Hungry

''White trees with red veins, yeah, that one works,'' Xander nodded while explaining to me why we had to collect a specific type of wood. ''Ice demons are quite sensitive to heat, we must be very careful when making fire. This tree burns without smoke,'' He said.

''Oh, I've never seen a white tree before,'' I put my hand on one of the trees and the tree trembled under my hand. I startled and take a step back, ''This... this tree has a heartbeat!''

Xander laughed in a deep, manly voice, ''Yeah, indeed it is. I too was surprised when I first came here. Natives believe these trees have souls,'' He said. I remembered the tree I heard its desire when I first used the Desires of Heart. All it wanted was peace.

''So you're not native, Xander?'' I asked.

He sighed, ''No, I moved here lately 'cause Casey and Ian are in Frozen Drop guild. I didn't understand why they wanted to join a newly formed guild, but Hermes is a really impressive leader, so I decided to stay.''

''I see,'' I said. Since he was telling his story, I had to tell mine now, but I had no idea what to say. Seeing that I wasn't willing to tell, Xander didn't insist.

''Give me your hand,'' he smiled and took my hand. He put my hand on the tree before I could react, ''Listen, it's not just a heartbeat.'' I did as he said, I focused on the heartbeat of the tree and the warmth of Xander's hand. My succubus powers were increasing as I touched skin more so I couldn't stop Xander's feelings from flowing into me. He was in... sorrow.

It wasn't like suffering from being rejected by the girl she liked, it was in deep, deepest place in his heart. However, Xander's mind was not like that of the peasants. He was well educated, I could taste the feeling, but I couldn't find the reason in his mind.

Then, something distracted me, ''It's... it's singing!'' Singing trees? Really? Xander burst out of that nice, deep laugh again.

''It's nice, isn't it? But we have to go, I want camp to be ready before it gets dark,'' He said. We filled water bottles from the stream and started collecting firewood. If I hadn't seen Xander's heart, I would have thought he had no worries about anything at all. He was easily scattering carefree smiles despite the sorrow he is in.

''It is a good opportunity to feed on him when the two of you are alone here,'' The fox said. I thought about the suggestion, he was a nice person even though I didn't feel anything for him. A little dally wouldn't hurt anyone.

''I... I am full. I don't know how to explain it but I'm full,'' I said to the fox.

''You fed on the nun last night and this afternoon the thief's lover. It seems that feeding once a day is enough for you,'' The fox said, and we were already on the way back to camp.

The camp consisted of a tent and a pit, camouflaged with branches and leaves that you would not notice until you are within ten meters of it. Ian put the firewood we collected into the pit to set it on fire. So the fire wouldn't attract unwanted attention.

Actually, we didn't need a fire for cooking since we had dried food with us. But at night the forest was getting quite colder, worthy of its name. The closer we got to the campsite, the quieter Xander was. Casey ignored him completely, except to show him how to do things.

Ian seemed uncomfortable with the situation too, but he had nothing to do. While everyone was having dinner quietly and uncomfortably, Casey got out of her bag a much more detailed map than I got from the bandits. ''We're here...'' She said.

''...and here is the hive. There are several hives in the forest, but we'll go for the smallest. Getting some honey wouldn't be hard, the main problem is pollen. The queen bee produces the pollen to feed the next queen. This means we have to clean the entire hive until we reach the queen. Any questions?''

None of us had questions, so she continued, ''There are usually about ten thousand bees in a small hive, however, almost all of them are worker bees and they don't pose a danger to us. When their queen dies, they find another queen to serve. The queen herself can't fight either, but there are always warrior bees who protect her and sacrifice their lives for her when needed.''

''How many warrior bees are in the hive?'' Ian asked.

''In a hive of this size, I'm guessing no more than a hundred. Poisonous stings are their only weapon and wings are weak spots. Don't bother killing them all, just cut their wings and get them out of our way,'' Casey said.

We all nodded, it was a simple plan. They had bought the antidote from the guild, and except poison, the bees had no weapons, there would be no problems. Sure. First, while Casey and Ian were on guard, I and Xander would sleep, then take over.

The tent was small enough that I could hear Xander's breath but too big to touch him. When I heard Xander going out of the tent, I was not sleeping, I was meditating. ''Ian, can you give us a minute?'' Xander asked.

''Sure, I gotta pee,'' He said and I heard his steps walking away.

''I didn't let you leave the guard post, Ian,'' Casey said.

''Casey, look, I don't know what's going on between you two, but I'm tired of your grumpy. Just talk and get over it,'' Ian said. For a while, I didn't hear anything.

Finally, ''I just can't believe you matched me with someone else because I asked you out and you rejected. We always kept guard together before that, you act like a child,'' Xander said. I wasn't interested in overhearing in couple fights, but in this case, I had no choice but to listen.

''Don't you exaggerate yourself? Maybe I just didn't want the new girl and Ian to have the vigil,'' Casey said.

''Sure, okay. So why did you act as I've had the plague for the last week?'' Xander asked. I've never heard his voice this angry. Sure, I'd only known him for a day, but I didn't think he was someone who gets angry often.

''Xander, look. I don't like you in a romantic way. You're a nice guy, but I'm not into you,'' Casey said.

''Yeah, you already said that,'' Xander said, he wasn't yelling, but his voice was full of anger. ''I got it. No problem. So are you going to act as I'm your mortal enemy from now on?''

''What do you want me to do? Should I pretend nothing happened?'' Now Casey's voice was angry too.

''Yes, nothing happened after all,'' Xander said.

''I can't, okay? I can't. I can't keep behaving normally or sleeping next to you knowing your feelings. Now wake up the healer and take the relieve the guard. I'm going to go find Ian. I don't want to talk about this any more,'' She said and strode away.

Xander waited for a while, I guessed he was watching Casey walk away. Then he stretched his head to the tent. ''I'm awake,'' I said.

He laughed nervously, ''Did you like the show?''

''Sorry, I wouldn't want to be eavesdropping,'' I said as I got out of the tent.

''It's okay. If even Ian figured it out, everyone in the guild is probably aware,'' He sighed. ''I don't know why Casey acts like that, I mean, I didn't propose anything.''

I shrugged my shoulders, ''Some people are like that.'' Casey and Ian came back and entered the tent to sleep.

''Don't you eat him now?'' The fox asked.

''What? We're not even two meters away from Casey and Ian. Also, we are on guard duty, it wouldn't be nice if I let the beasts attack because I wanted to taste a man,'' I said.

''Okay, it's up to you. Just don't blame me later for not warning you,'' The fox said.

''What? What warning? You didn't warn me for anything,'' I said but the fox yawned and did not answer me. ''I am talking you damn fox, answer me.''

''Well, you last fed at noon, so you'll be full until the next noon. But after that... I can't guarantee what will happen,'' It said.

''What is likely to happen?'' I asked.

''What happens when you normally skip a meal?''

''I'll be hungry, but skipping a meal won't be a problem. I can handle it,'' I said.

''Okay, suppose you couldn't find anything to eat for two days, what is likely to happen?'' The fox asked. ''Yeah, the hunger for lust is just as painful. You feel tired, have no will or energy to do anything and...'' It giggled.

''...and?'' I asked.

''You would do anything to eat a little bit.''