by Jack Porter
“Jon,” she said breathlessly. She looked confused but also as if she was about to deck me.
I let go of her. “I’m sorry.”
Leaving her there, I stalked away, not caring if it made me look childish. I had to get away. The Hellhound shifter burned in my thoughts. She was obviously confused about what she wanted, but I wasn’t. At this point, I didn’t care if she ran away.
In fact, it might have been better if she had.
My path took me back through the city gates, and I allowed myself to explore a while to clear my head. Most of the city looked the same to me, an outsider. But since I was human and wasn’t accompanied by a succubus or an elf this time, no one really paid me much attention. Crowmore was accustomed to strangers, who could walk the streets without having their lives threatened on ordinary days, as had been the case in Sarina’s village on the edge of the Black Mountains.
Sarina. Damn her. Why had she kissed me?
I’d liked it. Of course I had. But the desire I felt for her now wasn’t the same that I’d felt the moment she’d first stepped close. This fiery lust was different and was accompanied by the blood rage of battle. The kind I couldn’t tell anyone about for fear of what they might say. Should I be the one in irons instead of Sarina?
No. I was in control. It wasn’t that I wanted to do anything heinous to her, or force her. But there was no caution there. It was more like the urge I felt didn’t belong to me but to someone else, and it was overwhelmingly unfeeling and uncaring. It had to have been a side effect of the magic. I kept coming back to that point.
But then, I also kept returning to another point. If my lust was a result of the magic, what kind of magic did I have? It didn’t feel… good. Powerful, yes. But if I could have assigned an affinity to it, knowing what little I knew, I would have said it was dark magic.
That didn’t make me feel any better.
I found myself passing a brothel. It was obvious even though I couldn’t read the sign. I didn’t need to. Men and women stood naked or scantily clad outside it, with more under a pavilion to the side. This had never been my scene, but I was a bit tempted when I caught a glimpse of a woman under the tent kneeling in front of an elf I didn’t recognize. Not one of Nya’s elves—this one was clad in worn traveling clothes and had brown hair. They were both settled on deep cushions, and the woman was pleasuring the elf, who had her head thrown back and her mouth open.
“Would you like to pick one out for yourself?” a woman’s voice asked.
I turned to see a woman dressed in gold chains and silk robes standing nearby. “I have many to choose from,” she said. “They will all do whatever is your bidding.”
“No,” I said, turning to leave.
“My slave girls and boys have exactly the kind of training you won’t find anywhere else in the city. I promise you they can fulfill all your desires.”
That made me pull up short. “Slaves?”
The woman smiled.
I glanced back to the woman and the elf. The woman had a collar. So did many of the other men and women under the pavilion.
“It’s revolting,” I said. “So no, I don’t want you to find anyone for me.”
“It is within the law,” she said without batting an eye. “But you must be a foreigner who doesn’t know our customs.”
“I know enough to realize what is completely and utterly wrong. Who do you buy from? The slavers at the market?”
“Sometimes,” the woman said. “But we have men, women, half-elves, dwarves, and creatures from far and wide. Not all of them come from Blackwharf. Why don’t you come in and have a look for yourself?”
I glanced up the street, toward where the Chief Magistrate’s keep rose above the buildings, and wondered if Nya knew of the slave trade in Crowmore. She had been here before, so she must have. Without another word, I turned on my heel and left the establishment, feeling angry and a little resentful. This city had wanted our help, hadn’t they? Complained of the Wraith King’s power and influence? Of the slavers’ bold reach in their lands?
But they were taking advantage of those slavers’ profession. With a bad taste in my mouth, I continued walking.
Unfortunately, the conversation had renewed the sense of blood rage and lust that I’d been recently fighting. And, rather than being abated, my sexual desire was renewed even if I didn’t want to satisfy it with a slave. My time spent with Nya that morning now seemed a long time ago, so I walked the streets, wondering if I should go back to camp and seek out Ilana. And maybe tell her my problem. It was time. If I couldn’t tell her, I couldn’t tell anyone.
How did a succubus view sex? It was obvious she enjoyed it with me, and she had said so many times, but did she have a similar compulsion to it that I had been feeling of late? Ilana had reminded me many times that her view wasn’t the same as a human’s, or even an elf’s. Perhaps she alone of any of my allies would understand.
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With that thought in mind, I headed back toward the city gates, taking a different route so I could avoid the brothel. My path took me closer to the inn where we’d had the fight. I thought to stop back in and question the innkeeper a bit more, but before I got there, a woman came out of doorway wearing a dark red shift.
She caught my eye right away because the shift, although it went all the way to the ground, had a split up the left thigh that went to her hip. The neckline plunged low to almost her abdomen, leaving half her breasts exposed. Her red hair was beautiful, falling sleekly over her shoulders and back. I recognized her from the inn that morning, from well before the fight.
“Hello,” she said.
I paused. “Hi,” I said warily.
“You are a stranger, yes?” she asked in a lilting accent that was a bit different than the ones I was used to hearing.
“Passing through,” I said.
Her palms rested on her thighs as if she was moments from pulling her dress up to her hips. She smiled, and it was lovely. “I can help you ease the weariness of the road.”
For a price, I was certain. She was beautiful, although I didn’t have anything to pay her with.
“First one’s on me,” she said as if guessing my thoughts.
“That doesn’t sound fair,” I said.
“Why not? Don’t you think I’ll enjoy myself?”
I smirked. “I would hope you do.”
She moved closer to me, putting a hand on my chest, her fingers slipping inside the laces of my tunic. “Come on. You look like fun.”
I really, really wanted to, but something didn’t make sense, not the least of which was her offer of a freebie. With her other hand, she pulled her dress away from one breast, showing me a small but pert mound with a pink nipple. Then, she took my hand and placed it on her bare skin. I squeezed her breast, and the part of my mind that wanted to do more began winning.
I was still feeling a bit reckless, and her offer was coming at either a really good or a really bad time.
The woman took my hand. “Come on.”
Without thinking much about it anymore, and with the magic in my blood encouraging me, I followed her around the side of the building. Still sensing a trap, I looked for bandits or somebody who might be waiting, but there was no one. Only her.
When she untied the laces to my pants and slid a hand inside, I leaned against the stone wall. She pulled her hand out, spit on it, and then inserted it again to stroke me.
“You’re a good size. Long and thick. Mhmm…” she said, licking her lips. Then she slid down my body, took my dick out, and slid her lips around it.
And I began to feel a bit dreamy.
I was grateful for the wall’s support as she sucked me off, and a few times I thought to stop her, mostly because I didn’t know her motivation. But then she would do something marvelous with her tongue, and I’d lose the resolve. I saw her hand move under the slit of her dress, and she looked like she was masturbating as she worked on me. When I came inside her mouth, she didn’t bat an eye, cont
inuing to lick and suck until I was spent. Then, she sat back on her heels, letting her dress fall to the side, and I got a full view of her massaging herself until she groaned in ecstasy. As she came, she uttered something in an unknown language, one that had harsh syllables that I didn’t recognize. It wasn’t anything the elves had said before.
And it was a little unsettling.
When she finished, she slowly stood, her eyes hooded, her one breast still exposed.
I was breathing heavily but feeling better. “What can I do for you?” I asked.
“Nothing,” she said. “That was what I needed.”
Smiling, I took out a few coins and gave them to the woman. They looked shinier than any coins had a right to be in the fading red light of the day, but I dismissed the thought.
The took them from me and tucked them somewhere beneath her dress. “For that price, you can have more,” she said. And then she dragged me off to farther back in the alley, beneath some rickety wooden stairs that led to a second level of the next-door building. More… it sounded enticing, but after my release, my head was clearer, and the dreamy state was wearing off.
This was fucking weird. I mean, yeah, it was her job, and she was amazing at it, but something still didn’t feel right. It felt like a dream. As the woman leaned against the wall and slid her dress up her legs, I took a step back, tucking myself back into my pants as I did so. “Thanks, I’m good.”
“Are you, though?” she asked, her voice turning low and sexy.
Checking that we were still alone—we were—I got ready to walk away. “Yes.”
And then she did this weird thing and hissed at me.
“Umm… sorry?” I asked, automatically reaching for my dagger. But I didn’t have it on me, per city regulations. The lust returned, and I fought it harder, shaking my head. And now the dreamy state returned, too, but more menacing this time, and I didn’t like it one bit. I didn’t want to do anything else with this woman. I hadn’t had any money, and…
Where had those coins come from? What had I handed her?
Sensing danger now more than ever, I backed slowly away. “This has been great,” I said, “but I’ve got things to do.”
The woman hissed again and let her dress fall back to the ground. The fabric seemed to gather around her legs and cling to her ankles, then stretched out behind her as if it were alive.
Then, her arms stayed at her hips, almost as if they were attached there.
As I watched, the woman’s body morphed. Her legs fused together, her arms turned red and scaled, and her neck and shoulders became one. The woman’s eyes grew into bulbous, glassy orbs with slits, and her eyelids retreated into her head. Finally, she grew enormous fangs from her widening mouth, and I found myself facing down a twenty-foot-long serpent with dark red scales and yellow eyes. It hissed as it rose over me, its mouth opening.
It was going to strike, and I didn’t have any weapons.
Only my magic.
To top it off, I still felt a bit woozy.
Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck.
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As the bitch rose over me, I considered calling for help, but the elves were out of the city. Who would come to my aid?
So I backed toward the street, keeping my hands in front of me. But even if I sprinted, the snake was too close not to miss.
So I made the sign for fire. A ball of yellow light shot out of my palm and went straight for the serpent, but she dodged it easily.
The only good it did was prevent her from striking. So I gathered myself to try again. This time, I tried from both hands, and arcs of fire lit up the alley.
Again, the serpent weaved and dodged both of them.
“Come on, you bitch,” I said. “Fight me. Or are you afraid?”
The snake slid sideways, her movement graceful as she shot toward me with lightning reflexes. I dove out of the way and rolled, feeling a sharp fang come down on my ankle. Immediately, stabbing pain lit my leg on fire, but I scrambled to my feet, again making the sign of fire to ward off the serpent.
My next attack caught her on the side of the head, and she shook it off, the embers falling away as if they had landed on rocks.
Shit, she was impervious to fire.
Not exactly, though, because she had dodged it.
I dove to the left as she snapped at me again, this time her jaws barely missing my shoulder. The wind from them ruffled my hair, and then I fell onto my side.
With the pain in my leg increasing, I turned to try another spell. One that was supposed to be more like a blast attack of sound than fire.
It hit the snake head on, and she stopped mid-attack, her jaws snapping closed prematurely as she writhed around the alley. Using the time to get to my feet, I turned for the street once more.
But then I realized my error.
The fucking serpent had manipulated me farther away from the street and from help. It had encircled me, and the main part of its body was now between me and safety.
I was trapped.
She struck once again, and I dove beneath the stairs. Her jaws crashed down on the wooden planks, splintering them as if they were toothpicks. One of them even caught in the side of her jaw, and it gave me an idea. I cast fire toward the wood stuck in her jaw.
It burst into flames.
The serpent shook her head, trying to dislodge the offending torch. Meanwhile, I cast everything at her I could think of, waving my hands at the snake in so many variations that I lost track of which spell hit where.
But the stupid evil thing didn’t back off, and finally, the burning timber turned to embers, leaving scorch marks on the serpent’s face but not doing any significant damage.
“Fuck,” I said again. Grabbing one of the broken planks from the staircase, I wrenched it free just as the serpent struck again. This time, though, instead of trying to impale me on those fangs, it circled around me. And in the next moment, I felt the first coil tighten around my chest.
Desperate to keep my right hand free, I held the plank like a dagger and tried driving it into the serpent’s skin. Her scales were hard as iron, and the wood did nothing but drive into my hand. Splinters drove themselves under my skin, and my blood began to fall.
The serpent wrapped another coil around me, and I yelled, but already my breath was short. Her gaping maw rose above me, and this time when it struck, there would be no missing. It would engulf my head, maybe even swallow me whole after it crushed the life out of me.
Her yellow eyes gleamed, and I almost thought she smiled.
As I took my last breath, I cast fire and lit the wood in my hand.
I expected to feel the pain when the plank burst into flames, but I felt nothing. The serpent didn’t like it, though, and it halted its final attack. I stabbed the burning weapon down into her once, twice more, and although the sharp splinters didn’t pierce its skin, the snake tried to get away from the fire.
Since my hand didn’t hurt, I concentrated all my magic toward the flame and watched it grow until my entire arm was on fire.
It was fucking amazing.
Then, even though my left arm was pinned to my side, I tried to light it on fire as well.
I felt it heat up my body, but there was no painful burning sensation. So I was either going to burn to a crisp—but comfortably—or die by being crushed, or maybe get out of this. Dropping the wooden plank, I laid my right arm across the snake’s body.
She really hated me by this time, and I began to feel her coils loosen. Enough that I could take a great lungful of air.
But I didn’t stop to smell the shit in the alley. I attacked her with more fire. Wondering if I could spread it further, I wrapped my arms around her and tried to light her scales on fire.
“You wanted this, bitch!” I yelled. “You wanted my body? You got it!” The snake was writhing in agony, and I remembered that my back was unprotected and that any moment she could sink those horrible fangs into my spine.
But then I began to smell charred flesh, and
it wasn’t mine. My method was working. Shots of fire didn’t faze the serpent, but sustained contact did. So I held on, gripping her hard.
And then the snake screamed.
A woman’s scream—haunting and piercing. But I didn’t give up because it was either me or her, and I for damn sure wasn’t going to die wrapped around a giant snake. Or as its dinner.
And then, she wasn’t a serpent anymore but a woman, and my grip on her was lost as we fell together onto the cobblestones. Her eyes were still yellow and looked snake-like, and if it had been darker, I thought they would have glowed. My fire went out as I lost concentration, and we grappled a moment to get the advantage. The bitch wasn’t finished yet, and she lashed out at me. I saw a flash of silver in her hand and grabbed her wrist.
It was a long, thin dagger. I don’t know where she’d kept it, but it had been headed for my eyeball. So I pushed back, and damn was she strong, as strong as any of the elves, stronger than Sarina. Even with my recently enhanced power, I was sweating to keep that dagger away from my face.
But finally, slowly, I managed to gain the advantage. While on top of the woman’s body, I managed to get the dagger turned toward her. As she saw her peril, her eyes went wide. And then I cast a fire spell once more, and my arms burst into flames.
She screamed again because the fire immediately began burning her. And then I felt her arm slacken as she lost her hold on the dagger, and because I had been pushing it toward her throat, it plunged straight into her neck, artery, and windpipe, to lodge in her spine.
Pulling myself off her, I watched, stunned, as she choked on her own blood. Her hands and face were burned, and the smell was unbearable. She shuddered as she died, and I picked up the knife, yanking it out of her throat. More blood gushed out of her neck then, and she perished quickly, the yellow light fading out of her eyes.
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