DEMONESS II

by Misty Vixen

Catch up on the Demoness series!

DEMONESS

Table of Contents

CHAPTER I

CHAPTER II

CHAPTER III

CHAPTER IV

CHAPTER V

CHAPTER VI

CHAPTER VII

CHAPTER VIII

CHAPTER IX

OTHER TITLES

ABOUT ME

CHAPTER I

“I smell a hot spring nearby, John. We should make camp here for the night.”

John looked up at the sky as they slowed to a halt. The sun was still up, though certainly twilight was beginning to descend across the land like a red-gold curtain. In his head, he knew that they had easily another good hour of travel time, and really, there was more than that, because they were both fairly hale and in high spirits, although they’d been walking all day since dawn. But in his heart he didn’t want to take another step.

He wanted Yelena.

He wanted to be nude with her, wanted to be relaxing in hot water with her, ached to feel her moving against him, to hear her strange demoness voice moaning in sexual pleasure. Well...in his heart and in his pants, if he was being honest.

To complicate matters more, he knew that they were close to a crossing.

Given that he was now in love with a demoness, John was a fugitive. Pretty much anyone who saw him with Yelena would either try to kill them outright, or go find someone to try and kill them. Their best bet was to hide among the forests that dotted the land. As such, they had been traveling along his own homeland forest for most of the day, making their way east. John knew that these woodlands would eventually run out and give onto open fields and grassy plains. As such, he’d been considering how best to deal with that situation.

Yelena was presently wearing a cloak with a large hood, but even that would only work for so long. Anyone within a decent distance would begin to realize that something was wrong with the shape of her hood, that it looked suspiciously like horns poking up, creating that shape. And everyone knew that there were no ‘civilized’ species living among the land that had horns. And that was if they were facing away.

If they caught a glimpse of her face, even buried in the cowl, well...those glowing eyes would give it away pretty fast.

John knew of a spot where the edge of his forest was closest to the edge of another forest. It was just the first step on their journey, but they had a big journey ahead of them, and it was really just better to take things in steps.

Twilight would technically be the best time to make a break across that expanse of open space. Night would probably be best. But it was more dangerous at night. Well, more dangerous for him, he supposed.

Yelena was more than capable of taking care of herself.

But what ultimately decided him was something not born of intelligence, logic, or reason, but of desire. And lust.

And the way Yelena was looking at him with those intensely flaring red eyes of hers.

“We shall make camp,” he said. “Lead the way, my love.”

She favored him with a smile that seemed equal parts warm and surprised, and maybe a little embarrassed.

In a fit of excitement, Yelena took his hand in her gloved one and eagerly began leading him off the natural path they were following, into the thickets and trees. John felt a rush of excitement as they touched and hurried off.

They had had sex this morning once before leaving, and had somehow managed not to give in to desire a second time. It had been exceedingly difficult in some moments. He knew that he was letting his feelings get in the way to a certain degree. They could have easily made it to the other forest by now, but he had taken his time. He’d shown things to Yelena in the forest, special places or beautiful scenes or curious oddities he’d come across in his years of roaming the area, hunting or exploring. Encountering these things by himself or even with a special friend, (a woman he was currently sleeping with), paled in comparison to experiencing it with Yelena for the first time. Although she had difficulty showing some emotions, he could tell that she found his world wondrous in her own way. He was glad to be her guide to his realm.

“It is close,” Yelena said.

Now he could sense it as well: the steam on the air, that particular faint scent of a natural hot spring. Damn, she had really good senses. As they drew closer to the hot spring, John felt a wave of sleepiness wash slowly over him. It had been a long but pleasant day. Honestly, a long but...well, mostly pleasantly, week.

Had it only been a week since Yelena had entered his life?

That struck him as a little crazy. Well, more than a little crazy.

How many stories had he read or heard of people who ‘ran off’ with their ‘true love’? How many times had that gone awry? How many people shook their head at the absurdity of young lovers? Not that John or Yelena, (especially Yelena, how old was she exactly?), were young. Not that he was particularly old, either. At thirty he felt...he wasn’t sure how he felt anymore. He didn’t feel young, that was for sure, he just felt…

He felt like the passing of one year no longer held such significance.

Thirty looked just about the same as twenty nine. Okay, that wasn’t true. His life looked completely different now, but that wasn’t because he was getting older. John supposed he had, at some point, hit the age where age no longer really mattered. Or at least it wouldn’t matter again for (hopefully) quite some time.

“There,” Yelena said.

They stepped through a treeline and came into a clearing that almost seemed perfectly sized and suited for their needs.

“Okay, I’ll set the camp,” he said.

“I’ll secure the area,” Yelena replied.

Even lust-addled she was smart and quick. She slipped off into the treeline again. John untied the small bag attached to his belt and studied the area for a moment. After deciding on the best location, he tossed the bag at the ground and quietly muttered the activation word of power. There was a flash of white-blue light and an odd sound and suddenly he was looking at a campsite. It was a simple one, even the fifteen hundred gold he’d dropped on this had only gotten him a primitive model, but it was more than worth the time it would save having to set up a camp every night and break it down every morning.

There was a tent that was big enough for the two of them and little else, a small fire-pit, and three chairs around it. John moved past the pit and into the tent itself. Their bedding took up most of it, and all that was left were a pair of small chests on the ground. One had a subtle chill coming off of it. John shrugged out of his pack, set it down and crouched in front of the chests. The one with the chill was magically enchanted, and would require a once-a-day recharge to maintain its chill spell. The reason for this being that they could store food and drink inside of it, and not have to worry about it spoiling as quickly.

There wasn’t a great deal currently inside: some beef, some venison, a handful of potatoes and tomatoes and some stalks of celery, a couple of bottles of water and blueberry juice. That would last them for a few meals, no more than three if they were cautious. But there was plenty of wildlife around and they both knew how to hunt and skin and clean. He checked the other chest, which held some basic emergency supplies: a bit of gold, some gems, a few healing potions, a quiver of arrows, a dagger, a few changes of clothing.

Everything looked to be in order.

He came back out as he heard a whisper of movement and saw Yelena rejoining him. “We are safe, and alone,” she confirmed.

“Good,” John replied, and kicked off his boots while pulling his shirt off.

“I am glad to be free of this,” Yelena said as she pulled the hood carefully down, to avoid tearing it, and then tossing the large gray cloak into the tent.

“I’m sorry you have to wear it,” John replied.

“As am I, but it is worth it to be with you. Now, strip. I wish to make love,” she said, favoring him with a more feral grin as she undressed.

He returned it and quickly stripped of his clothing.

John stared at Yelena as she revealed her nude body to him. He remembered the first time they had made love. It had been intense and erotic and surprising. He hadn’t expect it to happen, but she had come onto him.

He’d certainly hoped it would happen.

And he was sure glad it had.

Yelena had a slim, fit body of somewhat rough, dark reddish skin. She took off her bra and tossed it as well, freeing her high, firm breasts. Her dark hair was a mess, making her look even sexier than he already thought she looked, and her horns poked straight up through them. He found himself staring at her movements, entranced by her graceful dexterity as much as her physical beauty. And then his eyes were drawn down to her hooves. They were black, shiny, and polished looking. Yelena finished undressing by pulling her panties down.

Gods, she was so wonderful to look at naked.

“You are doing it again,” Yelena said with a smug smirk.

“Doing what?” he asked, but he knew.

“You are staring at me, not getting undressed yourself. Denying me the sight of your own wonderful bare body.”

“Fair enough,” he replied, not that he particularly agreed with her. He was fit, a result of his lifestyle, but he didn’t think he was handsome or in any way good-looking. In his mind, he was, at best, plain.

But he stripped down naked, tossing his clothes in the tent.

John always felt a twinge of discomfort at being nude in an outdoor setting. He’d gotten over it for the most part, but he still felt the urge to cover his dick. But Yelena was apparently totally at ease being nude, even exposed outdoors like this. He didn’t think she had any reason to be uncomfortable with her body, she was damned fine to look at, but she had to feel exposed. This was an entirely new land, a new world, a new plane of existence for her. And yet, she seemed at ease. Well...as at ease as Yelena got, for the most part.

She stepped forward and embraced him, pressing her lean, hot body against his own. She kissed him, pressing her smooth deep, dark red lips against his own. He tilted his head and deepened the kiss, hugging her, then sliding his hands down her back. He first settled them on the swell of her firm ass, giving it a good squeeze, then he found her tail. She gasped as he brushed his fingers against her thin, prehensile tail, growing from just above her wonderfully fit ass. He gripped it gently and felt it twitch in his grasp.

“When you do that...” she whispered, breaking the kiss, her lips brushing his as she spoke, her eyes bare inches from his.

“Yeah?” he asked. Now it was his turn to wear the smug smirk.

“It arouses me so much...”

“Good girl,” he replied, and kissed her again, then began to run his hand up and down her thin black tail.

She moaned into the kiss as his fingertips found the triangular tip and began to massage it gently. Her tail was really sexy.

“To the water,” she said, almost out of breath with lust and desire. “Now,” she growled.

John heeded her demand and moved over to the hot spring with her. They both slipped nimbly into it and immediately everything else seemed to drop away. His concerns of the days ahead, the difficulties of moving among the shadows, his worries about Yelena’s safety. Being here, nude in steaming hot water with the woman he loved, both of them horny and desperate, craving physical affection and sexual gratitude...that’s what consumed him.

Yelena mounted him almost immediately, making him find a natural rock shelf to sit on. She straddled him, staring down at him with her wide red eyes. They were blazing, flaring like a powerful flame, a physical manifestation of her love and desire for him. He felt absurdly lucky to be the center of that attention.

She kissed him again, and now slipped her long, forked tongue into his mouth. He moved his own tongue forward, seeking hers, finding it and twisting the two together. He never thought he’d be tongue-kissing with a demoness.

Her forked tongue was really sexy, and afforded her a lot of interesting abilities when it came to oral pleasure.

Yelena reached down in between them, her long-fingered hand finding his cock and wrapping around it. Her grasp was so firm and so sure. She had been like that basically from the beginning when it came to sex. When they made love, even that first time, it always felt so...right. So natural. The idea that he would feel this way about a woman from a different plane of existence, a literal demon, struck him as a little nuts.

But he didn’t care.

He loved her, he loved being with her.

Without a word, staring directly into his eyes, she raised herself up and then lowered herself, smoothly sliding his steel hard cock into her absurdly hot, wet pussy. Good fuck was she so goddamned tight! The two of them moaned loudly in sexual unification.

“Oh, John!” she moaned loudly as she began to ride him.

“Yelena, you’re so amazing,” he groaned, feeling the wonderful pleasure of her bare demoness vagina clenching hard around his human cock and sliding up and down. She moved slowly at first, satisfying them both, luxuriating in the raw sexual rapture. For the next stretch of time, there were no words, there was only the two of them together. He inside of her. The pleasure of sexual connection, the raw bliss of bareback, completely unprotected sex, the emotional high of lovemaking. They both reveled in it.

Yelena held him to her, one hand along the middle of his back, the other on the back of his head. She pressed her forehead to his own, her eyes wide and unblinking, almost feral with desire. The water began to slosh around as she started to ride him more violently, bouncing furiously on his cock, taking it all the way inside of herself and moaning loudly in pleasure. Pure burning sexual satisfaction melted slowly into John, radiating out from the core of his body. Inside, Yelena was extremely hot, approaching almost painful.

Which made sense, given she was a demoness.

He loved it.

Yelena pulled back slightly. “John,” she said quietly, slowing down. “When you were having sex with Lily, earlier, you fucked her in the ass.”

“Yeah?” he replied, sensing she seemed to be going somewhere with this.

“Would you like to do the same with me?”

He felt a fresh wave of lust and excitement surge through him. “Fuck yes, I would. You have such a hot ass, Yelena,” he replied.

“Then we shall do that. Don’t move.”

Having anal sex with Yelena was something he had thought about since they had hooked up, (she did have a fantastically fit and hot ass), but he hadn’t gotten around to it yet. Partially because he’d been so enamored with the rest of her, and partially because he wasn’t sure how she felt about that. Honestly, there was a lot he was having to rediscover and explore anew with her. And so far, it was all very exciting.

Yelena got up off of him, allowing his cock to slip out of her. He stared up at her. Standing over him like this, his demoness lover looked like some kind of personification of lust and desire, a sex deity. He was certain she would enjoy this comparison. She turned around and then stepped off the shelf he was sitting on. Now the water was up to her shoulders. He wondered if they would need lube. Well, Yelena would know.

With yet more skilled precision, Yelena lowered her fit ass down into his lap, reached back, gripped his cock and laid it at the entrance of her tight ass. Her tail was in between them now, pressed up against her back. He stared at it, at her glistening dark red skin. And then she began working his cock into her ass.

John groaned and closed his eyes as the pleasure began to hit him.

“Oh wow,” he whispered. “Yelena...”

She continued slowly lowering herself, taking him into her ass. It was just as amazingly tight and hot as he had imagined it.

“I want to please you,” Yelena murmured as she rose up and lowered herself, rose up and lowered, until she took his entire length into her ass.

“This is extremely pleasing,” he groaned.

Yelena leaned forward a bit and he looked down, seeing her demoness ass below the water, grinding into his lap, his cock inside of her. He reached out and gently grabbed her tail. She gasped in surprise, then began to ride his cock with her ass. Both of them moaned again in sexual pleasure, in gratification and unity.

He was going to orgasm soon.

But he needed her to come first. It was an unspoken promise he had made her at some point. Partially because he wanted to get her off, wanted her to have at least as much pleasure as he did, if not more, and partially due to practical reasons. He wasn’t entirely sure he could keep going after blowing his own load.

This was why he typically went down on her or at least fingered her before they got started. She wasn’t all that hard to get off and unlike him, an orgasm for her could really be just the beginning. Yelena could fuck until the sun came up. So with one hand he continued massaging her tail carefully, and with the other he reached around and fitted it between her thighs. She moaned much more loudly when he found her clit and began to rub it.

“Oh, John!” she cried. “That’s so good...”

He made her come inside of ten seconds.

He could feel her twitching and spasming as she orgasmed, and she moaned loudly, her rough voice becoming harsher. Her climax triggered his own. Grabbing her trim hips, he thrust up into her incredibly tight ass and made her cry out as he started to come. His cock kicked hard, a thick jet of his seed spurting out of him and into her, and then it was repeating over and over again, as rapid as it could, his cock spitting his seed out of and pumping her ass full of it. Each time it kicked, a fresh wave of raw bliss careened through his body, filling him with blinding pleasure. He felt Yelena moving against him, felt the pulses and twitches of her own orgasm as they climaxed together in blissful unity and wondrous satisfaction.

His orgasm tapered off, his cock dry-kicking before long, and then it was finished, and he was softening inside of her.

Yelena got up off of him slowly and then sat down beside him, both of them breathing heavily. They sat together in silence for a few moments.

“Why haven’t you asked me for that kind of sex before?” Yelena asked eventually.

“To be honest, I was so enamored with the rest of your body, I hadn’t gotten to it. And I wasn’t sure how you’d react,” he replied. “Why didn’t you offer?”

She offered a short laugh. “The same reasons, actually. Anal sex is very common in my realm. I love it. It feels wonderful.”

“That is so awesome to learn. I want to fuck you in the ass a lot more,” he replied. “I really want to do it to you when you’re on your hands and knees.”

“That would be very pleasurable,” Yelena said. She paused. “I suppose we should be more open in our communication with each other. I must admit, I’m still...cautious.”

“Cautious?”

“Of how to broach certain topics. Especially related to sex. I have studied your realm and your species in particular, and I feel that I have a basic grasp of it, but social situations...”

John smiled and hugged her to him. “Yelena, social situations are a difficulty even to me sometimes. How about we have a simple policy: If you are uncertain about something, curious about something, or confused about something, ask me directly. I won’t be offended, or get angry. I’ll give you as direct an answer as I can.”

She was silent for a few seconds, perhaps considering the wide implications it had, and then she nodded. “Okay. I agree to this...thank you.”

“You’re welcome. I want you to be happy and comfortable here. That isn’t going to be easy, I think, but it shouldn’t be impossible. Well, provided we do what we’re supposed to do.” He paused a moment, feeling lightheaded. “How about we finish washing up and get out of here? I’m starving and this water is actually pretty hot.”

“That sounds fine to me,” Yelena replied. “And speaking of our plans, I think it would be prudent to go over them once more.”

“Agreed. I’ll run through it while we make dinner.”

They took the time to wash up. John dunked his head under the water and splashed his face after coming back. He was feeling really good. After the pair were through with the hot spring, they got out and walked across the clearing to their camp. They toweled off and John pulled on some boxers, though Yelena remained nude.

They took the time to gather up some kindling, and then Yelena used her magical abilities to get a fire going in the fire-pit. For the next several minutes, they moved in silence together. Again, John thought it was amazing that they had only been together for about a week. From the way they made their meal together, spearing the chilled meat on a turn-style set up over the pit, John setting it to spin automatically, (one of the few spells he’d picked up along the years, it seemed like a must), the pair of them setting up for dinner…

You’d think they’d been doing this for months, or years.

“We need to get you an amulet,” John said as they waited for the meat to cook and got out some bottles. He grabbed one of water, Yelena grabbed one of blueberry juice. “This amulet will be expensive to create and we will need to obtain it secretly. It will hide you in plain sight to the average person.”

“How?” Yelena replied.

“Essentially, it’s an illusion. It will make you appear human to those who look at you. Such magic is a rarity here in these lands, and there’s only one place I know of where we could go. There is a city called Stafford. Or the City of Lights. It’s at the base of a mountain rich in magical metal. The mountain glows. It’s at the head of the Emerald Wild, which is a stretch of very dangerous forest that takes up most of the eastern coast. That’s where we’re going. First to the Emerald Wild, then up along it, to Stafford.”

“Traveling through the Emerald Wild is safer than traveling alongside it?” Yelena asked.

“No, it’s a lot more dangerous...but I’d rather fight monsters than people. Killing monsters is...a lot easier, in several ways,” John replied.

“I imagine you do not become a pariah in your land by killing monsters. Sleeping with one, on the other hand...” her features fell.

“Yelena,” he said, reaching out and taking her hand. “You are not a monster.”

She sighed, squeezed his hand. “I know, but sometimes I feel like one. I have...done things. Terrible things. If you knew-”

“Yelena,” he said, “I will listen, if you wish for me to know. Or I will respect your privacy. But I think that what you did before...I cannot judge. Because I don’t know the rules of your society, how you were raised, what you had to do to stay alive, to function in your own civilization.” He paused, seemed to consider it. “To be clear, though, I will judge you going forward. And you should judge me. I do love you, but I will hold you accountable to your actions. Not that I think I’ll have to. From our experiences so far, Yelena, I believe you to be a good person.”

“I want to be,” she said quietly. “I want to make you happy. I want to be happy.” She laughed suddenly, bitterly. “Happy has not been on my list of requirements for a long time. But I don’t want to hurt people, I don’t want to bring suffering into this world. I just want...a life with you. A happy life with you.”

“And that’s exactly what I want,” he replied, and offered her a smile.

“And you are correct. I have seen what you speak of far too many times. We should not have blind faith in the other. I trust you, and I will trust you if you ask me to, I have a faith in you, but if I see you doing something reprehensible, I...will do what needs to be done.”

“Good. That’s how it should be.” He laughed suddenly. “That got heavy. I don’t think we’ll have to deal with that anyway. I don’t think either of us will do something like that. And I trust and have faith in you, as well, Yelena. Now, I think the meat’s ready. Let’s eat.”

They got the meat off the turn-style and, after it cooled, ate it off of skewers.

“What will we do after?” Yelena asked.

“After we get the amulet? I don’t know. Whatever we want, I guess. What do you want to do?” he replied.

“I want to see this land. I want to meet more people...though not in the settlements. For obvious reasons. I want to meet more beings like Lily.”

“And by meet you mean have sex with?” he asked.

She sighed a huff of annoyance. “Maybe,” she replied.

“You don’t have to be embarrassed. I want to have sex with dryads, too. And with serpentine. I’ve never done that before.”

“What is a serpentine?”

“A snake woman,” he replied.

“Oh. That would be...interesting.”

“I imagine it would be. Are there many kinds of fantastic beings in your world that would be open to casual sex?” Yelena asked.

“I think so. I mean, I’d like to hope so. Personally, I’ve only ever had sex with dryads. And a mermaid once. Do you know what a mermaid is?”

“Yes, I believe so. A woman who lives in the ocean?”

“Yes, although there are more than one kind of woman who live in the ocean. There are ocean nymphs. As for other species, well, there are harpies. Bird women.”

“What about the more common species? Are there only humans in this land? I believe there are supposed to be elves, although I have a hard time telling the difference...”

“No, there are more. And yes, humans are the most common, elves are the second-most common. They’re basically pale, petite humans with pointy ears. Most of them have red hair. But there are also beryl and felis.”

“I do know of felis and beryl. I believe I mentioned having encounters with a few of them...” She paused, another look of curiosity, then of mild embarrassment going across her beautiful, demonic features.

“You’re wondering if we can find some felis and beryl to have sex with?” he asked.

“Yes,” she murmured.

“Why are you so embarrassed?”

“I’m not.” She paused, then heaved a sigh. “Okay, I am. It is more of an automatic reaction. In my land, the idea of sex with any being from this dimension was considered...well, very demeaning. I had to keep my sexual attraction to humans and others from this realm a complete secret. There was a chance I would be killed, or at least forcefully re-educated.”

“That’s horrible, Yelena,” he said quietly. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have teased you.”

“No, it’s okay. I am not upset at you. But you asked. I know that it is wrong, that there is nothing inherently incorrect about my attraction to you or your kind, but it is the society I grew up in. Those ideals...I lived with them and among them for a very long time. Weakness was not tolerated in my realm, and that was seen as a grave weakness.”

“I think I understand,” John said. “Whenever I had sex with a new friend I made who was not of my own species, I felt a kind of...reflexive guilt, I guess. I knew I was doing nothing wrong, and that it was stupid to even think about it, but growing up your whole life with people who would condemn my sexual encounters with a beryl or a felis, let alone a dryad...well, it left some scars. But I didn’t care. You’re right, there’s nothing wrong with that. There’s nothing wrong with our relationship. There was nothing wrong with my relationship with Lily.”

“You are very correct about that.”

They both jerked violently in their chairs, nearly toppling them, and Yelena actually shot to her feet at the sound of the new, yet familiar, voice. John tracked the source of the voice and immediately saw her.

Lily, and another dryad, stood just beyond the edge of the clearing.

He heaved a sigh. “This is why I will never, ever make an enemy of a dryad. I had no fucking clue you were there...hello, Lily.”

“Hello, John. Yelena. I am sorry, but I am also fond of my entrances. And I only got as close as I did to you because you accept me so much, John. That and I am very, very good at what I do. Yelena, you can relax now,” Lily replied.

Yelena let out a huff of irritation. “I was led to believe it is impolite to listen in on a private conversation,” she growled, righting her chair but not sitting down.

“I am sorry,” Lily said, seeming a little embarrassed. “I was going to approach you before that, but then I started listening and your conversation was just so...interesting. You two are good people. I want you to know that. Although I must admit, I am annoyed with the two of you.”

“Why?” Yelena asked, although John thought he knew.

“You two are leaving and you didn’t think to give me a proper goodbye fuck?”

“I thought you were busy, and it’s not like we’re going to be gone forever, Lily,” John replied, though he did feel bad.

“You’re going to be gone for a long while I imagine,” she said curtly.

“I know. I’m sorry. It is, admittedly, part of the reason I agreed to make camp here.”

Yelena looked at him. “So you could potentially fuck your dryad lady on the side?”

“Well...our dryad side lady?” he answered cautiously.

“You’re both lucky I’m okay with being on the side,” Lily said. “Now stop being rude and say hello to my good friend Rose.”

“Hello, Rose,” Yelena said.

“Hi, Rose. It’s very nice to meet you,” John said, focusing on the dryad who had been quietly hanging out in the background during this entire exchange.

“Hello,” she replied, a little cautiously. “Is this...a good idea, Lily?” she added quietly.

“Oh relax, Rose,” Lily replied easily. “We’re just poking fun at each other. I am annoyed, but it’s easy to forgive John. And Yelena, I suppose. She’s very good with her tongue, I’ve learned. Now that introductions are out of the way, let’s get down to it. I came here because I want some goodbye sex from both of you. John, I see you wanting to argue with me. Fine, not goodbye sex, ‘farewell for now sex’, how’s that sound?”

“That sounds fine,” he replied.

“Good. Rose here is a good friend of mine and she’s very shy and awkward around anyone not a dryad, because she’s had so little experience with them. And she is aching to try out some hot, filthy fucking with a human man and she knows about our relationship and since I’m obviously open to sharing and I want everyone to have their secret desires satisfied, within reason, of course, I thought I’d bring her along. And I can’t imagine you’d say no to her.”

“I don’t sleep with every woman I meet who’s interested,” John replied.

“Is that even close to true?” Lily replied.

Yelena looked at him. He sighed. “Okay...maybe that was a lie.”

“And are you really going to say no to Rose? I mean, look at her. Her tits are fucking fabulous,” Lily said.

“They are,” John agreed.

“Yes, they are,” Yelena said almost at the same time.

“And so there we go. Can we get to it? I’m quite horny,” Lily said.

“Well, I’m good to go. Yelena?” he asked, looking at her.

“Always,” Yelena replied, and there was an almost predatory gleam in her eye as she stared at Lily. He had an idea that there was something of a friendly sexual rivalry between the two women. Something he didn’t fully understand, not that he really needed to. It was pretty hot to watch them go at each other.

“Good. I’ll take Yelena. Rose, have fun,” Lily said, and walked right up to his demoness lover. The two women began kissing.

Rose approached John. “Hi,” she said. “I, um...sorry if I’m a little awkward.”

“It’s okay,” he replied. “Take your time.”

Rose smiled. “Thank you,” she said. “Lily told me you were really sweet.”

“I try to be,” he replied. “Where would you be most comfortable?”

“I want to try it in your, ugh, what’s the word? Tent! I want to try this in your tent. I’ve never been inside of one,” she answered.

“Sounds fine to me.” He extended his hand and she took it. Her skin was soft and warm. Which still surprised him. Like all other dryads he’d seen, Rose’s skin had the texture of tree bark. In her case, it was a light tan color that had a bit of a rough look to it. He looked up at her branches, which stuck out of the top of her head like antlers. Leaves and other bits of vegetation hung off of it. She had a beautiful face with eyes that nearly glowed with vibrant, green vivacity. Her hair was a combination of leaves and vines, longer than Lily’s, also a deep green in color. And she was curvy, her breasts large and full, fabulous, as Lily had stated. Her hips were wonderfully broad, her thighs pleasantly padded. And she had a pretty big, firm ass.

She laid down in the mess of bedding and John laid there with her.

For a moment, they simply stared at each other. She seemed somewhat more relaxed now. They were still holding hands. After a moment, she brought his hand up and laid it across one of her large breasts, let go and then placed her own hand on his hip. She scooted closer to him, staring into his eyes, as he began to gently grope her breast.

Rose leaned in and pressed her lush lips to his.

Her mouth was soft and hot, and as she began to kiss him with a bit more passion, he tasted that wondrous taste all dryad women seemed to have. That taste of crystal clear springwater, of honeysuckle, of fresh summer days, of rainfall. Rose immediately became more impassioned when his tongue met hers. She pressed herself more firmly against him and started to twist and twine her tongue with his own, closing her eyes and moaning softly. He let go of her breast and reached down, settling it on the swell of her ass.

She had a wonderful ass.

John heard a familiar voice moan suddenly in pleasure and he broke the kiss, glancing back out of the tent. Rose did so as well. They watched, spying Lily and Yelena lying in front of it, in between the tent and the fire-pit. Lily was on her back with her legs spread, Yelena was lying on her stomach, her face buried in the dryad’s crotch, no doubt putting that prehensile, forked tongue to use. Lily let out another loud moan.

“That is so arousing,” Rose whispered.

“Yes, it is. Would you like some similar treatment?” John asked.

She returned her attention to him immediately. “Yes. I would greatly appreciate that,” she replied earnestly.

He smiled and kissed her again, then decided to stretch the foreplay out even further. This was her first time with a human. He wanted to make a good impression. John reached down, slipping his hand between her thick thighs, and found her clit. She moaned as he touched it, then began to massage it with his fingertip. At the same time, he began to lick across one of her nipples. She moaned louder. Soon, he began to rub her clit a bit harder and faster, sucking on one huge breast as he did so. He loved sucking on women’s tits.

John stopped rubbing her clit and slipped a finger inside of her as he switched over to her other breast, kissing it several times before beginning to lick at her nipple. Inside, she was very tight and slick, and oh so hot. He began to finger her, slipping his finger in and out of her, pressing into her sensitive spots, eliciting further moans of pleasure from her. John kept going like this, really getting into it, into the whole encounter.

After a few minutes, Rose gasped. “Wait-I’m going to, oh my, you, I-” She let out a wordless scream of pleasure as she began to orgasm. Her whole body jerked and jiggled wonderfully as she began to come against his fingers. He didn’t feel the spray of sex juices he normally would, but instead the thick ooze of tree sap he did when he made a dryad come. It was a strange but perversely wonderful thing to experience.

Rose enjoyed her orgasm for close to half a minute.

When she fell back, panting, he let up, sitting up and staring down at her.

“Thank you,” she whispered. “That felt so good.”

“I’m glad. This next part is going to feel even better,” he replied.

“Oh, you don’t have to do anymore for me,” she said.

“I want to,” he replied simply, then he kissed her again and settled down on his stomach in between her thick thighs. She spread her legs wide for him, staring down at him intently with her vivid green eyes. Behind him, he could hear Yelena moaning now. He spread the wet lips of Rose’s pussy and exposed her clit, a small light-green nub. Leaning in, he touched the tip of his tongue to it and began to massage it gently.

“Oh my yes...” Rose moaned. “That’s so fantastic...”

Invigorated further, John continued. He began licking faster, increasing the pressure of his tongue and how much of it he used. Rose continued moaning her sexual satisfaction, giving voice to it, twisting and writhing around in pure pleasure. He kept tonguing her clit until he provoked her beautiful body into a second orgasm. She let out another cry and bucked her hips. He pulled back, staring at she orgasmed again, more of her sexual tree sap coming out of her. He could feel his erection now, a thing that could not be ignored.

“Rose,” he said as he straightened up and quickly got out of what little clothes he had left on. “Can we make love now?”

“Yes,” she moaned. “Please, make love to me. I want you inside of me.”

That was all he needed to hear. He laid down in between her legs and laid his cock at the entrance to her extremely wet, inhuman pussy. He could feel the heat coming off of her. John pushed forward and slipped in without a problem.

She was so fucking wet.

Rose moaned even louder as he penetrated her, sliding smoothly into her. “Oh that’s so good,” she cried, spreading her legs out wider and pushing up against him. “Oh, John!” she screamed as he began thrusting into her, fucking her wondrous dryad vagina. The slickness of her was pure, absolute bliss and it encased his cock in a blinding rapture. He stared down at her and kissed her hard on the mouth as they fucked.

“Oh, Rose,” he moaned, wrapping his arms around her, holding her close to him. Sex with her very suddenly intimate and passionate and powerful, and he could tell she felt it too. She stared intently into his eyes. “Rose, you feel so good...”

“Yes,” she panted, kissing him several times. She wrapped her legs around him. “This pleasure...I didn’t think it would feel this good,” she moaned. “Please, don’t stop,” she begged, panting in desperate pleasure. “Don’t stop...”

He kept thrusting deep into her, pounding her pussy, sliding rapidly in and out of it. Pleasure washed through him like a living thing. He heard both women moaning behind him now and just for a few seconds glanced back over his shoulder. They were on their backs now, facing each other, their hips locked together as they rubbed their pussies against each other. They both had intense looks of pleasure and concentration on their faces, and he had an idea that they were both trying to make the other come first.

John returned his attention to Rose.

Rose and her large breasts.

Rose and her amazing dryad pussy.

Rose and her beautiful face and eyes.

She orgasmed shortly before he did, screaming as she enjoyed a third climax that night. John moaned loudly, grunting as he felt her vagina begin to clench around his cock, to massage it as it grew even hotter and wetter, and he started to come inside of her. His hips jerked forward involuntarily in time with his orgasm. He emptied his seed into her, spilling it inside of the vagina of a new woman, a beautiful dryad named Rose and she was crying his name, screaming in blissful passion as he pumped her full of his seed.

John didn’t know how long he came, only that for awhile there, he was awash in a sea of impassioned, hazy bliss.

When he came back to himself he was laying against her, his forehead resting against hers, staring into her green eyes.

“Thank you,” she whispered. She still had her legs wrapped around him.

“You’re welcome. And thank you. That was incredible,” he replied.

She smiled sedately at him and slowly unwrapped her legs. “Yes...can we do it again?” she asked eagerly.

“Not until I get my turn in,” Lily said.

They both looked back and saw Lily and Yelena crouched at the threshold of the tent. “Having fun, my love?” Yelena asked.

“Yes,” he replied.

“Good. You’re not done yet,” she said.

“I had that idea,” he replied, and carefully pulled out of Rose. “Maybe we should wash up, then we can have some more sex?” he suggested.

“Fine, but I’m riding you in the water,” Lily said.

It was going to be a long night, John realized.

…

“I have to say, you two are extremely brave,” Rose said.

Two hours had passed. He’d had sex with all three of them, Lily twice, and now he was utterly exhausted. He was laying in his bedding with Yelena on one side, Rose on the other. Lily sat at their feet, eating some rabbit meat.

“I think ridiculous might be more accurate,” Yelena replied.

“No, it’s endearing. You two are walking away from your lives to be together. Risking everything for your mutual love. It’s so romantic,” Rose said.

“It is romantic, and brave, and kind of ridiculous,” Lily said. “But to not do this, I think, would be more ridiculous. You two are obviously extremely happy together. I wish I could come with you, honestly.”

“Can you?” John asked.

She sighed. “No, my heart is here, in this forest. I must, and want, to stay. But know that you two will always be welcome here.”

“We appreciate it,” John replied. “I’m positive we’ll come back from time to time.” He paused, yawned. “Wow, you ladies really wore me out.”

“I’m impressed you’re still awake,” Rose replied.

“My lover has a lot of endurance,” Yelena said, rubbing his chest affectionately.

“I have to,” he replied, “having you as my girlfriend.”

“Yeah, I bet,” Lily said. She sighed after a few seconds. “I’m afraid that Rose and I have to leave. I’m sorry we can’t spend the night, but this will have to be farewell for now.”

“Yes, we have responsibilities to tend to,” Rose agreed.

John and Yelena sat up. “It was very good seeing you, Lily. And it was great meeting you, Rose,” he said as they all stood and left the tent.

“We’ll have to meet again later,” Rose replied with a small smile.

“I wholeheartedly agree,” John said.

They all exchanged goodbyes, hugs, and lingering kisses, and then John stood with Yelena at the edge of their camp, watching the two nude, beautiful dryad women disappear into the trees. And then they were alone again.

John yawned once more. “I really am tired,” he said, rubbing at one eye.

“Come on then, let’s sleep,” Yelena replied.

They secured their area one more time, making sure they were alone, (although John felt that Lily would help ensure nothing would mess with them through her nature magic), and then climbed into the tent together.

“So you’re really okay with all of this?” John asked after they had gotten beneath the blankets and cuddled up together. “Sex with other people?”

“Yes,” Yelena replied. “I’m comfortable with it. I trust you.”

“Okay. Good. I trust you, too. Goodnight, Yelena.”

“Goodnight, John.”

CHAPTER II

They stood at the edge of the forest and stared out into the rolling fields beyond.

“Are you ready for this?” John asked quietly.

“I am,” Yelena replied.

She sure sounded ready, but then Yelena seemed to live for challenges. By John’s estimate, they had about a half hour’s walk ahead of them, provided they kept a brisk pace and didn’t have to deal with any detours or mishaps.

He didn’t believe they would be so lucky.

“Well, let’s do it then.”

They set off.

This morning was not as bright as yesterday. The sun was obscured behind a thickening gray cloud cover. Summer was coming to an end, and Fall was preparing. With it came rains. John preferred the Fall season. It was cooler, and he loved rainfall. Loved the sound it made, loved traveling through it, loved drifting off to the peaceful ambiance of rain at night. And the cloud covers tended to make beautiful scenery.

Today was no exception.

As he looked up, he thought that the clouds looked almost like the ocean, tossed into a frenzy, frozen in time, and then swapped into the sky. It was beautiful, especially back-lit by the sun. He could smell rain on the air, brought in from the sea. It would likely arrive within the next few hours. He turned his attention to Yelena, and felt a small pang of sorrow, mixed with a little guilt. She was done up in her gray cloak, huge hood pulled up, hiding her face in shadows. She told him she didn’t mind traveling this way, but he thought she did, she just didn’t want to bother him with that detail, or maybe she didn’t want to appear weak.

Strength was clearly a point of contention for her.

He had an idea that she had been forced to prove her strength perhaps consistently in her past life. Her past life...was that accurate?

“Yelena...”

“Yes?”

“I have questions.”

“What about?” she asked, glancing over at him as they moved quickly across a field that clearly belonged to no one, as it was overrun with plant life and stuck with random stumps and rocks. They were making good time.

“Your past.”

She paused. “Ah.”

“If it is something you don’t want to talk about, I’m okay with that.”

“I’m willing to talk about it with you,” she said after a few seconds’ consideration. “What would you like to know?”

“Thank you. A lot, I guess. I mean, your realm...what is it like? Where did it come from?”

“I do not know where it truly originated from. We have stories, of course. Myths, legends, lore. If you are smart, you will accept it as fact there. As history. Some are overly concerned with the past, others with the future, others still with the present. All I know is that our realm has existed for a very long time. If I understand your own timeline correctly, tens of thousands of years, at least. My kind are long-lived. Although I myself am not particularly aged.”

“How old are you...if you don’t mind my asking.”

“I am...as close as I have been able to calculate, around one hundred of your years.”

“Wow.”

“I do know that that is considering quite old for one of your kind, but I am still relatively young. Although I have much experience. We do not idle in my realm. As for what it is like? The sky is red, covered in an unending red cloud front. Sometimes it rains, though not often. Most of our structures are built of black stone and iron. My land is divided into what you might call countries. Each has a population of demons that differs in appearance.” She frowned and fell silent for several seconds. “It is a point of contention.”

“Is there a reason for that?” he asked.

She let out a huff of irritation. “I used to think so,” she admitted. “I am ashamed that I did. There is much rhetoric and the like about the dangers of the other species, the...” she shook her head, “the ‘lesser breeds’. That is what we call each other. I found out, only more recently in my life, that our realm used to be far more diverse. There were over a hundred different kinds of demons. Perhaps much more than that. Different clans. Different races. When I left, I knew of only two dozen. And I...helped in the eradication of at least one clan,” she said quietly.

“I’m sorry,” John murmured.

They finished crossing the field and now came to a road. John looked left and right as they crossed it. He could see no one moving in either direction. Good. They pressed on, this time coming into another, bigger field that was home to several copses and a few buildings that he knew to be abandoned.

“I am too,” Yelena replied. “I...try not to dwell on it. I still dream of it at night sometimes. Although it is better, now that I am with you. I sleep better.” She paused, and this time he sensed it was for a different reason. “We are not alone,” she murmured.

She stopped and drew her bow, notching an arrow almost faster than he could follow. He drew his own blade and looked around. There was a stand of trees ahead of them and to the right, a collection of boulders behind them, to the left.

“I’d put down your weapons if I were you!”

John hissed a curse and heard Yelena growl. He saw several armored figures emerge from the copse ahead of them, and, as he glanced back, he saw even more coming out from behind the collection of boulders. He counted an even dozen.

“Who are they?” Yelena whispered.

“Highwaymen,” John murmured. “Thieves.”

She growled. “Then we shall end them...unless you object. This is more your world than it is mine.”

“We end them,” he agreed. “But give me a moment. Maybe we can bluff them...I suggest you turn around and leave!” he called back.

He’d bluffed before.

The man who’d spoken before, who was standing near the front of the group that had come out of the trees, let out a loud laugh.

“Perhaps you have difficulty with numbers-” he began.

“Go ahead, Yelena,” John said quietly.

She loosed her arrow. It crossed the distance between them in the blink of an eye and planted itself deeply in the man’s neck. “I’ve got the ones behind us!” he called, already turning around, off and running.

He heard a second arrow whisper out in response.

This was a bad situation. Neither of them had any real armor, not even leather. John was fast, and he knew Yelena was certainly faster, but still. This was dangerous. There were eight at the copse, four of them ahead of him. Well, time to play his first good card in the game. They were waiting for him, sneering and stepping into sloppy battle stances. They were indeed just thieves, petty criminals who figured their larger numbers would do them service.

The poor bastards.

As John came within a dozen feet of the group, he grabbed a throwing dagger from his belt and whipped it out in a flash. It sailed through the air and stuck up to the hilt in one man’s eye. The others let out shouts of surprise and anger as he stumbled backwards and slammed to the ground. John had spent a long time practicing that.

And then he was among them.

He slashed with his sword and cut across the chest of the one man who, like him, wore no armor. The man cried out and stumbled backwards as blood began to leak out of the wound, staining his clothing. John brought his blade up, blocking off a clumsy swing with a loud ring of metal striking metal, then jerked forward, bashing the man’s nose with his own forehead. It hurt, but it hurt the other guy a lot more as he heard a sharp crack and blood began to flow freely from his nose. “Bastard!” the man screamed, swinging blindly at him.

John dodged another attack from the last able-bodied man, then drove his sword hard and fast directly into his neck. The man let out an awful gagging sound, standing there for several seconds, his whole body rigid and twitching, transfixed on John’s blade, then he ripped it back out in a gush of blood.

The man tumbled to the ground, dead.

Two down, two to go.

John had to admit, this was exciting. He didn’t consider himself a bloodthirsty or violent man, but he was not one to shy away from battle if it was called for. He and Yelena were defending themselves, and he had an idea that these guys had no problem killing anyone who wouldn’t submit to them...and probably even some who did. The man he’d sliced was back on his feet and tried to stab him with a dagger. John sidestepped and then bashed his shoulder into the bastard. It hurt, but he was high on the thrill of combat.

The man went sprawling.

John let out a short bark of pain as he felt a thin line of burning pain slice across his right bicep. He spun while backing away, seeing the other man, despite his ruined nose, had made a go at attacking him. John prepared to return the favor when an arrow whistled from his right and went straight through the man’s head.

He pitched forward with a surprised expression on his face.

John glanced over quickly, spying Yelena lowering her bow. He saw no other figures standing beyond her.

Godsdamn but was she skilled with that bow. And fast.

He turned and stabbed the final man through the heart in a quick and brutally efficient motion. He turned to face Yelena as she approached.

“Are you all right?” he asked.

“I’m fine. They were pathetically under-skilled,” she replied mildly. She frowned as she came to stand by him. “You are injured.”

“I’m fine,” John replied, glancing down at his bicep.

“Here,” she said quietly, and laid a hand across the wound. It stung, then there was suddenly a wonderfully warm sensation and a small flash of red light, and then the pain receded.

“Huh. I wasn’t entirely sure if you could heal me,” John said, flexing his arm after she let go of him, studying the now unbroken skin.

“I had to learn that myself at one point. I once met a felis hunter who was injured after the creature he was hunting got the better of him. I saved him.”

“Did you sleep with him?” John asked.

She offered a small smile. “I did. He fancied me. It was rare. It was a good few days.”

“I’ll bet. Felis are quit tenacious lovers.”

“So I understand.” She frowned, looking at the corpses. “If I comprehend the situation correctly, these men wished to take what is ours by force?”

“Yes,” John replied, crouching by one of them and beginning the process of patting him down, looking for supplies or gold or valuables.

“Is this common?” Yelena asked, joining him in his search.

“Unfortunately, yes. Although it’s more common in more isolated locations, like here. This is not a main road. Let’s search them and then head on. I don’t want to be around if anyone or anything else shows up. Too exposed,” he replied.

They worked quickly, checking pockets. Once they were done with the first group, they moved over to the larger cluster of corpses and searched them as well.

“Godsdamnit,” John muttered. “They were pretty shit at this job, apparently. There’s hardly a hundred gold between them and their weapons are crap.”

“Unfortunate,” Yelena said.

“Perhaps it’s for the best. If they were better equipped, they might have killed us.”

“No. They would not have,” Yelena said firmly.

He looked at her. “I suppose you have a point. You’re exceptionally skilled with that bow.”

“I’m exceptionally skilled with many weapons. And I will not have anything happen to you,” she replied.

“I can take care of myself, you know,” he said mildly.

Yelena smiled. “I know you can...feeling a bit emasculated?” she teased.

“No, actually.”

“Really? I’m surprised. I understand there is a great deal of...conversation about ideas as to where men and women fit in your society.”

John felt an unexpectedly loud laugh escape him. “Conversation? Yes. I’d say there’s been a great deal of ‘conversation’. It’s an, uh, unfortunate state of affairs, as far as I’m concerned. In the smaller villages and even the medium sized ones, which constitute most of my country, there’s a lot of conservative ideas about women and men. About what they should be doing. And about what they shouldn’t be doing. And people can get angry, or annoyed, or upset, or condescending, or righteous, if you happen to be a man or a woman doing something that they don’t think is ‘normal’. It is, as I said, a sad state of affairs.”

“Have you ever faced any such scrutiny?” Yelena asked.

They began walking again after making sure they hadn’t overlooked anything. “I suppose I have, though not necessarily because I am a man. I was scrutinized because I enjoyed the company of, both socially and sexually, those who are not of my own species. I’m sure I would’ve gotten it much worse if I was a woman.” He sighed and rolled his eyes.

“Can you share any specifics of this attitude?” she asked.

They could see the other forest now.

“Yes. Women are expected, generally, to stay home and raise children, tend to the household. Typically, they are expected to be subservient to the men in their lives.”

“What if there are no men in their lives?” Yelena asked.

“That’s another thing that’s expected. That there will be men in their lives. First, their father, and maybe their brothers if they have any. Then, their husbands. Do you know-” he laughed, a somewhat bitter laugh, “do you know that there’s a tradition in our wedding ceremonies, where the father ‘passes off’ the bride to the husband? It’s like men are afraid of women being by themselves. And then there’s the expectation of motherhood, which, if that’s what someone wants, then fine. But it just seems to me that some people, too many really, get pressured into reproduction.”

“Reproduction seems like a very large responsibility in your world. I must admit, I’m not as familiar with it,” Yelena said.

“Really?”

“Well, obviously I am familiar with the act of reproduction. It is not very different for us demons. But the manner in which we are raised is. There are breeders in our realm, fertile demonesses and succubi who are chosen to help shore up our numbers.”

“That sounds...unpleasant,” John replied.

“Perhaps. It is the way of things. There is much less choice in my realm. And most of us are, I suppose, designed to conform to the roles given to us. Which is why, I think, I was so unhappy in my life. I was not content. But it led me here, to you, and to this life.”

“I have a question, but...I don’t want you to take it the wrong way,” John replied.

“Ask your question,” Yelena replied.

“Are you scared? I mean, you left everything behind to come and have a life with me. A life you knew was going to be dangerous and difficult in a way you aren’t necessarily familiar with.”

She didn’t speak for a few moments. “Yes,” she said finally. “I am scared. But not as scared as I thought I might be. Are you scared? Of abandoning your life?”

“A little,” he replied. “But it’s easier for me, since I’ve already had this life, in bits and pieces. Traveling around, having adventures...but I always gave up and came back home out of some kind of strange sense of security and comfort. I think it was a very false sense of comfort. And I believe that now that I have you in my life, I really won’t go back this time. I’m ready to live out here, to travel, to see the world.”

She smiled. “I look forward to seeing it with you.”

“I’m glad.” They were nearly to the other forest now. “This forest up ahead will take us most of the rest of the way to the Emerald Wild. There is just one more stretch of land in between the two we have to cross, even smaller than this one.”

“What will be our first act upon reaching the Emerald Wild?” Yelena asked.

“We’re going to need coin for this adventure of ours. A lot of it. What we’re looking for is very expensive. Now, the Emerald Wild is a great place to make a lot of coin. There are a great deal of abandoned ruins and castles and military outposts and other structures. I believe that would be the most reasonable place to at least begin. Specifically, there is an old abandoned ruin I marked on my map last year. I passed it by during one of my travels and never got a chance to see inside. I imagine there could be some valuable things inside.”

“I look forward to exploring it,” Yelena said.

“Perfect. Let’s get a move on.”

They plunged into the forest and kept moving east.

…

“So this is the Emerald Wild,” Yelena said quietly.

They stood at the edge of the vast forest. It stretched away from them to either side, fading into the horizon.

“Yes. It takes up almost this entire coastline,” John replied.

“What makes it special? You talk about it as if it is,” Yelena asked.

They began walking into the Wild, following a small path off the main road that ran along the length of the forest. “Nobody is entirely sure. Technically what makes it special is that it’s very dangerous, but what no one can agree on is what causes the danger itself. The generally accepted theory is that the mountain to the north of the Wild, Mount Lumos, is a highly magical mountain, full of magically conductive metal. A large river comes down off of that mountain and runs through the whole of the Wild.”

“That would make sense, I suppose,” Yelena murmured.

“Yes. Whatever the cause, the creatures of the Emerald Wild are numerous, both in quantity and variety, and they are typically very dangerous. One of the things that translates to is that because the Wild is so dangerous, only dangerous people tend to travel it. And dangerous people, on the whole, tend to be unstable and unreasonable. Not all of them, but more than usual.”

“If this place is so dangerous, why was a structure built in it?” Yelena asked.

It was a fair question. “Well, there are always people who like to conquer, who like to try to do something because it’s difficult, to overcome. As a result, there’s a number of structures scattered across the Wild. Research outposts, military forts, encampments, a few trading posts, thief’s hideouts, and a handful of crazy people just living out here for their own reasons. Most of them fail, given enough time, and are abandoned and left for whoever wishes to investigate them. And this has been going on for centuries, so there’s a lot out here.”

“I see. What kind of structure are we going to investigate today?” Yelena asked.

“I’m not entirely sure what it once was, honestly. I think it might have been a military outpost, judging by the looks of it. Or it could have been a mercenary fort. Whatever it was, it looked like it was made to last. Not that that necessarily means quite as much in the Wild. We’re about half an hours’ walk from it. Provided nothing goes wrong.”

They fell into a companionable silence as the pair walked into the first.

John studied his surroundings, partially out of a justified paranoia, but also because he had forgotten how beautiful the Wild was. Trees surrounded them on all sides, a proliferation of so many different kinds of trees that were alive and lush. Vegetation and plant life was mixed in among the forest. He saw a half-dozen different types of berries growing just in the immediate vicinity, and twice as many types of flowers. Beautiful blues and yellows and greens and reds were all over the place. Overhead, the sun shone through the canopy in glittering golden shafts. He had honestly forgotten how wondrous it was here.

Dangerous, too.

He saw tracks of a Minotaur and evidence that giant spiders had been through this area at one point in the not-too-distant past. He glanced at Yelena. Well, there was no one else he’d rather be walking into the Emerald Wild with, and not just because he was in love with her. She was the most capable fighter he’d ever encountered.

They continued walking, listening to the sounds, taking in the sights and scents of the forest. John found his mind turning to many questions that had been assailing him ever since they had set out. He had an idea how to deal with most of the problems that would and might arise from this sudden course-correction of his entire life, but one thing he was uncertain about was where they would stay. It was generally a bad idea to just pitch a tent regularly in the Wild, for obvious reasons. Even a camp-in-a-bag.

He knew that Lily’s blessing, such as it was, would carry at least some minor weight even here, and would offer them some small degree of protection, especially if they were around other dryads. And he knew there were several large clans of dryads up and down the Wild. But he didn’t want to rely on that. So where could they stay? He had an idea of maybe finding some kind of more permanent location, somewhere abandoned that wasn’t too messed up, somewhere he and Yelena could stay at in between their adventures.

They made it to the fort without running into any monsters, and John was glad to see that his memory was still sharp.

The structure was a crumbling ruin of weathered gray stone. The surrounding wall was mostly wrecked, whole sections of it collapsed. The front gate itself was wide open. Something about that gave John pause. He wasn’t sure why, but from the way Yelena stiffened slightly, he saw that she had picked up on it too, whatever it was. But they had no obvious reason to avoid it, and besides, he had an idea that it was going to be full of bad things anyway.

Still, as they pressed on and slipped in through the open gate, the bad feeling persisted. There was something familiar about it. John looked out across the overgrown yard of the fort. He still couldn’t be sure what kind of fort it once had been, only that he was reasonably sure it had been a fortress. The style put it at at least a hundred years. He wondered how long it had lasted before finally being abandoned for one reason or another.

“Someone’s been here recently,” John murmured, spying evidence of such.

“Do you have any ideas about who or why?” Yelena asked.

“One person, I think,” he replied, studying the clues he saw in the grass and the dirt. “Not very big...possibly an elf, but maybe a felis.”

“How can you tell?”

“Footprints, here. They’re small, light. They didn’t disturb the plant life very much, so someone in tune with nature. That’s something felis and especially elves do as second nature,” he murmured, now staring up the stone steps that led to the main entryway of the structure itself. It loomed over them, a three story structure of wood and stone. He could hear nothing, and the windows, those that were still intact, were too filthy to see through. Those that were broken open revealed nothing. The front door, too, was open.

“Well, let’s go investigate,” John said.

Yelena nodded, and drew her blade.

He did so as well, now finding himself wishing for armor more than ever. That was going to have to be something he did, and soon. None of the thieves armor had fit, or had been worth taking. The two of them moved in through the open door and came to a large room. Like most of the forts built in this land, the main hall was a dining hall. John had the idea this was done because in the event of an attack, it would be easy to slam big wooden tables up against the windows and doors. Plus, it was already a big, open space, so why not have a dining hall there?

Curving stone stairwells sat on either side of them, leading up to the second and third stories. Most of the tables and benches and chairs were surprisingly intact. Old plates and silverware and cups lay scattered about. There were armor and weapon stands along the sides of the room. Some of them still had swords or axes or suits of armor on them, which was even more interesting. At a glance, they didn’t look like particularly good pieces, but they were so easily accessible that at least some enterprising adventurers should have checked them out. That, combined with the ominous, negative feelings, made John even more suspicious.

“It’s cold in here,” Yelena said quietly.

“Yes...I think we might be looking at a curse, or a haunting,” John murmured back to her.

“What does that entail?”

“Undead, typically. When something very bad happens at a location, if it’s left to itself, over time, evil with gather. This results in either a curse or a haunting, sometimes both. Evil attracts evil. Undead and other creatures are drawn to these locations. Of course, it could be the other way around. Something evil came here and began drawing other evil things to it. You still feel like investigating this place?”

“Yes,” she replied immediately, her flickering eyes scanning the area around them. “I do.”

He smiled. “You do so love a challenge.”

“I do,” she repeated.

“Well then, let’s be ready. We’ll take it slow. I want to head up to the top floor and then clear it, room by room, floor by floor, of any hostiles. Once they’re all dead, we can begin to search for valuables,” he replied.

“I’m ready.”

They set off.

Their footsteps echoed loud and lonely through the old stone structure as they headed left, up the stairway. John listened and looked, hunting for clues as to what horrible thing might be haunting this old fort. He heard things, he was sure Yelena heard more. He heard the bony clack of a skeleton walking around somewhere. He heard the quiet, mindless groan of a zombie somewhere else. So, undead then.

He could deal with undead.

It was why he’d bought them both silver swords. They worked especially well against undead, and all things evil, generally. They crept up the final set of stairs and came to the third story. Moving slowly down a hallway ahead of them, John spied nothing in the dim light coming from a window half-covered in a tattered old cloth at the hall’s end. He stopped at the first doorway and peered inside. A lone figure stood in the center of what had once been a bedroom. It uttered a low groan and took a few shuffling, aimless steps forward.

He smelled rot and decay. Definitely a zombie.

John raised his blade, drawing it back, and moved slowly into the room. Zombies were hard of hearing, so he didn’t have to try that hard. Once he got in range, he drove the blade forward and stabbed the tip of it into the base of the zombie’s neck. It died without uttering a sound. Just as he was starting to feel pretty good about how he’d handled that, the body pitched forward and smashed into a table.

Random items, many of them metal, were scattered everywhere, creating a chorus of awful noise. As it fell silent, a second chorus rose: that of zombies groaning in discovery of fresh meat and of skeletons clacking across the flagstones.

“Shit,” John muttered.

“Good job, my love,” Yelena said with a smirk.

“Don’t you start,” John replied, hurrying to join her back out in the hallway.

“Truly, I bow before your superior combat skills and stealth techniques,” she continued. Zombies and skeletons were coming out into the hallway now from over half a dozen open doorways stretched along its length.

“Yelena...” he growled.

Her smirk only broadened. “What are you going do about it, love?” she asked. He thought it both interesting and amusing that she was teasing him in such a way. He hadn’t exactly seen this side of her so far.

“I’ll punish you,” he replied.

“I look forward to that,” she said, and then shot forward with a growl.

Okay...so that was a new aspect of their relationship. Well, not entirely new…

John realized there were better times to think about sex and moved forward to join her. The pair of them moved swiftly down the length of the corridor, taking down the undead as they came to them. Bones clattered as the skeletons were dismantled and heavy thuds sounded as zombies were relieved of their heads.

They fell into a surprisingly comfortable pattern, the two of them killing their way swiftly through the top floor, and then moving down to the second floor after clearing it. He had fought alongside many different people, most of them he liked, several of whom he’d slept with, and there was always a certain connection there, a kind of unspoken bond. Sometimes it was hardly there, very thin, but other times it was more powerful. It let you move in motion with the other person, you could almost anticipate their moves. It was like...he supposed it was the fighter’s version of finishing each other’s sentences.

With Yelena, it was almost like they were of one mind.

It felt good to fight alongside her, to take down these undead menaces with her. And watching her...she looked so beautiful, so sexy in a feral, primal kind of way, with her wide, flashing eyes and the way she growled as she killed the zombies and skeletons. He wasn’t sure how long they were at it, fighting through the dusty stone corridors, but eventually, the two of them stood together before one final door.

“Do you think that was all of them?” John asked.

“All of them on our side of this door,” Yelena replied. “Where do you think it leads?”

“Underground, would be my bet. A wine cellar or something. Shall we continue?”

“Try to stop me,” Yelena replied.

John’s smile faltered as he reached out and touched the doorknob. It was cold. “I think whatever’s causing the problems here is down there,” he said quietly.

“I’m ready,” Yelena said.

He opened the door. The first thing that jumped out at him, as he studied the dim stairway beyond, was that whoever had come in here, (they had yet to find a body), had gone down here. There were footsteps in the dust.

“Our mystery guest is down here,” he murmured.

“Dead, do you think?”

“Likely.”

“Unfortunate.”

“Probably.”

John led the way. He saw flickering candlelight at the base of the stairs. It smelled...old, down there. It smelled of dust and time. Yelena was deathly silent behind him. He gripped his sword tightly. His good cheer and arousal from the battle above was falling away now. It felt cold and dangerous down here. It felt like something was waiting for them. They came to the end of the stairwell and examined the room beyond. It was simple, bare except for a round table and a trio of old wooden chairs. One of them was knocked over.

There were three doors leading into darker rooms.

“Something is down here,” Yelena said quietly.

“Do you see anything?” John replied.

She paused, then growled in frustration. “No. We must search.”

They moved left first, coming into a wine cellar. The room consisted almost entirely of long wooden shelves that were mostly empty, although he saw a few bottles left. Now those would probably fetch a decent price. Or at least taste pretty great. Or, at the very least, assist vastly with getting drunk. He suddenly wondered if Yelena had ever been drunk, or if she would be interested. Questions for later. Yelena raised her hand suddenly and a small ball of white light appeared overhead. Why hadn’t he thought of that?

Well, his light spell wasn’t really that good, and he wasn’t very magical to begin with. It was hard for him to do much more than start a fire or chill a bottle. The light revealed more of the room, banishing the shadows. They didn’t see anything in the wine cellar and moved back to the main area, then headed through the right door this time. The feeling of ominous tension was only getting worse. John kept looking over his shoulder, expecting to see someone or something standing behind him, prepared to murder him.

But there was nothing in the doorway.

This room looked like it had once been someone’s private quarters. It, too, was empty of any obvious threats. They moved on to the final doorway. Now, the light revealed a larger room, the biggest of the three. It looked like it had been partially a storage area and partially a training area. By now, it was so cold that John and Yelena could see their breath on the air.

“It’s here,” Yelena whispered.

“Where? I don’t see anything?” John replied, his voice harsh and strained.

“I’m not...” She trailed off as an armor stand across the room suddenly rose up off the ground, as though lifted by an invisible brute, and launched itself directly towards them. John dove out of the way and Yelena sidestepped nimbly.

“What the fuck?!” John cried, for a few seconds so stumped that he had no idea what was going on. But as he got to his feet, trying to avoid the armor and bits of wood that had clattered everywhere when the armor stand had struck the wall behind him, and he saw a sword raise up and began to aim for him, he realized what was happening.

“Ghost!” he cried, and leaped out of the way a second time.

“I see it!” Yelena snapped, and suddenly a brilliant red light filled the room. John just caught sight of a bolt of red energy smashing into something that became a vaguely shaped humanoid outline. There was a powerful shriek and then it was gone.

Yelena walked over to him and helped pull him to his feet. “Are you okay?” she asked.

“I’m fine,” he replied. “Gonna be bruised, but whatever. How’d you see it?”

“An ability I have. I’ve dealt with ghosts before,” she said.

John began to respond, but froze as a sound came from across the room. Still hopped up on the battle high, they both snapped their gazes over and settling them on a large wooden cabinet. Neither spoke as they advanced on it. Yelena drew her bow and notched an arrow, nodding tightly to John. He stepped up to the cabinet.

He waited, then yanked the doors open and stepped back.

Someone was inside, and she shrieked.

John found himself staring at a pale, redheaded elf in dirty traveling clothes. She cowered in the empty cabinet.

“Um...hi,” she said. “Please don’t kill me.”

CHAPTER III

Yelena lowered her bow.

A few seconds of silence passed.

“Um...hi,” John replied awkwardly. “What are you doing in there?”

“Hiding,” the elf replied.

“Obviously. Why are you here?” Yelena asked.

“I...oh my, you’re a demon,” the elf whispered, her fear coming back.

“Relax, she’s not going to hurt you,” John replied. “My name is John.”

The elf woman seemed not to be able to stop staring at Yelena. “Uh...Tanis. My name is Tanis,” she replied finally. “Can I come out now?”

“Yes,” John replied, stepping back, giving her some space.

Tanis stepped out of the cabinet, studied each of them for a few seconds, then slowly stretched. “Well, thank you for helping me,” she said finally. “I was in there for quite awhile.”

“What happened?” Yelena asked.

“Can we talk about it outside? I need a break from this place...is it safe?” she asked.

“Yes, we’ve cleared it out,” John replied.

“Okay. Wow, you two are hardcore if you cleared this whole building. And I believe it, given what you did with the ghost. I heard that.” They left the room and began heading back upstairs. Already, John could feel the chill and the evil presence fading. It would take a long time before it was completely gone, but it was a start. “I’m a scholar,” Tanis explained as they headed up and out of the fort. “I’m here doing research.”

They stepped back outside and Tanis took a deep breath, then let out in a happy sigh. She stretched out her arms and spun a few times, then walked down the stairs and, as soon as she was on some grass, laid down on her back, staring at the sky.

“You seem pretty relaxed for someone who was cornered by a ghost and rescued by a human and a demon,” John said.

“It feels so good to be back outside,” Tanis replied. “And if you were going to hurt me, I think you would’ve by now. The fact that the two of you are traveling together and so easy around each other means that you’re obviously working together, and I don’t sense any evil coming from either of you, so I trust that you won’t hurt me.” She looked at Yelena. “I’m sorry for freaking out that you were a demoness, it was just a surprise. I don’t have a problem with your race, so long as you aren’t actively trying to hurt me.”

“That’s a very progressive attitude,” Yelena replied. She sat down at the base of the steps with John.

“I’d like to think I’m progressive,” Tanis replied. “Anyway, I’m here following a lead for an elf noble from another continent, a far elf. He found out that his grandfather might own this place and if so, he wants to claim the deed as the last living relative in his bloodline. I went down into the basement first because I figured, you know, that’s where I’d hide important stuff, and ran into that damned ghost. It forced me into the cabinet. I think it just liked having someone trapped.”

“How long were you in there?” John asked.

“A few hours, at least. I got here earlier today, in the morning. And it’s...” she looked up, “a little past midday now. Oh, and it’s going to rain. Nice. I love the rain.” She sat up and looked at them intently. “So, John and Yelena, why are you here?” she asked.

John studied her before answering. She was, like pretty much all the other elf women he’d seen in his life, extremely beautiful. She was tall for an elf, and fairly chesty, too. Her skin was fair and pale, her hair short and blood-red, some of it pulled into a short ponytail, some of it left to hang and frame her beautiful face.

Her eyes were green and bright with intelligence and a playful guile.

“We’re looking for coin,” he said finally. Yelena seemed content to let him decide how much to tell her.

“Coin, huh?” She seemed to consider it. “Why are you together? I don’t think I’ve ever seen a human and a demoness traveling together.”

John looked at Yelena. She offered him a small shrug. Your call. “We’re lovers,” he said, looking back at Tanis.

She didn’t seem particularly surprised. “I kinda figured.”

“Really?” Yelena asked.

“Yeah. I mean...maybe I’ve just got sex on the brain, but I mean it’s a big reason why the two of you would be traveling together and so comfortable around each other. And there’s just a kind of...I dunno, an energy between the two of you.” She shrugged. “Not to demean your relationship by implying it’s just sexual or anything!”

“I...Tanis, you are very strange. And I mean that in a good way,” John said. “Not only are you okay with the idea of us having sex, you’re okay with the idea of us having a full-fledged relationship. Most people would try to kill us.”

She shrugged. “Like I said, I’m a progressive person. I’m a lover. I’ve taken my different kinds of lovers. I don’t judge.” She paused, seemed to consider something. “So...what if we joined forces?” she asked.

“Join forces?” Yelena replied.

“Yeah! Team up, be friends, help each other out. I honestly don’t want to go back in there by myself, but I have to if I want to get paid. And you two seem really cool! And I’ve been pretty lonely. I’ve been traveling by myself for close to a week now, I’m dying for some godsdamned conversation,” she said.

“I’m okay with this idea. She seems very nice,” Yelena said when John looked at her. He had an inclination that she had an ulterior motive. He looked back at Tanis. She was leaning forward slightly, showing off some of her cleavage. Godsdamn did she had some nice tits. Well...elves were known for their sexual openness. He didn’t plan on expecting sex from her, but if she continued on in this way, well, he fully intended to at least ask.

If he could manage a threesome with Yelena and this beautiful redheaded elf Tanis, then that might actually be one of the hottest threesomes he’d ever had in his life. He seriously, seriously had a thing for redheaded elves.

And Tanis was so fucking hot.

“We’d love to,” John said.

She smiled and leaped gracefully to her feet. “Great! Let’s go!”

…

Tanis was an absolute delight.

Which was nice, because the fort didn’t yield nearly as much as he had hoped it would. The three of them moved back into the long-abandoned fortress, which had indeed been built by, (or at least purchased by), a mercenary clan a long, long time ago.

“So what’s the story with this place?” John asked as they headed into the main hall and began heading up to the third floor again. They agreed: like John and Yelena’s initial tactic, start at the top and work their way down. Only this time they would be going much more slowly and be looking for valuables and information.

“Here’s what I’ve managed to piece together,” Tanis replied. They were currently all in the same room, a huge bedroom that likely belonged to the boss. “A long, long time ago, this elf joins a mercenary clan over here. He kicks ass and rises through the ranks, and finally he challenges the boss. And wins. By killing him. So he takes over the clan and is actually pretty good at it. Leads them on campaigns for like twenty years, mostly as a private army for one lord or noble or another, sometimes going in and clearing out monsters, shit like that. Then another mercenary clan that was looking to make a name for itself signed up with two other mercenary clans that were pissed off, because our guy’s clan had been kicking ass for so long. By then, they had built this fort for themselves. Well, those three clans stormed this place.

“It was a bloody, brutal fight. The end result was that the guy died, but he managed to send his son off to the next continent over. After that, the son had a son of his own, then died of an illness some years ago, and neither of them really thought much about this place or anything on this continent. Until just recently when the grandson fell into financial ruin and began desperately trying to find assets to sell off, and then he remembered good old granddad’s mercenary fort. So he hired me to track down the deed to the land, to see if it still even exists. It’s a long shot, but, eh, this is fun. And it had been awhile since I’d gotten to go into the Wild.”

“So you like it here?” Yelena asked.

“Of course! It’s exciting. There’s always something going on. Always interesting people around to meet. And the danger! There’s so many creatures to elude,” Tanis replied.

“You don’t fight them?” John asked.

“I mean, sometimes. But I really like being stealthy and dexterous. I can outrun a lot of things. I mean, I spent all my time moving among the trees. I’m fast as fuck and I can dodge like you wouldn’t believe. But I’m good with a bow and arrow, too, and I’ve got some magic to help. Although I get the idea you two fight a lot,” Tanis replied.

“We prefer it,” Yelena said.

“Well...we prefer it to running. No offense to you or anything. I’m just shit for running. But I’m okay with living and let live if at all possible,” John replied.

“Okay, I get that. Neither of you strike me as particularly bloodthirsty. You both are pretty cool to be around,” Tanis replied. “Which reminds me...how’d you hook up? I have to admit, I’m deeply curious about how you ended up here.”

“Yelena? You mind if I tell her?” he asked.

She sighed, though it seemed exaggerated. “I do not mind,” she replied.

“So, it all started when I found Yelena, passed out in the middle of a forest...”

Their search continued.

There wasn’t a whole lot they could actually take with them on the third floor. All they managed to find was a half-decent dagger and a bag of gold tucked away under a pillow. The second and first floors were only marginally better. Time passed as they hunted through each room and exchanged stories about themselves.

The more time he spent around her, the more John found himself liking Tanis. And not just because she was so fucking hot. She was clearly intelligent, and yet it was definitely not her defining trait. She was so...casual. She was immediately easy to get along with. Within half an hour, he felt like he’d known her for quite awhile, given the ease with which they talked. And he could tell that Yelena, despite her reservations, was feeling the same way. If he was less in tune with her, he thought his demoness lover might be jealous, but he didn’t think so. At this point, he thought any natural wariness on Yelena’s part was automatic.

She felt out of her depth most of the time, because she was in a completely different plain of existence. Even if she’d been here a few times before. And he completely understood. Shit, he got a little nervous just walking into a new village. It was the main reason he welcomed every question she had, and tried to encourage her to ask anytime she had one. He had an idea it didn’t come easy to her. Asking questions was...he supposed, in a way, it was like showing weakness. Showing ignorance on a subject, no matter how trivial, must feel like a concession, a defeat even. But he knew she trusted him, and Yelena was also a quick learner and very smart herself.

Which was great, because this place was definitely more disappointing that he had initially hoped. There were a few gems and a half-decent sword on the second story, and the ground floor held what he initially took to be a treasure trove. But most of the swords and armor that were still on display were crap, not even worth the effort of hauling them out of the Wild to sell them at the nearest town. And so they finally gathered at the basement.

“I really hope to find the deed down here,” Tanis murmured as they descended.

“What happens if you don’t?” John asked.

“I have one other lead at the moment. My research thus far indicated some hunting cabins not too far away from here. There’s a chance it might be there. If not there, then...I guess I’ll have to hunt around for a bit longer for more clues,” Tanis she replied.

They moved back into the basement. The chill was still there, but it wasn’t nearly as powerful as before. And there was definitely that ominous, anxious feeling. John tried not to let it bother him as he moved over to the wine cellar to begin inventorying the wine, which he hoped at least was as it appeared.

That stuff would be decently pricey.

The uncomfortable feelings he felt was nothing more than the lingering aftereffects of the haunting Yelena had so thoroughly quashed. Tanis took the opportunity to move into the second room, the bedroom, which John thought would be the most promising place, and Yelena came in to join him in his own search.

“So, what do you think of her?” she asked.

“I like her. A lot. What about you?” he replied.

“I do, as well. She’s so...pleasant. And extremely...what is that phrase I’ve heard? Easy on the eyes, I think.”

“Yes, that’s it,” he said, unable to keep from smirking. “So you wanna...”

“Fuck her until the dawn comes?” Yelena asked.

He chuckled. “Yes. That.”

“Of course. And I imagine you do, as well. You seem to be looking at her a great deal.”

“I have a serious thing for redheads...and elves.”

“Should I change my hair to be red? I understand that can be done in this realm.”

“Only if you want to, love. I very much enjoy you as you are now,” he replied.

Yelena was silent for a few seconds. “You really mean that, don’t you?” she asked.

He paused, looking over at her from the bottle he’d been inspecting. “Of course I do...did you doubt that?” he replied.

“No, I don’t doubt you, John. It’s just that...I’ve come to understand that humans, well, that’s not entirely true, not just humans, but those of your realm often say one thing while secretly desiring another. And that most would prefer to have their partner change to suit their own desires. Am I wrong in that understanding?”

“I...don’t think you are, no. A lot of people are like that, in my experience,” he replied.

“But not you.”

“No. I don’t agree with that philosophy, if it could be called such a thing. I have desires, and you have desires. I think we should both be open to the possibility of making changes for the other, compromises, concessions...but we should be just as open to not. Relationships are give and take, on both sides. But honestly, above all else, I just want you to be happy, love.”

Yelena was staring at him intently now. “You make me feel guilty,” she said finally.

“What?” he replied, startled.

“You are an amazing person, and an excellent lover and partner. I’m sure there are very many deserving women in this world who would be overjoyed to have you as such...and yet you are my partner, you have entered into a relationship with a demon,” she replied. She said it with such calm certainty, like she was explaining a math problem to him.

“I don’t know how great I am,” he replied after considering it, “and I don’t know how well a match I’d be for most women. I think...we should just be happy that we found each other, and we’re together, and leave it at that.”

“I suppose you are right.” She moved forward, wrapped him in a hug and kissed him firmly. “And tonight, hopefully, we will be happily having a threesome with a beautiful elf.” She paused, smiled. “And I know what you mean about the red hair. There is something particularly alluring and erotic about it.”

“Oh my Gods, I know, right? Well, hopefully she’ll be into us,” John replied.

“I think she will be,” Yelena said.

John let thoughts of Tanis naked and bouncing on his cock entertain him as he continued hunting through the wine bottles. The stuff he was finding was actually pretty decent. Most of these were a good ninety years old. He’d have to check over them more thoroughly, and probably save a few for themselves, but this would likely be the best part of their haul. After packing a few of them away inside of his and Yelena’s bags, they regrouped with Tanis and helped her wrap up her search. And, unfortunately, found nothing.

“Shit,” she said as they came to stand in the wine cellar again. “Well, this is a bust. I guess I’m going to have to go on to those cabins. And it seems like this place was kind of a bust for you, too.” She paused, seemed to consider something. “Well...wanna be my bodyguards?” she asked.

“Bodyguards?” John replied.

“Basically, we just keep hanging out together and you come with me to the cabins, but I can pay you if I call you my bodyguards, and I can also add it to the expense list. And no one will bat an eye, cause I mean, look at me and look at where I freaking am. I’ll give you two hundred coin for it,” she said.

“That...would be awesome,” John replied, and Yelena nodded.

“Great! Just one thing...can I have one of those bottles?” she asked.

“Yeah, it’s not like we necessarily laid claim to them,” John replied as she grabbed one of the bottles off the shelf and looked over it.

“Well, our agreement was that I get the deed, you get everything else. I know you two are pretty cool, but I want to respect our agreement,” she replied.

“That’s appreciated. And so yes, we’re totally fine with you having a bottle.”

“Great! This one is gonna be a good one,” she said, tucking her bottle away into pack. As soon as she was done, she pulled it on again and stood. “Shall we go?”

…

“So where are you from, Tanis?” John asked.

“The Redwood Forest,” she replied, “a settlement called Bryne.” She glanced at Yelena. “The Redwood Forest is a large forest on the opposite side of the continent.”

“Is it like the Emerald Wild?” Yelena replied.

Tanis shook her head. “No. It’s much, much more peaceful. There are monsters, and dangerous animals in the woods, but it’s far, far safer. And it’s largely where the elves live in this land. It’s a very peaceful place.”

“It sounds nice...I wish to go there,” Yelena said.

“We can definitely do that,” John replied.

“You’d love it there. And I bet you can totally get laid over there a bunch, too. Elves are much more free with their love than humans...no offense.”

“Oh, none taken. Elves are awesome,” John replied.

Tanis smirked. “Yes, we are.” She paused and seemed to consider her words for a few seconds. “Forgive me if I’m wrong, though I don’t think I am, but it’s come to be my understanding that in most cases like yours, and by that I mean cases in which a human loves a...not-human, then that human also tends to enjoy a great deal of non-human sexual partners. Is that the case with you, John?” she asked, wearing a small smile.

“That is the case,” he replied.

“Interesting. Would you be willing to tell me about some of your exploits? I must admit, it is rare that I find a human as open as you,” she said.

“I don’t mind if Yelena doesn’t care.”

“I don’t,” Yelena said. “I admit, I am interested to hear if there was anything you neglected to tell me.”

“I didn’t neglect to tell you anything...I might’ve forgotten, though.”

“Indeed.”

Tanis laughed.

John sighed. “Well, let’s see. Almost all of my relationships have been casual affairs lasting between one night and a few weeks, typically with traveling merchants and fellow adventurers. I’ve slept mainly with felis, beryl, and elves. The only, uh, exotic women I’ve slept with, besides Yelena, are a few dryads and a mermaid once.”

“Ooh...mermaids are so pretty. I’ve met a few in my travels. Swapped oral with one of them. She was really good with her tongue. So okay, that’s cool. I’ve also had sex with dryads, men and women. I got fucked by a werewolf once,” she said.

“Whoa, really?” John replied.

“What is a werewolf?” Yelena asked.

“That’s a little complicated to explain...” John murmured, considering it.

“Do you know what a wolf is?” Tanis asked.

“I believe so. A furred, four-legged creature?” Yelena replied.

“Yes. Basically, some humans are infected with a disease that grants them the ability to transform into a hybrid of a human and a wolf. It’s exclusive to humans, as far as I know, though I don’t know why. Most werewolves are killed, partially because they are considered abominations, but mainly because the majority of people who become werewolves cannot control themselves. They turn into their bestial form and go crazy, killing whatever they see. Some people cure it, though it is difficult. Others learn to control it. Typically adventurers. They can turn and retain themselves, their sanity, their control. And oh wow can they ever fuck,” Tanis explained with a big grin.

“I’ll bet. I’ve always wanted to fuck a hot werewolf chick,” John said.

“The thought of a woman at least half a foot taller than you and way stronger than you doesn’t make you go soft?” Tanis asked.

“I fuck Yelena regularly,” John replied.

Tanis looked at the two of them. “Hmm, yeah, she is a bit taller than you.”

“And I’m certainly stronger than him,” Yelena said.

“Fair point. So obviously you aren’t afraid of tough women,” Tanis said, looking at John.

“I’m attracted to them,” he replied.

“A generally good idea, I’d say,” Tanis said. She paused. “Look, ahead. There’s the hunting lodge we’ve been looking for. Although it looks like it’s two cabins. Nice. Come on, if we can wrap this up, we can get drunk and relax!” she said, and hurried forward.

They moved after her.

The trio came into an overgrown clearing where not one, but two cabins sat, positioned in an L, surrounded by a decayed iron and stone fence. As they made their way through the front gate and into the chaotic front yard, Tanis hesitated.

“Someone’s been here recently,” she said.

John spied an open front door and considered it, letting his senses hunt. “I think you’re right,” he murmured.

“I’ve got magically-enhanced senses,” Tanis explained. “Someone was definitely here. Thieves, more than likely.” She sighed. “Come on, let’s investigate.”

They headed into the first of the pair of rectangular buildings. They looked old, though not as old as the fort had been. They were also made mostly of stone bricks. John took the first structure in as they came into it. The windows were mostly broken out, the furniture inside was broken and time-eaten, there was refuse everywhere.

“This place is a mess,” Yelena murmured.

“Figures,” John replied. “Tanis, any ideas where to look?”

“Unfortunately not, which means we’ll have to do it the hard way: search everywhere. Luckily this place isn’t all that big...”

They got to searching.

John’s mind wandered as they hunted. He thought that he would be more anxious and concerned. After all, he was now, technically speaking, a fugitive. It was against the law in most settlements and towns to harbor a demon. It was similarly illegal to consort with them, or vampires or werewolves, and most other monsters. The thing was, it was kind of a...flexible law. Especially the demon thing. Because succubi were demons.

But guys liked fucking them.

John had always wanted to try it, though he wasn’t too keen on giving something crucial up in return for the pleasure. But it was one of those things that was tolerated so long as it went on behind closed doors and no one who would seriously object found out.

Like the guy’s wife.

It was one of those ‘dirty secrets’ kind of thing that was most often swept under the rug. Yelena, on the other hand, was no succubus. Nor was he just fucking her, which would be bad enough in most people’s eyes, but he was in love with her. He had given up whatever semblance of a life he’d had before now to help her find her own in this new land. So, functionally speaking, John was a fugitive from the law.

Very few people in the land would be okay with what he was doing, even though they weren’t trying to hurt anyone.

Consequently, he thought his mind would be constantly filled with anxiety and worry. And yet...he was happy. In a way, it felt like he was shedding the skin of a life he knew was a lie, and yet had no truly compelling reason to cease living it. He’d tried, leaving about once a year to live a life a lot like this, one on the road, one meeting interesting new people, (and, okay, sleeping with some of them if he could), a life where he explored old ruins and killed dangerous monsters and lived in a state of travel.

And what better way was there to live the life of your dreams than with a person that you had totally fallen in love with?

There had been a small part of John, one he wouldn’t admit to anyone, hardly to himself, that was afraid, perhaps even terrified, that at some point, he would realize the enormity of a mistake that he had made in throwing away everything to be with Yelena. But with each day that passed, that fear diminished.

He would know with more confidence in several weeks, or months perhaps, but already he honestly was really liking this. He didn’t mind the danger, he didn’t mind having to live in the Emerald Wild, he didn’t mind having to fight monsters.

He felt free.

The first cabin had clearly been ransacked, and held nothing of any real value. And, unfortunately, the second cabin was in much the same state.

“Someone was definitely here, and today,” Tanis said. She was starting to sound frustrated. They followed her back outside. “Give me a moment. I will track them.”

They both watched her. John felt a subtle shift in the air, a gentle breeze of warm air. Tanis seemed to flicker with a blue-white light. Suddenly, she pointed. “There,” she said. “Whoever they were, they went that way. They ransacked this place. Perhaps we can cut a deal with them...provided they are reasonable.”

“Perhaps, though I doubt they’re reasonable,” John replied. “Reasonable people rarely enter the Emerald Wild.”

“Well, we three are here...” Tanis frowned. “Are you both okay with this?”

“I am. I wish for a challenge,” Yelena replied.

“I’m ready to keep going, Tanis,” John answered.

“Thank you. Okay, let’s get this over with.”

They set off once more.

…

Tanis’s magic led them to a cave.

It was a dark hole boring into the earth, perhaps a quarter mile away from the cabins.

“So...now what?” John asked.

“Well, I don’t really think we should just walk in, loudly or quietly, as people tend not to react well to that. I suppose we could call down to them,” Tanis replied.

“Worth a try,” John said.

He walked forward to the edge of the cave and peered cautiously in with Yelena at his side. The daylight gave them a decent view of the dirt and rocky tunnel that descended into the earth. There were a few torches along the walls and evidence of people, but he could hear nothing. “Hello down there!” he called. “Can anyone hear me?!”

He paused, waited, listened.

Still nothing, it was dead silent.

“I’m interested in making a deal with anyone down there! I believe you have something of some monetary interest to me!”

Still nothing.

“You sure they’re here?” he asked.

“Yeah. Whoever was at the cabin went here. I picked up a few tracking spells in my youth. I’m positive,” Tanis replied.

“Huh. Maybe they left out a back entrance?”

“It’s possible...” Tanis said, though she sounded unconvinced.

“I don’t see that we have any option,” Yelena said. “We must go inside.”

“Yeah, I suppose so,” Tanis said. “Well, let’s go.”

They began walking slowly down into the tunnel. Yelena raised a hand and cast a light spell, creating a small but bright sphere of light that hovered overhead. John had to fight the urge to draw his blade, as they were still hoping to do this without spilling blood. Maybe they were just salvagers...hadn’t he, Yelena, and Tanis just come from a fort where they had done literally the same thing?

But they heard nothing as they continued down the tunnel, even as they reached its end and came into a large, open cavern.

“I don’t see anyone,” Tanis murmured.

“I hear nothing,” Yelena said quietly.

“We should check this out,” John replied.

He studied the cave as Yelena upped the light spell, casing a more powerful glow across the area. There were definitely signs of recent life. It looked like a group of people had set up a very temporary camp in here. There were some basic tables and chairs cobbled together with wood and nails, and a cluster of bedrolls in one corner. Some supplies were scattered about across the tables, and some of it had spilled onto the floor.

“This place smells wrong,” Yelena said.

“Yes,” Tanis agreed quietly. “It does.”

They found a pair of tunnels and moved down the first one. John’s sense of unease grew as they pressed on. Now they did draw their blades. Well, John and Yelena did, Tanis drew her bow and notched an arrow. This fear was different from the kind felt back at the fort. There was no curse here, no haunting.

John wasn’t sure what was here, but things that dwelt in caves were rarely friendly or good. He’d had some bad fights in caves. The three kept silent as they walked down the tunnel, hunting for clues of what had happened or looking for the deed, if it was indeed here. The tunnel eventually came to an end, terminating in another, smaller cavern. It looked like a few people had set up a somewhat more exclusive camp here, though it was little more than some bedrolls, a table, a few chairs, and a chest. Probably the leader of the group, John figured.

They took a moment to search the chest and anywhere else they could see, and although there was a good haul of gold and precious gemstones, as well as a few choice daggers, still no papers. And so they were forced to retreat back to the main cavern and take the final tunnel. As they began moving down this one, Yelena stopped.

“The smell is stronger,” she said.

“Yes,” Tanis agreed, “but I’m not sure what it is. It’s familiar, but...” she hesitated, then sighed in frustration. “I can’t be sure. It’s dangerous, whatever it is. Still want to go on?”

“Yes,” John and Yelena said at the same time.

They went on. As they drew closer to the tunnel’s end, John smelled it, too. And he began to hear noises. Quiet chittering sounds that were eerily familiar. Tanis was right, definitely dangerous. What had they walked into?

The tunnel came to an end.

The cavern beyond was bigger than the first one, and Yelena’s light spell didn’t seem as powerful now. Shadows gathered along the edges of the room. And right away, John knew what, precisely, they had walked into.

“Spiders,” he whispered.

“What are spiders?” Yelena asked tightly.

“Very dangerous. They are fast, poisonous,” Tanis replied.

Webbing was strung up along the edges of the room, just barely visible in the shadows. And there were dark figures in the webbing.

“The salvagers,” John said quietly.

“Well, that answers that question,” Tanis murmured. “How about we pull back and-”

A high-pitched shriek sounded suddenly, making them all jerk in surprise, and then, like a dark tide, a dozen giant spiders twisted and writhed and crawled out of the nest of webbing they had built for themselves. They came for the group, legs twitching madly as they made awful, swift progress across the cavern.

“Kill them!” John shouted.

Tanis loosed an arrow, burying it in the twisted, alien face of one of the spiders. Yelena jerked her hand forward, palm flat and out, and a small but powerful wave of fire shot forth. Two of the spiders were incinerated outright, and another two caught aflame. John moved towards three that were making rapid progress towards him, brandishing his blade. Well, this was certainly going to be harder to deal with than some highwaymen or a few zombies and skeletons. He fucking hated spiders. He jabbed forward, driving the tip of his silver blade into the awful constellation of red eyes crowning the thing’s strange head and heard it squeal.

Jerking the blade out in a spray of dark blood, he twisted around and chopped off two legs of another giant spider. It shrieked madly and began skittering away. John leaped back as the third spider made a grab for him, trying to get him in its grasp so it could sink its teeth into him. He didn’t give it the chance, stabbing into its awful body three rapid times in a row, drawing more dark blood. Behind him, he could hear the others fighting.

The battle continued for another few moments as the three of them moved among the spiders, dodging and falling back and moving forward, their blades rising and falling. Tanis fell back, putting her bow to very skilled use.

Finally, the last spider fell, and no more came.

“Well...fuck,” John said, lowering his sword. “Is that godsdamned all of them?”

“I sure hope so,” Tanis replied.

“I do not like spiders,” Yelena said.

“Fucking hate them,” John growled. He sighed. “And now we have to begin the miserable process of actually searching this area.”

“Yep,” Tanis murmured. She pulled out a knife and looked unhappily at the nearest dark figure suspended in the webbing. “Well...let’s get this over with.”

…

“I need a bath,” Tanis muttered as they walked back into the daylight.

It was darker now, and at first, as John caught sight of the outdoors through the top of the tunnel they’d been walking up, he thought he’d really lost track of time. But as the trio emerged from the caves, he realized that no, it was darker because the cloud cover was thicker, threatening rain. He could even smell it on the air now.

“I saw a sunken tub inside one of those cabins,” he replied. “Although it was bone dry.”

“Oh, I can produce water, no problem,” Tanis replied. “You think we should head back there? Part of me wants to just leave the Wild, but honestly, I don’t really feel like making the walk all the way out to the nearest village. Plus, I don’t want to stop hanging out with you two yet. You’re so interesting and fun and nice. So, you wanna go hang out back at those cabins?”

“That sounds great,” John replied, and Yelena nodded.

“Perfect.”

They set off through the forest again.

They had spent about two hours down there in those caves. About half of that was spent in that huge cavern infested with spiders, cutting into the webbing. It had been a disgusting experience, but it had at least been fruitful. Among the nine corpses they’d pulled from the webbing, most of them had useful items on them. One had an enchanted dagger, another an amulet that had a protection against cold embedded in it, several of them had at least half-decent rings, some gold and a few gem shards in their pockets, and, most importantly, the deed that Tanis had been hunting for so fervently. It was intact, and exactly what she was looking for.

The rest of the time was spent sorting through the rest of the caves. They’d turned up some more gear, some more gold, and a few decent swords. Their packs were swollen with supplies. John definitely intended to take a long walk to the nearest settlement and make some gold soon. As they walked back through the forest, he found his eyes drifting to Tanis’s trim body. He was thinking about doing some other things, too.

He was so fucking horny now, and he could tell Yelena was getting agitated from lust as well. Given that she wanted to take a bath with them around, well...that was a good sign. And she’d been kind of flirtatious so far, but then again, most elves were, that didn’t necessarily mean she was into either of them.

Then again, most elves were pretty open to easy, casual sex.

It was hard not to hurry back to the cabin, but they finally managed to get there. As they stepped onto the property again, somewhere distant, lightning forked the sky and thunder boomed. Tanis paused and looked at the sky.

“I love rain so much,” she said. “That would be so perfect for today.”

“Agreed,” John replied. He found himself thinking of that first night he’d made love with Yelena, how he had fallen asleep listening to the rain afterward. They moved into the first cabin and Tanis shrugged out of her pack. She dropped it on the floor and walked right up to the sunken bathtub of stone set into the floor.

She raised her hands. “Gonna do a blast of air, to clean it out, so, you know, cover your eyes, gonna be some dust,” she said.

They both thanked her and stepped back. She let out a short but powerful blast of air magic and a load of dust and random bits of debris escaped the tub. She then raised her hands and waited, then suddenly another burst of light appeared and a kind of random shape of pale red magic appeared to hover over the tub.

John realized what she was doing: she was creating a fire and an ice spell at the same time. It was something he’d seen done before, and something he wished he knew how to do. The ability to create hot, clean water on command...wouldn’t it be nice. When she was finished, the tub was full of clear, steaming water.

Tanis turned and walked back over to her pack, dropped into a crouch, and fished out the bottle of wine she’d taken from the fort.

Well, shit.

That certainly accelerated his timeline.

He didn’t want to try to sleep with her after she started drinking.

“Tanis, uh...before you start drinking,” he said. “I was wondering...”

She looked up at him, and then smirked. “Oh, I know where this is going. Well aren’t you a sweetheart? You want to have sex with me,” she said, standing back up.

“Yes,” he replied.

“And you want to ask me before I start getting squiffy. You are so sweet. The answer is yes, I would love to have sex with you.” She looked at Yelena. “Both of you. I have always wanted to have a hot demon chick go down on me.”

“She can do a lot with her tongue,” John said, and Yelena smirked and then stuck her out her long, prehensile tongue.

“Oh my fuck,” Tanis said, her eyes widening in excitement, “I am going to fall in love with that fucking tongue. Well, I’m going to start drinking now, because I want to be a least a little tipsy when we fuck, cause it’s been a long godsdamned day.”

“Yes, it has,” Yelena said. “I believe I shall join you.”

“I think I’m gonna stay sober,” John said.

“Oh?” Tanis replied as she tore the cork out with her teeth and spat it skillfully into her open pack. “Why’s that?”

“I don’t, ah, perform well...while intoxicated,” he replied awkwardly.

“Ah. You get mead dick,” Tanis said.

“Yeah...”

She rolled her eyes and took a long drink from the wine, then wiped her hand on the back of her mouth and passed the bottle to Yelena. “Relax, it’s nothing to be ashamed of. I’m sure you perform admirably,” she said.

“I can personally attest to this,” Yelena said, then took a drink. “Oh, my. This liquid is...it tastes good,” she said, and then took another, longer drink.

“Heh heh, I think we’re gonna turn your girlfriend into a drunk slut,” Tanis said.

Yelena frowned as she handed the bottle back to her. “Is not this word, slut, an insult?”

Tanis sighed. “It’s often used as an insult in these lands, yes, but I do not. A slut is...just a woman who loves having sex. And there’s nothing wrong with that. However,” she said, holding up a finger, “if you don’t want me to call you that, I will respect that.”

“I...” Yelena seemed to consider it, “will allow this. I do enjoy sex.”

“Men can be sluts too,” John said as he began getting his clothes off.

“This is true. So, a person who enjoys sex a lot. Although honestly, almost one hundred times out of one hundred, I hear the word being applied to women, in both good and bad contexts. For the record, though, I love being a slut. Sex feels so goddamned good.” She paused as John finished getting naked. “Wow,” she said.

“What?” he replied.

“You’re hot, and you’ve got a big dick,” she said.

“It’s not that big,” he replied, again feeling awkward.

“I’m a fucking five foot two petite ass elf, that’s big to me,” Tanis replied. “Looking forward to riding that big fucking thing.”

“It’s very wonderful to ride,” Yelena said.

John moved over to the tub and slipped into the water, then watched as the women went through a slow but pleasant process of passing the bottle back and forth between them and stripping off their clothes. By the time they were both nude, the bottle was drained, as Tanis emptied the rest of it in one go and then set it down.

He looked at her wonderful, naked body as she came towards him with Yelena. She was of average build for an elf: slender and petite. Although she did have some big fucking tits for being so skinny. The effect was awesome. They were big, round, pale, and perky, topped with beautiful, small pink nipples. She was very fit, her thighs slim and athletic. He saw that she had a few scars across her body, one on her right hip, what looked like an arrow puncture wound in her left bicep, a stab wound in her stomach.

Both women slipped nimbly into the tub and settled in on either side of him. They each leaned against him and Yelena laid an arm across his shoulders while Tanis wrapped him in a hug and laid her head against his chest.

“It’s been too long since I’ve been able to be drunk and horny around someone,” she murmured happily. “And, I mean, get my pussy satisfied.”

“You’ll be satisfied,” John replied.

“Mmm...do you eat pussy?”

“Expertly,” Yelena replied. “We both do.”

“Excellent, because I suck dick like a total whore. I’m going to have you coming fast, and I like the taste so I want to swallow for you,” Tanis replied.

“I wish we’d met earlier,” John said.

“Same,” Tanis replied. She grinned and kissed him.

John slipped a hand over the back of her neck and deepened the kiss, and heard her moan quietly in response. Kissing Tanis was like...biting into a particularly rich piece of chocolate, or eating a stunningly well-seasoned and prepared steak. It was like extravagant decadence. Like doing something that was bad for you but it felt so very, very good to do. There was an intense, powerful erotic sexuality to Tanis that became only more apparent as they continued locking lips. She slipped her tongue dexterously into his mouth and wrapped it with his own. They twined together, and he tasted her, both her own natural taste and the wine on her breath.

His new elf friend shifted as they continued making out and straddled him, pressing her big, wet, bare breasts against his chest. John wrapped her in a hug, holding her slim wet body to his own, absolutely in love with the feel of her, the way she was kissing him, the way she tasted, how into the encounter she seemed.

Beside him, he could hear Yelena breathing heavily.

Tanis could too, apparently, and broke off the kiss. Yelena leaned in and gave John a lingering kiss, then moved over to Tanis and began to make out with her as well.

“Holy Gods,” he whispered as both women began passionately making out right in front of his face. “I will never not be amazed by seeing two hot women kissing.”

Yelena shorted but Tanis seemed utterly into kissing his beautiful demoness lover. Her pale hands wandered all across Yelena’s darker body, groping her breasts, then sliding over her skin, around to her back. She hugged her to herself tightly and deepened the kiss. Yelena moaned quietly and closed her eyes, hugging back.

Tanis finally came up for air. “Holy fuck, you are so hot, Yelena. And I mean physically, like, your skin is actually really hot.” She looked at John. “It must feel so good to stick your cock inside of her. Oh man, do you bareback her?”

“All the time,” he replied.

She bit her lower lip. “That is so fucking hot. I can’t wait to watch you two fuck.”

“Before we get to fucking, we need to do some oral. Tanis, since you’re the guest of honor tonight, you get to go first,” John replied.

“Ooh, a guest of honor, huh? Well, I won’t say no to that.”

She hopped up onto the side of the tub and spread her nimble legs open wide, revealing her smooth pussy. “Should you go first or should I?” Yelena asked.

“You should really be the one to bring her climax, you’ve got that wicked tongue, babe,” John replied as he got down in between her athletic thighs.

“Good point,” Yelena said.

“I’m so looking forward to this,” Tanis murmured. He noted that she didn’t seem particularly drunk. Maybe just a bit tipsy. She must have a strong constitution. He wondered how many big, burly dudes she’d drunk under the table.

Tanis sucked in a sharp breath as he leaned in and spread the taut, smooth lips of her elf vagina, exposing the small white nub of her clit.

“Oh, yes...” she whispered as he leaned in and touched the tip of his tongue to her clit. Slowly, he began to massage it, to stimulate it.

It had been too long since he’d gone down on a hot elf chick.

John slowly began to go faster and harder, gently applying more pressure. “Oh yes...eat that fucking pussy...” she moaned loudly, leaning back and spreading her legs wider. She began panting as he licked more rapidly at her clit.

He glanced up as he ate her out, seeing her huge, wet tits hanging over him. Reaching up, he began to grope one of them as he kept stimulating her, pleasuring her, getting sounds of pure, erotic satisfaction from her. He finally stopped when Yelena seemed to be getting impatient for her turn. Pulling back, he watched as Yelena opened her mouth and stuck out her long, prehensile, forked tongue. Damn, that was a sexy tongue.

Tanis let out a cry of blissful ecstasy as Yelena began tonguing her clit.

“Oh my-oh wow, that’s fucking incredible!” she cried.

It didn’t take a lot longer before Tanis let out a scream of pure bliss as she began to orgasm. She grabbed Yelena’s horns, making her moan, and pulled her face into her crotch as she came hard, her big tits jiggling wonderfully as she did. When she was done, she released Yelena and then slipped back down into the tub.

“That was the first time I’ve ever been eaten out by a demon,” she murmured. “And I always thought it would be by a succubus...not that I’m complaining.”

“I’m glad I could please you,” Tanis replied. She looked at John. “Would you mind if I soloed your lady?”

“Have at her,” John said.

“I’m going to make you come so hard, you demoness slut,” Tanis said, grinning fiercely at her.

“Prove it,” Yelena replied, and got up out of the tub, assuming Tanis’s previous position.

John watched as the little redhead got down in between her firm thighs and began going down on her. Yelena let out a loud, long moan. Tanis licked at her clit and soon slipped a finger into her tight hole, fucking her with it. And apparently Yelena was very wound up, because Tanis had her coming, and coming fucking hard, within a minute.

And Gods did his demoness lover look stunning when she was nude and wet and orgasming.

Tanis was good with that tongue of hers.

Yelena looked like some kind of sexual deity, some dark goddess of lust as she cried out in rapturous bliss, leaning back on her hands, her legs spread wide, body naked and wet and glorious, her head thrown back.

When she finished thoroughly enjoying her orgasm, Tanis made way and Yelena slipped slowly back into the water.

“Oh my,” she said, breathing heavily.

“Oh my indeed,” Tanis replied smugly. “Told you.”

“You certainly proved yourself,” Yelena said. She turned her attention to John and smiled seductively at him. “I believe it is time to pleasure my love.”

“Yes it is,” Tanis agreed, joining her in staring at him.

John looked back at them, feeling a little daunted. There was something certainly intimidating about being stared at by two naked, ridiculously attractive, utterly confident women. But that only made the lust and desire he was feeling that much more intoxicating.

“Up,” Yelena said.

“Yes, ma’am,” he replied, and her smile became a smirk.

He got up, assuming the same position the two women had, and sat on the side of the tub. Both of them drifted closer, both of them absurdly erotic and beautiful. They came to rest before him, between his legs, and Tanis reached out. Her hand emerged from the water, small and pale, and grasped his steel hard cock. She leaned in and kissed the head of it, and that sent a shiver of anticipatory pleasure shooting into him.

Both of them stuck out their tongues. Yelena’s wickedly long, forked tongue looked strange and seductive. They leaned in and began to lick the head of his cock. Pleasure immediately began sparking along the length of his dick like lightning on the horizon before a particularly powerful storm. Their tongues lavished hot, wet pleasure on him as they began licking faster. Yelena took his balls into one hand and began to massage them gently, sending even more waves of warm bliss into him. It was an incredible experience.

Tanis then took his cock into her wonderful mouth and began to suck him off, bobbing her head smoothly and rapidly, like a skilled professional. She maintained eye contact with him as she did so, staring directly into his eyes with her beautiful green ones. It seemed almost impossible that they had met only today.

That added so much thrilling excitement to the encounter.

Tanis relinquished his cock to Yelena, who immediately took it into her own mouth and began to pleasure him with a practiced ease. They had only been together for little over a week and already it was like they’d been pleasuring each other for years. Her eyes were almost blazing with red as she sucked his cock.

She pleasured him for another half minute before passing him back to Tanis, as she could tell he was close to popping, and Tanis wanted his seed. And it didn’t take her long to get it. She began bobbing her head rapidly, working his shaft with one hand, moving in tandem with her lips, while massaging his balls with her other.

Soon, he let out a loud grunt and groan of pleasure as he began to orgasm into her mouth.

She moaned, working his cock, trying to pump him dry it seemed, and he moaned with her. Bliss exploded within him. His seed began to leave his cock in powerful spurts, each one creating a fresh burst of rapturous sexual gratification.

“Oh fuck, Tanis!” he cried as he came in her mouth and she just kept sucking.

She sucked him completely dry.

When he was finished, she slowly pulled his dick from her mouth and swallowed. “There, now I’ve got both of you off,” she said, and then shifted over to the edge of the tub. Reaching across the floor, she pulled another bottle from her pack, what John realized was mead from the smell of it when she pulled the cork, and took a deep drink from it. “My own stuff,” she said after setting it back down, then slipping into the water again. “Now, I’m still horny as fuck and I want to see what that big dick of yours feels like. You up for a go?” she asked.

“Yep,” he replied immediately.

He was still horny.

“I want to go first,” Yelena said.

“Fair enough, he’s your man,” Tanis replied.

“Come here, babe,” John said, grabbing Yelena and pulling her into his lip.

They began kissing immediately, locking lips and twining tongues. He felt her grinding her powerful hips and thighs against him. He could read the desperate need and primal lust in her body language, her intense, fiery gaze.

With a skill that still surprised him, Yelena raised herself up, adjusted her hips so that the head of his already erect again cock rested at the entrance of her perfect demon pussy, then lowered herself, taking him into her.

They both moaned together in sexual unification.

He reached back and grabbed her ass, gripping her tightly, pulling her against him as they made love. Being inside of her was wonderful in a way that never stopped amazing him. Almost instinctively, he gently grabbed her tail, making her moan. He touched it carefully, running it through his fingers. She rested her head on his shoulder and panted in his ear.

“I love it when you touch my tail,” she whispered.

“So do I,” he replied.

Her pussy clenched firmly around his cock as she rode him, sliding smoothly up and down, her powerful muscles working. She was insanely hot and wet inside. The pleasure was a thing of power, burning into him, filling him.

She felt like no other woman he had ever been with, human or otherwise.

Yelena rode him until she brought him almost to orgasm, then stopped and took him out of her. He groaned. “Come on, babe...”

“You’ll come,” she said, “don’t worry. But Tanis, I believe, should have the pleasure. I get you to come inside of me all the time, my love.”

He looked at Tanis. “Get over here,” he said.

“Yes, sir,” she replied, quickly taking Yelena’s place.

He felt a shiver of excitement surge through him. He was about to have unprotected sex with a brand new woman, an insanely hot redheaded elf. She seemed equally excited, staring at him with wide green eyes. She let out a harsh exhalation as he gripped her hips, then she quickly reached down between them and grabbed his cock. As soon as she had it in place, she began working it inside of herself.

They both moaned loudly.

“Oh holy fuck, John, you are big,” she groaned.

“Fuck, that is a tight pussy,” he gasped as she worked him into her, lowering and raising herself, going and going until he was buried completely within her.

And she was tight.

By the Gods, was she ever tight.

And when she began to really ride his cock, to bounce on it like a complete whore, it felt so good that he actually felt guilty another woman was giving him this much pleasure.

“Come in me...” she moaned, and then she leaned back, showing him her huge, natural tits, big and beautiful and wet and pale, bouncing and wondrous. “Fill me with your seed. I want it so fucking bad, John...”

“Fuck...Tanis...” he moaned, reaching out and gripping them. “Tanis...I can’t...oh fuck!” he moaned loudly as his orgasm burst into being.

It felt like magic.

Like pleasure magic.

He panted and moaned and grunted in absolute sexual release as he spilled his seed once more. He pumped Tanis’s perfect, tight elf pussy full of it. And, oh fuck, she was coming too. He could feel her vaginal muscles clenching hard around his cock, making the pleasure even more powerful and potent. Could feel her getting even hotter and wetter. She screamed in raw bliss as she rode him furiously, sliding rapidly up and down his orgasming cock.

“Oh fuck, there’s so much!” she cried. “You’re coming so fucking much!”

He moaned inarticulately, almost incoherent with rapturous ecstasy as pleasure pulsed through him in waves.

When he was finished and he came back to himself, he felt like he was adrift in a sea of warm, pink paradise.

Tanis was breathing heavily, they both were, nearly gasping for breath. She laid against him, head on his shoulder, and he could hear her panting in his ear.

He hugged her to him, simply holding her petite body to his.

“Wow,” he whispered finally.

“Yes. Wow,” she murmured. “Yelena, I am so godsdamned jealous of you.”

“Oh are you?” Yelena replied, sounding pleased.

“Yes. You get to fuck this dick every night. I haven’t found a dick this good in at least a year, maybe longer.”

“So it’s just my dick?” he asked.

Tanis sat up and pursed her lips, seeming to consider him. “I suppose you’re pretty hot,” she replied. “And, I guess you’re a pretty great person. That really helps.”

“Gee, thanks.”

She laughed and kissed him sloppily, then took a deep breath and let it out. She was very red in the face. He was sure he was, too. “I’m sorry, but I gotta get up out of this water or I’m going to straight up pass out...” she grinned suddenly, “although if I do, you have permission to fuck my brains out.”

“You want me to fuck you in your sleep?” he asked, then grunted as she took his softening cock from her insanely tight elf pussy.

“Yep,” she replied. “It’s hot. I imagine it’d be hot to watch, right Yelena?”

“It would,” Yelena admitted.

“Fuck me in my sleep if you want, I don’t care. I like you a lot,” she said happily. “Both of you. So you get that permission.” She climbed out of the tub, dripping water everywhere, and grabbed a towel from her pack. “I am so tired,” she said.

“Same,” John agreed as he got out with her.

Yelena joined them and they each dried off.

“I could do with some sleep,” she said.

A thought occurred to him suddenly. “Tanis?”

“Yeah?”

“Did that deed mention this place?”

“No, I read over the whole thing, it didn’t. Why?”

“I think we’d like it for ourselves,” he replied.

She looked around the cabin, slowly nodding. “Yeah, this could be fixed up. It’d be a great place for a retreat in the Wild, I think. I won’t mention it when I turn the job in.”

“Thank you,” he said.

John looked at the bed in the room. It wasn’t very large, but it was in decent condition. He supposed with a bit of cleaning, it would do well. Although...frowning, he looked around the room. Several windows were broken out and it was beginning to rain. The roof would surely leak. Well...hopefully it wouldn’t on the bed.

The three of them took a moment to change out the bedding with their own supplies and make sure that the bed itself would hold their weight, then did what they could to secure the cabin, including setting a few ‘alarms’, as Tanis called them. Even drunk and sleepy she was good with magic. Soon, all three of them were together beneath the blankets. Yelena laid against his back, Tanis at his front. He wrapped an arm around the slim elf.

“I’m happy,” she said quietly.

“So am I,” Yelena murmured.

John nodded in agreement. Before he knew it, he was asleep.

CHAPTER IV

He awoke to the sound of rainfall.

It was still early. John opened his eyes and saw the first pale gray light of a rainy dawn seeping in through the windows and openings of the abandoned cabin he and his lovers had lain claim to. He didn’t feel wet, which meant, probably, that the roof wasn’t leaking directly onto the bed. He was, however, feeling extremely horny. He had an awful erection, and there were two warm women in bed with him right now.

John remembered what Tanis had told him last night.

He rolled over carefully and looked at her. She was lying on her side, facing him, the blankets pulled back slightly. She was asleep, looking absolutely beautiful in the early morning light, red hair in a messy disarray. His gaze slipped down lower, to her impressive chest, and he felt his erection throb with anticipation.

He had to have her.

Laying a hand on her shoulder, John pushed her onto her back, then moved beneath the blankets, getting atop her. He got her legs spread open and laid his cock at the entrance of her pussy. He could feel heat coming off of her.

“What’s-oh my...” she moaned, coming awake as he penetrated her. “Good morning to you, too, John,” she said, eyes opening.

“Morning,” he replied, working his way into her.

She felt amazing inside.

Clearly, she was as horny as she was. Most people were in the mornings. That’s what made morning sex so godsdamned great. They both moaned loudly as he began really giving it to her, pounding her into the bedding.

“Gods, you are so fucking big!” she cried and then she brought her legs up and wrapped them around him.

He loved it when women did that.

He grunted as he furiously fucked her, making her scream, knowing it wasn’t going to last long. Morning fucks never did. Had to make sure she came first, not that that would be difficult. Tanis was clearly a sensitive woman and she was also definitely into him. Tanis stared up at him with wide, wild eyes as they fucked.

“Keep going,” she begged. “Fuck me like a slut,” she moaned.

He kept going, pounding her hard and fast, making her cry out in impassioned bliss. He had to make her come soon, he was going to pop. And then she did. She bucked against him, letting out a shriek of pleasure, and he felt her pussy begin to convulse around his cock as she started to come. He didn’t hold back any longer and soon was climaxing along with her. He lost himself to the orgasm, awash in a sea of blinding bliss.

When they were finished, he pulled out of her and rolled over onto his side.

“A good way to wake up,” Tanis murmured.

“I’m not ready to wake up,” John replied, yawning.

“More sleep would be nice,” she agreed.

“I don’t think so,” Yelena said. He looked over at her. She was staring intently at him, her grin almost feral. “On your back, now.”

“Yes, ma’am,” he replied, shifting a bit and laying on his back.

Yelena mounted him with a growl.

…

Several hours later, the three of them awoke.

Tanis created another bath and they washed and woke up. When they were dried and dressed, they went about preparing breakfast. Tanis actually had something John had never seen before: essentially a meal station operating on the same principles as a camp-in-a-bag. She set it up outside, in the small, overgrown courtyard of space in front of the cabins. It came complete with a fire-pit and a polished counter set onto the top of an upright chest. It even had a shelf built over the top of it with several knives hanging from it. The shelf had a number of glass jars with spices and liquids on it. The chest itself had a few shelves within it, as well as a sustained cold spell. Inside, she had several bottles of liquid, vegetables, fruit, and meats stored.

“Wow,” Yelena said. “This is impressive.”

“Thank you! I custom-made this. I got tired of not having access to it all, then I got a camp-in-a-bag, but then I got tired of having to pull out my whole camp whenever I wanted to make a nice meal,” she said.

“That is even more impressive. You must be a very skilled magic user,” Yelena murmured.

“I am...although you sound surprised when you say that,” Tanis replied as she crouched down and began sorting through the chest.

Yelena looked at her, suddenly cautious. “Oh...I apologize. I did not mean to offend. It’s just that...magic is much more common in my realm, and I’ve had decades to practice, and my own brief experiences with denizens of this realm lead me to believe that the average person does not possess such aptitude, although I understand elves are more adept at it.”

“I’m not offended, Yelena,” Tanis replied easily. “And you’re right. Most people have some magic ability, but on the whole, elves average higher. And in this land in particular, magic users are a bit rarer.”

“I try not to make too many assumptions. I am stranger here,” Yelena said.

“I understand,” Tanis replied. “What do we want for breakfast?”

“I’m discovering that I am very partial to rabbit, and eggs,” Yelena answered.

“I could make rabbit and vegetable stew, and fry up some eggs,” Tanis suggested.

“I’ll help,” John said.

“Perfect.”

They set to work making breakfast. It was a pleasant experience. The rain had since stopped, the skies overhead brighter and a bit more cheery now. All around them, the Emerald Wild made noise, but they remained undisturbed. They chopped up some rabbit, potatoes, and carrots, and put it into a stew-pot that hung over the fire. While they waited for it to boil, the three of them went about setting up a place to eat, bringing out a table and three of the sturdiest looking chairs from the pair of cabins. Once that was done and the stew was ready, John cooked up the eggs. Once breakfast was served, they sat around the table together and ate.

“You two have the coolest relationship,” Tanis said.

“Oh yeah?” John replied.

“You both travel around together, fuck like crazy, fight monsters, and you’re in an open relationship. And you two are just...I mean, you’re so in tune with each other. I don’t believe in soul mates, personally, but...well, let’s just say that it’s hard to believe that the two of you have been together for little longer than a week. I mean, I do believe you, it’s just that you seem like you’re a couple that has been together for years,” Tanis explained.

“Thank you,” Yelena murmured.

“Is there a reason you travel alone? Or do you have someone waiting for you somewhere?” John asked.

“Not as such, no,” Tanis replied. “I’ve had many lovers, most of them one-night stands, and a few good friends that I visit a few times a year to catch up and fuck. I used to have a serious boyfriend, but eventually he decided he wanted to settle down after a decade and a half of adventuring, and I wasn’t even close to ready. So we split up.”

“Oh, that must have been hard,” Yelena replied.

“Yeah, it was. It doesn’t really hurt anymore, at least. It’s been ten years. He’s back in the home town, married, thinking about having kids someday.”

“Twenty five years adventuring...” John murmured.

Tanis laughed. “I’m sixty five, if you’re curious. Started adventuring thirty years ago. Still not even close to sick of it,” she said. She paused. “I’m curious...”

“Yeah?” John prompted.

“Both of you...well, in my experience, humans aren’t the best at dealing with open relationships, and with my admittedly limited knowledge of demons, I’ve come to understand that they are, um...territorial, so to speak.”

Yelena laughed. “Yes, we can certainly be territorial, violently so. Relationships are...different, in my realm. In that they don’t quite exist. We do not have marriages, sometimes we have longer-term trysts. Typically we have...alliances, more than relationships. If sex is involved, it’s either for pure gratification or a power play. But we are fiercely territorial about it, though not because we love each other. Honestly...it was a concept I was unfamiliar with for most of my life.”

“That’s so sad,” Tanis said quietly.

“I would agree, now. In a way, I’m extremely grateful. I only began to get an inkling of the notion that there could have been more to relationships perhaps a few years ago. It grew slowly over time, accruing, but it was when I had a chance to come to this realm for an extended time without...distraction, I was able to observe a couple, traveling through the woods. They were...strange, to me. I didn’t really understand, but when I did begin to comprehend what I was seeing, when I realized it was true affection, I...” she looked uncomfortable suddenly. “It hurt. It hurt a lot,” she said quietly.

“I’m sorry, Yelena,” he said, reaching out.

She immediately took his hand and squeezed it, and he squeezed back.

“I am too, that’s so very sad,” Tanis said.

“Yes. I thought it was interesting, and I have often wondered: do most of my kind have the capacity to enjoy sustained relationships, to be affectionate, to...love? Or am I a mutation? Am I rare, unique in my ability? I cannot truly say. But, all that aside, at present, I am simply happy that I have John in my life now.”

“And I’m quite happy to have you, too,” he replied.

“You two are just so damned adorable as a couple,” Tanis said. She sighed suddenly. “Makes me regret having to leave, but I do. I have work to finish and I’m deep in wanderlust mode right now. I just wanna...you know, go. Wherever that is. But listen, if you’ll have me, I’ll swing back around and see you two again sometime.”

“We’d love that,” John said, after glancing at Yelena, who broke into a smile.

“We would,” she agreed. “You are...very skilled, Tanis.”

“So are you. Now, give me goodbye kisses, and I’ll be on my way.”

They did, each of them giving her a lingering kiss. They helped her clean up, then she packed up, wished them farewell, gave them their pay cut, and walked out of their lives.

John hoped he would see the elf known as Tanis again at some point.

“What should we do today?” Yelena asked afterward.

“I had two thoughts on that, I wanted to run them by you,” John replied.

She smiled at him and took his hand in hers. “I am listening.”

He couldn’t help but smile back. “My first thought was that it would be nice to have a sort of base of operations in the Wild. And these two cabins, well...perfect isn’t the right word, but I think they’d be a pretty good place to call home, at least for now. We could do some work on them, fix them up in between finding coin. I almost didn’t mention it, but...well, I mean, what timeline are we acting on but our own? We have no reason not to move at our own pace, and to enjoy ourselves. And I...would enjoy making a home with you, Yelena, even a temporary one.”

She opened her mouth to speak, then didn’t, as though considering her words. “Sometimes, you steal my thoughts with your words, John. You are...so very sweet. I would love to make a home with you. I love the idea.”

“Good!”

“What is the other idea?”

“Ah. Yes. Well, we’ve accumulated some supplies. I want to sell them. There’s a town about two hours’ walk from here. I figured I’d sell some stuff off. Unfortunately, I’ll have to go alone...”

Yelena sighed. “Yes, I suppose you would. Well, what if I stayed here and began the process of organizing this mess, and you dealt with the selling?” she suggested.

“That sounds perfect to me,” he replied.

“Good. You should hurry.”

“Oh?”

“Oh, indeed. The sooner you leave, the sooner you will return to me, and the sooner we can both indulge in a break for sex.”

He smirked. “That’s a very good point,” he replied.

John gave her a kiss and quickly set to work.

…

The nearest settlement was a small village with a population of maybe a hundred and fifty called East View.

John had been through once or twice, and from what he remembered, it wasn’t a great place. It was a lot like his own home village: mostly human, kind of racist. Small town, small minds. As he approached the settlement’s edge, staring at the wall of stone and mortar that surrounded the settlement, he hoped to be done with this quickly. It was past midday now, and although the low gray cloud cover had held, the rain had stayed away. Probably for the best. John loved rain, but he didn’t like walking through the Emerald Wild in it.

There were a pair of guards by the front gate, men in dull gray armor.

“Help you?” one of them asked as John approached.

“Looking to trade,” he replied, shrugging a bit to indicate his packed backpack.

“Huh. Adventurer type, huh?” the other asked.

“Yep.”

“Right. Go on in. Marketplace is just beyond the gate.”

“Thanks.”

John stepped in through the gate and looked slowly around the place, getting a feel for it. There were half a dozen shops and a dozen stalls spread out around a courtyard. There were a handful of people still around, lingering after the midday lunch rush. He picked out what kinds of places were available, marking them in his mind: blacksmith, potions shop, restaurant, clothing shop. He immediately set out for the blacksmith, as most of what he had to sell was weaponry in nature. He stepped in through the open front door and immediately became immersed in that familiar smell of burning metal and sweat.

He’d spent his fair share of time in blacksmiths.

There was a familiar hammering sound coming from somewhere in the back of the building and no one was at the front desk. John moved up to it, grabbed a stone that had been placed on it and banged the stone loudly three times.

The hammering ceased, then a middle-aged man with a sweaty face emerged.

“Help you?” he asked.

“Yes, I’m looking to offload some weapons,” John replied.

And he set to work.

The next hour or so passed too slowly for his liking. As he haggled with the blacksmith, showing him the handful of swords and daggers he’d procured from the highwaymen and the abandoned fort, he found his mind wandering. His mood had soured on the long walk from the Wild. He couldn’t stop thinking about what Yelena had said, how much she had hurt when she’d realized what was missing from her life, what could have been.

In a way, he was also scared.

John knew that he was rare. He didn’t think that he was the only being to walk this plane of existence who would love Yelena, and who she could love in return, but he did think that if something happened to him, and she was alone again, she could go for years searching for someone to take his place. Their meeting had been shockingly fortuitous, and he found himself agreeing with her assessment that perhaps Bliss, the Goddess of Love and Sex, was looking out for them. He cherished his relationship with Yelena more so than any other relationship he had ever had, and likely ever would. There was no question there.

But he had an idea that Yelena cherished it even more.

If something awful happened to her, John would be devastated. He would carry that scar for the rest of his life.

But he would still be in a familiar land. He knew how to live his life alone if he had to. But if something awful happened to him? Would Yelena go back? Could she? He had faith that she could find some way to survive in this land of his, but...it would be insanely difficult. As he finished up his haggling with the blacksmith and moved over to a stall that would probably buy his gems, he tried to shake off the dark thoughts.

It was miserable thinking about that.

But their lives were dangerous. What was he to do? Neither would compromise and hide from danger for fear of death.

He supposed all he could do was try very hard to keep them both alive and do his absolute best to make Yelena as happy as possible.

It felt like a cause worth dedicating himself to.

That still struck him as so strange, but not in a bad way. The notion that he was in love with a demoness, that he was dedicating his life to her, willing to abandon his previous life and travel the land with her, was a little crazy.

But Yelena made it easy to love her.

He knew there would be difficulty in the future, no relationship was perfect, but he didn’t care. He loved her, loved being with her, traveling with her, doing everything with her. He remembered Tanis’s words as he sold off the gems and other handful of magical trinkets they’d discovered, her assertion that they seemed as though they had been together for years now. It was true. He still had difficulty believing they were only a little over a week into the relationship. But, apparently, that’s how it went sometimes.

“Excuse me, sir.”

John turned around as he finished counting up the coin he’d received for the gems and magical items. It was good. He tied the bag off to his belt. “Yes?” he asked, and suddenly felt nervous, staring at this person looking to garner his attention.

She was a felis, and she looked dangerous.

She had a hood up, bathing her face in shadows, and she wore well-traveled, light leather armor. She had a bow and quiver peeking up over one shoulder.

“My name is Bianca, I’m a bounty hunter,” she said. “You look well traveled, like you might have been spending some time in the Emerald Wild recently. Is this the case?”

“Yes...why do you ask?” he replied, trying not to appear too nervous. Something about her just set him on edge.

“I’m hunting a demon,” she said, and he felt his whole body go cold.

He had an awful sense of deja vu.

John was very careful to keep himself neutral. “A demon? In the Wild?”

“Yes. I’ve been tracking it for several days now. Have you seen anything? Heard anything?” Bianca asked.

He made a show of considering it, and briefly considered trying to point her in the wrong direction, but this grim woman in a hood seemed very sharp. “No,” he said finally, “I can’t say that I have. Sorry.”

“That’s fine. Thank you for your time,” she said, and turned away.

Did she know he was lying? He didn’t think so. He’d gotten very good at lying. Besides being a bit of a natural at it, he often had to lie to people in his town involving anything even slightly controversial. But this Bianca...he’d met people like her before: cold, clinical, calculating. There was something in her face, in her voice, in the way she walked with a chilled purpose through the market. She was a skilled and lethal bounty hunter.

Would she find them in the Wild?

Even as he thought that, he felt a bit of relief. No, he didn’t think so. It was notoriously difficult to hunt a moving target through the Wild, unless you had the help of the locals. The locals being dryad and serpentine and harpies. And although he did not know any personally, both he and Yelena carried the blessing of a dryad, and they were both being respectful to the forest. He didn’t imagine many dryads or serpentine would give up their location, and it was hard to intimidate a dryad or a serpentine. Like, seriously hard.

He’d never seen it successfully done, nor had he ever been stupid enough to try.

Nonetheless, John found himself wanting to go home, and right now. He’d finished selling off his items, and although he’d intended to make this an extended shopping trip on top of a selling one, he ended up just purchasing a scattering of fruits, vegetables, juices, and meats. As much as he could shove into his pack.

Everything else could either wait, or they could get it for themselves if they really needed to.

As soon as he was finished, John made sure that he was not being followed by anyone, namely Bianca, and left the small settlement.

Then he began the long walk home.

…

He managed to hunt and kill a few rabbits on the way back, since he, and especially Yelena, had an affinity for them.

By the time he got back to the cabins, he found that Yelena had gotten quite a bit of work done. He found a pile of refuse in the front lawn, mainly broken furniture, and found the woman herself half under the bed.

“Hello, love,” she said, her voice muffled.

“Hello, Yelena. Find anything interesting under there?” he asked.

“Not really. Some old clothing. Some trash.”

“I see...we might have a problem,” John said.

Yelena was silent, then nimbly extracted herself from beneath the bed and rose to her feet. “What problem?” she asked, suddenly serious.

“There’s a bounty hunter looking for you.”

She sighed heavily. “Again?”

“Yes, I’m afraid so, although I don’t think she’ll be a problem.”

“Why not? How did you discover this?”

“She approached me in town, pegged me for someone who traveled the Wild, asked if I’d seen anything. It could be a coincidence, but I’m not entirely sure. I just thought you should be aware of the situation,” he replied.

“Should we deal with her?” Yelena asked.

John shook his head. “I don’t think we should seek her out. We don’t know if she’s necessarily an evil person. I mean, I don’t think she deserves to die. Probably.”

“But if she comes after us...”

“I don’t think she will,” he replied, and quickly explained his thoughts on the subject, on how hard it would be to track them. By the end of it, Yelena was pursuing her lips, clearly not entirely satisfied with his answer.

“I suppose you have a point,” she said, then she offered a small smile. “And I suppose we have enough trouble in our lives without going to search for more.”

“Good. How are the cabins? What’d you find?” he asked.

Now she frowned again. “They are in poor condition. Clearly, there are many holes in the roof, as evidence by the leaks from last night. There are many broken windows, and the back door to the other cabin is nearly broken off. The exterior is weathered, though decently intact. We will have to make repairs, and find some way to get more furniture, if I am to understand your desires appropriately,” she explained.

He grinned suddenly and set down his backpack. “Right now, Yelena, the only thing I desire is you,” he said.

A new but familiar smile came onto her face. “Indeed?” she asked.

“Indeed,” he confirmed, and came for her.

…

The rest of the day passed in a state of sheer pleasure, both physically and emotionally.

They made frantic love in the bed, then took the time to skin and clean the rabbits he’d killed, then cook them up. From there, they worked together to finish cleaning out the cabins. John found a broom stashed in one of the closets and swept up after helping Yelena get the rest of the old, broken furniture out into the yard. At the very least it would serve nicely as firewood. For the time being, John stopped worrying.

He didn’t think about the bounty hunter, or the unhappy possibilities the future might hold. He simply thought about Yelena, and what was happening in the moment. And he was enjoying himself. For now, that’s all that mattered.

There was a simple serenity to making a place yours.

It was made that much more intoxicating when you did it with the one you loved.

They kept getting distracted, and not even in a sexual way. He was so happy just to touch her, to rest his hands on her shoulders for a moment, to brush his fingers across her, to give her quick kisses, to wrap his arms around her and hold her. Their pace was pleasantly slow and leisurely, and the sun made its way slowly towards the horizon.

By the time the night was coming on again, they had cleaned out the cabins and begun making a list of all the damage and what it would take to fix it. When the sun disappeared, John activated their camp-in-a-bag and got out a meal. He cooked them up some beef-and-vegetable stew, finding his darker thoughts returning, though he wasn’t sure how to broach them again. And he didn’t, not at first, because Yelena still looked so happy. She smiled so easily when she caught him looking at her. And he couldn’t help but smile back.

So they sat down at the table he and her and Tanis had set up, and ate and talked and laughed. And when the food had settled, they went inside and locked up and made slow, passionate love together in their new bed.

And afterward, when they were laying together, floating in the tranquil seas of post-orgasm bliss, near sleep, John spoke up.

“Yelena...” he said quietly.

“Yes?” she replied.

“How do you feel about everything?” he asked.

“What do you mean?”

“I guess I was just thinking about what you said earlier, to Talis. About affection, and love, and about how you never had it. And about how much that hurt.”

She was silent for several seconds. “I’m very, very happy with this relationship. Sometimes, though...” she hesitated. He waited. “Sometimes I worry that I’m missing something. That my happiness is blinding me. I...” she hesitated further.

“It’s okay, you can tell me,” he said.

“I just wonder sometimes if this was the right decision. But I don’t want you to think that I am regretting this at all, or even that I think I will regret it. It’s just that...I left everything behind to come to a world where I am a pariah, an outlaw. I hated my own realm, and I do like it here, and I obviously love you, I just...” she trailed off.

“It’s okay, Yelena,” he said, and hugged her to him. “I understand. I imagine it must be scary, coming into this life, this realm, with just one person to rely on.”

“It is, and it’s very difficult to talk about. Although I trust that you would not ever take advantage of me...revealing weakness, admitting to fear, or anxiety, anything of the like, is often dangerous in my realm. Compassion is a bit of a foreign concept in my lands.”

“I get the feeling,” he replied. “And I’m very sorry about that. I just...want to make you happy.”

She squeezed him back. “I know, and I appreciate that. And I want something similar for you. I just think that it will take time for me to get used to the idea. And I feel like I’ve made great strides already, although I think that some of that has to do with the fact that I went for so long without having someone in my life that I felt like I could trust, someone I could talk to about these things, that it’s all coming out.” She paused. “Let’s change the subject.”

“Okay, um...so, you seemed to like Tanis.”

“Oh my yes, I loved her. I’ve always had a certain lust for female elves, especially the ones with red hair. And her breasts were just...I’m not sure I’ve ever seen breasts that great. She was quite the wonderful experience,” she replied. “Although, I am curious...I’ve heard of open relationships before, and I know that we have one, but I have heard that there are some who have relationships as committed as ours with a third person involved. What do you think about that?”

“Well, to be honest, I don’t think that I could love anyone as much as I love you, Yelena,” John replied.

She sighed and smiled broadly. “John, you are...so gratuitously romantic.”

“Well, I’m not just saying that to be romantic.”

“I know, and that’s what makes it better.”

“But for a straight answer? I mean, yeah, I could see it. Although...”

“Yes?”

“Well, I’ll be totally honest, it’d have to be a woman. I mean, for a three-way relationship to work, we would both have to be able to invest thoroughly in the relationship, and I’m just not into men. So logically speaking...”

“Logically speaking, it would indeed have to be a woman. I’m okay with this. I’m bisexual and I don’t think I have a preference. But this does raise another question...”

“How do I feel about you fucking other men?” he asked. She nodded. “I’m okay with it. Again, don’t know if I’d ever join another guy in fucking you. I mean, I guess I could, if you really want it. I want this to be fair, I don’t want you to think that I just want to fuck other women and I’m trying to subtly keep you from having sex with other men.”

“No, it’s fair,” she replied. “If I were not into women, I would request a similar arrangement. I feel this is a moot point, though, given that I imagine it will be difficult to find men to have sex with me that I can trust. It’s just...in my experience, there are more women who are into me and they are easier to trust. And, well, you are right. I imagine I will have a difficult, if not impossible, time finding someone I love as much as you. Not that I’m looking.”

John yawned suddenly. “Oh wow, I’m really tired,” he murmured.

“As am I. Sleep love. We have much to do tomorrow.”

“Okay. Goodnight, Yelena. I love you.”

“I love you, too, John. Goodnight.”

CHAPTER V

“How do you know about this fortress?” Yelena asked.

They were walking through the Emerald Wild again. The pair of them had awoken bright and early, eager to tackle the day and whatever it might bring. They’d gone through their morning rituals of fucking, bathing, and eating breakfast. Then John had suggested they hit up another abandoned fort that he’d marked on his map.

“I found it last year while I was traveling with an alchemist, looking for a rare plant that only grows in the Emerald Wild,” he replied.

“Did you make love with her?” Yelena asked, smirking.

“You didn’t even know if it was a guy or a girl!”

“Come on, John, would you really help a man hunt down an elusive plant in this place?” Yelena asked, her smirk broadening.

He sighed. “Yes, I slept with her. She was a very beautiful, very enthusiastic felis woman who was frighteningly intelligent. We had two great weeks together.”

“Do you know where she is now?” Yelena asked.

“Why, you interested?” he replied, grinning. “I don’t know. She might still be up in Stafford. That’s where she was living when we hooked up. But I’ve noticed that the women I sleep with tend to be very mobile, never staying in one place for very long. Well...for the most part.”

“For the most part?”

“There’s are some women I meet in small towns. Typically either more mature, single women who really, really want to get laid, but can’t do it with any of the locals for fear of the rumors or other bullshit, or those rare non-human women living among humans in small towns, who also have a hard time getting laid. I’m coming through town, I probably won’t be around long, if they’re attracted to me, I’m easy.”

“Mature, huh? Well, I am over three times your age,” Yelena said.

“You enjoy teasing me,” he replied.

“Perhaps. It is something I’m getting used to enjoying. Teasing is another alien concept to me. Well, okay, that’s not true. I supposed...making snide remarks and sly comments is a concept in my realm, but it’s always perceived as negative. But I’m learning that it’s a lot of fun to tease you, I suppose. Is that wrong?” she asked.

“No, not at all! It is fun. And it can be a bad thing here in this realm, too, but between you and me? No, I like it. And I like teasing you as well sometimes...look, there it is.”

They fell silent as they approached the edge of the massive clearing that the abandoned military fort was built in. It was about as big and imposing as the last one they’d been in. In about as good condition as well: the stone walls crumbling to dust and ruin, the windows broken out. “Where did it come from?” Yelena murmured.

“I believe it was built about sixty years ago, back when some local lord decided to make a more concerted effort to ‘tame the Wild’, as it were. It’s been done before. Many times. It always fails. People believe there are many resources to be exploited here, and they’re not wrong. It’s just that they always go about it wrong,” he replied.

Yelena suddenly whirled around, drawing her bow and notching an arrow almost faster than he could follow, and John felt his own body react on instinct, even if he hadn’t heard a damned thing. He drew his blade as he whirled around, and felt a mindless terror rip through him. There were half a dozen serpentine women behind them now. They were unarmed, but that didn’t matter. He knew what they could do with their bare hands.

He really hadn’t heard a thing.

“Impressive,” one of them said. She was large, a snake woman covered in green snakeskin that glistened in the light. She had long brunette hair and bright yellow eyes with slit pupils. Her ears were pointed, like an elf’s. Indeed, she did resemble an elf, they all did. “It’s very rare that anyone can hear us when we do not wish to be heard. But you are from the demon realms, so it is not unexpected. Who are you, why are you here?” she asked.

She had a beautiful voice, and, like pretty much all of the women of the wild, she went nude. She had very large breasts.

“I am John Greenfield, this is Yelena,” John replied after finding his voice. He carefully reached out and put a hand on Yelena’s bow, gently lowering it. She growled, but allowed him to do so. This was a fight they couldn’t win.

So he was hoping to avoid it altogether.

“We came here to scour these ruins for resources,” John said.

The serpentine stared back at him, then the other five looked at the one who had spoken, perhaps their leader. “I believe you,” she said. “You are fortunate, we are here, tracking a lead on a group of magic-users that have been performing experiments on local wildlife. They are disrespecting the forest. I would suggest you wait until we are finished with them.”

“Would you like some help?” John asked.

“We do not require help for your kind,” another said quickly.

But the leader held up her hand. She smiled. “We would appreciate the help,” she said after considering it. “My name is Brynne. It is nice to meet you, John and Yelena.”

“You, too,” John replied. “Yelena, you okay with this?”

“Yes,” she replied, though she still sounded tense. “If these men are evil, it would be good to remove them.”

“They are quite evil. To make matters worse, they are stupid,” Brynne replied.

“A bad combination. And they must be if they pissed you off,” John said.

“Indeed.” She turned to the others. “Split into two groups, circle around, find alternate paths in. Move inside and kill all those you find.”

“Understood,” the other who had spoken said, looking uncertainly at John and Yelena.

“I will stay with these two,” Brynne said. The other serpentine seemed like she wanted to argue, but simply nodded tightly and turned away.

John watched, almost mesmerized, as they slithered away, disappearing into the vegetation around them.

“We should move swiftly,” Brynne said.

“Agreed,” Yelena replied.

John just nodded and joined her as she moved forward. They approached a hole in the wall. So...this was certainly a different situation than what he had initially anticipated. But hey, helping out some serpentine was a decent thing to do. Plus, it was always smart to get in good with the locals. He followed her through the hole in the wall once she’d confirmed it was secure. He and Yelena came into a huge, overgrown courtyard.

John took it all in at a glance: he saw what had once been a training area, and an archery range, a few supply huts.

A flicker of movement around the huts. He realized it was another one of the serpentine, checking it out. Damn but were they fast and sneaky. It was creepy. He studied the front of the fortress as they approached quickly. It had held up pretty well, definitely a classic military fort. There were a few signs of life, someone had definitely been here recently. He and Yelena moved swiftly after Brynne, deciding to head up the front steps. He trusted the serpentine’s instincts, and his own were telling him they weren’t being watched for now. The trio made it to the front entrance, which was ajar, and slipped carefully inside.

He couldn’t help but remember the necromancer he and Yelena had taken out back in his own home forest, and his awful experiments.

He wondered if they’d find something similar here.

They came to another food hall that had been emptied out. No tables. Where were they? That was rare to see. Someone must have brought them elsewhere. Somewhere distant, John heard a sharp, strangled grunt. He felt a chill: the serpentine. They were fast. He made himself focus, he would have to be sharp and on top of his game to keep up, and he intended to. He knew Yelena wouldn’t have a problem, given how effective she was.

The three of them moved through the vast, empty hall, towards a door at the back. They shifted through it and came to a tall hallway of old stone and wooden bracers. There were several doors along the walls. Brynne pointed silently to the left as she broke right. John and Yelena immediately moved that way, notching arrows. John made for the first doorway, peered inside, arrow raised. He saw no one. Yelena moved beyond him to get to the second door. They kept going like this, clearing out the rooms one by one.

Although there was definitely evidence of someone having been here, and recently, they did not find any actual people.

Though there was blood in some of the rooms.

They ended up at the back of the hallway, standing before a pair of large, closed doors.

“They are behind these doors,” Brynne said quietly. “Are you ready for the assault?”

“Yes,” Yelena replied.

“I am...but I smell something,” John murmured.

“Death, and something worse. Perversion of life,” Brynne replied grimly. “Ready your bows,” she said, and pushed the doors open.

John and Yelena were there, ready with their notched arrows, and found themselves staring down a descending stairwell, lit by flickering torchlight. They heard sounds. Something was grunting, something else was wheezing, and the smell was much worse. Blood, spilled guts, and yes, something else.

It was a smell he’d smelled earlier, indeed the same one he’d experienced when going after that rogue necromancer that made the abomination of wildlife. Clearly, someone had had a similar idea and decided it was worth pursuing.

Brynne took the lead.

They moved swiftly and silently down the stairs. As they drew closer to the cellar, John began to hear voices. He felt his stomach turn over, felt his breakfast threatening to come up. Besides the smell, it was just the idea that there were people who were willing to do this, to come out here in the middle of nowhere and torture creatures, or other people. And for what? Power. They didn’t care who they hurt or what they had to do to get it.

And it usually blew up in their face anyway.

The sounds and smells grew louder as they reached the bottom of the stairwell and came into a stone chamber. There were a pair of open doorways, one to either side. Someone came walking out of the one to the right.

“What the fuck!? We’ve got intru-”

He didn’t finished his sentence as Yelena loosed an arrow and put it right through his forehead, but it had been enough to raise the general alarm. Several shouts went up and running footsteps could be heard.

Not all of them were even, they sounded closer to zombies.

Great.

John and Yelena took the left-hand door, Brynne the right. It was time to get to work. Another man in a black robe came out, his hands raised and glowing red with magic. John didn’t give him a chance to get a single spell off.

He shot the man through the mouth and immediately notched another arrow. Yelena let fly her own as a second man, who John recognized now as necromancers, rushed out wielding a staff with a crystal set into the end that glowed a dangerous crimson light. The arrow took him in the eye and he dropped like a sack of potatoes. His staff hit the floor, magic discharging randomly. They downed two more necromancers before the first of the creations came out into the main room, and John felt his stomach rebel again.

It was a man with grasping hands, a lurching gait, and a deer head with huge antlers attached to his body.

“Fuck!” John snapped.

He’d seen some shit in his time, but damn that was fucked up.

He and Yelena fired at the same time. One arrow went through its right eye, another through its neck. The thing gurgled and collapsed to the floor. More things came through the door. A felis man with large claws for hands. An elf woman with a pincer replacing her right hand and a lot of teeth stuffed into her mouth.

John and Yelena killed them all.

John swapped out his bow at one point, switching to his sword, and got in close, chopping away at the horrors. Mainly, he just wanted to end their misery, in case there was any chance that these were actually still living people and not resurrected corpses with spare parts sewn on. And behind him, he could hear Brynne going to work on her own group. By the time the last corpse fell and he turned around to see how she was doing, he found himself staring at a picture of strangely erotic horror. She was splashed with blood, her hair a mess, her big breasts liberally coated in it. She looked deadly and lethal and he didn’t like how much it was turning him on.

“Is that all?” she asked when she saw him looking at her.

“I think so,” he replied.

“Make sure, I’ll do the same.”

He nodded and joined Yelena in moving into the next room. The smell was the worst here. This is where the tables had gone. What had once been a wine cellar had been turned into a slaughterhouse, a butcher’s shop of the worst kind. There were a dozen big tables set up, all of them covered in blood, some still with bodies on them. Bodies of humans, of elves, of forest creatures. He saw a Minotaur head on one such table.

“Gods,” he whispered.

“This is...wrong,” Yelena murmured quietly. “This is disgusting.”

“Yes, it is,” John replied.

“I am glad we can stop this atrocity. Will we be destroying the bodies, like last time?” Yelena asked.

“I imagine so,” John answered.

After making sure it was clear, they regrouped withed Brynne in the main room. “I overheard what you were saying. You’ve dealt with this before?” she asked.

“Yes, we saw something similar in another forest after we were asked by a dryad friend to help deal with the issue,” John replied.

“You are friends with a dryad?” she asked.

“A few of them,” John replied.

“Good friends,” Yelena said.

John tried not to sigh. He was feeling awkward enough as it was, what with Brynne’s big, naked breasts. “I do intend to destroy these bodies,” Brynne said. “If you would be willing to help, I would be willing to stay behind and help you search this area.”

John considered it. Why did she want to bother to help them look for stuff? It wouldn’t help her at all. It wasn’t that he was adverse to the idea of her hanging around, he just immediately felt like she had an ulterior motive.

Well, why not?

“That’d be great,” he said.

“Good. Come, we shall reunite with my sisters.”

They headed back upstairs.

…

It took the better part of two hours to gather up all the bodies, the necromancers and their experiments. At John’s request, they buried the bodies of the victims on the land itself, mainly because he might someday, somehow, be able to point friends or family towards them. The other serpentine seemed wary or almost outright hostile towards John and Yelena, but Brynne became increasingly friendly and chatty.

When it was all over and a controlled funeral pyre was burning in one corner of the courtyard, they all gathered.

“I’m staying here, with them, for now,” Brynne said.

“I do not believe that is a good idea,” one of the other serpentine said.

“Duly noted, you may leave now. You have duties to attend to, if I remember correctly,” Brynne replied curtly.

They all frowned at her, exchanging glances, and finally nodded, assenting to her command and slithering silently out of the yard. John, Yelena, and Brynne watched them go. After they were gone, Brynne turned to face them.

“I apologize for my sisters,” she said. “They are...humans are not always welcomed among my kind. Although I, personally, like humans a great deal. Although I must admit, I do not have any real experience with demons.”

“Most don’t,” Yelena replied.

“Well, I’m very open to getting to know you. I’m admittedly very curious about the two of you and your relationship. You both seem close. I hope it’s okay if I ask questions,” she said.

“It’s fine,” John replied. “Everyone we come across who doesn’t want to kill us is very curious about us. And you seem very nice. Now, as for how we ended up together...”

The day continued.

John had to admit, he was happy to tell the story of how he and Yelena met and fell in love. And Yelena seemed to like hearing it, and throwing in her own bits sometimes with an easy smile. They went to the top of the fort, finding evidence of the other serpentine’s assault in the upper stories. It was pretty gruesome.

“So what about you?” John asked after he’d told Brynne his story and they had finished searching the top story for valuables and moved down to the second story.

“What about me what?” she replied.

“Why are you fond of humans and demons?”

She chuckled nervously. “I mean, how many reasons are there?” she answered.

“Aw, come on, Brynne. Don’t get evasive on me now. That’s not a real answer,” he replied. She hesitated, staring at him. “It’s okay,” he said, “I don’t want to pressure you. I’m just joking. If you don’t want to tell me, it’s fine.”

“I just...I have my reasons. They’re just...personal. And they can be embarrassing, given who I’m telling them to,” she replied uncertainly.

“Well, we’re a human and demon couple, so obviously we’re pretty open. And it’s not like I’m going to judge you or anything,” John replied.

“I won’t, unless it is evil,” Yelena said.

Brynne laughed. “People have many different ideas about what is evil. I often find them arbitrary. But I do trust the two of you. You remind me of someone, both of you, actually. And being as magical as I am, it gets to be that you can get a sense of people. But I suppose I’ve beaten around the bush enough as it is, and I’m getting a little impatient.” She sighed. “For as long as I can remember, I’ve been interested in humans. In, um, being intimate with humans. And other species. But mainly humans. I don’t know why. But finally, a little over a year ago, I met a young human boy. He was introduced to me by a friend. We...mated. It was wonderful. Unfortunately, I had to leave with my clan to come here. Ever since that encounter, I’ve been a bit more confident. Or, I mean, I’ve tried to. I’ve managed to have sexual encounters with a felis man, a human man, and two beryl males since then. So...I guess what I want to ask is...are either of you interested in me, sexually? I realize that’s a very forward question, but you two seem very, uh...open.”

John couldn’t help but smile, nor could he help but check her out again. She had cleaned the blood off of her after they’d burned the bodies, and her snakeskin was shiny and beautiful. Her hair was a bit wild and messy, and her face seemed more beautiful than ever. He glanced at Yelena, and he could already tell she was very aroused.

“We would be okay with this,” he replied.

A small shiver of anticipation seemed to roll through her. “Are you sure about that? I’ll understand if you aren’t interested.”

“Brynne, you’re incredibly beautiful,” John replied. “I’m extremely interested in having sex with you.”

“As am I,” Yelena said.

“Okay...although I’m afraid there won’t be much I can do for you,” Brynne admitted sheepishly. She stuck her tiny snake tongue out at them.

“Your fingers seem strong,” Yelena replied.

Brynne raised her hand and looked at her fingers. “Good point,” she said. “I do at least know how to do that. Okay then. Um...I saw a suitably sized bed upstairs. Shall we go there?”

“Yes,” John replied immediately.

Brynne turned and slithered out of the room. He and Yelena hurried after her. He felt his own burst of excitement shiver through him. So far, his experiences in the Emerald Wild had been very nice. First Tanis, now Brynne. Gods, he’d never had sex with a serpentine before...how often had he fantasized about it?

And now, here he was, getting ready to have a threesome with Yelena and the beautiful, friendly serpentine known as Brynne.

He was going to have sex with a snake woman.

They hurried back up the stone steps and came back to the bedroom that she had indicated. It felt a little strange to be having a threesome in a fort where they had just slaughtered necromancers performing experiments, but there was no death in this room, nor on this floor, and when John closed the door behind him, it seemed like just another abandoned room in any one of a few dozen abandoned forts and outposts he’d explored in his lifetime.

And he’d fucked a lot of women in places like that.

Right now was definitely a time when concerns were getting pushed out of his head by his lust and desire. Really, all that was left right now, for the most part, was his intense desire to make love to Brynne. After locking the door, he turned to face Brynne and saw that she had gotten up onto the bed. It was huge, a classic four-post bed, like the kind a lord or noble would sleep in. It was certainly big enough for them to have fun in.

Yelena was taking off her clothes.

Brynne looked...stunning. She was probably about nine feet long, from head to tail. It was weird, looking at her, but not in a bad way. All that beautiful, smooth snakeskin. Her shoulder-length, messy brunette hair. Her pointed, elfin ears. Her hauntingly beautiful, slit-pupil yellow eyes. And her breasts. Good Gods her breasts.

They might be the biggest, most beautiful he’d ever seen.

“Hurry up,” she said.

He laughed, surprised at how nervous he felt, and began undressing. “Sorry, I just...you’re really beautiful,” he replied.

“Thank you,” Brynne said, sounding about as nervous as he did. “It’s always surprising to hear a human say that. I mean, uh...no offense.”

“It’s fine,” he replied. “Most of my kind aren’t too open-minded.”

“That makes you very unique, in a very wonderful way,” Brynne murmured.

“Agreed,” Yelena said.

He glanced over. She was nude now. Brynne stared at her as well. “Oh my, you are so very...attractive, Yelena. Kind of...darkly beautiful.”

“Thank you,” Yelena replied, climbing onto the bed.

John finished taking off his own clothes as Yelena moved forward to embrace Brynne. Their lips met and Yelena began groping one of her huge green breasts. As soon as he was naked, he crawled eagerly onto the bed and laid down against her other side. Yelena soon stopped kissing her, allowing John to, and instead shifted down lower.

“You’re in for a treat,” he said as Yelena placed her face over Brynne’s pussy.

“I appreciate it,” Brynne replied.

Yelena’s tongue slithered out and she began to stimulate Brynne with it. The serpentine woman let out a loud moan of bliss. She grabbed John and began kissing him intensely. He locked lips with her. Couldn’t really twine tongues, given her thin snake tongue, but he didn’t mind. She was a very passionate kisser, regardless.

And her breast.

He couldn’t even start to get it into his grasp. He groped and massaged her huge breast, feeling that smooth, dry snakeskin. It was an odd feeling, but not a bad one. Brynne let out a loud moan that broke the kiss.

“Oh my!” she cried, and he saw that her tail was twitching violently now. “Yelena...keep going...” she groaned. “I’m about to-to...oh my yes!”

Now her tail was thumping the bed violently, shaking it, as she began to orgasm. Brynne almost howled in feral pleasure as she jerked and twitched, her tail hitting the bed repeatedly. Damn, she came hard. Yelena continued to pleasure her all throughout the orgasm. When she finished, she was left gasping, her considerable breasts heaving.

“Oh my,” she whispered. “That was...invigorating. I am very horny now for sex.”

John grinned. “You weren’t before?” he asked.

She growled. “Stop teasing. Get inside me.” She looked at Yelena. “I will pleasure you now,” she said.

“I appreciate it,” Yelena replied. “How would you have me?”

“Rest on your knees and shins beside me, with your legs spread,” Brynne replied.

John mounted the serpentine as Yelena got into position. Brynne laid a hand beneath Yelena’s exposed pussy and his demon lover let out a gasp, then a low moan, slowly closing her eyes and beginning to chew on her lower lip as Brynne began to finger her. John could feel excitement shivering through him like a low pulse. He laid his cock at the entrance of her pussy. He looked at her, she stared back at him.

Her exotic eyes were full of hunger.

John slipped inside of her, and then began to push his way in.

“Oh fuck...” he moaned as he buried himself slowly in her.

Her pussy felt weird, but so good. It was like...wet silk, stretch tautly over muscles. She was really tight inside, but there was a great slickness to her. “Brynne...” he moaned loudly, and then cried out as he felt her clench her vaginal muscles tightly around his cock. He began to fuck her faster and harder.

“You like me, I take it?” she asked, then gasped as he buried himself completely within her, shoving his entire cock into her.

“Yes,” he moaned. “Oh fuck, Brynne, I can’t...this feels so good.”

“This is his first time with one of your kind,” Yelena said, then moaned as she felt her own spike of lusty pleasure.

“Mmm, I am honored,” she said, then cried out. “Yes...just like that...fuck me...” she moaned, and he could feel her writhing and twisting beneath him in pleasure.

John looked down. He’d been staring at her breasts, her face, but now he looked down. Her vagina was a little strange. It was a little bit recessed within her lower body. She had what basically looked like hips and pressed-together thighs, with the pussy between them. Watching his cock slip rapidly in and out of it was just stunning. He felt nothing but raw, unabated pleasure bleeding into him, doing a slow burn up his cock, radiating out from his core, filling him. It pushed him inevitably towards orgasm.

But not yet.

He could enjoy this for a bit longer.

John settled on his hands and knees and fucked her, thrusting his hips forward, making the bed bang against the wall.

Brynne cried out nosily, and Yelena joined her, voicing her own pleasure as the serpentine’s skilled fingers worked her clit. John was having a hard time processing it all. He looked up at Brynne’s enormous snakeskin breasts, watching them bounce beautifully in time with his thrusting, jolting each time he thrust his cock deep into her perfect inhuman pussy. Each time he sank himself into her, buried himself completely within her, it sent a fresh pulse of pleasure into him. It brought him that much closer to orgasm.

“Brynne,” he groaned, “can I come inside of you?”

“Yes,” she replied immediately. “Please, yes. I want you to. I want to feel you filling me with your hot seed. I want to feel your orgasm,” she moaned.

John could hardly hold on any longer.

Hearing women actually asking him to come inside of them when he was already fucking their brains out completely bareback…

It was just too much.

He let out a sharp grunt and moaned loudly as his orgasm kicked into existence. His cock jerked, held tightly within the confines of her serpentine pussy, and released a thick spurt of his seed. Yelena was moaning even louder now as well, no doubt enjoying her own orgasm and coming all over Brynne’s fingers.

John was lost in a world of sexual gratification and rapturous bliss.

He closed his eyes, his hips jerking forward automatically, as he released his seed into her. His cock kicked and twitched and spasmed, each time releasing a fresh spray of his seed deep within her, trying fruitlessly to impregnate her. And with each new jerk, a new wave of absolute, mindless ecstasy was released into him, filling him with a pink light, almost like magic. Coming inside of a new woman was a pleasure all its own.

Coming inside of a serpentine was a new level of pleasure.

He filled her up. He pumped her pussy full of his human seed.

He gave it all to her.

When he was finished, John carefully pulled out of her, flopped over onto his back, and tried to catch his breath. Above him, the tattered top of the four-post bed was spinning. He could feel his body overheating, slicked with sweat, gasping for breath.

“What a wonderful orgasm that must have been,” Brynne said. “It feels as though you have completely filled me with your seed.”

“It feels about like that for me, too,” John replied breathlessly. “I’m drained. That was...wow.”

“The first time is always intense, from my understanding. It certainly was for me.”

He nodded, then closed his eyes, just enjoying that post-orgasm feeling. “Uh-huh.”

“It was quite a nice orgasm for me, too,” Yelena murmured.

“Good! I’m glad I could return the favor. Your tongue is a gift from Bliss Herself,” Brynne replied happily.

Yelena snorted. “Perhaps,” she replied.

“I’m gonna need a break,” John murmured.

“I’m afraid you’ll have to enjoy it on your own,” Brynne replied. She sounded regretful, and the bed shifted as she got dexterously off of it.

“Where are you going?” Yelena asked.

“I’m afraid I also have duties to tend to. They cannot be put off for long, nor taken lightly. But I am higher ranking in my clan, so I can indulge at least somewhat. And I have indulged. That was a very nice sexual session. Do I have your permission to track you down in the future for further sexual encounters?” she asked.

“Yes,” Yelena replied.

“Definitely,” John said. He made himself sit up. “It was very nice meeting you, Brynne.”

“And you, John and Yelena. Good luck in your journeys.”

And like that, she was gone, slithering quietly and quickly out of the bedroom. She didn’t make a sound as she exited the abandoned fort. Now that they were alone, Yelena snuggled up against him, laying her nude body against his.

“I take it you enjoyed that?” she asked, running a hand lazily up and down his sweat-slicked chest.

“Immensely,” he replied.

“Good. I enjoyed it as well. I have never been with one of her kind. Someday, I would enjoy trying sex with a male serpentine.”

“That, I imagine, would be interesting,” John replied. He stretched and popped his back. “I guess we should probably keep searching. I do want to make it back to the cabins before too long,” he said, looking around the room.

“What do we intend to take from here?” Yelena asked.

“Wood, maybe some brick and mortar if we can find it, perhaps some basic furniture. Glass. And whatever valuables we can find. The only problem is...I’m honestly not sure how we’re going to get it all back to the cabins...”

Yelena smiled suddenly. “I think I know a way,” she said.

CHAPTER VI

John had never doubted Yelena’s intelligence, her mind was as sharp as her combat skills, but he was very impressed with her idea. It was a good one, and it worked very well. It was something he felt he probably should’ve thought of, but he was never particularly intelligent. His strength lay more in fighting and being stubborn.

They found some building supplies, a few basic pieces of sturdy furniture, and a decent amount of blades, some good pieces of armor, and a handful of hidden gems, sacks of gold, and jewelry that might sell well.

And they stored the big, bulky stuff in the camp-in-a-bag.

It was the perfect storage device.

As soon as they finished up, they walked back to the cabins and spent the rest of that day and almost all of the next cleaning up the cabin a bit more, then making simple repairs to the walls, the floor, the ceiling. They managed to patch some holes in the roofs, replace a few windows, and did some major repairs to the front door of one of the cabins. John knew that it would take quite awhile to get it all shipshape again, but the work felt good, and the relatively slow progress didn’t bother him in the slightest.

It felt like they had all the time in the world.

Despite this, the next day, after the pair of them woke, made love, bathed, (Yelena figured out how to replicate Tanis’s hot water spell after a bit of practice), and ate breakfast, she suggested that they begin focusing their efforts on earning some coin. He figured she had a point, it was time to get back to work in that regard.

So now they were heading up towards another abandoned area that might yield a bit more in the way of currency.

They were going to need a lot of it. John didn’t know exactly how much, but he imagined this kind of thing would cost somewhere north of at least a few thousand gold. Or at least a lot of gold and a healthily hefty bag of rare gemstones.

“What can you tell me about this location we’re visiting?” Yelena asked.

They had been walking for close to two hours in relative peace and quiet, broken only by a few attacks by monsters in the Wild. All of which were dispatched quickly and efficiently. He was glad that they could spend so much time just being together without needing conversation. He’d been in a few short-lived relationships where it seemed like the other person always needed to be talking. It was never a good sign.

“I don’t know much about it, but it’s rare,” he replied. “There aren’t hardly any settlements in the Emerald Wild, all of them very small. So far as I know, none of them have worked out, and they usually get burned down or destroyed or taken over by nature or looted out of existence. This one was up and running when I last went through. I get the feeling they were trying to serve as a trading post and security waypoint for adventurers in the Wild. Which would make sense. There’s a lot of coin to be made in doing that...if you can get it to work. I had heard from another adventurer a few months ago that it had failed, like all the others. So I’m hoping we can get some rare valuables, or at least some more furniture,” he explained.

“My hope mirrors yours,” Yelena replied.

He smiled. “You have such an...interesting way of speaking,” he said.

“Do I? I notice that the manner in which we use words in your language is not entirely in sync,” she replied.

“Yes. It’s...interesting. I notice you don’t use contractions all that often. Although...come to think of it, you’ve been using them more recently.”

“I suppose I have.” She smiled. “Your influence, I imagine. I notice you are a bit more well-spoken than when we first met. My influence,” she replied.

He rolled her eyes. “Yeah, I’m just a backwater idiot,” he replied.

“Not my point, but you could do with a little more articulation, my love,” Yelena said.

He laughed. “Thank you, love.”

He was glad to see her poking fun at him, she’d taken him at his word. He loved the levels of trust they had between each other. It had been too long since he’d been in a relationship like this. Come to think of it...he wasn’t sure he’d ever been in a relationship like this. This deep? This connected? This communicative and trusting?

And all with a demoness from another realm that had sucker-punched him right in the face when they’d first met.

Yelena stopped suddenly and so did he.

Something was wrong.

He’d almost picked it up as soon as she did this time. Good to see his survival instincts weren’t totally in the chamber pot.

Yelena began to draw her bow as she twisted around to her right, but an arrow whizzed out of the treeline and sank into her right bicep.

“Yelena!” he shouted as he heard her snarl in angry pain.

John felt panic and fury ignite within him as he drew his blade and raced forward. Yelena let fly an arrow that sailed right past him. He could hear it whistling through the air as he charged the treeline, and someone shouted in pain. The voice was frightening familiar. John burst into a smaller clearing and found himself looking at a familiar figure.

A felis woman with her hood up, arrow notched.

Bianca.

“You,” she said, sounding startled and confused. An arrow was protruding from her right thigh now. She shifted aim and fired.

John growled and jerked to the right, narrowly dodging the arrow. He sprinted forward and bashed his shoulder into the woman, sending her stumbling back. Another arrow flew out of the trees behind him and barely missed her neck. Bianca shouted in surprise but immediately regained her footing. She replaced her bow and drew her sword in an instant.

“I don’t know what you’re doing, traveling with that thing,” she snarled, “but you will die with it, traitor.”

“Wouldn’t count on it,” John growled and brought his sword around in a tight arc. She snapped her own blade up and sparks flew as their swords met. He called on his various swordplay techniques and training as they began fighting, their blades clashing again and again, steel ringing each time. It was clear that she was as skilled with a blade as she was with a bow. Great. She probably had him outmatched.

But he had backup.

Another arrow flew from the treeline and Bianca managed to deflect both it and John’s blade almost at the same time. Damn she was good! She blocked or dodged his every attack, and then suddenly put him on the defensive. She began fighting him back, and he started losing ground. Two more arrows came out and she dodged them both. Suddenly, Yelena was there, at his side, her own blade drawn.

Bianca let out an angry growl. “Demon bitch!” she screamed and suddenly jerked her hand forward.

A hidden dagger flew out of her sleeve and sank hilt-deep into Yelena’s stomach. John felt fear and fury surge, but Yelena hardly seemed to notice. She threw herself at Bianca, sword rising and falling, and a look of real fear passed across Bianca’s face. Now they had her on the defensive and she was clearly no longer liking her odds.

And then a shadow fell across them.

John glanced up. “Oh fuck,” he snapped, and both women looked skywards as well.

Their little skirmish had drawn the attention of a clutch of giant spiders. Nasty ones, too. Very poisonous. One of them dropped directly onto Bianca. She let out a scream and began struggling as she went to the ground. John tried to take advantage of the situation, but the rest of the spiders were coming for them.

He and Yelena dodged, and another seven giant spiders landed all around them, descending from the trees with a lethal grace. Both of them worked fast, their blades rising and falling over and over again, spider blood flying and spilling. Their awful shrieks filled the air. They were nimble, slender, black things with red spirals across their bodies. John hated them. He’d only ever encountered the Red Spirals a few times, but it was more than enough. Their poison was said to be enough to kill you inside of an hour.

He had no intention of testing that.

He chopped off limbs, stabbed faces, and cut into bodies.

In the end, he and Yelena stood back to back, together and untouched. Well, untouched by the spiders, at least. Their blades dripped blood and ichor. John looked around, trying to find Bianca, but she was nowhere to be found.

“She got away,” Yelena growled, venom in her voice.

“Yes,” he murmured. The spider that had landed on her now lay dead, and he thought he could hear, distantly, someone hurrying through the underbrush. Well, at least it was away from their destination and away from their cabin.

“Was she the bounty hunter you mentioned?”

“Yes. Are you okay?”

“I’ll be fine.” She grunted. He turned to face her. She tossed away the dagger angrily, then she yanked out the arrow and tossed it away, too. She raised one hand, and a white glow suddenly enveloped her. Both of her wounds ceased bleeding. “There.”

“She was good,” he said.

“Yes, she was. Fast little bitch,” Yelena said. “We should find her. Kill her.”

“I’m hoping we won’t have to,” John replied uncomfortably.

Yelena turned to face him. “What?”

He sighed and then pulled out a cloth and began wiping his sword. He led Yelena out of the clearing, back onto the path. “She isn’t evil just because she wants to kill you, Yelena. You have to remember-”

“That I am reviled among your culture,” she growled, cutting him off. She stared hard at him and he felt a wave of guilt and frustration and empathy. She sighed sharply and returned her focus to the road ahead. “I know, John. I am...trying, to be patient. But if it comes down to it-”

“Yelena, if it comes down to it, I will kill her. If I have to. I just...if we can just talk to her, reason with her...” he sighed.

Yelena looked angry, but it seemed to be seeping slowly away. “John, my love, you shame me sometimes, you know that?”

“What?” he replied, startled.

“I would have killed her without a thought. If you were not here, I would have hunted her. I would have stalked her. I would not have stopped until my blade was buried in her chest or her throat. But you...make me better. I hated, still hate, my realm, my kind, those who ruled us, for their blind obedience to violence and bloodshed. Would I be any better than them had I given in?” She shook her head. “You make me a better person. I do understand your point, and I don’t want to kill her. I mean, getting past the initial fury and automatic hatred at her trying to kill me, I don’t want to. I won’t, if I can help it, I want you to know that. I won’t kill her if it can be helped. But I will kill her to defend myself, and I absolutely will kill her, or anyone, to defend your own life.”

“I...thank you, Yelena,” he murmured. “And I’m glad you’re feeling, uh, better. About certain things.”

Here, she smirked. “Remember what I said about articulation earlier, my love?”

An unexpected bout of laughter hit him. “Shut up,” he replied.

“Make me.”

“It’s tempting...but we have more important things to worry about,” he replied as they continued their journey. “I’m a little concerned that she found us so quickly. It’s especially difficult to track out here in the Wild, even for a felis. And there was something...off, about her. She seemed particularly to hate you...”

“It is not surprising, given what you tell me about your land and its people.”

“Perhaps.” He sighed. “We’ll just have to be careful. Maybe she’s dead anyway, she probably got bit by that spider. Maybe she’ll give up. Come on, we’re close to the settlement. We should be there in another ten minutes if we keep up a brisk pace.”

Yelena nodded and they set off.

…

John was starting to feel better by the time they reached the edge of the settlement.

They hadn’t heard or seen any further evidence of Bianca, and Yelena seemed okay now, both physically and emotionally. Though he imagined there was going to, at some point, be some very furious fucking.

She got like that when she was frustrated about something.

The settlement was indeed abandoned. It could hardly be called a settlement, barely a village even. More of an outpost. The walls they’d built around the edge of the structures were basically gone, ripped down and given to the elements. The pair of them walked slowly down a main path and came to stand in the central square.

The village seemed to be built around a courtyard. There were ten buildings, and they mostly looked the same, given their ruin, eaten away by weather and the Wild itself. Most of the windows were broken out, the doors kicked open, holes in the walls, even a few dead bodies here and there. “Well, let’s get started,” John murmured.

He glanced over at Yelena. She was frowning intensely, brows furrowed.

“What’s wrong?” he asked quietly, laying his hand on his sword’s hilt. He didn’t sense anything around, didn’t see or hear anything.

“I sense...something,” she murmured. “It is like...a frozen wind blowing across you when you are trying to sleep. Or an ache at the back of your skull...”

“That’s definitely not good,” John replied, looking around. “I don’t feel it.”

“I’m not sure why I do, but I think...it is magical in nature.”

“I’m not very magical,” John said.

“Yes, perhaps that is it. We should investigate. It feels dangerous.”

He tried a laugh. “It’s dangerous, so you want to go closer to it.”

“What if someone else stumbles across it accidentally? What if it harms them?”

“Wow, I really am rubbing off on you.”

She looked over at him. “I am not a bloodthirsty savage, John.”

He frowned. “I know, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to imply-”

“It’s fine.” She shook her head. “This magic bothers me. Come on, it’s over there.”

He followed her as she drew her blade and stalked across the ruined encampment. He drew his own blade, keeping a sharp eye out for not just threats related to this magic, but also anything else that might be hanging out in the area. She led him across the courtyard and in through the front door of what turned out to be an inn.

John immediately spied a few pieces of half-decent furniture left that would make for good use at his and Yelena’s new home. They crept quietly across the ground floor of the derelict inn and moved smoothly between the chairs and tables. As they moved through the area, John frowned. “Someone’s been here,” he whispered.

“Yes,” Yelena agreed quietly.

Bootprints in the dust, disturbed furniture, other signs of life. Definitely humans. Elves or felis would’ve been more subtle, even beryl would.

“Something’s wrong,” he said.

Yelena froze. “What?” she hissed.

“Look,” John replied, pointing. In one corner of the room, on a counter, was a chest. It was open. Even from here, he could see a glint. “There’s some gold in there.” He moved over to it and looked inside. Indeed, there was a bag of gold that had spilled open, as well as a few gems and an old but high quality dagger. “They clearly searched through this and found this, and didn’t take it. So they aren’t just salvagers or adventurers.”

Yelena just grunted and pressed on.

He followed after her. She found a door that was left ajar and opened it up. The dark maw of a descending stairwell awaited them.

“Now I feel something,” he whispered as they began heading down.

It was cold.

Yelena created a ball of light that illuminated the area. John heard nothing coming from the basement. He had an idea that there was no one down there, but he could be wrong. He kept his sword out and ready. They reached the base of the stairwell and came into a large, open room that had clearly both recently seen people and a lot of activity. Destructive activity. The bottom floor was one large room, no doubt meant to cater to adventurers with money who wanted a big, decadent room. The furniture had been shoved aside or flipped over and there were holes in the wooden floor. It looked like someone had chopped it up.

“They were looking for something,” Yelena murmured.

She was staring at the biggest hole, in the center of the room. John cautiously approached the edge of the hole with Yelena and looked over the edge. There was just dirt beneath the wooden floor, and someone had dug into it about five feet.

“They must have found whatever it was they were looking for,” John replied quietly. “What are we looking at here?”

“I don’t know, but I don’t like it. Something is wrong.”

He was definitely feeling what Yelena was talking about now. It was cold, and uncomfortable, but in a way that wasn’t quite physical. It was like...the memory of a frozen wind whispering across your naked skin after crawling out of water. It felt awful and it made him deeply uncomfortable, set him on edge, like he was being threatened.

Overhead, a thump sounded.

“Someone’s here,” Yelena growled, turning and moving with a frighteningly silent swiftness back across the room.

John followed her, trying to keep up with her while also keeping quiet, but she was built for this, and she disappeared into the stairwell and up them before he could make it across the room. He hit the bottom of the stairs and then gave up trying to be silent when he heard someone, a woman, though not Bianca, at least he didn’t think so, shout in surprise.

“Don’t hurt me!” the voice cried.

John hurried up and found himself looking at Yelena with her sword drawn, blade extended, pointing at a slim beryl woman, cowering on the floor.

“Yelena,” he said.

She sighed. “Explain yourself,” she said, lowering her blade.

“I...my name is Elise. I’m, um, I’m a researcher. Uh...who are you?” she asked.

John came forward and stood next to Yelena. He sheathed his sword, there was nothing dangerous about this woman. “My name is John. This is Yelena. We’re adventurers,” he replied. “We came here to scavenge. What about you?”

“I...” Elise looked uncertainly at Yelena, who relented and replaced her sword, then crossed her arms. John felt bad. Today was shaping up to be very trying for her. “I study magic,” she said, “thank you,” she added when John offered her a hand and helped her to her feet. She brushed off the simple traveling clothes she was wearing. “I live here, in the Wild. Just recently, I began picking up something strange. Here, let me show you,” she said, and reached into her pocket. Yelena tensed, but relaxed as she pulled out a small stone.

It was glowing with a strange black light.

“What is that?” John asked quietly.

“It detects magic, simply put. I mean, it’s a little more complicated than that, but basically I have several of these, each tuned to different types of magic.”

“So what does this one track?” Yelena asked.

“Necromancy,” she replied.

John sighed. “Of course, always necromancers,” he muttered.

“Only there’s something wrong. You see how powerfully it’s flashing? That indicates that there is some very powerful magic at work, however, it didn’t even start flashing until I got close to here,” she murmured, staring at it.

“Then how did you know to look?” John asked.

“A feeling. I began to feel uncomfortable in a specific way a few days ago and I knew that I had to go looking, I knew what it was. It took me almost three days of searching before I finally found this place. But once I got within a few hundred feet, it immediately began flashing, which means that it’s...being blocked, somehow.”

John frowned. “Well, someone was clearly doing some excavation down in the basement,” he said, indicating the stairwell, “clearly they found whatever it was they were looking for.”

“Oh! This is perfect,” Elise replied, sounding excited.

“How is it perfect? It is missing, whatever it was,” Yelena said.

“No, this works! I can do research here. I brought supplies...” She stopped, suddenly staring at them with a renewed interest. “You two are adventurers, you say? You seem, um, on the level. Would you like to work for me? I can pay you well.”

John glanced at Yelena, who nodded tightly. “Yeah, we can do that, depending on the specifics of the job,” he replied.

“Good! It’s simple. I need to research this magical energy. Basically, I just need your help setting up a work area downstairs and then making sure no one and nothing interrupts me.”

“So manual labor and basic security?” John asked.

“Yes, precisely. What is your fee?” she asked.

“Uh...shit, I don’t know,” he admitted.

“Well, how about this? I admit that I think this is not going to be a simple one-and-done job. I think this will take time, and I could use help. Obviously something is happening here. So how about you keep helping me and we’ll negotiate at the end?”

John looked at Yelena again. “I’m okay with this arrangement,” she said.

“Okay, sounds good. Um...well, come on, let’s get to work,” he replied.

…

John had to admit, he was intrigued.

This whole ‘necromancer magic mystery’ thing had him interested. He’d made it kind of a personal goal to fuck with them wherever he came across them. Okay, that actually wasn’t true at all. He’d made it a personal goal to fuck with the ones who had gone bad. He’d encountered several necromancers who were great people, working hard to provide services that no one else would or could. In fact, he’d made very good friends with a few of the Sisters of Death branch, who were basically the face of necromancy, as they typically dealt with the more social aspects of the school of magic.

They tended to be extremely attractive and extremely sexually frustrated, since no one wanted to fuck a necromancer and they couldn’t really seem to hide that aspect of themselves well. He had no problem fucking a necromancer, so he’d gotten to know some of them extremely well. He still saw them from time to time, he was happy to be their friends.

He and Yelena led Elise down into the basement.

The first order of business had been to get some light down there and clean the place up a bit. So they’d lit some torches and pulled all the crap to the edges of the room, clearing up a big space for Elise. Then they’d carried down a heavy table and a chair for her to work with. Then, she’d pretty much said that she needed time to set up her equipment, and had shrugged out of her pack and started pulling a lot of gear out of it.

“That’s some backpack,” Yelena murmured.

“Hmm? Oh, yes! It’s got an enchantment on it. Bigger on the inside and all that. It’s how I can carry around basically a research suite with me,” she replied as she set down a variety of strange looking instruments and bottles and amulets on the table they’d brought down for her. “Now, um...I don’t mean to be rude, but I do work better alone...”

“It’s fine, Elise. We’ll be up top, scouting the area. Let us know if you need anything.”

“Understood...and thanks again,” she said.

“You’re welcome.”

John and Yelena headed upstairs, back into the ruined lobby of the inn. “So...you doing okay?” he asked.

“I’m fine. I’m okay with this turn of events. I like Elise. She seems...sweet. I’m just agitated. We should get to work, it will help. I can focus my frustration,” she replied.

“Okay, love. Come on.”

They set to work.

The next few hours passed slowly at first, but the pair began to pick up steam. They started picking over the inn and the rooms in a precarious second story, searching for valuables and the most intact furniture. As they worked their way through the rest of the structures, a blacksmith, another inn, a trio of houses, a barracks, and several basically empty structures, John noticed that Yelena was becoming increasingly frustrated and agitated. At first he thought it was because they weren’t finding much anything after that initial cache at the inn, as clearly adventurers and salvagers had been through, but he began to suspect it was something else.

“I believe we are done,” Yelena said as they stepped out of the last structure.

“Yes, that was the last building. I guess we should head back and check on Elise,” he replied, glancing at the sky. It was overcast, rain on the horizon again.

“No,” Yelena said, and he looked over at her, startled by the hardness of her voice.

“Is there, uh, something else you think we should do?” he asked.

She grinned and grabbed his wrist. “Yes. We’re fucking. Now.” She began pulling him towards one of the houses. “I saw a bed in there. A good one.”

“I...well, okay,” he replied.

How could he say no to that? They hadn’t encountered anyone or anything so far. This place didn’t feel safe, but it did feel pretty dead, which was close enough. He let Yelena pull him across the abandoned courtyard and then into the first house they’d checked out. They moved through the living room and through a door at the side.

John began to move towards the window, to draw the curtains, but Yelena growled and shoved him towards the bed.

“Now!” she snapped.

“Oh you fucking asked for it,” he replied, and quickly began getting naked. She cast off her cloak and pack. He dropped his pack onto the floor, kicked off his boots, and shed his shirt. Yelena was faster than he was at getting naked and so by the time he was messing with his belt, trying to get it undone, she was already nude and ready for him.

“Fuck it,” he muttered, then grabbed her, swung her around and threw her onto the bed. She let out a sharp growl as he flung her and she rolled nimbly, landing on her back, her legs spread, pussy glistening and exposed.

John got his belt undone and managed to yank his cock out before he fell onto Yelena. She immediately wrapped her long, powerful legs around him. Staring up at him, her eyes blazed blood red. He reached down between them and managed to get his cock lined up with her demoness vagina, then pushed his way inside.

Holy Gods was she ever wet.

And so hot. Almost painfully so.

He moaned loudly and Yelena growled fiercely as he penetrated her, burying himself inside of her in one, hard thrust.

“Take me!” she snarled.

He kissed her hard on the mouth and she kissed him back, squeezing him with her legs as he began to fuck her. She wrapped him in her arms, grabbing his shoulders from behind, and thrust up against him with her hips.

As she demanded, he took her.

He took her hard.

John felt the pleasure burning into him, filling him, consuming him. She felt simply amazing inside and the lust she was feeling, all of her frustration and anger, was translating really well during this particular session. He’d been pretty horny as well, he realized as he buried himself furiously into her over and over again.

Yelena all but rammed her tongue down his throat, twisting and twining it with his own, her sharp demoness taste flooding his mouth. She growled and grunted as they fucked, and he knew this wouldn’t last very long.

Sure enough, Yelena broke the kiss, letting out a sharp sound of fierce pleasure as she began to orgasm, and John moaned loudly, feeling her pussy clenching around his cock, feeling that hot rush of sex juices escape her. He triggered almost immediately, moaning louder as he began filling her with his seed, and she growled fiercely, squeezing him harder, almost hurting him. He moaned as the rapturous ecstasy flowed through him in a hot rush. His seed left him in several hard bursts, spraying her insides down, and then they were done.

Their session, what could barely even be called fucking, more just pure, animal rutting, came to an end, leaving them both gasping for breath and sweaty.

Yelena let out a sedate growl, looking to the side. “We have a spectator,” she said.

John felt a bolt of fear shoot through him and looked over. Elise was peered in through the window at them with wide eyes.

“I’m sorry!” she cried, ducking out of sight.

“Wait!” John called, sighing and then trying to pull out of Yelena. “Love, I need to get up,” he said. Her legs were still wrapped tightly around him.

“I do not wish to release you,” she replied, sounding tired and deeply satisfied.

“I know, but we need her to not run away in embarrassment.”

She sighed and released him. “Very well.” She smiled up at him. “I love you.”

“I love you, too, Yelena,” he replied, and gave her a quick kiss, then pulled out of her and stood up. He quickly pulled his clothes back on and then hurried outside. He was definitely going to need to wash up and change his pants before going anywhere.

He found Elise sitting with her back to the wall, just below the window.

“Well, you didn’t get very far,” he said.

She looked tremendously embarrassed. “I’m really sorry,” she said. “I just...I was going to run, I mean, but, you told me to wait...I was just coming to look for you, because, I mean, I finished my work. Um...then I heard you. And I just...”

“Couldn’t help yourself?” he asked, grinning as he crouched in front of her.

She sighed and looked away. “Yeah. I mean...I don’t get a lot of visitors out here, you know? I haven’t gotten laid in like three months. I just...I’m so sorry.”

“Elise,” he said firmly, and she looked reluctantly at him again, “it’s okay. Really. We’ve had people watch us fuck before. It’s fine. So long as you aren’t freaked out by a human fucking a demon, which, given your voyeurism, I’m doubting you find repulsive, I don’t really care.”

“Really? I mean, Yelena isn’t going to like...hurt me?”

“No, Elise, I’m not going to hurt you,” Yelena called.

“You can hear me?” Elise groaned.

“Yes. I have exceptional hearing.”

“Elise, it’s really okay. Don’t freak out. We’re not mad. Honestly...it’s kinda hot that you were spying on us,” he admitted.

“You think so?”

He nodded.

“I knew you were spying,” Yelena said.

“You couldn’t have said anything?” John asked.

“I was busy. And I didn’t want to scare her off.”

“Well, I-um...thank you,” Elise murmured sheepishly.

He stood up and offered her a hand. She took it and regained her feet. “So, you said you had finished your work?” he asked.

“I...” she hesitated, glanced back in through the window. Yelena was still lounging nude on the bed. She smiled at the two of them. “Um, yes. I finished my work. I mean...not all of it. What I mean to say is that I now know how to properly track any further sources of this magic. Which I want to do. Partially for curiosity’s sake, but also because I’m concerned that whoever is messing around with this kind of magic is up to no good. So, if you’re still up to help, then I would like to go back to my home and continue my research there. I need to enchant an amulet and it will take most of the night to, uh, soak, I guess you could say.”

“And then, tomorrow, we would see if there are any other sources?” John asked.

She nodded. “Yes. Exactly. And go after them.”

“Yelena?” he asked.

“Fine by me,” she said.

“Same. Okay then, do you need help with anything?”

“No,” Elise replied. “I’ve already packed everything up. I’m ready to go.”

“Good, then. In that case, Yelena and I need to, uh, wash up.”

“Okay. I’ll leave you to it.”

John got up and headed back inside.

…

“So, Elise, how’d you end up out here?” John asked.

After getting washed up and redressed, the trio had headed back into the Wild, making for Elise’s home. Despite the embarrassment, Elise seemed to be shedding her social anxiety and opening up to them a bit.

“Well, I grew up in a little town called Blue Bay. It’s a fishing village along the southern coast. My mother and I immigrated here from the beryl homeland when she fell in love with my adoptive father. My biological father died when I was young from a sickness. My mother met my adoptive father, a human fisherman, a few years later. He was visiting because of his work and they met and just...fell in love. We were living in poverty, so when he offered to take us back with him, to give us a place to live, a better life...well, my mother leaped at the opportunity.”

“How’d it turn out?” John asked cautiously.

“Happy, I’m glad to say,” she replied, smiling. “He and my mother are still alive, still in love, still in Blue Bay. That was thirty years ago. He has a few of his own ships now and basically runs his own business. My mother, as difficult as it was to be a beryl woman in love with a human in a small human settlement, managed to ingrain herself among the community. She is amazing at cooking, mainly fish. She makes all kinds of fish and sells them to the townspeople and adventurers and visiting merchant ships. Now, as for how I ended up here, well...the short answer is, I’m restless. And I’m really, really good at magic.

“Naturally, this made me...dangerous. Reckless, I guess. My mom did whatever she could to curb my crazier tendencies. I was always running off, trying to cast spells, causing problems. When I was sixteen, my mom and dad finally agreed to send me to Stafford to train with a mage. That was...so freeing. It was wonderful. I stayed in Stafford for close to ten years, exploring the city, learning magic, the study of magic, the practical application of it...pretty much anything and everything I could. Finally, I became restless again, and I decided to leave Stafford and go adventuring, see how I could do magic in the real world.

“I traveled the land for a decade, spent some time down in Tomontica, went back to my homelands for a year, spent some time over in the land of the far elves...it was fun. And then, about a year ago, I had just had enough. Enough of moving around, anyway. In my travels, I kept hearing stories, good and bad, of things happening in the Emerald Wild. I’d certainly spent enough time in here in my travels, but I decided I wanted to do some good. So I had a home built and I’ve been living here, doing research ever since.”

“What kind of research?” John asked. Honestly, this was fascinating to him.

“Whatever comes to mind. Sometimes I go looking for certain plants. Sometimes I talk with the locals: dryads, serpentine, harpies, a few mermaids here and there. I get to learn about them, about what they want, what they do. They’re very secretive, but sometimes they open up. But I also keep a sharp eye out for strange or anomalous magic. And this definitely counts as that.” She paused. “Now, to be totally honest, I am absolutely dying to hear how the two of you hooked up. I’m not sure I’ve ever met a pair of adventurers like you...if you don’t mind.”

“No, we don’t mind,” Yelena replied.

They caught her up as they finished their trip through the Emerald Wild, and by the time they were done spinning their own tale for another listener, they had arrived at her place. And John was immediately impressed.

“Wow,” he said.

She had a two story house built of sturdy stone bricks and mortar that came complete with a yard and a three-foot wall along the edge of the clearing. Mainly he was impressed with two things: the first was that it in such good shape. It looked like a sturdy, high-quality, high-class house. Which was impressive because it was in the godsdamned Emerald Wild. The second was that it didn’t appear to have many actual defenses beyond being sturdily built.

“I know, you’re wondering how it’s still standing,” Elise said.

“I am,” Yelena replied.

“Well, it started with location scouting. This area has, statistically speaking, not seen as much dangerous creatures and incidents as most other locations in the Wild. Still trying to figure out why. Second, sturdy building materials. Third, magic defenses. I know how to defend myself and my house, and I can just warn away most people and monsters that come this way will ill intent with some one-and-done magical wards. Finally, I’m good friends with a few clans in the area. Specifically, a dryad clan and a serpentine clan, as well as one harpy. If you can get in good with the locals, they’ll leave you alone and make sure you are left alone, provided you keep being good. Which I’m very good at,” she explained.

“I know about getting in good with the locals,” John said, unable to keep from grinning.

“Oh? That sounds...sexual,” Elise murmured as she led them into the house.

“It is,” Yelena replied. “We’ve made love with a few dryads and a serpentine.”

“Oh my,” Elise said. “You um...get around.”

“We do,” John agreed.

“Well, uh...let me show you my house,” she said.

John glanced at Yelena, and saw that she was eyeing Elise, staring at her trim ass in her traveling pants. John followed her gaze. It was a nice, tight ass. Elise had that tight, toned figure to her. Wiry with trim muscle, athletic, beautiful. She looked like she could fuck for days. And she’d already seen both of them not only naked but actually fucking, and hadn’t really freaked out. Well...maybe he could turn this into a threesome.

How long had it been since he’d slept with a beryl?

Too long.

Her house was extremely cozy, comfortable, and organized. It seemed like a great place to live, so long as you could get past the isolation. She had a very nice living room, kitchen, bathroom, and guest bedroom set up on the first floor, and the second story was almost entirely dedicated to her own personal bedroom, complete with a huge closet and bathroom, and a porch. It was the basement that she ended the tour in.

It was probably the most impressive of all.

She’d clearly spent a long time decking it out, setting up a customized laboratory. Tables and desks lined the walls, most of them covered in instruments, glass bottles, samples, gemstones, magical artifacts, books, parchment, and so much more.

“Wow,” he whispered. “This is very impressive.”

“Thank you. It took me about three months to get this all set up. Now, um...if you would be so kind, would you two mind going upstairs and getting dinner ready? You can make whatever you want, I like everything up there. I need about an hour, maybe an hour and a half to get my magical formula set up,” she said.

“Not a problem, Elise. Let us know if you need anything,” John replied.

She smiled. “Will do. You two are so nice and helpful. Also, you’re lucky, as I let very few people into my home.”

“We appreciate it,” Yelena said.

They left her to it, heading back upstairs and dropping off their backpacks in the guest bedroom on the floor at the foot of the bed. Then they headed into the kitchen and began looking around. John found several cabins packed with food and drink and seasonings, several of them treated with long, slow cold spells to help preserve the food and drink.

“She’s really something else,” Yelena said.

“Yes, she is,” he agreed as he began hunting for something to make.

“You want to fuck her,” Yelena said.

“I imagine you do, too,” he replied.

“That I do. I want to make her mine for the night. She is exceptionally pretty. And you didn’t answer my question.”

“Heh...I mean, well, obviously I want to sleep with her.”

Yelena smirked. “We won’t be doing much sleeping tonight. Now, what shall we make?” she asked.

“I was thinking of some venison with vegetables and potatoes,” he replied.

“I smell several interesting seasonings. Perhaps we could experiment,” Yelena said.

“Sounds good. Let’s make some dinner, babe.”

They set to it.

It went pretty smoothly. They chopped up potatoes, carrots, and celery, and fried it up with a few of the stronger seasonings, then did the same with several slices of prime cut venison. They took their time, frying it up right, making, for once in what felt like a long time, a full, decadent meal. By the time they were done and had set the table and poured the drinks, Elise reemerged from the basement. She was smiling.

“I’d forgotten just how wonderful it is to be in a house with guests. Especially ones that can cook! That smells so good,” she said, joining them at the table.

“Thank you,” John replied. “Figured you’d appreciate it.”

“Definitely. I’m a good cook, I just get tired of cooking for myself day after day after week,” she said.

They all began digging into the meal.

“So, do you want to talk about sex?” Yelena asked after a few minutes of eating had passed.

Elise looked up from her meal, staring at Yelena.

John snorted and began coughing.

“I just figured, since you have already seen us both naked and having sex, and we’re seasoned adventurers, you might be interested in sharing sex stories,” she said.

“I...um...okay,” she replied.

“Did you think I meant something else?” Yelena asked, smirking.

“I...I mean...” she cleared her throat. “I’m okay with talking about sex stories,” she said. John had the idea that if beryl could blush, she’d be fire red by now.

“Okay. What was your last sexual encounter?”

“Oh my, it was wonderful,” she said. “I encountered a man, a human adventurer, and I got good vibes from him, so I hired him to help me collect some spider poison. We connected, we got close, I invited him back here. He admitted to me, after we started fooling around, that he was a werewolf. He said he wanted me to know, in case it was too much or something I wouldn’t be interested in. I had never made love with a werewolf. So I told him I wanted him to transform. I wanted him to fuck me as a werewolf. He was surprised, and eager. So he...” she paused, swallowed, “he bent me over and fucked me from behind. He fucking destroyed me.”

“That must have been wonderful,” Yelena said.

“It was. Oh it was. We fucked about a dozen times over the next few days. Then...he had to go. And that was three months ago. That was the last time I got fucked.”

“That’s very depressing,” John said.

“Psh yeah, of course it is. Not like you two. You two got laid freaking today,” she replied.

“Well...we could fix that, you know, if you’re interested,” John said after a moment of silence had passed.

Elise sat up straighter. “I...really, then?” she asked. “Both of you?”

“Yes. If you’re interested in having sex with a demoness,” Yelena replied. She stuck out her forked, prehensile tongue and wiggled it at Elise.

“Oh my. I would be deeply interested in having sex with both of you. This, um...this won’t interfere with our agreement, will it?” she asked.

“No,” John replied. “We’ll continue along like we would have otherwise, only there will be sex involved.”

“Well then, in that case...maybe we should take a soak, let our food settle, and then have a wonderful night of sex?” she suggested.

“That sounds fantastic,” John replied, and Yelena nodded.

They stood up.

…

They took it slow.

John was grateful. After today, especially his encounter with Yelena in the abandoned settlement, he felt like he needed to. He was getting sore. As they went upstairs to Elise’s bedroom, he found himself getting very excited. It was interesting, in a way: meeting and falling in love with Yelena had done much for his sex life. It had been a little while since he’d gotten laid before they met, and now he was meeting several highly interested, extremely attractive women. And he was certainly widening his sexual circle.

A serpentine as well as a demoness now, and a beryl.

It had been over two years since he’d made love with a beryl, now that he thought about it. He watched Elise strip down naked. As her clothes came off, she revealed a slim, athletic body to him. She was indeed made of trim, wiry muscle, a fit, toned body that spoke of a great deal of walking and dexterous mobility. She had high, firm breasts, small and beautiful, and slim thighs. And her tail was pretty sexy.

“Wow,” he said as he kicked off his boots.

“What?” Elise asked. She seemed a little self-conscious.

“You’re extremely attractive,” he replied.

“I love your body, and I must say, seeing you nude...your eyes are especially beautiful, Elise,” Yelena said.

“I...thank you,” she murmured. “You both look really good naked, too,” she added hesitantly, then laughed. “I’m sorry. I’m nervous.”

“It’s fine,” John replied. “Just know that we’re happy to have sex. Also, if you want to stop, just say the word and we’ll stop, no hard feelings.”

“Thank you,” she said. “I appreciate that. I...” she hesitated again, sighed. “When I was younger, it was quite a lot easier to pressure me into sex. I had a few boyfriends in the village, one other beryl a few years older than me at one point, and some human guys who secretly had a fetish for inter-species fucking. I’ve certainly found my voice since then, but I still don’t like telling people no. But, don’t worry, I’m pretty sure I’m down to fuck all the way through with you two, and if I’m not, I will let you know. Now, let’s get in the water,” she said.

Her tub was ready to go, full of clear, steaming water.

It looked amazingly inviting. John and Yelena quickly stripped down nude and slipped into the water with her.

“Oh fuck yes...” he groaned, settling back into the water. “There is nothing quite like this.”

“I must admit, this is one particular joy of life in this realm that I am getting used to. We were not afforded much in the way of luxury in my world.”

“You didn’t take baths?” Elise asked.

“No, not usually. For the most part, we dealt with it. We used magic to cleanse ourselves otherwise.”

“That’s awful,” Elise murmured.

“I’m beginning to see that much of my previous life was awful. Not that it matters. I’m not going back. I’m here, and I’m happy.”

“It’s amazing that your relationship is so...healthy. So functional,” Elise said, then her eyes widened slightly. “Oh, Gods, that was incredibly rude.”

“No, it’s fine,” John replied.

“My kind have not traditionally been the easiest to work with,” Yelena said.

“And humans haven’t been all that great when it comes to acceptance of those we literally share the land with, let alone demons from another realm,” John added. “So your surprise is understandable, Elise.”

“Okay. That’s good then. I must admit that I’m a bit out of touch, socially speaking. I spend so much time alone and even when I do talk to people it’s usually dryads or serpentine, and they’re just so...blunt. Not much nuance there, usually. I like it.”

“Blunt is good,” John agreed.

The three of them sat there in the tub, soaking, lounging, and eventually got to washing up. Elise passed them bars of soap and washcloths. John took the opportunity to scrub himself thoroughly. It had been a long couple of days and it was always good to go into sex clean when you were fucking someone brand new.

When they had let their food settle and the lust build up, the trio finally climbed from the tub, dried off, and got into bed together.

“Would it be okay if, um...” Elise hesitated.

“What?” John asked.

“Could I start out just with John? Or would that cause problems?”

“I’m okay to watch...for now,” Yelena replied.

“Okay. I just...”

“It’s been awhile,” John replied. “I understand. We’ll take it slow.”

“Thank you.”

Yelena laid off to the side, watching them intently, her tail drifting lazily behind her. John and Elise laid together and for the first few seconds, she simply stared at him. After a bit, she reached over and laid a hand on his chest, then ran her fingers slowly across it, across his shoulder, down to his bicep. Then she leaned in and kissed him. He locked lips with her and she let out a small sound of happiness and pressed herself slowly against him. John laid a hand on her breast, massaging it gently, loving the feel of it.

His cock was fully erect now, throbbing in anticipation of going inside of her, of the pleasure that would bring.

He slid his hand around and down the smooth curve of her back and let it rest gently on her tail, which he began to caress.

“Oh my,” she whispered, breaking the kiss and shuddering.

“Is this okay?” he asked.

She closed her eyes and nodded, apparently relishing the touch. “Y-yes,” she whispered. “Yes, this is very okay. I...I trust you, John. And this feels so good.”

He continued running his hand up and down her tail and she began to make out with him with a renewed vigor. He kept touching her tail for a bit longer, then slipped his hand lower, getting a grip on her tight, firm ass. She hooked a leg over his, pulling him closer to her, deepening the kiss and slipping her strange tongue in. He immediately moved his own forward, twisting it with hers, enjoying every second of this.

She opened her eyes again when he broke the kiss and pressed her gently onto her back. “What now?” she whispered.

“You’ll see,” he replied, and started kissing his way down her body. He kissed her neck, then lingered on her breasts, licking across her nipples, making her moan in pleasure. Then he kept going, kissing gently down her torso, across her trim stomach, then over her slim, athletic thighs. Here, he got down in between her legs, spreading them out. He looked at her pussy, then at her tail, laid out in between her legs.

“He’s good at this,” Yelena murmured.

“I imagine so,” Elise whispered.

John laid down, resting on his elbows so that there was enough room for her tail under him, and carefully parted the lips of her taut, light green pussy with his thumbs. He found her clit, an even lighter shade of green, and leaned in. Elise let out a low moan as he began to tongue it gently, massaging and caressing it.

“Oh by the Gods I had forgotten how good this can be...” she groaned.

He kept going.

Elise began to get much louder. In a way, he was glad that they were in the middle of nowhere, where no one would hear them. Then again, there was a certain kind of pleasure out of making a woman scream in pleasure where other people could hear it. He kept eating her out, licking more rapidly at her clit, using his tongue more powerfully. And damn did she have a good voice for screaming in sexual gratification.

Elise began to orgasm hardly half a minute later.

“Oh-please! Too sensitive!” she cried, and he pulled back, watching along with Yelena as their slim beryl friend climaxed beautifully. Her whole body twitched and spasmed as she came, her hands clenching and releasing, groping blindly at nothing, her hips jerking in time with her orgasm. She screamed in pure pleasure, eyes squeezed shut.

When she was finished, she collapsed against the bed, gasping. Slowly, she opened her eyes. “Thank you, John,” she whispered.

“You’re quite welcome,” he replied.

“Can we make love now? I desperately want to feel your cock inside of me,” she asked.

“Yes, Elise,” he said, and began to get into position.

“Wait,” she whispered, reaching up to her headboard. “I need, uh, lube. I need lube when I make love with any but my own kind.”

“That’s fine,” he said, waiting.

She found what she was looking for and her hand can back wrapped around a slim bottle of green lubricant. He was familiar with it. It was made out of tree sap and a few other things that he hadn’t been able to figure out, but it worked very well. She poured some into her hand and replaced the bottle while making a fist a few times, then she began to massage his cock, running her hand slowly up and down its length.

“Are you ready for me?” she asked, her voice husky.

“Yes,” he almost gasped. Her touch sent an intense anticipatory spark of lust through him. He almost needed to be inside of her.

Elise spread her legs wider.

She laid his cock at the entrance of her pussy, pretty much pulling him forward by the dick, and he fell forward so that he was resting on the heels of his palms and his knees. As soon as he felt that he was there, John began to push his way slowly into her.

“Oh yes...” she moaned. “Careful...it’s been awhile,” she whispered.

“I won’t hurt you, Elise,” he replied, staring down at her.

She looked up at him, her eyes full of lust and longing and need. He carefully worked his way into her beryl pussy, making her cry out. Slowly, he inched inside of her, burying a little more of his cock into her at a time before pulling back. She had her legs spread out wide now. “Oh John,” she moaned, “give it to me. Give it all to me...”

John groaned as he began making love to her hard and fast, sticking his entire, slicked-up, rigid length into her. He made her scream in pleasure as he really started fucking her. “I fucking missed dick!” she yelled.

Beryl pussy felt even better than he remembered it. It was certainly different than most other women, inhuman or otherwise, though not entirely unlike serpentine vagina. It filled him with pleasure, with unhindered ecstasy and rapturous bliss.

Elise was very tight.

And the lube made it easy to really pound her once they got going. She was panting and moaning and shouting in desperate pleasure, staring up at him, grabbing him hard. She pressed against him with her hips, forcing him deeper into her.

After another good minute or so of this, she looked over at Yelena. “Yelena,” she said, breathing heavily, “I’m sorry, I’ve indulged too much in your lover. Let me pleasure you.”

“I would appreciate it,” Yelena replied.

Her tail was shifting back and forth a bit more rapidly now.

“Here, John, let me up. You can fuck me from behind and touch my tail some more,” she said, gently pushing at him.

“Happy to,” he replied, pulling out and getting off of her.

They all maneuvered around. Yelena gave him a brief but firm kiss in passing, and did the same with Elise. The pair of them briefly got engaged in making out, and then Yelena laid on her back with her legs spread. Elise stared at her for a lingering moment, then got onto her hands and knees as John got into position behind her.

She had a great ass, and a sexy tail.

With one hand guiding his cock and the other gripping her tail, he slid back into her. She moaned loudly, the sound muffled because her face was buried in Yelena’s crotch, and Yelena was beginning to groan in pleasure as well. He began to thrust into her again, making her cry out, and pushing him towards a climax. Running his hand slowly up and down her tail, John settled his other hand on her hip and watched his cock slide smoothly in and out of her pussy. It was a seriously erotic sight, especially when he glanced up at and saw Yelena, completely naked and on her back, getting eaten out by the woman he was currently fucking.

It was all too much and before he knew it, he was letting off inside of Elise. He could tell she felt it and responded to it immediately, pushing against him, forcing him deeper into her pussy as he came hard. He filled her up, his cock jerking, frantically spilling his seed inside of her and sending out pulses of raw pleasure throughout his entire body. He groaned loudly, panting and grunting, both of her hips in his hands now as he came inside of her, thrusting deep into her. He filled her up, and when he was finished, he pulled out and sat down heavily, then kept watching as she continued eating out his lover, pleasuring her with her tongue.

It wasn’t long before Yelena let out a long cry of bliss.

Elise pulled back and watched his demoness lover as she came, her whole long, beautiful body twisting and writhing in full-body orgasm.

They all enjoyed her climax.

“You are so beautiful, Yelena,” Elise murmured as she finished her orgasm.

“Thank you,” Yelena replied, stretching and getting her breath back. “You are very skilled with your tongue. I hope to show you my own skill later tonight,” she said, sticking her tongue out. He noted she liked to do that a lot.

“I’m looking forward to it,” Elise replied. “Are you two okay to sleep here, with me, in this bed tonight?”

“We’d love to,” John answered.

“Good. So...another bath and then another round? Cause I feel like I have a lot of missed sex to make up for,” she asked.

“Yes,” both he and Yelena replied at once.

CHAPTER VII

“So, what is this thing, precisely?” John asked.

They were standing together in Elise’s basement. He was feeling pretty good after a few more rounds of sex and then a long, heavy sleep in between Yelena and Elise. And then having some wake-up sex and a soak, followed by a hefty breakfast.

“Precisely, it more effectively tracks that necromancy magic I mentioned earlier,” Elise replied, staring intently at the amulet she was slowly extracting from a bowl of dark, murky blue-green liquid. She extracted it carefully with a pair of shiny metal tongs. “There’s a strange little quirk to that magic, something unique about it,” she added as she carefully laid the amulet, which was smooth, hard, and octagonal in shape, on a thick, dark rag.

“What kind of quirk?” Yelena asked.

“I don’t know. Basically, I extracted a portion of the lingering magic from the air and the dirt, the site itself, and trapped it in this liquid here. I then took a simple tracking amulet, a clean slate one, and imbued it with a spell to absorb that unique magical signature, and to track it. That’s why it had to soak overnight,” she explained.

“That’s really neat,” John murmured.

“Isn’t it? I love magic. There’s so much you can do with it,” Elise replied. She picked up the rag the amulet was resting in and rubbed it vigorously, then without touching it directly, placed it in a glass bowl. She took a glass bottle of water that had been sitting over an open flame and upended it, filling the bowl.

The amulet hissed violently.

She waited for it to finish hissing, then extracted it with a new set of tongs and placed it on another rag, and rubbed it down. Here, she pulled out a hard glass case slightly bigger than the amulet and placed the device carefully inside, then locked the case.

“There,” she said, “all done.”

“Is it dangerous?” John asked.

“Yes. That liquid could make a very potent poison. I plan on doing some studies on it when we’re done here. But now it’s safely contained, and we can use it. Now, just a moment...” she murmured, and focused on the amulet laying flat in her palm. A white glow suddenly appeared in her hand and briefly enveloped the amulet.

As the white glow began to fall away, it was replaced by a very slow, sluggish black pulse that was just a shade darker than the amulet itself, which was a blue so dark that it was almost midnight black.

“There,” she whispered, “now we can begin. Well, uh, are you ready?” she asked.

“Yes,” John replied.

“I am.” Yelena smiled. “You seem more...relaxed today, Elise,” she added.

Elise laughed as she slipped the amulet into her pocket. “I am! Sex with the two of you is intensely gratifying. I mean, intensely gratifying. Those orgasms you gave me...they were even better than the werewolf. That tongue of yours, Yelena...”

“It’s very wonderful,” John agreed.

“I appreciate it. And I’m glad I could return the favor. You’re quite skilled yourself, Elise,” Yelena replied. “I’m looking forward to another night of pleasure.”

“Oh yes, so am I,” Elise murmured as they left her basement.

They spent a little bit gearing up, and once they had their weapons and supplies all in order, the trio left the house. They stepped out into Elise’s front yard and she held up the amulet, then spun in a slow circle. After a bit, she stopped.

“There,” she said, “it’s that way.” And she set off.

They followed after her, the three of them leaving her yard. They headed once more into the lush and dangerous Emerald Wild. For the first leg of the journey, no one spoke. Elise watched her amulet and made adjustments and course corrections, moving through the trees and plants and bushed, mostly ignoring the dense foliage and vegetation. John and Yelena kept a sharp watch on the area. From the outset, John felt paranoia creeping slowly in. His good mood slowly seeped away and he became convinced that they were being followed.

Yelena seemed to sense something similar.

Bianca? It was more than likely she was still alive, and if she was tenacious, which she really seemed to be, then she wouldn’t give up. He didn’t want to have to fight her again for a number reasons, though he supposed the reason that was weighing the heaviest on him, was the idea that he wanted to prove to Yelena not every was a godsdamned jackass in his realm. He supposed Elise and Brynne and their dryad acquaintances were decent proof and if he dug down deeper...maybe he was just trying to prove that to himself.

He knew it was true, but dammit, they were hardly a few days into their attempt at making a new life together, and already someone was out for their blood. It was ridiculous. What had they ever done to Bianca? Something about her just seemed to make it so...personal. She seemed genuinely offended at Yelena’s existence, and at him being with her. Why? Why did she care? He supposed it didn’t matter at the moment.

Either she’d track them down and confront them again, or she wouldn’t.

But she was a risk. They weren’t really safe while she was still lurking around. Another part of him wished that there was another confrontation, if only so that the whole situation could have some kind of closure.

These were the thoughts that plagued him as they walked on, winding their way through the woods, hunting for this elusive magic that they had stumbled across with their new friend. As the journey wore on, the conversation began to pick up.

“Got any good stories?” John asked.

“I’ve got a few, I suppose,” Elise replied. “There was this time I got shipwrecked on an island in between here and my homelands. I was on my way back here. Terrible storm struck and the ship went down. Just me and a few others managed to get off and swim to the island. We found an old military outpost, a small one, and used it to wait out the storm. That was fun. Just me, this cute human guy, a sailor, and a female felis I’d been hitting on a lot. Oh that poor boy. He was acting like he wanted nothing to do with us ‘non-humans’, the beast races. But it was obvious that he wanted some. So we both started having sex with each other, and we weren’t quiet about it. During the day, we’d explore the island, during the night, me and this felis would fuck noisily. And I could tell he was going out of his mind. He wanted us, he just couldn’t admit it to himself. It became a bit of game. We were very...playful with him.”

“Did he break down? Did you fuck him?” John asked.

“I wouldn’t,” Yelena muttered. “He doesn’t deserve it.”

“Nine times out of ten, I would agree with you. But he wasn’t a complete ass, and we felt a little bad for him. Plus...well, let me just say that getting the opportunity to prove a racist idiot wrong is sometimes just too tempting a target. We finally got him to break. He begged us for sex. We teased him for about an hour.”

“Damn, that’d be torture,” John muttered.

“Oh yes, it was. But when we gave it to him...we got him to say all sorts of things. You better believe he fell in love with felis and beryl pussy that day. We had him do everything little thing we wanted while he waited three more days to flag down a ship. He ate pussy like you wouldn’t believe. And afterward, it turned out for the best. He opened up to us after, told us about his life, growing up under his idiot, racist father. I ran into him about a year later...he’d moved to a bigger town and he was actually engaged to a felis woman. She was very sweet, but also pretty tough. She was a blacksmith. That’s how I’m a bit more sure we changed him: she wouldn’t put up with any behind-closed-doors racism. He tried to pull any shit on her, she’d boot his ass.” Elise smiled. “We had a fun couple of threesomes.”

“That’s a good story,” Yelena said.

“I’d like to think so. What about you?”

“Yelena?” he asked, glancing at her.

“I...suppose I have one,” she replied.

“Okay, go for it,” John said.

“Is it sexy?” Elise asked.

“I think so,” Yelena replied. “It was my fifth trip here, to this plane of existence. It was on this continent, what I know now is the Sage Woodland. I was alone and it was raining. By then, I was beginning to get the hang of hunting down a mate. It was...very dangerous, and difficult. But worth it. I met an elf woman. She was a beautiful redhead with the sexiest breasts. She was a huntress. She almost killed me when she first saw me, I gave her a terrible fright, but we started a dialogue and she quickly determined that I wasn’t evil. And she found me quite attractive apparently. And so we went to her cabin and had two wonderful nights of sex.”

“Yeah, that’s pretty hot,” Elise said. “Oh...wait.” She paused, staring intently down at the amulet in her hand, and made an adjustment. John moved forward and looked at it. The artifact was pulsing rapidly now.

It hurt his head to look at it.

He didn’t know how Elise put up with it.

“There,” she murmured, looking dead ahead, “we’re almost there. Get ready.”

John and Yelena drew their bows and readied arrows. They moved ahead of her and the trio silently broke through the treeline and came at last into an open area. John immediately didn’t like what he saw: a cave opening.

“Great,” he muttered.

There were signs of life around the entrance of the cave: some discarded waste, an empty crate, a broken chair. Someone had definitely been here. He was willing to bet it was necromancers. As before, Yelena went first, cautiously activating a light spell as they gathered in the entrance to the cave. It was a rough stone tunnel descending into the earth, twisting off to the right.

“You’re sure it’s here?” John asked quietly.

“Positive,” Elise replied, looking down at her amulet. She pocketed it and raised her hands. They began to glow a cherry red.

“Then let’s do this,” Yelena said.

They moved down the tunnel. Their progress was slow at first, but it picked up as they kept going and didn’t hear anything at all. Yelena hit the bottom of the tunnel first and John immediately realized it was a good thing they were alone: the tunnel let out into a cavern. A big one, with no place to hide if you were coming down from the main entrance. He could see why they’d chosen this place, if they had chosen it.

Then again, he had an idea they were looking for something.

“Search the area,” Yelena said quietly, her voice harsh.

They split up when it became obvious that no one and nothing was in the main cavern with them. John moved off to the right, checking out a pair of tables scattered with random remnants of whoever had been here before. The next several minutes passed in paranoid silence. There were more remains of those who had passed through, but John soon realized that he was seeing two different layers. Some of this stuff was fairly old.

It looked like someone had been here at one point months or perhaps even years ago. They’d set up camp for one reason or another, and had likely died. In one offshoot cavern, they found a makeshift sleeping area, which was definitely more recent. This must be from the second, more recent group. People who were here within the past few days.

Another cavern revealed a very temporary research area, tables that had corpses on them. The place stank like death.

“Definitely necromancers,” Elise muttered.

As she spoke, some of the bodies on the tables suddenly stirred. Four of them began to get up, stumbling to their feet, groaning and grasping.

Zombies.

“Poor bastard,” John muttered.

He let fly an arrow at about the same time Yelena did and two of the zombies went down, arrows sticking from their heads. They quickly notched and let fly two more arrows, putting down the other pair of shambling horrors.

“We should burn these bodies on the way out,” Elise said. “Best thing we can do for them.”

“Good idea,” John replied. “Let’s get this over with.”

They finished searching that cavern and, finding nothing of value beyond a few gemstones and a small bag of gold, they left it and moved back out into the main cavern. There was just one more way to go: another tunnel leading away from that cavern. Here, there was evidence of conflict. Scorch marks on the walls, mostly, and some blood here and there. And then they began to encounter a few bodies, zombies, clearly, that looked like they’d been smashed by brute force. It only got worse as they drew closer to the end of the tunnel.

Finally, they got the whole picture.

John realized they were looking at the aftermath of a big battle. He was glad he’d missed it, if he was being honest. It looked like it had been brutal. The tunnel opened up again into another large cavern, this one even bigger than the first. There were close to two dozen corpses scattered about, most of them zombies, but some of them clearly necromancers. And there was one body in particular that grabbed his attention.

It was big, whatever it was, and mostly made out of bone. It had to be ten feet tall.

“It’s a guardian,” Elise said quietly.

“What kind?” Yelena asked uncertainly.

“I’m not entirely sure, but I’ve seen these kinds of things before. They’re set to lay in wait, lay dormant, until disturbed. Then they come up and kick the ass of whoever is trying to disturb the area,” Elise explained.

There were clear signs of excavation again, namely a big hole dug rapidly in the middle of the cavern.

“Well...let’s search the bodies, see if we can figure out what exactly it is they’re trying to do. Whatever it is, it can’t be good,” he said.

Both women agreed with him and they set to work.

It took close to half an hour of miserable work patting down corpses and searching the darker niches of the room before they finally found something. Besides a bit more gold and a few nice daggers, Elise turned up a bloodied leather-bound journal that must have been flung from one of the dead necromancer’s pockets off to the far side of the room. She quickly began reading through it. It didn’t take long for her to find something bad.

“We have a problem,” she said.

“What?” John asked, feeling a cold hand clutch at his heart.

“They’re definitely up to no good. They found some kind of artifact and activating it has allowed them to reactive a collection of other artifacts scattered across the land. Apparently they’ve been gathering them up quickly. They’re...heading somewhere. Though I can’t tell where.”

“I don’t understand, why isn’t anyone else in on this? Like, why aren’t dryads or serpentine dealing with them?” John asked.

“It says that whatever type of magic they’re using...it conceals them from those who rely on nature magics and abilities. This is bad,” Elise said.

“Does it say what they are actually doing?” Yelena asked.

“No, they’re vague about it. Something about ‘restoring order’ and ‘returning the world to its natural balance’ and ‘resurrection’,” Elise replied.

“That’s definitely not good,” John said. “We have to find them. Does it say where they are actually going?”

Elise sighed, frustrated. “No, it doesn’t. But I can use my amulet to track them. I just need to nullify this area so it doesn’t interfere with the tracking.”

“You can do that?” Yelena asked.

“Yes, temporarily, at least. It’ll take a more concerted effort to fully cleanse this place, but I can at least nullify the source for a few days. It should be enough...”

Yelena spun around suddenly and notch an arrow. John did as well, sensing movement behind them at almost the same time.

“You,” Yelena hissed.

“Wait,” Bianca replied. Her hands were empty at her sides, clenched into fists.

“What do you want?” John asked, trying to stay steady. So she had been following them.

“Who is this?” Elise whispered.

“That bounty hunter we mentioned earlier,” John replied.

“I’ve been following you,” she said. “I overheard what you said and...” she sighed, looking away, like it pained her to say it, “and this is more important than some bounty. I...want to help.”

“You must be joking,” Yelena said.

“Fuck you, demon bitch!” Bianca snapped.

Yelena snarled and let fly the arrow.

“Yelena!” John snapped.

The arrow barely missed Bianca’s head and instead caught her hood, tearing it in passing and flipping it down and off. The arrow disappeared into the tunnel behind her, trailing cloth. “I don’t miss twice,” Yelena growled, notching another arrow with lightning speed.

“Yelena, please,” John said. “Bianca...if you’re offering help, you’re really shit at it.”

She sighed heavily. “I’m...sorry,” she growled. “I just...I hate demons. But I mean it. This is important. Rogue necromancers are bad news. And I’m not a bad person, despite what you might think. God, I can’t believe you’re actually traveling with a demon.” She let out a disgusted sigh. “But I am willing to help.”

“Yelena? Elise?” he asked.

“I’m fine with it if she can play nice,” Elise replied.

“I can be...accommodating,” Yelena growled in response.

“Fine. A few conditions. Obviously, you try anything and we’ll kill you. We stick together until the job’s done. And the big one: how did you find us?” he asked.

“I’m good at my job,” Bianca replied through gritted teeth.

“No one’s that good, not without help. I’ll ask one more time: how did you find us? This is a condition of working together, otherwise, you can fuck off,” John said.

She stared hard at the three of them, her ears flattened, her tail twitching madly behind her. Finally, she sighed and reached into her pocket. They tensed, but she pulled out something small and tossed it. It landed halfway in between them.

“It tracks demons,” she said.

John moved forward and carefully grabbed it, then moved back and passed it to Elise. “Elise?” he asked.

She studied it closely for a few seconds, then nodded. “Yes, it is as she says.”

“Destroy it,” Yelena said.

Elise looked at John. He nodded. Bianca sighed heavily, but kept her peace. Elise dropped it to the floor and hit it first with a fire spell, then a frost spell. It burst and shattered, and then was no more. Well, that was out of the way.

“So...are we good?” he asked.

“Yes. What’s the next step?” Bianca replied tersely.

“We follow the amulet. But first we need to burn these bodies,” John answered.

“Fine, let’s do it,” Bianca said.

They set to work.

…

The next walk through the Wild was long and uncomfortable.

Yelena and Elise walked ahead of him and Bianca. He kept close to her, mainly out of paranoia. He didn’t entirely trust her to not do something reckless...or ruthless. As they pressed on, he decided to try and get some information out of her.

“So, what’s your story?” he asked.

“What’s yours?” she snapped at him. “Why are you with her? She’s a fucking demon.”

“She can hear you,” he replied.

“I don’t give a shit. Why are you traveling with her? You seem...normal. You don’t seem like you’re enthralled or enslaved. Does she have something you want? You fought pretty hard to protect her,” Bianca said.

“I’d tell you, but I think you might kill me. It’s none of those things, though.”

She let out a huff of annoyance. “You want to know my story? Fine. I grew up in Mist.”

Well, that explains some of it, John thought. Mist was the only permanent settlement in the Emerald Wild, and it wasn’t all that deep in the Wild. It was a little ways south of Stafford, towards the north end of the forest. It was a port town, basically the only place ships could land on the east side of the continent, and it was also a big, kind of ‘anything-goes’ city. He knew there were a lot of brothels up there, including at least one vampire brothel called Suck Lust that he’d always wanted to visit. Sex with a vampire sounded amazing.

But there was also a lot of crime and bad shit in that town.

“My dad left before my mom could even give birth to me, and so it was just the two of us for awhile. And then there were a string of men who entered my mom’s life and left just as rapidly. She was a prostitute and normally you can have a pretty decent life in Mist, but my mom...was a bitch. She argued with everyone, hated working, wanted to do everything on her own terms. Obviously, this is kind of inconsistent with being a hooker. So we kept getting kicked out of brothels and eventually she started just doing it on her own and that didn’t go well either. You could be a solo prostitute in Mist, but if you had a bad rep, which my mom did with like every goddamned brothel in town, well...they didn’t take kindly to her.”

“So what happened?” John asked quietly.

“Well they made it hard to make money. You’ve got to understand, my mom hated actually working. She went through a string of jobs: bakery, blacksmith’s assistant, merchant. She took up with whoever would let us stay with them. She hated me because I was just a dead weight to her. She usually had me cover her shifts sweeping up or selling fruit or whatever job she had that week. Then she met this guy, this elf, who she just...fell in love with. I don’t know why. He was a sweet talker and obviously he saw something in her because he didn’t leave. He offered to take us in and of course she moved us in with him. He was a con artist and it didn’t take long for the abuse to start. He’d get drunk, hit my mom, hit me, and she never went anywhere because he was at least half-decent at robbing people,” she explained.

“I’m sorry,” John said.

“Yeah, whatever,” Bianca muttered. “Skip ahead. I’m fourteen. He got his ass killed trying to rip off some sailors. And I’d actually gotten used to not having to work by that point. I’d gotten used to being able to slip off and do things on my own. I learned a lot hanging out on the streets. After he died, my mom tried to tell me I was going to have to go back to work. I’d had it. I told her to fuck off, told he at first to get her own lazy ass up and be a parent for once in her fucking life. She came after me, tried to hit me, I hit her, broke her nose. And then I left. I just grabbed my shit and walked out. And I never saw her again.”

“What’d you do afterward?” he asked.

“Traveled. Earned money. Learned trades. Found out I was good at bounty hunting so I made that my craft. Then I...met someone.”

“So how does that translate to you absolutely hating demons?” John pressed.

“Do I even need a reason?”

“Normally, I’d say no. But there’s just something about you. You make it personal. Yelena didn’t do a single thing to you beyond defend herself.”

“I just hate them, all right? Fuck off with your questions,” she snapped.

John sighed but kept his peace.

It didn’t take them much longer to reach their destination.

“Well shit,” John muttered when they found what they were looking for.

“What is this place?” Yelena asked uncomfortably. “I sense...evil.”

“It’s a catacomb. A crypt,” Bianca growled.

“The dead are buried here,” John explained.

“And it’s an easy place to turn to evil if you are a necromancer,” Elise added. She sighed heavily. “And we have to go in there.”

“You sure you’re up for this?” Yelena asked, looking at Bianca.

Bianca bared her teeth.

John sighed. “Yelena...”

“Whatever. Let’s just get this over with,” Yelena said.

John resisted the urge to sigh again. He sympathized with her, Bianca was...difficult. But they weren’t going to get anywhere by pissing each other off. He focused on the catacombs that lay before them. Really, it wasn’t much more than a simple, old stone building. The four of them moved out slowly, carefully, working to secure the exterior first. They moved in silence, falling into the professional precision that came from years of traveling as an adventurer or extensive combat experience.

There was nothing along the exterior of the building, and the only thing they found in the interior were some sealed crypts and evidence that someone had been through very recently. They finished their search and gathered at the entrance into the underground portion of the crypt. John suppressed another sigh. He really didn’t want to go back into a dark, enclosed space, and he really didn’t want to fight the undead again.

But this was important. The amulet was clear: this is where the next site of the dark energy was coming from, and obviously someone was here. And there was a ridiculously high chance that they were up to no good. So, John just steeled himself and set off. Yelena immediately joined him. He had his sword drawn and she had an arrow notched. There was torchlight coming from down there. As they moved slowly down the stonework stairwell, John began to hear voices. He tensed and they moved as carefully and quietly as they could.

The stairwell let out in a broad, low chamber with five tunnels snaking away from it. Two to the left and the right, one bigger one dead ahead. The voices were coming from the bigger one, which was mostly closed off by a huge pair of wooden doors. John moved carefully up to it and peered through. He paled at what he saw. There were a little over half a dozen necromancers inside the room beyond, which was of a pretty good size. The walls were covered in dug-out niches, each one filled with a wooden coffin.

A lot of them were open and there were at least a dozen corpses shambling around, roughly pulling more of the coffins out of their niches and onto the floor, then prying them open. They were making themselves a little army. There were a good dozen more corpses lying in small rows on the floor before the necromancers, who were in the process of raising them from death. One of them just happened to look at the door as John peered in, taking this all in. The pale man’s eyes widened and he sounded the alarm.

“Shit! Kill them!” John screamed, flinging the door open with his shoulder and stumbling into the room.

No time to do anything but attack.

He pressed the element of surprise, surging forward, and drove the blade into the chest of the nearest necromancer. The man screamed, a spray of blood escaping his mouth. John placed a boot against his stomach and ripped the blade out while shoving him back. He flew into another pair of necromancers, who in turn fell over and knocked over a handful of the recently raised dead. Two arrows flew into the room, taking down a pair of zombies.

“Keep them busy!” someone, one of the necromancers, shouted.

John brought his sword around in a tight arc, decapitating one of the nearest zombies and sending its headless corpse stumbling. He intended to go for the other necromancers, but then the undead crowded in on him and he was lost in a sea of dead flesh and grasping hands. He bashed one’s skull in with the pommel of his blade and shouldered another hard enough to send it toppling, then cut through the neck of a third. Two more fell as arrows flew again, and more arrows came. Frustrated, he kept slashing and slicing and stabbing, trying to break past the wall of dead flesh. He finally fought his way to another necromancer and cut the man’s throat, sending him stumbling away, eyes wide as he clasped his throat, trying to close the wound.

It was kind of embarrassing how many necromancers didn’t invest in healing spells.

He could see the lead necromancer, the one who had been demanding more time. Well, his time was up. Whatever spell he was trying to cast wasn’t going to be enough to save his ass. John lurched forward, raising his blade for the killing blow.

The man screamed and released a wave of dark energy that briefly blinded and deafened John, sending him lurching, fighting blindly. As his sight and hearing came back, he suddenly heard a great deal of banging and groaning. He fell back, seeing that the man he’d intended to kill was now heaped on the stone floor, unmoving. As he looked, the last of the necromancers were put down by arrows. Unfortunately, it was about to get a whole lot worse.

Every body was twitching, every wooden tomb was shaking.

Suddenly, pale fists began punching out of the wood, breaking through, trying to get free. He must have resurrected every corpse in the vicinity as an act of desperation, John realized with a growing horror.

“Great ready!” he screamed, decapitating another zombie. “Get ready for them!”

And then it was nothing but chaos.

John wasn’t sure how long the battle lasted, he only knew that he was living in the second, and that he was fighting for not only his life, but the lives of the others, as they were fighting for his and each other’s as well.

There were suddenly zombies everywhere.

His blade rose and fell. He cut away an arm and it went flying, fingers still twitching. He bashed a zombie in the chest with his shoulder, sending it sprawling. He cut cleanly through the neck of another undead monster, and then yet another. His blade plunged into cold, dead flesh, cutting and cleaving. Arrows flew, and somewhere, something was burning. Magical bolts joined the fray. He could hear the others screaming, roaring their battle cries over the sound of the zombies moaning and groaning and fighting.

Seconds went by.

Then what might have been whole minutes went by.

His muscles burned and ached, his head pounded with blood. He took down four zombies, then six, then a dozen. His clothing was getting coated in old blood and now more than ever he was frustrated with his stupid decision to forgo some form of armor. There were clammy hands grabbing at his clothing, tearing it up, and sometimes old, jagged fingernails would pierce his flesh. He was bleeding from a few different wounds by now.

And then he heard a different kind of scream.

It was Bianca. He twisted, wrenching his blade free of a zombie he’d just stabbed through the chest, and saw that one of the undead had been buried with a blade, and it still knew how to use it. It had gutted her, its blade punching straight through her stomach and out her back. He roared in anger and began cutting his way through to her. He could see Yelena fighting with a grim determination and an amazing skill and dexterity, her blade slicing relentlessly. And from the way the battle had gone behind them, it was clear that even more undead had been resurrected from the other tunnels. That’s where the burning was coming from.

He could see Elise releasing bolts of fire magic into more shapes.

He reached Bianca and killed the zombie that had stabbed her, then cut it down with a brutal motion. The three of them moved in around her, as she’d gone down, teeth clenched, blood coming out of her mouth, hands over her guts. Her eyes were unfocused.

“Bianca! Stay with me!” John yelled.

She didn’t respond. He glanced down again after cutting down another undead fiend. She had passed out.

“Fuck!” he snapped. “We have to finish them!”

“Get in close!” Elise yelled suddenly.

John didn’t ask, he just backed up, his heels now touching Bianca’s unmoving form. He felt the others near him. Elise sucked in a deep breath and suddenly she let out a scream. At the same time, he felt a tremendously hot blast encompass him, and a brilliant light consumed his vision. When he got back, all he saw was a collection of blackened, skeletal corpses.

“Gods,” he whispered, and then turned around.

He saw Yelena crouching over Bianca and Elise staggering away. She got up against the door’s frame and leaned there, breathing heavily.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

“Fine,” she replied.

“I’m going to help her,” Yelena said, and placed her hands against Bianca’s stomach. There was a brilliant flash of white light and when Yelena pulled her hands back, they were bloody, but Bianca’s stomach was no longer wounded.

“There,” she muttered.

“Are you okay? That had to have taken a lot of magic. You know we have health potions...”

Yelena gave an angry shake of her head. “I won’t have her saying I’m a bad person, dammit. I won’t have it be said that I did not help in a time of need.”

“Yelena...”

“Check on Elise,” Yelena replied firmly.

John sighed and stood up. He moved over to her, placed a hand on her shoulder. “You used a lot of magic,” he said.

She nodded. “I know, but it got the job done. Come on, we really need to search the necromancers, see if anything survived.”

“Okay, I’ll get to it, take a break,” he replied.

She sighed and nodded, then sat down heavily on the floor. “Yeah, just a few minutes,” she said, rubbing at her eyes.

John let them recover and quickly began hunting for the necromancers. Most of them had been at least charred in the blast, but it seemed that the fire spell had spared most of the dead bodies, as it had been released a few feet above the floor, going outward, not necessarily downwards. He quickly identified the necromancer’s bodies and began hunting through their pockets. He absentmindedly pocketed any gold or gems or jewelry he found, adding to their fund, and finally, after about five minutes, he came across something.

Another journal, this one seemed to be magically sealed.

And when he tried to look at it, all he saw was a jumbled confusion of letters he couldn’t identify. He walked back and passed it to Elise.

“Can you read this?” he asked.

She looked over it, frowning, then slowly nodded. “It’s a magic cipher. I can figure this out, I just need a few hours somewhere quiet,” she replied.

“Then let’s go back to your place,” John said. “We could all use a break.”

She nodded and he helped her to her feet. “Yes,” she agreed. “We could.”

He helped Yelena up and after a bit of deliberation, he ended up picking up Bianca. He carried her out of the crypt, following after the others.

They began making their way back home.

…

Elise’s place looked more welcoming than it ever had before.

It was raining again, the skies gray and roiling. Bianca had since come awake and once they’d explained the situation to her, explained what had happened, she’d just looked at Yelena, who had been in the process of searching a body, and then not said anything. She hadn’t said anything in the following hours beyond simple yes or no answers. John wasn’t sure what to make of that, but they had too much to do for him to worry about Bianca much beyond keeping an eye on her. But as the hours wore on, he found himself getting angry.

In fact, by the time he was walking up the front porch of Elise’s place, he was so angry that it frightened him a little. He looked at Bianca, but she immediately walked away from the group and stood on the edge of the porch, staring out into the Emerald Wild and the rainfall. He sighed and let her to it.

He should talk to her, but…

He needed to calm down first.

Instead, he followed Elise into her house. She was still holding the journal. She had been silent the whole way home, and clearly she was desperate to get to work. Even now she had finally cracked it open and was studying it intensely. Yelena was walking slowly and that worried John. It was the first time he’d seen her move with any real sluggishness or lethargy since they’d met. Clearly that spell, combined with everything they’d been doing recently, had taken it out of her. When she moved straight for the stairs leading up to the bedroom, he followed after her. Elise walked away from them, towards her basement.

John slipped an arm around her waist and she did the same seemingly without thinking about it, holding him closer to her and accepting his assistance.

She must be exhausted.

“You going to be okay?” he asked quietly as they moved up the stairs.

“I’ll be fine,” she replied. “I just need sleep.”

“You sure?”

She laughed softly. “Don’t dote on me, John.”

“Comes with the territory, I’m afraid,” he replied.

She laughed again. “I suppose it does. I’m still getting used to it. I still have to fight not to snap at you when you offer me help. Where I come from, offers of help are an insult at best, a means of betrayal at worst.”

“I’m sorry.”

“So am I, but I’m not sorry that I’m not there anymore.”

They reached the top of the stairs and moved into the bedroom. He began helping her get out of her clothes and when she moved over to the bathtub, she hesitated, looking at him. “You aren’t going to join me?” she asked.

“Not yet,” he replied. “I want to see you off to bed, then I need to go talk with Bianca.”

Yelena frowned and then slipped into the water. “Don’t be too hard on her.”

“You’re telling me not to be too hard on her?” he asked.

“You’re angry, John. I can sense it. You’re furious.” She offered a somewhat grim smile. “Don’t look so surprised. Humans are easy to read. I pick up on cues like that quickly. I had to. Honestly, it’s a little worrying, how angry you are. I don’t think I’ve seen you like this before.”

He sighed, clenching a fist, then slowly released it. “I am angry,” he replied. “You saved her fucking life and she’s out there ignoring you...and that’s not even the worst part of it. I just...” he growled.

“I’m not sure if talking to her would help, but it might. She hides her feelings well, beyond disgust and hatred, but I think she might be feeling a bit guilty and confused. Just...don’t be too angry, okay?” she asked.

He sighed and then chuckled, some of his fury going out of him. “Yeah, I guess so,” he replied. “I’m not an angry person by nature, it’s just...she hates you because you’re a demon. That’s it. No other reason.”

“There’s often another reason. Usually it’s a bad one, in my experience, but sometimes it’s at least understandable,” Yelena replied.

John nodded. He supposed Yelena would know about hate, given what she’d told him about her past life so far. He stuck around until she was clean and dried off, then took a moment to wash his hands and face and refresh himself a little bit. By the time she was beneath the blankets, he was feeling a bit better.

“Sleep, love,” he said, and leaned down and kissed her forehead.

“I will. Whether I want to or not. I am exhausted,” she murmured. “Don’t be too long, yes? I...” she hesitated, then laughed, “I’ve grown used to you next to me in bed.”

“I’ve grown used to that too, babe,” he replied. “I’ll try not to be too long.”

He kissed her again, then began to leave. “John...”

“Yes?” He paused, looked back at her.

“When you come back, will you fuck me? I don’t care if I’m still awake or not, and I don’t care even if I don’t wake up. Will you fuck me, even in my sleep?”

“I...yeah,” he replied, and felt a pulse of dark excitement shoot through him. “I sure won’t say no to that. Any particular reason?”

“Well, if I wake up, we’ll both like the sex. If I don’t wake up, you’ll like the sex. Plus, it should give me good dreams, at least. And...I guess I was curious about your answer.”

“My answer to the question of whether or not I would fuck you?” he asked.

“Whether or not you would fuck me in my sleep.”

“Why does that matter?”

She simply smiled and shrugged. “I guess we’ll see in the future.”

He sighed but couldn’t help but return the smile. “You’re being coy.”

“I like to indulge in that, sometimes.” She yawned suddenly.

“All right, Yelena. Good night. I love you. I’ll fuck you one way or the other.”

“Good. I love you too, John.”

He put out all but one of the candles and then left the room, mostly closing the door behind him, then headed back downstairs. He expected to find Bianca somewhere in the house by now, but she was in the exact same spot, staring out into the room on the porch. He considered going to her, but no, not yet. Elise might have made some kind of progress, and he probably needed a bit longer to get his head back on straight.

John moved down into the basement.

He found Elise at a desk, staring intently at the journal.

“Elise-”

“Busy,” she replied. “Go get some sleep, gonna be up for awhile figuring this out.”

“I’ll leave you to it,” he said, turning right back around.

“Thank you.”

Obviously she was deeply entrenched in her work. Well, all the better. The sooner they figured this out, the sooner they could go kill the rest of the necromancers. He headed back upstairs and finally walked out onto the front porch. It was raining harder and the sun was almost gone now. Bianca looked back at him, then looked away.

He walked up and stood beside her.

Neither of them said anything for several moments.

“There’s a part of me that hates you, you know?” John said finally.

She looked back at him, startled. “What?” she replied.

“I mean hates, Bianca. A part of me that loathes you.”

She continued staring at him, seemingly bewildered. No doubt she’d expected some small talk or maybe some subtler way.

But John wasn’t feeling subtle right now.

“But it’s that same part of me that makes me understand you. At least to some degree. I understand how easy it is to hate. But racism is a sore spot for me, Bianca.”

“Racism?” she replied. “You think-”

“I think you hate Yelena because of her race. Because she’s a demoness. That sounds a lot like racism to me, Bianca. You don’t know her at all. For fuck’s sake, you showed up trying to kill her! Because she was a demon. That’s it. That’s the only reason. I’m willing to bet you’d have tracked and killed her for free. Am I wrong?”

Bianca continued staring at him, her mouth open, her tail twitching violently behind her. “I guess no one’s ever said that to my face before,” she replied quietly. “I guess you have a point.”

John felt a lot of his anger burn off then. He’d come out here expecting to argue with her, to fight with her, maybe even physically, since she seemed the type to escalate to violence quickly. He hadn’t quite expected this.

Well, apparently they both had surprises in store for each other.

“I grew up surrounded by racism,” John said, “but I was on the other side of it. Grew up in a small town full of fucking morons who hated elves and beryl and felis,” he said, staring at her. “And I had to see all that ugly hate. Had to see merchants and hunters and travelers coming through, having to just fucking deal with that ugly shit. Because you know what it’s like when you don’t just deal with it, don’t you?”

She sighed heavily. “Yes, I do. You get angry, and they’re just waiting for you to get angry. And there’s always more of them than there are of you. And they put you down. They’re just waiting for an excuse to beat you half to death, or even go all the way and straight up murder you. And they’ll say, ‘It was self-defense’. They’ll say, ‘See, look, nothing but an animal. You saw the way it came for me.’ And they’ll all laugh and pat each other on the back, and no one will say anything.”

“I did, usually,” John said quietly. “Tried to help, whenever I could.”

Bianca stared at him for a few seconds longer, then turned away and looked back out into the rain. She was quiet for a moment, then began speaking in a low voice.

“I was married, once,” she began. “I loved him. He was a beryl, a hunter. We met when I was twenty. We began a tryst, and that became a partnership, and that became love. We went everywhere together. Not long after we married, we decided we wanted to put more meaning into our lives. So we began traveling with a group of people, among them his brother, and we dedicated ourselves to seeking out and slaying evil. We were good at it...”

She paused, took a deep, shuddering breath. “After a few years, we were up north, beyond the mountains, running down a group of rogue necromancers. They were consorting with demons, we discovered. We tracked them, ambushed them, but they were more well-prepared than we thought. The battle was vicious and hard-fought, and they had demon allies to call on. We killed the necromancers, but the demons...they killed my husband, and his brother, and several of my friends. In the end, just two of us walked away from that fight.”

“I’m so sorry, Bianca,” John whispered.

“I am, too,” she said quietly. “I...went through a dark time, after that. Eventually, I came back here. I began bounty hunting demons and necromancers with a vengeance. It gave me fuel again, gave me purpose. It...became me. And I became it.” She turned suddenly to face him again. “You love her, don’t you? You love Yelena.”

“I do,” he replied.

She let out a small huff, her tail twitching again. “There is a part of me that hates you for that. Abhors you for that. But...you are right, John. I hate her because of her race and I hate you for consorting with her kind. And that...isn’t right.” She paused, then she looked suddenly tired, exhausted even. She walked over and sat down on a bench up against the front wall of the house, beneath the windows in the living room.

He sat beside her.

“Tell me why you love her. Why is she different? Why is she special to you? I’m admittedly deeply curious about how this came to be,” she said.

“Well...that’s going to take awhile to explain,” John replied. “But when I first met Yelena, she was unconscious, injured, and on the run...”

…

By the time John was coming back upstairs, close to two hours had passed, and now he felt as tired as Yelena had looked. But he felt so much better. He felt like he’d made an actual connection with Bianca, and she had with him. He’d told her everything, and Bianca had listened. Clearly it had been difficult for her, but she had held her peace, and listened, and in the end, after it was all over, she’d just said, “I can see why you love her. And why she loves you.”

Then she’d yawned and said that she should really be getting to sleep.

He had agreed with her and they’d gone back into the house. He’d poked his head briefly into the basement and saw Elise doing something with magic and figured she needed more time. So now here he was, stripping down, preparing for bed.

John slipped into the tub after checking on Yelena. She was out cold. Thinking about her request earlier, he quickly washed up. He was horny, but also a little uncertain. Part of him wanted to let her sleep, but she’d been very specific, and damn but was he horny. So as soon as he finished cleaning himself and drying off, he hurried over to the bed and got beneath the blankets. Lifting them up, he got a good look at Yelena’s trim, fit backside and knew immediately that, yeah, he was doing this. He was definitely going this.

Laying a hand on her shoulder, he rolled her over onto her back and spread open her legs. There was something darkly exciting about this. He found his breath coming faster and heavier, as was his heartbeat, as he got in between her athletic thighs. This was something he’d done before, always with permission, and there was always a similarly dark excitement to it. As he began sliding into her pussy, finding her extremely hot and wet, he found himself wondering other things. There was certainly a darker side to sex, not bad, just a bit more...primal. He’d had friends, casual acquaintances, who were into this kind of primal sex.

Sex that involved violence.

Sex that involved screaming.

Sex that involved ropes.

That was really fun and exciting sex. It had been a long time since he’d enjoyed that particular kind of sex, and he wondered, suddenly, if Yelena might be interested in it. There was something about her, about the rough way she fucked him sometimes, or demanded he fucked her, that seemed like she would be.

And some of their conversations so far had hinted at this.

Maybe he should ask her sometime.

But for now…

John groaned as he buried his entire cock inside of her and started fucking her sweet, sweet demoness vagina. Yelena groaned and shifted slightly, but otherwise, she remained asleep. John propped himself up and stared down at her slim, fit body as he fucked her hard, driving furiously into her, the raw ecstasy burning into him. He knew he wouldn’t last long, her pussy felt too good and this was too fucking hot.

That dark edge was exciting him, that illusion of taking advantage of Yelena in her sleep, of fucking her without her knowing. It was a fucked up thing to fantasize about, but...well, he supposed everyone was fucked up in their own way. It was what you did that mattered, and Yelena had asked him for this.

So he let himself enjoy this fantasy, let himself enjoy fucking her in her sleep.

Within another half minute, he was coming inside of her, filling her pussy with his seed one hard twitch at a time. He groaned, his whole body going rigid, hips jerking forward in time with each fresh spurt of his seed as he emptied himself inside of her. The orgasm was a good, long, hot one, and when he was finished, he pulled out of her and curled up beside her. Within a few seconds, he was already drifting off to sleep.

Tomorrow, he knew, was going to be a long day.

CHAPTER VIII

“John, Yelena, Bianca! Wake up!”

John jerked awake, and felt Yelena do the same beside him. She leaped up off the bed, raising her hands, and a red glow began to emanate from them. For a few seconds, he simply stared at her, enraptured by her nude body, her messy hair, the lethal look on her face.

“What is it!?” he called, tearing his gaze from her and looking around for a weapon.

“I’ve decoded the journal!” Elise called.

Yelena sighed and lowered her hands, the red glow bleeding off into the air around her. John groaned and rubbed at his eyes.

“It’s important!” Elise added. “We need to hurry!”

“Shit,” he muttered, pulling the blankets back and getting up. “Be down in a minute!” he called at her.

“Not a good way to wake up,” Yelena grumbled as they walked over to the washbasin.

“Yep,” he muttered, then yawned.

They each grabbed washrags and soap and took a moment to wash themselves up quickly. John had a bad hard-on, as he always did in the morning, but there was no time to satisfy it right now. From the way Yelena was moving, he had an idea that she was equally horny. They were going to have to make up for that at some point, but now there was business to tend to. As soon as they were washed up, they dried off and dressed.

As they came downstairs, they saw Bianca emerging from the spare bedroom she’d slept in. She looked sheepishly at Yelena.

“Yelena...” she said, hesitating.

“Yes?” Yelena replied, sounding guarded. John tensed, wondering where, precisely, this was going to go.

“Thank you...for helping me...yesterday,” she said haltingly.

“You’re welcome, Bianca,” Yelena replied, and he was glad to see there was no superiority or recrimination in her words. Just a simple ‘you’re welcome’.

Bianca seemed relieved.

“Come on!” Elise called from the basement.

The trio hurried downstairs. They found Elise at one of her many desks, nose in the journal. “Did you even sleep?” John asked.

“Yes, I caught some sleep. This had a magical cipher on it,” she replied, speaking fast. “Had to set a spell on it to decipher overnight. But I have it! Listen: they are gathering these artifacts because they’re attempting to free an old, undead, necromancer lord who was buried on an island. This magic they’re using cloaks them somehow to the natives of the Wild, the dryads and serpentine, which is how they’ve been able to operate like this. I know where the island is. According to this, they may have everything they need to resurrect this undead asshole.”

“Any idea why they’re doing this?” Bianca growled.

John glanced at her. She was scowling. He had the idea that this was a particularly offensive situation for her, after what they’d discussed last night.

“Same reason as always. Power. Immortality. Stupid shit like that,” Elise replied. She sighed. “We have to find some help and get to that island. We have to stop them.”

“And we’re the only ones who know about it,” John muttered. “Great. Who can we ask for help?” he asked.

“There’s a place I can go in an emergency,” Elise replied, “a meeting place where a dryad should meet me. We have to hurry. Go get ready.”

“On it,” John replied, turning on his heel and marching up out of the basement.

It was time to act.

…

John was nervous, but he was feeling pretty good, too.

They were making progress. No more stumbling around uncertainly, following an amulet blindly into what could be a nest of necromancers and undead horrors, (that last battle had been too damned close for his liking). No, now they knew where they were going. But knowing you were heading into a pack of undead nightmares and necromancers felt only marginally better than not knowing. He’d pulled on some armor they’d recovered from the tomb. It wasn’t fantastic, but it was a damn sight better than just some clothes.

He had a quiver full of arrows that had been treated with poison and Yelena had a quiver of arrows that had been treated with fire magic. They would burst into flame on impact. Bianca also had her own bow and arrows, and they all had blades of some sort. They were geared up and ready for one crazy battle.

Hopefully they would be able to find some allies for this mess.

They hurried through the woods, making rapid progress towards this secret meeting site of Elise’s. He was also deeply grateful to see that they were all more or less on the same page now. He didn’t sense much in the way of tension between Bianca and Yelena anymore. He doubted that they would ever be friends, but it was nice to see that Bianca didn’t appear to actively hate the women he loved anymore.

As it turned out, Elise’s emergency spot really was good for an emergency. Not only did they only have to travel about ten minutes to get there, but they only had to wait a few minutes until a pair of dryad women showed up. The spot itself was at the base of a small waterfall in a clearing. Before the dryads showed up, John noted something behind the waterfall and it took him a minute to figure out what it was.

A small statue of Vivian, the Goddess of Nature.

It was in its own small niche behind the water and glowed with a faint green luminescence. Sometimes John thought that maybe he should pick a God or Goddess, or two, and start praying and maybe doing a few things in their name.

“Elise, what is wrong?” one of the dryads who had appeared through the treeline almost like magic asked.

“Necromancers,” Elise replied. “They’re resurrecting an undead lord on an island maybe two hours’ walk from here. There’s probably at least a couple of dozen necromancers, and who knows how many of their undead ilk doing excavation right now.”

“Are you sure about this?” the dryad asked uncertainly. “We have not sensed-”

“Cypress, I wouldn’t have come here and made these claims if I was not sure. We’ve been personally tracking these necromancers for a few days now, and we killed several of them yesterday. I had to translate a journal,” she said, holding up the leather-bound book she’d been deciphering all night, “and their magic is specifically designed to hide from your kind. If we don’t stop this now, with force, it will get out of hand very, very fast.”

Cypress, a very tall dryad, frowned intensely, studying Elise and the others. Finally, she nodded tightly. “Elise, you have been nothing but trusting and truthful with us, and a good friend. I will return that trust. Are you willing to go ahead of me while I gather the forces necessary? We at least need someone there to assess the situation and intervene if necessary.”

“I am,” Elise said without hesitation.

“As am I,” Yelena said. Cypress looked at her intently once again, and he could see the question on her lips. What is a demon doing here? But she held the question back.

“I’m ready,” John said.

“So am I,” Bianca said.

“Very good then. Thank you so much, all of you. Fauna will go with you to provide support. I will hurry and gather as many forces as I can. Please, hurry.”

“We will. Good luck, Cypress,” Elise replied.

“And you. Thank you again,” Cypress replied, then turned and rushed off into the woods.

“We need to hurry,” Elise said, looking at Fauna.

“Lead, and I will follow,” she replied.

They immediately plunged back into the Emerald Wild, making haste towards the island, hoping it wasn’t already too late.

…

There was no conversation as they hurried through the woods.

John immediately saw the benefit of having what must be a fairly powerful dryad on their side. The way ahead of them seemed to open and it closed behind them. Nothing bothered them while they rushed through the forest, no monsters or creatures. John’s mind wandered as they kept going, his thoughts seemed like a ship that had been cast adrift in a tumultuous, storm-tortured sea. Sometimes he thought of the people who had joined him, his relationships with them. Sometimes he thought of the Wild around them, the creatures that dwelt within it, what their lives might be like. Sometimes he thought of Fauna, and what it would feel like inside of her.

Mainly he kept coming back to the necromancers.

Necromancers were not inherently evil. In fact, most of them were a force for good in the world. They provided services, laid the dead to rest, helped dissipate curses, cleared out hauntings, cured diseases. They combated the undead a great deal, as they saw it as their provenance, and their problem. He’d met and befriended several of them. He’d had sex with more than a few. Sometimes they were a bit grim and solemn, but sometimes they were pretty pleasant and amiable. They weren’t all that different from other people or mages.

But sometimes they went bad.

And when they did, they tended to go bad in huge, dangerous ways.

He’d fought them before, in his times adventuring out into the land. It was always pretty nasty, always unpleasant. And now, here he was, fighting against them again. But at least he had allies this time, people he could count on. He could personally attest to Yelena’s, Elise’s, and Bianca’s combat skills, and Fauna didn’t strike him as a slacker. She was intimidating all her own, a good six feet tall at least and with a clear command of nature magic. She was going to be a good ally. But would it be enough?

He supposed it all came down to one simple thing: would they have to engage the enemy when they got to the island or could they afford to wait?

They wouldn’t know until they got there.

As they finally reached the coastline, another question he’d been silently worrying about the whole way there was answered, and in a good way. How were they going to actually get to this island? But there was a boat waiting for them. Whether this was left there by the necromancers, probably intended for those who had been killed or it had been left here by chance alone, it didn’t matter. They were going to use it.

And the island wasn’t all that far away, either.

John looked for activity as they all got into the boat, but whatever was happening must have been centered on the other side of the island, out of view. Perfect. The five of them carefully boarded the boat, which was tied off to a very simple, old dock that rocked a little too much for comfort when they walked along it.

To make matters worse, it looked like the storm that had been lingering over the past few days was coming back. Even as he thought it, John saw lightning split the sky. Almost immediately thunder boomed furiously overhead.

“We need to hurry,” Bianca said quietly as John slipped onto the boat.

He was the last one on. As soon as he settled in, John grabbed the rows and began rowing, getting them through the water and towards the island. He tried not to groan: his muscles were already aching after everything that had been happening over the past several days. After this, he was looking forward to a nice, long vacation, filled with nothing but hot foot, hot baths, and seriously hot sex with Yelena, and hopefully Elise.

And maybe a few dryads.

“What if they see us?” Yelena asked quietly.

“We’ve got bows,” Elise replied.

“I’ll get us there quick,” John muttered, rowing hard across the choppy waters.

They fell silent as he kept going. In a way, this felt a little crazy. There were people, whole groups of people actually, to handle things like this. Typically paladins handled it when necromancers went rogue, or when evil things were afoot. This was something the lord of the land should at least have one godsdamned hand in. And yet, John knew that the king would probably never hear of it. And he didn’t really care.

He knew that there were a lot of adventurers out there who sought glory and fame, and riches if they could help it, not all of them, but a lot of them. John didn’t necessarily begrudge them this, he’d even shared similar desires at one point or another in his life. But now? Now, he was really just concerned with keeping Yelena and his friends safe, in having a good time and, when the situation called for it, helping people.

Whether or not they ended up knowing it.

The tension swelled as they finished crossing the final distance to the island. It remained unbroken as they hit the rocky shoreline and hustled out of the boat. John made sure to bring them in as out of sight as possible, behind a large boulder. The rocky beach extended away from them to either side, quickly curving out of sight. It didn’t seem to be a particularly large island. Up ahead was a rise in the land. John could see trees and sky, but nothing else. He could hear things now, though: voices. Shouted commands.

And there was a presence on the air now, like a foul smell or a charge upon the air before a particularly bad storm.

As they made for a path cut into the rise in the land, it began to rain.

John honed his focus down so that his environment, those around him, sights and sounds and smells, were all he knew. This was it, do or die. Bianca was leading the way up the incline and he was right behind her. The others moved silently at his back. His fingers wrapped tightly around his bow and he was itching to notch an arrow. As they crested the rise and got back to level ground, John began to hear more sounds.

Far more than he’d been hoping for.

A small forest waited for them, and beyond it, through the trees, John could see a fury of activity. The rain picked up as they hurried across the small open field and got to the treeline. They moved quickly and quietly, and as they slunk through the trees, trying to get closer, John began to get an idea of what they were up against.

It was already looking pretty bad.

There was some kind of excavation going on in a huge clearing beyond the trees ahead of them. He immediately spotted a good dozen necromancers, maybe even more, it was a little hard to tell with all the movement going on. Besides the necromancers themselves, there was a small army of the undead moving back and forth, doing the digging and the heavy labor. Dirt flew on the air as they cut into the earth with all manner of tools. There had to be a good fifty or sixty zombies and skeletons just in his field of vision alone.

And some of them looked pretty tough.

And were carrying weapons.

Definitely not the mediocre things they’d been fighting so far. This was going to be tough. And that hole looked deep, so who knew how many more were out of sight, digging? Not to mention, there had to be a good amount elsewhere on the island, perhaps securing the area. There could be over a hundred hostiles in the immediate area. John felt his stomach go icy with fear. He was crouched on an island in the freezing rain with four allies, outnumbered probably twenty to one. Perhaps even more than that.

And they were all necromancers or their undead servants.

What had he gotten himself into?

“What do we do?” he whispered.

“We can’t launch an attack,” Elise murmured back softly.

“No, we can’t, not against this number,” Fauna agreed quietly. “We should stay out of sight, perhaps fall back to the coast. I should remain here. Although my abilities to remain unseen in nature are greatly diminished in the face of such naked evil, I will still have the best chance of remaining undetected. I can keep watch on them. And hopefully they will take enough time in their excavation for our reinforcements to arrive.”

“All right,” John said, “that sounds like a good-”

A shriek cut through the frigid air and shattered his thoughts. He jerked to the left and saw a zombie, a sentinel half out of the treeline a few dozen meters away. It was shrieking, raising the alarm, and aiming a notched arrow at them. Even as John was preparing his own arrow, one flew through the air from behind him and hit the thing right in the socket. Its shriek continued on in a broken kind of way as it staggered around for a few seconds, then cut off and it collapsed to the ground. John twisted around to look back at the general congregation of evil past the treeline. It was too late: they knew. And they were all coming right for the group.

“Intruders!” one of the necromancers screamed. “Death to the unbelievers!”

“Aw fuck,” John growled, snatching an arrow out, notching it and letting it fly. It cracked into the bony, wet skull of a skeleton and knocked it right off. The bones collapsed into a pile, but were quickly snapped and crushed underfoot as several dozen zombies and other skeletons began making for them in an undead tide.

“Looks like the decision just got made for us!” Bianca yelled, loosing her own arrow.

Then, there was no time for talking. At first, the trees worked with the group and against the undead. It slowed them down, made them easier targets. The five of them backed off and began loosing arrows. Well, four of them did. Fauna brought her hands up and did her best to turn the local plant life against the undead horde. It tripped them up, got them caught on twisting limbs, tangled in writhing vines, and provided a series of slower targets for them.

But the advantage didn’t last for long.

Fauna hadn’t been overselling the effect the evil magic had on her own abilities. Before long, the skeletons and zombies tore themselves free and surged forward with a renewed strength. John kept firing arrows as fast as he could manage, but he could see that their position was quickly about to be overrun.

There were simply too many hostiles.

He fired off his last arrow and then dropped his bow, drawing his blade and liberating it from its leather sheath as fast as he could manage. Just in time: a zombie bore down on him. He brought his blade around in a tight arc and decapitated the nearest zombie, then quickly raised his blade up and brought the pommel down as hard as he could on a skeleton as it came for him with twin daggers. Its shiny white skull shattered under the impact. He heard the others begin to grunt and shout as they were forced to rely on their melee weapons.

The next several moments came to him as nothing more than rain-drenched chaos.

He drove his blade into a zombie’s open, screaming mouth and ripped it out the side. He kicked a zombie in the chest and sent it stumbling back into several others. He bashed a skeleton’s head off with his elbow and then drove his fist into another madly grinning skull. It sent the thing’s head flying off and, if not for his gauntlet, he’d have broken his hand. As it was it hurt like shit. The undead tide closed in around them.

It was the tomb all over again.

John fought his ass off, trying to keep track of the others. He saw Yelena fighting furiously, a look of intense and lively bloodlust on her face. She was sneering as she hacked off a zombie’s arm and then drove her blade into the chest of a necromancer that had given in to his own bloodlust and charged them. Bianca had a look of cold, concentrated fury on her face as she ducked and dodged the blades and arrows intended for her, and retaliated with a startling precision. Elise was going at it with a pair of wicked-looking daggers that were glowing with a deep red magic that caused bursts of flame to appear each time she stabbed or slashed at someone.

Several of the zombies lit aflame.

And Fauna.

Good Gods.

She had produced a staff of thickly knotted wood from somewhere that she was using with a brutal efficiency. She cracked her staff down on zombie’s heads and caved in their skulls. She smashed bones into dust whenever she connected with skeletons. John forced himself to endure even as he felt a blade slice across his bicep, and then another cut too close to his neck and draw a bit of blood. He cut off the heads of another two zombies and smashed a skeleton to pieces with a full-body blow and managed to clear a bit of space around him.

Then something smashed into his head from the side, blindsided him and sent him stumbling. He heard someone scream his name as he went to the ground, the world twisting madly, spinning into a confusion of the undead and the sky and the trees and some part of him thought: Well, this is it. This is how I die.

Here, on some island I don’t know the name of, and my friends and lover are going to die along with me.

He prayed that Yelena made it out alive.

A pair of zombies loomed over him, reaching down for him, preparing to finish the job. And then something flashed by, something huge and green, and the zombies were suddenly gone. A roar went up, the kind of roar you heard when an army rallied, and the voices he heard were not undead. He saw more movement around him, and suddenly a face was hovering over his. Yelena. She looked worried and knelt.

“Hold still, my love,” she whispered, and laid a hand against his head.

He hissed in pain. The blow had definitely split his scalp. “What’s happening?”

“Reinforcements. Now be still.”

A sudden warmth flowed from her hand into his head and the pain lessened, then receded, then disappeared completely.

Another person appeared suddenly, a familiar face stared down at him. “Is he okay? Did we get here in time?”

“He’s okay,” Yelena replied, sounding deeply relieved.

“Brynne,” John said as the world came back into focus.

“Hello, John. Get up. We need your help.”

He nodded, then almost regretted it, as he expected a wave of pain to come, but Yelena had done a good job healing him.

As they helped him to his feet, he saw that the undead tide had been turned. A hectic confusion of battle surrounded him. The zombie and skeleton horde were being slaughtered by a small army of dryad, serpentines, and harpies.

“How’d you get here?” he asked as he retrieved his blade.

Brynne laughed. “We can swim, John.”

“Better than most of us can, I imagine,” Yelena said.

“Yes. Now let’s go.”

She turned and suddenly surged forward, into the trees, with a disturbing speed and lithe dexterity. It warmed his heart to see her, and the others. As he and Yelena charged forward with their bloodied blades, he caught sight of Bianca and Elise among the fighters as they pushed their way through the forest and into the clearing. The dryad and harpies were certainly proficient at killing, the serpentine looked like they were designed for it. They were merciless and brutally strong, tearing off limbs and heads with a sickening ease.

John charged in between them, mopping up those that survived the initial wave of slaughter. He heard hysterically shouted orders coming from somewhere nearby. The necromancers. No doubt trying to buy time to get one last-ditch, desperate spell off. John did not intend to give them the time. His sword arm rose and fell, rose and fell, and zombies and skeletons fell before him. This time, he was on the side that was clearly winning. There had to be a good three dozen serpentine and dryads fighting beside him.

And overhead, he could see perhaps eight or so harpies, soaring through the skies, raining down death from above with bolts of magical fire. It looked like they were going to wrap this up. And that’s what John was thinking as he finally broke through the opposite treeline and came into the excavation site. He saw a necromancer go down, the man’s head ripped from his body by a serpentine, and another still take a sword to the chest as Bianca murdered him. He hurried forward, eager to finish this battle, to kill the rest of the necromancers and be done with it.

That’s when everything seemed to hesitate.

A new chill entered the air.

A strangely dark light burst into being, coming from the excavation site.

“No!” he heard someone scream, “stop him! Stop him!”

There was a great thunderclap and a brilliant flash of dark light, and suddenly a wave of pure magical energy escaped from the excavation site. Everyone was thrown off their feet. John scrambled away, though he was confused and nervous to see that the zombie he’d been preparing to kill had fallen and was not getting up.

In fact, none of the undead were stirring.

While it seemed like a good idea, he knew there were ways this could go wrong.

And then, in the silence that fell, broken only by the rainfall, he heard something that sent frozen fear shooting through him. It was laughter. A deep, dark laughter that sounded horrifically vengeful and triumphant.

And someone was gagging.

Then there were footfalls. Heavy footfalls.

John watched, realizing he was holding his breath, and forced it out, as the footfalls drew closer. And then he saw it, and knew that the situation had become a lot more desperate. A skeleton cast aglow in that same dark light was walking slowly from the excavation sight. It was covered in black armor that looked like obsidian and was holding one of the necromancers, presumably the leader, easily aloft in the air, its bony fingers wrapped around the man’s neck. The necromancer was gagging, beating uselessly at the skeleton’s arm.

With a twitch of its bony hand, the undead demon lord snapped the man’s neck like a twig and tossed his body aside.

It swept the battlefield with its gaze and shouted something in an old tongue that John imagined roughly translated to: Face me!

John, his allies, and the small army of nature warriors surged to their feet.

“Kill it!” someone screamed.

The harpies, who had been knocked from the air in the initial blast of dark magical energy, rose from the ground and shot into the stormy skies. They immediately began raining down magical fire on the dark lord. The serpentine and dryad all rushed forward, brandishing whatever weapons and natural magic they could.

John saw Bianca hurry forward with her own blade.

He and Yelena began to go but Elise suddenly appeared. “No! Yelena! I need you!” she cried. John looked back, she was flanked by a dryad and a serpentine. The dryad was Cypress, she looked worried but determined.

“What for?!” he snapped.

“It’s the only way to defeat this thing! We need Yelena! Please...just keep it busy, okay?! Yelena, please!”

She looked uncertainly at John.

“Go,” he said. “I trust her.”

“Please...” she replied, and he knew she wanted to tell him to stay safe, or be careful, but there was no safety, there was no being careful in this situation. “Stay alive,” she said finally, and gave him a fierce kiss.

He kissed her back. “Just hurry,” he said.

“I will.”

He saw Yelena go off with Elise, Cypress, and the other serpentine. As he twisted around, raising his sword, he shouted in surprise as he saw a body, a dryad, flying at him. Narrowly ducking it, he regained his footing and then rushed forward into the battlefield. It was a hectic chaotic nightmare. There were now a couple dozen combatants all rushing towards a single tall, dark figure, which was gleefully bashing them aside with its bare hands. They were landing blows on the thing but it didn’t seem to be doing much good.

It was too powerful.

What in the fuck were they going to do?

What magic trick did Elise have up her sleeve?

The only way to find out was to keep it busy and stay alive. John hefted his sword and then rushed into the fray. It was pure chaos. He saw a ball of dark energy shoot into the sky and smashed cleanly through a pair of harpies. All that was left behind were some burning feathers. He spied the dark lord backhand a dryad and send her flying. A serpentine got in close, wrapped her long-fingered green hand around its neck and begin to punch into its helmet with a tremendous force. It began to dent and a sense of frustration passed across what might be called facial features. It made a fist and punched clear through her chest.

Blood flew.

Bones cracked.

“Gods,” John heard himself whisper.

They were getting slaughtered, but she had done at least some damage. He was not invulnerable. Which meant they had some kind of chance. He kept shouldering his way through the others, sword ready, screaming for blood. He pushed on, ducking and dodging as the dryads and serpentine fought to get in. For a few seconds, it seemed like they were going to deal the monster a serious blow, as it became briefly overwhelmed by their sheer numbers. He saw weapons of wood bash at it, thick vines wrap around its limbs and torso.

And then he was finally there.

He brought his blade around in a hard arc, as fast as he could, putting all his strength behind it. The blade smashed into the demon lord’s neck…

And shattered.

A bony arm came out in a similar arc and smashed into John’s arm. He screamed in raw agony as something inside of him snapped, and felt himself be picked up by the sheer force of the hit, a force that felt impossible, like getting smashed by a battering ram. And then he was flying through the air. He hit the ground, and something else cracked inside of him, and he screamed again. The world swayed and darkened as the breath was driven from his lungs. John gasped, struggling feebly to move, and all he managed to do was roll onto his side.

And then he saw her.

Yelena was running. She was charging.

She looked like how he had looked in his mind as he charged the dark demon lord. She was holding a blade of some kind. Cypress and the serpentine warrior were charging along with her. He stared, breathless, as the world swam and twisted, darkness threatening to overwhelm him. The way was clear, as through acting on some unseen signal, those still left standing on the battlefield had moved aside, knowing what was coming.

The blade Yelena held glowed with a brilliant blue energy.

Time seemed to slow.

Yelena surged forward, blade drawn back, and the demon lord twisted to face her. It presented her with the perfect target.

She plunged the blade into its chest.

The thing let out a shriek so loud that John thought he would be deaf. As the blade pierced its black armor and sunk into its chest, a brilliant blue-white light burst into existence, and then it was not darkness that consumed his vision, but light.

…

“John? Please, please talk to me, John. Please...”

The voice was coming to him from a great distance. But it was familiar, and so warm, so welcome, so desperate.

“Yelena,” he murmured, and opened his eyes.

Her face was the first thing he saw. The sky above was gray, but it was no longer raining. There was pain, but it was muted.

“John! Oh...you have no idea how relieved I am,” she whispered.

“I think I have something of an idea,” he replied. “What happened?”

“I’ll tell you later, we need to get you somewhere safe. You’ve suffered a lot of damage.”

“Did we win, Yelena?” he asked, needing to know.

“We won,” she replied firmly.

He nodded weakly. “Good. I saw you...you looked amazing, Yelena. You looked like...like a warrior goddess.”

She smiled. “Thank you, John...now rest. Please. I’ll take care of you.”

“Wait...Elise, Bianca, Fauna...are they okay?”

Yelena frowned, then nodded. “Yes. Elise...she helped in a way that was extremely taxing. She’s unconscious and likely will remain as such for at least a day. Bianca was injured, she broke her leg and took a bad blow to the head, but she’s okay. Fauna is doing well, also. But...we suffered losses. Several dryad, harpies, and serpentine...”

“They went willingly, Yelena. We would all sacrifice ourselves to stop evil.”

Cypress appeared overhead, staring down at him, and crouched. “John,” she said, gently laying a hand on his forehead, her touch warm and comforting, “you know of this. Sacrifice. Stopping evil. You charged without hesitation into the field against overwhelming odds. I saw you. From this day forward, you are our ally, our friend. Call on us, and we will come. You have shown yourself a true friend of nature, and of Vivian. All four of you have.”

“Another Goddess that I am certain is uncomfortable with Her association with me,” Yelena muttered with a snort.

“No, Yelena,” Cypress said, now touching her forearm, “we were proud to fight beside you. You fought bravely. We care not for your race or realm or origin. It is what you do that matters. You are a friend now.”

“Thank you, Cypress,” Yelena said quietly.

“I’ll be happy to help you, too, if I can, in the future,” John said weakly.

Cypress offered him a smile. “I appreciate the offer, and accept it. But...rest, for now, John. You need to recuperate.”

“Good idea,” he said.

Then he passed out once more.

CHAPTER IX

He was here, finally.

Stafford, the City of Lights.

He had only been a few times in his life, and it had that same stunning effect as before. There were spires, and though there were not many of them, they were no less brilliant and magnificent. There were structures beneath them, simple yet elegant in design. And, behind the city, the mountain. It glowed a pale blue glow.

“Wow,” Bianca whispered. “I can feel the magic coming off of this place...”

“Yep,” John replied. “I only regret that we couldn’t come at night.”

“I can see the faint glow. I imagine it would be very beautiful,” Bianca said quietly.

“It is,” he replied. “Come on.”

They set off, out of the Emerald Wild and towards the City of Lights.

It had been three days since their battle on the island. He’d spent most of it recovering. They all had, honestly. He’d woken up a few times as he was being transported through the Wild. Once on the boat, his head resting on Yelena’s lap. Once as he was being carried through the woods. When he woke up again, he was laying in Elise’s bed, nude. Yelena was there. She had smiled and told him she’d undressed and washed him, and that he was healed, but he would need rest. He’d asked her for sex. She’d laughed and then ridden him until they both had come.

And then he was asleep again.

It was the next day that he’d gotten a full story of just what had happened.

The dryads had managed to get their hands on an old emergency relic, a weapon meant to combat evil. They had been saving it for such an occasion as this. The only problem was that it required a magical charge, a powerful one, and they hadn’t had time to charge it up on the way over. That’s why Elise had been required.

Yelena had been required to wield it, because she was realistically the only one who would be able to get close enough to deliver the blow, both because of her speed and strength, and because of the fact that she was the only one not being weakened or somehow subverted by the demon lord’s evil magic.

And so she had delivered the killing blow.

Although technically, with enough power and intent, the damned thing could be resurrected again. Which was why the dryads had called upon their mermaid friends for some help. They had apparently not only dispelled as much of the magic as they could from the artifacts and the remains of the undead demon lord, but had broken it up and had the evil being’s remains and the artifacts taken to the deepest, darkest parts of the ocean by the mermaids.

So there was very, very little chance of it coming back again.

Despite making the killing blow and being the most prominent figure of the battlefield, Yelena had gotten away from the incident pretty much without injury. Between his and Bianca’s serious wounds and Elise’s massive draining of her own magic, Yelena was the only one still mobile and did her best to take care of them as they recovered at Elise’s house. He’d gotten to know Bianca better, and Elise had basically declared him and Yelena among her best friends now, so she chatted them up a great deal.

And slept with them.

There were several threesomes that probably weren’t exactly helping with the recovery, but they sure felt fantastic.

And something else quite wonderful had come of it.

Once Elise fully understood his and Yelena’s situation, what they were after, she had pointed them towards a good friend of hers in Stafford. He was a powerful mage and someone John could trust. She said that he could provide what they were looking for, an amulet that would essentially hide Yelena in plain sight.

And it would be expensive, even with a friend discount.

But after gathering up all the gold, gems, and magical trinkets and artifacts, and the payment that Elise had given them, he was fairly positive that they could come to some kind of deal. And if not, well, there was a lot of coin to be made in the Emerald Wild.

“So I’ve got a question, and it’s kind of weird,” Bianca said.

“Shoot,” John replied. “I’m all about weird questions.”

She laughed. “I guess you are.” She paused, then sighed. “Given your, uh, history...why did you never proposition me for sex?”

He looked over at her. “I...mean...did you want me to?” he asked.

“Well, duh, who wouldn’t?”

“Would you have said yes?” he asked.

She looked at him, seeming to seriously consider it for a few seconds, then shook her head. “No, I would have turned you down. Even now.”

“Well if you were going to turn me down, why would you want me to ask?”

“Oh come on, are you dense?” she asked, and he was glad that she was actually teasing him, not just straight up insulting him. Their temperament towards each other over the past several days had warmed considerably.

She sighed again when he didn’t respond. “People like getting propositioned. They like knowing that someone wants to have sex with them. I mean, provided they aren’t, you know, a total idiot about how they proposition. Even if they aren’t interested in sex, people like to think that they’re attractive,” she explained.

“I guess that makes sense...” he frowned. “Why would you turn me down?”

She lost her smile suddenly. “It’s because...you remind me too much of my husband. You’re brave and kind and thoughtful and a little dense. And yes, John, for your ego, you are very attractive. I’d have sex with you in a heartbeat under better circumstances. But also...I guess part of it, and I hate that I feel this way, I hate more that I’m admitting it to you, but I’m...jealous.”

“Jealous?”

“Of Yelena. What she has with you...even I can see that it’s amazing. The two of you are an amazing couple. I miss having that. And you two deserve each other. Yelena...is an amazing woman. She’s very brave. I think she’s braver than I am.”

“Wow, that’s...quite the change of heart,” he murmured.

“I know. The past several days have made me rethink a lot of things in my life. I was so miserable for so long, I’d kind of just gotten stuck being pissed off and full of hatred and I just...became blind to it. It’s honestly a little terrifying how bad it had gotten. I would have killed her without a second thought and destroyed one of the most honest, loving relationships I’ve seen in a very long time. Not to mention all that happened on the island. That would have just gone on unchecked if I’d had my way...”

“But you didn’t. You chose to help us.”

She sighed again. “Yes, I did. But it was far, far too close for my liking. I just...” she shook her head. “Whatever, it’s over, we got out alive. We did a good thing.”

She stopped suddenly. They had made it into the city a fair distance now and had come to stand before a large fountain. John knew that, at night, the fountain glowed with a magnificent blue light. People walked and talked around them, going about their business, a hundred different men and women from all walks of life.

“This is where we part ways, I think,” she said.

“All right, Bianca,” he replied. “What will you do now?”

She looked slowly around them, then returned her gaze to him. “I don’t know,” she admitted. “I think my days of hunting demons are done. I still want to hunt evil, but...I don’t know. Before I do anything, I need a vacation. A real vacation. I think I’m going to go down to Tomontica and just fuck around.”

“That sounds wonderful,” he said.

She laughed, then offered him her hand. He took it and shook it. “Thank you, John. You’ve...well, you’ve opened my eyes. You probably changed my life. You’re an actual good person. I can’t say I’ve met too many in my life. Stay with Yelena, enjoy your relationship.”

“Oh, I plan to,” he replied. “And thank you for your help, Bianca. I don’t think we could have done it without you. You’re a good person, too, I think you just need to remember that. Now, go enjoy yourself. Let yourself be happy.”

She nodded to him. “I’ll at least give it a shot. Good luck, John.”

“Same to you, Bianca.”

She turned and walked away. He watched her go, disappearing into the shifting crowd, and just like that, she walked out of his life.

He hoped she could be happy again.

Turning, John began to hunt for the shop Elise had told him about.

…

He found it an hour later.

It took longer than it should have because he kept getting distracted. There was always something happening in Stafford. Stage shows, magic displays, shops offering a thousand and one interesting magical trinkets and items.

But he found it, an unassuming little shop with a simple sign that read GIL’S over the door. The only window was covered by a heavy curtain, almost as if in direct opposition to the ‘come-one-come-all’ attitude most of the other shops took on. John tried the door, almost fearing it locked, but it opened under his touch.

He came inside and found himself within a dim place. Blue-burning candles hung on the walls and were planted across several shelves and tables. The place was packed with all sorts of books and scrolls and magical items. There was no one in the shop. As he traced his way through it, John began to wonder if the guy had fallen asleep or something. Old wizards were a little notorious for taking a fairly whimsical attitude towards most things, especially customers, if they had shops. John figured he couldn’t blame them.

If he lived to old age, he’d probably have seen so much shit he’d be kind of whimsical too.

“Can I help you, lad?” a voice asked.

John tried to hide his surprise as he turned around and found a portly, balding man sitting on the floor against the far wall, tucked up in between the front of the front counter and the end of a shelf. He was smoking calmly on a long pipe and reading a book.

“I...Gil?” he asked.

“At your service,” he replied, closing the book and looking up at him.

“Okay. Um...Elise sent me.”

“Did she now?” Gil squinted at him, then smiled. “Yes, I can sense her on you. That girl has got such a particular magical aura.” With seemingly no effort, the man rose to his feet and set the book down on the counter. “How is she?”

“Tired,” he replied. “She helped me and my friends kill an undead demon lord on an island off the coast of the Emerald Wild a few days ago. It was quite taxing.”

Gil laughed merrily. “That girl is still getting up to such trouble! It gladdens my heart to hear this. So then, lad, who are you to her?”

“I’m a friend,” he replied. “I require a rare item and she sent me to you.”

“Well, if Elise claims you as a friend I suppose that’s good enough for me. What is it you’re looking for?”

John hesitated. He’d been wondering about how to word this for awhile now. Not every wizard had a ‘kill-on-sight’ policy with demons, but still…

“I’m looking for an amulet that would make someone not be noticed by the general population,” he replied.

“Hmm...that’s a rare and powerful magical item. I have such an item in my possession, but I’m afraid that I cannot part with it easily. It was...a hard find.”

“I’m more than willing to pay,” John replied.

“Very well. Why do you want it?”

“I...have a friend...who would benefit from its use.”

Gil laughed loudly. “Is that so? I don’t think I’ve heard such a vague response this year, and I have a lot of people coming in here looking for a lot of things.”

John sighed and decided fuck it. “I’m in love with a demoness, and we just want to live our lives together,” he said.

The humor left Gil’s face and he took on a thoughtful expression. “That would certainly explain the situation.” He considered it for a moment, then nodded slowly. “Who am I to deny love? I will sell it to you. All I can really ask is that you don’t abuse it.”

“I don’t plan to,” John replied.

Gil disappeared back behind the counter, into a room at the back of the shop. He returned a moment later, holding a gently glowing blue gem embedded in an amulet of polished golden metal. It was on a similarly polished golden chain.

“I used to adventure,” he said. “I’ve been up and down this land, and to others. I know what...unconventional love is like. Now, let’s see what you’ve got to haggle with.”

John set his pack down and began digging in it.

…

There. Finally. Elise’s house.

John had been a little worried that he might’ve gotten lost. He had a naturally good sense of direction, but the Emerald Wild was a crazy place. But no, he’d found it. He felt almost over-bursting with good cheer as he walked up the front lawn. The price had been high, but not as high as he was worried it might have been. He’d parted with all of his magical trinkets, all of his gems, and a little over two thirds of their gold.

But he had it, and there’d been enough leftover to buy a few cool items to help them on their journeys ahead. Namely, a camp-in-a-bag version of a pretty big storage chest. He’d bought it figuring that it would help them move furniture and supplies and whatever else they found in the Emerald Wild, as he and Yelena had spoken before he’d left, and they knew that one of the things they wanted to do was finish fixing up those cabins.

“I’m back!” he called as he came in through the front room.

“We’re up here!” Yelena called back.

The bedroom. John hurried up the stairs, eager to see her. He’d quickly grown to hate being apart from her.

He found the two of them laying nude in the bed he’d been sleeping in for several days now. “Having fun?” he asked.

“Had fun,” Elise replied easily, then she yawned. “Ugh, Gods, I’m still feeling that magical drain from the island. That took all I had and more. But your lady was feeling anxious with you gone so I figured a good fucking would keep her occupied.”

“I appreciate it,” Yelena said. “Did you get it?” she asked.

“I got it,” he replied.

“How’s Gil?” Elise asked as John pulled the amulet out.

“He seems fine. I found him sitting on the floor in the corner of his shop, smoking a pipe and reading. He was very amiable,” John replied.

“Sounds like Gil. Try it on!” she said, watching eagerly as Yelena accepted the magical item. John watched as well, very interested.

She held it in her hands for a moment, then brought it up over her head and, careful of her horns, lowered it. There was a strange kind of transition, and suddenly John found himself looking at a nude, plain-looking human woman.

“I don’t feel any different,” Yelena murmured.

“It’s working,” John replied, studying her. And it was interesting, too. There was nothing remarkable about her. She was tall and a little thin, her face very plain, her brunette hair limp. She wasn’t unattractive, she wasn’t beautiful, she just...was there. If she was wearing clothes, she’d look like any one of a thousand village women he’d seen in his life. And there didn’t seem to be anything unnatural about her at all, no strange sense of magic or uncomfortable feelings. It was shockingly effective.

No wonder it had been so expensive.

“I really look different?” she asked, looking at her arms, down at her body.

“Yeah, you look like...just some human woman,” Elise replied. “Wow, Gil really knows his shit,” she murmured.

“Well...okay then. Good. Can I take it off now?” she asked.

John smiled. “Yes, love. I prefer you without it, anyway.”

“Me too, you are so fucking hot, Yelena,” Elise said, stretching. She yawned again, then shook her head. “Well, I can sense that you two want some alone time. I just have one question...will you be willing to stay with me a few more days? I really want more sex.”

John and Yelena laughed. “Yes,” he said. “I think we can manage that.”

“Good! Then I’ll leave you be. I’m going to go get started on...lunch? Dinner? I don’t care. I’m making food.”

“Thank you, Elise. We’ll be down soon.”

“No rush.”

She got up and pulled on a robe, then left the room.

John sat down beside Yelena, who sat up and shifted to be close to him. He reached out and found her hand, squeezed it gently.

Yelena squeezed back. “So...we did it?” she asked after several more seconds of silence. “We completed our goal? What we first set out to do?”

“Well...we completed a goal,” he replied. “And yes, we did that. We have the amulet. It all worked out. But I think what we first set out to do was to live a life together.”

“So what do we do now?”

“Whatever we want, Yelena.”

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Owyn Fisher has just come of age and decides to leave his small village and start adventuring out into the world at large. But instead of danger or riches, he finds that his greatest adventure is all the beautiful monster women he encounters that wish to experience the taboo thrill of sex with a human.

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When Alan Wilde, a magical healer living a quiet life in a small village, begins having a personal crisis, wondering if he’s missing out on leading such a life, he meets Layla, a beautiful, cat-woman felis adventuress. She and her friends are on a dangerous journey and need a healer. The chance meeting feels like fate, and so Alan begins his journey of adventuring and, he is happy to learn, sleeping with several attractive adventuresses…

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POST APOCALYPTIC EROTICA SHARED UNIVERSE

SEX & SURVIVAL

Welcome to a post-apocalyptic world where a virus, once meant to be a scientific revolution, has ravaged the planet and turned most of the population into inhuman creatures. Some have become mindless zombies, others have morphed into new species. Some can fly. Some can breathe underwater. Some exhibit animal characteristics. Enter Mike Walker, a survivor and adventurer. In this brave new world, Mike often finds himself in the company (and beds) of beautiful, inhuman women.

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HAVEN

David is a young, terrified adventurer who is trying to survive in the wake of a new version of the virus that turns inhumans into extremely dangerous zombies. After the collapse of the colony he was staying in, he and his only friend, Evelyn, a beautiful, tough, eight-foot goliath, flee to an isolated location, and inadvertently become a beacon of hope by providing a safe haven for other survivors.

Coming 2019

ABOUT ME

Hello, I’m the author! There isn’t too much to me personally. I live somewhere in the United States and I like to write stories about people having sex and people having adventures!

So what makes me special? What sets me apart from most of the other thousands of erotica authors out there?

Well, a few things that I can think of.

I write about younger, often more innocent twenty-something guys. I’m honestly sick of all the billionaires and NAVY Seals and cowboys and firefighters. Most of all, I’m fucking sick and tired of all these BS ‘Alpha Male’ types. I don’t really want to bring down anyone who is writing or reading that, but I thought it was high time we started hearing about guys who are more realistic and down-to-earth.

Another big focus of mine is human guy on inhuman lady sex. There are certainly tons of stories about hot chicks getting laid by werewolves and dinosaurs and even Bigfoot! But there’s not enough out there, in my opinion, about regular guys fucking hot alien or monster or otherwise inhuman ladies. I love writing about human guys getting laid by mermaids and dryads and sexy aliens and genetically engineered female super soldiers and robots.

Finally, I like emphasizing sexual encounters, casual and longer engagements, that focus on consent, communication, trust, and respect. I like both parties involved getting what they want out of the sex. (Or I should say all parties, given how many people are fucking at once!)

If you want access to extra content, to get news about my progress on upcoming stories, or pictures of hot naked monster girls, then here’s some places you can check out.

This is my WEBSITE, (www.mistyvixen.com). Here, you can find free short stories that are related to my works or stand on their own, a monthly newsletter, alternate versions of my cover art where the ladies are naked, and more!

This is my TWITTER, (www.twitter.com/Misty_Vixen). I’ll post updates and pictures of hot naked alien, monster, or otherwise inhuman ladies I find on the internet. Also, I respond to pretty much everyone, so feel free to say something!

This is my PATREON, (www.patreon.com/MistyVixen). There, you can get early access to the first chapters of my in-progress works, and early access to alternate versions of my cover art where the ladies are naked! They will be released to my website after one month.

Finally, if you want to talk to me directly, you can send me an e-mail at my address:

mistyvixen@outlook.com

And that’s it! Once again, thank you very much for reading my work. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it!

-Misty

DEMONESS II. Copyright © by Misty Vixen. All rights reserved.

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either products of the author's imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entire coincidental. All rights reserved. No part of this publication can be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic or mechanical, without permission in writing from the author or publisher.