“Wow.” Larya leaned over, her legs wobbling slightly to keep their balance. “Nice trench.”

The Slick Trench loomed—or did the opposite of looming—before the druidess and her friends. Far beneath the surface of the ocean, just beyond the continental shelf, the Trench descended well past the range of Larya’s spell-enhanced ocean vision. She leaned over further, staring into the gloomy depths. Her head cocked.

She felt soft hands grasp her shoulder and tug back slightly, causing her to slowly drift up, then back down back onto the solid ocean floor.

She turned and met the soft turquoise gaze of Nerka. The mermaid winked at her, scarlet salmon-like tail flicking mischievously. “Careful, druidess. The spell you cast on us carries many perks, but you’re still only human and it’s a difficult swim.”

“Oh, I’d be alright.” Larya smiled brightly. “I’m quite a good swimmer, actually.”

Mylio swam up behind Nerka. The merman’s muscular arms gripped a trident, and his tail was long and flat, with wing-like fins reminiscent of a manta ray. Larya swallowed as he approached. “With those thin little legs?” He smirked. “Those are good for only one thing, I should think.”

“Walking?” said a dour voice. Larya glanced at Snatch, standing a short ways away along the cliff edge. The dark-haired human thief peered over the edge of the abyss, then looked sideways at her. “Larya, the place is pocked with caverns.”

“Isn’t that good?”

Snatch grumbled indistinctly. Larya’s smile widened. She knew that if there was any type of job her partner could stand, it was a dungeon crawl.

“Indeed,” Mylio said curtly, and Larya realized he had drifted inches away from her. “We will have to search each of the holes. Thoroughly, I should think.”

“Take fucking forever,” Snatch muttered. He turned around. “Ain’t you gonna come closer? You’re our guides, right?”

Behind the whole group, their ‘guides’ tittered nervously.

The two mermaids looked virtually identical. Each possessed the same long red hair, long green-scaled fish tails, peachy skin and bright blue eyes. They looked, in fact, exactly like what one would expect upon hearing the word “mermaid”. The only visible difference between them was the color of the live starfish fastened to—and, Larya had learned, sucking from—their bounteous breasts. “Orange” raised a hand. “We guide to the Slick Trench. We aren’t going in, human.”

“Ooh, that’d be suicide. Or worse!” Blue nodded. Each mermaid had an arm casually draped around the other’s naked waist, and each was trying to sidle around to use the other as a barrier—as if even being this close to the Slick Trench was unbearable.

“Aren’t you from the Trench?” Snatch asked.

Orange giggled again, looking even more nervous. “We got out while we still could, dear boy.”

“There’s no-one left down there.”

“All gone.” Orange’s head lowered. “All taken by them.”

Larya frowned. Her heart went out to the pair of fey. Despite the fact that they had just an hour ago shamelessly seduced her, they didn’t seem that bad-intentioned. At least they’d waited for consent—unlike Nerka and Mylio. And considering what they’d been through ... “Did you see what did it?”

Orange and Blue both looked at her. They shook their heads.

Mylio rolled his eyes. “Ignore them. They are, as I said, little more than landwhores without legs.”

“You keep saying that like it’s a word,” Snatch said. “You know it’s two words, right? You can’t just make up words. That’s … that’s ...” He tapped his spear irritably, “... stupid.”

Mylio looked at Snatch with disdain bordering on total disgust. He didn’t say a word.

“C’mon, Snatch,” Larya said. She started to pat her partner on the shoulder, but stopped, remembering how much he hated being touched. “Orange, Blue, thanks so much for your help. You, uh, you said there’s a path down, right?”

“Oh, yes, Larya!” Orange chirped, seeming to forget her poor mood. “Right to the left there. And if you decide to come back and not die, look us up!”

“Uh...”

Orange had started rubbing her arm, eyes half-closing in pleasure both present and remembered. “You really should give this up. Stay with us.”

“I can’t,” Larya said, frowning at them. “I have a job.”

“Mm.” Orange looked sad. Then her fingers slid over her arm, and her eyes closed all the way. “Well, think about it. We’d … mm … do anything to have you.”

“Again,” Blue agreed.

“Foreeeever,” they sang together. They giggled, then turned and swam off.

Larya felt her face going red. She knew Mylio was smirking at her and tried to avoid his gaze. “Right. Path. Let’s go.”

Something in the Slick Trench was killing merfolk. Mermaids, according to Mylio. Snatch and Larya had been hired to help find out what.

* * *

“I still think you have no place here,” Mylio said irritably.

The four of them were a fair ways down the narrow ledge by now. Up until now, Mylio had stayed mostly quiet. The reprieve from silence was not appreciated, and Larya grimaced. “Oh?”

“Whatever is down here has targeted no males so far,” Mylio said. He hesitated, then continued, “Only the whores and wantons of the Slick Trench have been taken. Dragged down, moaning and writhing, begging to be touched all over. You will be no different. Yet you persist.”

“I’m not just any wan—not just anyone,” Larya snapped. “I’m a druidess. We’re made of … stronger stuff.”

She scowled up at Snatch, who said nothing. He generally wasn’t very eager to discuss her … episodes, but she couldn’t be too careful. The recent incident with the quicksand was still grating on him, she could tell, and she did not want Mylio hearing about that. Judging by his insufferably sexy smile, he didn’t really believe her, anyways.

“Besides,” she said, coughing (a little stream of bubbles flew from her mouth), “you’re bringing Nerka, aren’t you?”

“Oh, of course, darling.” Nerka swam up right beside Larya. She reached out and ran a hand through Larya’s dark hair, streaming behind her through the water. “I am sent by my father to ensure things go—aheh—swimmingly.” She pulled her hand back to place upon her chest, striking a proud pose. “Specifically, I am here to keep my lovely, impetuous Mylio in his pla—oh!”

Her eyes widened as Mylio’s hands suddenly lunged out and grasped her abdomen, starting to stroke over her hypersensitive skin. She shook, raising her arms in a half-hearted attempt at breaking the hold, but Mylio was too strong—and she was clearly too aroused by the sensations.

Mylio laughed in Nerka’s ear. “She is here because her father does not like me, and he will not listen to reason.” He brought up one hand, stroking Nerka’s cheek. Larya heard little keening sounds escaping Nerka’s lush red lips. “Luckily, my sweet little mate is easily … handled.”

He continued to stroke Nerka. She continued to moan. Larya couldn’t look away. She looked at Mylio, smug, confident, possessive. She looked to Nerka, gasping, overwhelmed with pleasure, submissive. She knew that Mylio would take her, too, if he got the chance.

Snatch shoved past her, sighing. Mylio looked up. His eyes met Larya’s.

His sly smile made her cunt clench slightly.

She gulped, straightened her robes, and kept walking. She tried to ignore Nerka’s rising moans as an orgasm approached. She tried to resist the urge to look, to watch Nerka’s eyes roll back into her skull, to watch Nerka shake and spasm in Mylio’s grip as he stroked her breasts repeatedly, extending the pleasure, totally without mercy. She tried to resist the urge to imagine herself in Nerka’s place.

Of course she couldn’t.

* * *

Snatch tried to contain his annoyance as he heard the mermaid orgasm. He wasn’t used to containing that, but he was getting sick of Mylio out … talking him. The fey was quicker than Snatch. Better at thinking of taunts and comebacks. Most people were, of course.

He grasped the edge of the cave, giving a sniff. Nothing.

“Of course,” he muttered. “Spell lets me hear all that shit. Lets me hear the yammering, lets me see them fucking, but smell? No, no, no. Can’t have Snatch sniffing things. That’d be too goddamn useful. What a good spell. What a great spell.”

Despite his irritation, at least it was a cave. Snatch knew caves. Aside from cities, caves were the only place where he felt like he knew what was going on.

“What’s it smell like?” Larya asked.

He glared at her. “Can’t smell anything over the damn sweaty fishpeople back there.”

Larya grinned. “Merfolk don’t sweat when they’re underwater, Snatch. They barely sweat above it. I mean, if you think about it, yhe last thing their skin needs is to be more slippery.” She paused. “I mean, considering the sensory—”

“Yes! Yes!” Snatch threw up his arms. “You don’t gotta explain everything, druid, about the goddamn merfolk life cycle!”

He was getting seriously sick of his adventuring companion’s need to empathize with the merfolk. This would be the last job they worked together. No more procrastinating, no more delaying, no more putting it off, no more of anything else. He was sick of having a so-called partner—especially a partner that got seduced by every other fey, demon, elf or sorceress they came across. Larya could go off studying nymphs and mermaids and hobs, and he could go … do something else. Anything else.

“Short human!” Mylio called. “Have you examined the entryway yet? We grow weary of your paranoia.”

“You won’t be weary when my paranoia saves me and only me from the insane spike trap and you are a funny pile of floating mermaid slush,” Snatch muttered.

“What was that?”

“Nothing! Looks clear, but stay close.” Snatch paused. “Not that close. And nobody close to me or I will hurt you. I’m pretty sure these spears I’ve got are really damn sharp.” They were actually pretty blunt. Snatch had had to make them out of coral, which had really pissed off some coral dryad and gotten him no shortage of grief in turn. Still, arguing with her had beat heading back and watching the druid get fucked by mermaids.

He hadn’t even started the job yet, and he already hated working for merfolk even more than—almost as much as working for the vampire harem.

No job would ever top that one.

Still, this one was coming close.

Snatch headed inside, tapping the stone ahead of him with the spear shaft just in case. He heard the others follow, even though they were almost totally silent in the deep water. Snatch prided himself on his good hearing. He tapped the wall and nodded. “Right. C’mon.”

They made their way deeper into the cavern, until Snatch noticed a small difference in the stone around them. He took a deep breath of salty water (he was still trying to get used to that taste) and turned to the others. “There’s a fork up ahead.”

“How can you tell?” Nerka asked. “I can’t see that far, even with Larya’s lovely magic.”

“Perhaps he found a spoon here,” Larya said. Her voice was kept perfectly toneless.

Snatch’s fingers clenched around the spear. “Fuck off. I just know, alright? I’m thinking a left turn.”

“Or,” Mylio said, and his mouth gave a slight quirk, “perhaps we should split up.” His right hand trailed over to run along the back of Larya’s neck. Snatch watched Larya shiver.

Snatch’s head tilted unconsciously. He stared, eyes bulging, at the merman. Surely he’d misheard. Not even a fey could be so … so ...

His mind stuttered, stopped, then started racing with new purpose. “Ha ha ha ha.” He made sure to keep the laugh as unconvincing as possible. This was difficult. He almost never laughed and was not entirely sure what a convincing one sounded like. “That’s a … a great joke. Great joke you just made with your big fish mouth.”

Mylio blinked.

“Oh, boy,” Larya muttered. “Mylio, you mustn’t—”

Snatch’s arms shook spastically. He couldn’t think of the words for a moment, so he settled for jabbing his spear at the surprised merman’s face until he managed some. “Split up. Split up. Fuck. Oh my fucking … no. No. That is the stupidest … stupidest fucking ...”

He started to turn away, then turned back, voice getting louder. “No. No, no, no! What the fuck? I can’t even start to say all the stupids that are—can’t even—” His arms flailed wildly with the effort.

Mylio started to speak, but Snatch slammed the ground twice with the spear, stomping it once with his boot for good measure. The merman fell silent.

Snatch’s mouth opened, then shut. Opened, then shut.

He turned away and kept walking. He heard Nerka following close behind. His fists clenched. Split up. Split up. What the hell is he even doing here? What planet is he from? I can’t even … can’t even … I mean, this is clearly a dungeon crawl. Even a merfolk’s gotta get that. I seen so many idiots get ganked that way. Splitting up? Yeah, let’s just deep-fry and bread ourselves, and bang two pots together, and pull that lever, what’s the worst that could happen...I mean, if we’re gonna go stupid, might as well goddamn fucking go all-fucking-out...

So preoccupied he was with his thoughts, he did not quite register the change in sounds when they passed the fork. He didn’t notice that certain sounds faded from hearing as they took the left path.

It would take him some time to notice.

* * *

“So,” Nerka said, some time later.

Snatch rolled his eyes. And it had been so wonderfully quiet up until now.

“You do this often, do you?” At least the mermaid wasn’t being too noisy. The group had seen nothing yet, but Snatch had a bad feeling. The cave was heading steadily downward at an increasingly steep rate—he estimated they’d traveled at least two thousand meters downward over the last half-hour.

“Yeah,” he grumbled reluctantly.

“Really!”

“Well, not this.” Snatch gestured around them. “But this sort of … adventuring work. Yeah, I’ve been doing it a little while now. And I know caves. Used to loot tombs for a living, but those are damn hard to find unlooted these days.”

“Really!” Nerka smiled. “That sounds very exciting. And how long have you been working with, ah, Larya?”

Her little lilt on Larya’s name spoke volumes.

He rolled his eyes as they rounded a corner. Apparently, Larya wasn’t going to answer for him. Typical. “Five months. Ever since … well, messy business with a doppelganger. Mess. Don’t worry, we aren’t an ‘item’.” He made a half-hearted finger quote with one hand. “She’s all yours after this job.”

“Oh!” Nerka giggled. “You mustn’t say things like that. Mylio here might just take you at your word.”

“She’s a big girl,” Snatch grumbled. “Not my job to look after her. We ain’t partners, just … temporary associates.”

He squinted. Was that light up ahead?

Whatever it was, it was beyond a somewhat noticeable dropoff. That made him a bit nervous. Only Larya’s spell prevented them from being crushed like snails under a boot, to say nothing of freezing to death. He really hoped the spell didn’t have a limited duration, because they were going very, very deep. His mind conjured up scenes of him stumbling in the dark, blind, dying of three different causes—right before the Deep Merfolk showed up and ate his brains, or whatever it was they did.

He shuddered. “Druid, this magic goes on basically forever, right?”

He waited. No answer. “Right? Larya!”

Nerka turned. “Oh, shit.”

But Snatch didn’t turn to look. He had just realized what he hadn’t been hearing all along. It had been bothering him all along, at the back of his mind, but he had been too concentrated on his work to register it until now.

Footsteps. The sounds of a merman’s ray-like tail swishing through salty waters. Larya’s nervous chatter. Mylio’s unending stream of innuendo.

“Son of a fish. Did I just say that? Son of a mother fucker.”

* * *

Larya knew she really should have called out when Mylio took her hand. And she really should have called out when his hand was placed over her mouth.

And when he’d started to drag her down the right path instead of the left ... well, frankly, her silence there was just inexcusable.

But ever since they’d entered the cave—ever since Nerka had swum clumsily past her, giving her a guilty, weary smile—the handsome scarlet-haired merman had swum right alongside her, matching her pace exactly. He had kept one arm over her shoulders, holding her close.

It had almost been a friendly gesture. But Larya, clutched against his naked, chiseled torso, feeling his warm skin and marveling at it, such an aberration beneath the cool seas, such heavy breath, so strong ...

… Well, she was having trouble concentrating, but it didn’t feel so much friendly as completely, overwhelmingly possessive.

Larya was a submissive. It wasn’t her personality, it was her kink, and she knew it. Snatch knew it too, and it certainly didn’t make him happy. She thought now, bashfully, of all the times she’d been taken in by will o’ the wisps (wills o’ the wisp?), fairies, goblins, succubi, elves—not to mention the vampire harem incident, which she had solemnly sworn to never, ever bring up again—and had to be rescued. Yes. It had proven … troublesome.

Not that she didn’t pull her weight otherwise, of course. Snatch was mainly just whining. You don’t see me complaining when he gets knocked around like a rag doll by some monster and I have save him, she thought irritably. She did her share, not that it was appreciated.

Still, she was a submissive. And when Mylio took control like that ... She risked a glance. The merman smirked down at her, held effortlessly in his grip. At least he’d released her mouth.

He’d whispered so many promises as they’d walked. So many hot, dominating promises. Promises to make her come again and again. Promises to make her his, to show her her place. She’d wanted to say something. To tell him off, to tell Snatch or Nerka to tell him off. But, well.

She shivered.

Her encounter with Nerka had only wetted her appetite, and she’d been too busy getting Blue and Orange off to satisfy her own urges. These fey just ... they intoxicated her. Larya breathed in deeply, though of course Mylio had no noticeable odor. Pleasuring fey. Being around all this raw, pure nature. She’d had to have it.

Larya crossed her legs, even as Mylio half-carried her along. She was having another one of her episodes. But she knew that was okay.

Mylio was going to take her. She smiled up at him, despite her guilt. He would take control, he would give her what she needed, and she would be fulfilled. She nuzzled his chest, enjoying the shiver that ran through him at the sensation.

“Stop that, landwhore.” Mylio pushed her away, and she drifted slowly onto the cold stone floor. Funny; she could feel how frigid the stone was, but not how cold the water was. She vaguely reflected on his as Mylio advanced on her, prone, rendered virtually helpless by her own overwhelming horniness. You’d think I’d be able to feel the chill of the salt particles, at the very least. This spell is very—

She let out a gasp as Mylio grabbed her shoulder and pushed her gently onto her back.

He leaned over her, smelling the faint scent of her arousal as it dissolved in the academically frigid water. “You need this, don’t you?” he whispered.

“Um ...” Larya knew she needed to at least try to resist this. “The mission ...”

Mylio laughed at her. He reached down, his hand sliding between her inner thighs. Despite her slight inclinations, Larya spread her legs eagerly. She couldn’t help it. She needed this. “You stupid human child.”

Larya gave a soft sigh as the hand stroked along her leg. She didn’t care what Mylio said. No, she relished this. This act of total submission was just what she’d been craving. She spread her legs wide, pulling the robe up over her waist, willing Mylio’s hand to move up as well. He just smiled smugly and kept rubbing. He was taking his time. “The creatures are further down still. While your little friend travels off in the wrong direction with that meddling mate of mine, we have plenty of time to … enjoy ourselves.”

Larya frowned. There was something wrong with all this. But she knew it could wait. She just needed to get off. She needed this.

Mylio lowered over her, his chest lying over hers. His tail’s ray-like wings suddenly stiffened, then locked around her legs like a vice, forcing them together—with his hand trapped between. It was just inches from her needy sex. She whimpered. She needed this. “You need to come, don’t you, silly girl?” he sang in her ear.

Larya nodded, whimpering again.

“No thought to the mission. No thought to anything but your own slutty human needs. What a landwhore you are indeed.”

Larya let out a whine. “P-please...”

His hand began stroking, ponderously close to her cunt—but trapped between her legs, it could only move so much. It brushed against her pussy and she moaned. “’Please’ what? Do you want this?”

He grabbed the hem of her robe with one hand and, before she could react—though at this point she doubted she was even remotely capable of raising an objection—ripped it clean apart. She watched, wide-eyed, as the remains sank down around her like a blanket. She was completely naked now. Completely helpless, completely desperate. Completely his.

Mylio started to rub his whole body against her. Held close by his arms and tail fins, she could only respond in kind, writhing, pressing her perky breasts against his bare chest and rubbing them against him with all her might. She heard him gasping. She felt his body shaking with pleasure.

Merfolk had no sex organs. Instead, their entire bodies were essentially giant, extremely sensitive ... well. Even a single stroke along a merman’s arm could be the equivalent of a skilled prostitute’s lips on a cock. A single properly-placed fey spiral on a mermaid’s back was the equivalent of ten tongues within a cunt. It was a very good thing merfolk didn’t usually wear clothes.

Mylio wrapped his arm around her head, his fingers running through her hair, stroking it like it the sensation of it against his skin was the most delicious feeling in the world. He looked down at his prone druidess, his expression fierce. “You’re—oh—landwhore, you are MINE.”

Larya felt his hand below touching her pussy again. “Yours!” she cried out.

“You humans—aaah—you all ... all sing of free will.” Mylio seized her in a passionate kiss, which Larya desperately reciprocated, bucking against his teasing hand with all her might. Her tongue grappled and twisted against his, her lips smacking messily over him, covering him with sensual kisses. “But—mm—you all just want—mm … ohh—to have your brains fucked ou—mmf—out by a fey. Ours. Mm. Ours forever.”

“Yes! Yes-yes-yes!” Larya gyrated against him, eliciting a particularly sharp moan from the sensitized merman. She wrapped her arms around him and kissed him hungrily, then ran her tongue down to his neck. She felt him shaking even more violently, but she didn’t let up on the sensation. “Just...just your pets, your toys. You’re so right. Oh, please, PLEEEASE...”

Mylio managed a hoarse laugh as his tail fins loosened slightly. Larya spread her legs as wide as she could, grabbed Mylio’s arm, and forced his hand into her cunt. With her other hand, she pressed onto Mylio’s back and started drawing complex circles. She could play this merman’s fey body like an instrument. And he would sing for her. She had to please him. Pleasure him. Make him moan and scream and make him make her let him fuck her brains out.

All other thoughts left her as Mylio started thrusting his fingers into her hot cunt. Hot, fiery pleasure erupted in her mind. She ran her hand over his big, strong arm as she kissed and sucked at his neck, at his chest, licking and lapping at him like he was the tastiest treat she’d ever had. She felt him starting to spasm in her grasp and did not for the life of her let go.

He kept pistoning in and out of her, and she started moaning loudly against him as she kissed. It felt so good. So right. Pleasing him. Pleasing her lover. Her owner. She rose and started kissing his neck again, murmuring concession after concession into his ear.

“Yours—AAaa—always yours, just your dumb humanOH GODS I’m yours you have me so much smarter I need you I need—

She felt him hit his orgasm, and his screams echoed throughout the cave, borne out by her spell’s acoustic magics. Her eyes widened and she hugged him to her chest, feeling him orgasm, feeling his fingers trembling against her clit. And she hit her limit.

She beat out his screams with her own. But not by much. She held him close, feeling the merman twitch and writhe around her, inside her, forcing his pleasure to last even beyond what he could bear. She was his. She was his.

Snatch did not hear any of this, far away as he was.

But something else did.