It's been a long day, time to sleep. Besides...

I woke up in the dead of night, the chill of night on my skin. My right side was pretty cold, but my left was warmed by Kali's body. After so many cold nights on the road, sleeping in dirt with only insects for company, the luxury of a bed was heavenly. Even so, I woke after only a few hours, and for a few minutes I wondered why I had.

I rolled in place, pulling the sheet over my whole body; Kali had pulled most of the blanket off of me; she was a mover. It was warm, and I sighed in contentment. Then, like a clap of thunder, insight; Nadia Aidana. She'd be sleeping somewhere in the inn, bare and unguarded. I licked my lips, stiffening as I imagined her taut ass and beautiful skin.

I stood up, jostling the Witch as I did. She murmured, her eyes flickering open, and I said, "Go to sleep. I had something to do."

She obeyed, snuggling up to the feathered pillow.

I closed my eyes, focusing on the feeling I had near the crystal tree, and found the spark from before. That feeling of heat and power, and tried to direct it. My hunger doubled, but it wasn't as bad as it had been near the tree, as I focused on my nose. Rather than magnify all of my senses as I had by the crystal spire, I tried only to increase my sense of smell.

It was getting easier to perform these partial transformations, a manner of practice and instinct, and in a moment I could clearly smell a dozen threads of scent. In a moment I had parsed out the previously indistinguishable. Mine, sweat and semen with a hint of sulfur, the Witch with her undercurrents of ****, dozens of travellers, wood and wool and smoke, and her.

I left the dark room, taking a moment to pull my long coat on. I buttoned it half up, covering my groin, and pulled the hood over nubs of horn. Black nails turned to talons as I stalked through the silent halls of the inn and the dark separated into midnight and shadows as my slitted eyes grew sharp. I found a place where the innkeeper's scent hung heavy in the air on the ground floor, a door behind the bar.

I took a deep breath and caught other scents there, food and spice, and let out a silent curse. I looked around again and caught sight of slight recession in the floor with a small ring in the center; a basement, perhaps?

I got on my hands and knees and placed my ear against the floor with some difficulty. I maneuvered around my horns, now larger and beginning to curl, and eventually got my head level. I closed my eyes and focused, putting all thoughts from my mind and listened. My hunger flared again and I could hear the slow draw of breath and the beating of a heart from beneath the floorboards.

Good.

I soot up and slinked over to the trapdoor, bending to grasp the ring.

I hesitated. The demon urged me forward, the incubus only saw it's quarry, but the slight part that was still human wondered. . .