and she shifted her posture to allow him for a better headway.
Mark said, "I just realized, Dona."
"Gu?" she tilted her head in confusion.
Maybe she really did understand him.
"You can't understand even if I say it—someday else when you are smarter, maybe."
She just blinked and made some noise, but he pinched her cheeks, and that made her growl. He didn't let her cheek go even when she tilted her head away and tried to escape.
"For now, let's go and hunt all those snakes."
She didn't seem to understand, but she giggled regardless. She just wanted to lie around him like that.
Well, what an airhead.