The violet-skinned imp started to bounce atop him, and Alrek's eyes widened. He squealed in bliss as he came, came inside her as she milked him, milked him molten. He trembled beneath her as she giggled, planting dazing kiss after dazing kiss on his wide-eyed face, and the adventurer... drowned.

He drowned in pleasure. Melted into it. Melted into pink rivers of love and lust and bliss and stupidity. She didn't need to trade any more secrets. He would give it all up freely if only to be lost in her arms for the rest of his life.

And even in her trance, she clearly knew it—and would do the same. She was screaming, too, bouncing faster, and before he knew it, he was cumming once more. The waves of bliss were endless. Irresistible. He couldn't even remember why he would want to resist them.

"Fuck me!" she mewled, rolling onto her back. "Fuck me fuck me fuck me!"

He rolled atop her and kissed her, pounding into her, and she squealed like a wifwolf in heat, like a spelled cambion, like a fucktoy—

"Oh, um, hi, Snatch."

He heard an awkward giggle, and looked up numbly at a pretty catgirl he didn't quite recognize right now standing in the doorway. She had medium-short straight red hair and a set of cute freckles dotting her pale face. She was leaning against the wall, covered in someone else's lipstick kisses, naked. But free.

She winked. "Bad timing?"

~ ~ ~ ~

It took Alrek a few minutes to recover himself, and he knew he was damn lucky it happened at all. The catgirl druidess was quick to pluck the imp away from him with a flick of her staff and a surge of spelled moss that quickly smothered his demonic temptress and lulled her to sleep. After that, she mostly just leaned against the wall, smiling down at him as he panted and squirmed.

It was probably the humiliation more than anything else, he figured. His cheeks burned as the catgirl openly admired him. She wasn't in much better shape than he was, in terms of dignity, but the feeling of being on display for a woman who was in all other cases the one who'd be in his shoes...

Not that he had shoes right now. The imp had tossed them back into the deadly brambles outside the chamber.

Alrek finally got to his feet, scowling at Lim. "Took you long enough," he grumbled, leaning down to retrieve his clothes and armor. He tried to ignore how Lim's head tilted to the side, watching him.

"Sorry!" She clasped her hands together and sighed dreamily. "I got a little... caught up. Me and Larya. And then I got a little caught up, um, watching you." The redhead winked.

His scowl deepened as he redressed as quickly as possible. "Is the druid... the other druid alright?"

"Yes, we did escape eventually." Lim wiped her cheek with the back of her hand, trying in vain to clean up one of the many kiss marks she bore. Alrek wondered if she knew just how many of them covered her. "The thing that caught us kept... regenerating. Turns out it feeds off arousal. But we did get out, Snatch."

"And you split the party."

"Well, you started it, mate." She started licking her fingers and wiping more determinedly, in a very catlike grooming fashion. "And don't worry, Larya's fine. She just needed a moment to recover. We made it to the vault, you know." She pumped a fist. "Go team!"

"Really?" Finally, some good news. Alrek hefted his bag, recovered his scythe, and straightened. Some of his leather armor was permanently ruined, but at least he was clothed once again, albeit barefoot. "Great. But she stayed put, right? Not trying to explore?"

Lim pulled a face. "Well, I told her to stay put, and she promised to stay put."

"Goddammit." Alrek hurried past Lim into the hallway beyond.

"Yeah." Lim giggled, hopping up to hurry after him. "She's definitely getting fucked by something right now."

~ ~ ~ ~

Larya shifted from foot to foot, biting her lip.

She really wished she was getting fucked by something right now.

Escaping from the whorelip's kisses—and the rose puffing pitcher—had been a nightmare. Lying in their arms and accepting their kisses had been... a very, very nice dream. She rubbed her thighs together, then finally sat down against the vault room door.

The Emerald Jungle was one of the most dangerous areas you could access by the Lacratian Continent. It was a vast and terrible demonically-corrupted forest, full of flower succubi, enhanced whorelip, and all kinds of horrid, wonderful plant demons.

The rose puffing pitcher that had captured her and Lim now lay dead in the room behind her, just past that open doorway. She could even see a couple bits of vine and one of the mostly-dead pink blossoms that had puffed so much poisoned love gas into them earlier. It almost felt cruel to kill a creature that had just wanted to give them pleasure.

A creature that wanted to eat our souls and turn us into soulless drones, she reminded herself, biting her lip. She tried to rub at one of the kiss marks she could feel cool on her cheek. It didn't seem to want to come off. A creature that fed on our arousal to grow bigger and stronger every time we came.

Larya felt very vulnerable right now, sitting against a no-doubt heavily-warded door, totally naked. Her sweaty skin shone pale in the moonlight, moonlight reflected by the mirrors that covered the walls of these hallways. The hallway forked into three directions: the door she sat against to the east, the way they'd come to the west, and the north and south hallways stretching off into the distance, mostly-broken windows on the east walls and mirrors on the west walls.

She desperately wanted to be anywhere but in this intersection. But the alternative was either a room with a destroyed sensual demonic plant that could potentially regenerate if enough arousal was nearby it, trying one of the hallways, or trying to go into the vault.

And Larya wasn't anywhere near stupid enough yet to go into that vault unprepared. Snatch—if Lim did manage to retrieve Snatch—would never< let her live it down.

Larya swallowed. She hoped he was alright. They'd taken long enough to save the cranky bastard.

Her head jerked to the side. What was that? She stared down the southern passage, eyes wide.

It had sounded like a bell. Panic welled up in Larya. Oh gods. She couldn't resist mind control in this state. She was naked, her long dark hair a tangled mess, her brilliant green eyes glassy and vacant, her face flushed bright red and her chest heaving—she knew all that because she was staring at a dozen reflections of herself.

She rubbed her thighs together, whimpering softly. Even that sound echoed in the gloomy halls of the abandoned Verdant Tower. Once this place had been one of the great Mage Towers, but it had been among the first to fall during the Emerald Incident. It was still designed for mages' preferences, which appeared to be 'to creep out guests as much as possible.'

Hearing another faint chime, Larya's head spun to her left. She stared up the south passage, her breaths quickening. The sound echoed like a call. A summons. Like Larya was the ringer's faithful maid, set to obediently follow, to obey the ringer's every...

She cut off the thought with a pang of embarrassment. Gods, I'm just... hopeless right now, aren't I?

She rubbed her thighs together and slipped a hand between her legs. She just needed to get off. Needed some relief. It had been, what, ten minute since Lim had left? An hour? Four hours? Too long since Larya had had these needs attended to. The druidess rocked back and forth, her fingers teasing her slit, slipping inside, spiraling around her throbbing, needy...

With a ring of the bell from the south hall, Larya's hand sprang from between her legs like her fingers were on fire. She whirled towards the south hall, breathing heavily.

There was another ring. Then another, a little closer. Then another. Even closer.

Larya lurched to her feet, leaning against the wall, her head spinning. Oh, crap. Oh, crap. Now you've done it.

She couldn't see anything. She didn't have Lim's night vision, nor Snatch's experienced spelunking eyes, and she didn't dare try to make a light. The moonlight reflecting off the mirror walls only made it feel more disorienting, because there were things out in the jungle. Shadows flitted across the mirrors' surfaces, the shadows of things that Larya prayed did not realize the old tower had an occupant tonight.

She spun around as the ringing continued, staring back at the chamber she'd just come from. Her foot rose, then paused. Could she dare go back in there? At least she knew what it was—better the demon she knew, and all that. Much better than dealing with whatever this was, or fleeing to a new area.

The ringing was getting louder. Larya softly whimpered with uncertainty. If she got caught up again in the whorelip, and the pitcher demons returned to 'life,' who knew what would happen when Snatch and Lim caught up? They would think it was safe! They might both get caught!

And she would get caught. Larya knew she couldn't resist. Did she see the vine twitch just now? Was that her imagination? Her eyes cast down between her legs, and she took her hand away again. Gods, she was so horny. She'd be a living battery. Again.

The thought made her heart flutter.

She heard a loud chime to her left and didn't dare look, knowing she was running out of time. She looked at the vault door to her back, and hesitated, reaching for the doorknob...

Ding.

The sound was right behind her.

Larya panicked and ran up the north passage.

~ ~ ~ ~

Most of the Verdant Tower was carved out of basalt, with glimmering olivine crystals interspersed throughout and spelled for light. The floors were rough and cold, chilling Larya's bare feet.

So she noticed when the floor started to feel much... smoother. It was still cool, and her feet were still pink from the chill, but Larya realized that the floor had given way to something more like jade.

The ringing was still right at her back, and if anything, it had grown in intensity, multiple bells now chiming right behind her. Larya ran with all her might, taking advantage of her long legs to gain distance. But still they followed.

The hallway was long but offered few places to turn, to hide, to double back. Larya couldn't bring herself to look to the side and see if anything out the windows was noticing her, much less turn to see whatever it was following her. No doubt something with pretty, shimmering eyes, or maybe lovely, serpentine movements, or suggestive motions, or hypnotic patterns...

There! Her eyes lit on a doorway up ahead—or, to be precise, on the pile of rubble next to the doorway. Taking a risk, Larya dipped her mind into the World Base—a twisted and distant thing here, but still vaguely present—and looked up at the moon.

Please? she begged.

The druidess knew the general theory of more complex druidic magic: one could make all sorts of things come true if you knew who to ask and had the charisma to request it. They'd taught her a little of it at the Standing Stones a few weeks ago.

She channeled all her will and gestured with her staff to the mirrors on her left.

And the moon responded.

As she leaped behind the pile of rubble, the light in the mirrors bent and distorted. To anyone looking straight down the passage, they would simply see her continue to run through the doorway.

She crouched behind the old ruined furniture and watched her pursuer.

And her heart sank.

Not because the illusion had failed, or because the creature had seen through it.

But because the pursuer was a quartet of hovering silver bells.

It was all she could do not to groan aloud in her humiliation. Not a demon. A castle spell. One of the old enchantments—maybe a curfew reminder, or a reminder to change the guards. Or maybe the spell was broken and the bells had once been part of something greater, like a wandering suit of armor patrolling the halls.

Now it was just four bells, a redundant, lingering magic. And Larya had run like a scared bunny from it.

She still waited for the bells to pass by, even as her gut roiled in embarrassment and worry. Had anything seen her little flight through the Tower? Had Snatch and Lim already reached the vault, and were now wondering where she'd went?

They would think she'd been enspelled off by something. Larya grimaced. That would almost be less embarrassing than the truth.

The druidess rose to her feet slowly as the bells departed. She almost wanted to laugh. At least the scare had snapped some sense into her by how stupidly she'd acted. And at least she'd known not to look at the bells! She stifled a snicker. Could've been hypnotized. So absurd.

She was turning to start walking back when a single musical note rang out from the room beyond.

Larya paused. That sounded different. Less like a bell and more like the ringing of a half-full wine glass. Resonant. Lingering.

A moment later, there came another ring. Slightly lower in pitch. Then another, higher. It was a melody.

Warily, she leaned back against the wall and peered around the corner.

Before, she hadn't really seen inside the room itself, as it was a lot darker than the halls—the stained glass was intact, masking the moonlight in a green glow. The floor was not jade, but glimmering emerald or, more likely, colored glass.

But now, light had begun spilling into the chamber, rippling out from the center of the floor. New ripples emerged with every note, sending streaks of white light across the surface of the almost liquid-looking floor.

And the source was a pair of dainty silver slippers, which belonged to the most perfectly gorgeous creature Larya was sure she'd ever seen.

The prong-barbed arrow tail flicking about was an instant giveaway, as were the eight segmented horns rising from her head. Her skin was a mottled green, with streaks of red and gold along her back and belly, like a garden spider. Her hair was long, straight and red as blood, spilling around her as she moved like liquid. Her eyes were closed. But Larya wasn't really looking at those.

The woman was dressed like a courtesan. A cheap courtesan. All that covered her lovely mottled breasts were some thin dark maroon silks, and all that covered the rest of her was a crimson silk breechcloth secured with a very thin sort of thong. Red and gold ribbons fluttered from her arms and hair, flashing colors that every animal in the world instinctively shied away from, reading DANGER.

But everything about her delectable, curvy, swinging form read very differently to Larya.

She was gorgeous. Larya realized she'd forgotten to breathe and quickly inhaled, staring with wonder as the woman spun and swung her hips, performing something between a belly dance and a ballet. She leapt into the air. Larya watched her bubble butt jiggle, swing, shake...

As her slippers alighted softly upon the floor, two more notes rippled across the emerald floor. The music rang in Larya's head like her mind was an endless cave of echoes.

The woman's lips—neon green, as green as her surroundings—curved upward and parted in an expression of ecstasy as she swung her hips first to the left, then the right. Larya found her head tilting slightly to the side, watching.

She bit her lip. Okay. She needed to... probably stop staring soon.

More rapid notes played out as the succubus (she was definitely a succubus, look at those horns, look at that flicking tail, look at that swaying, seductive rear)... Larya forgot what she was thinking about. She swayed slightly, eyelids fluttering,

In the mirror out at the edge of her vision, she could see her eyes glazing a little. Could see herself swaying much more severely than she realized. She desperately tried to focus on that, tear her eyes to herself, focus on her peril.

But the succubus was so... magnificent. Her heart-shaped hips swung back and forth. Back and forth. Rose up. Fell. The music chimed all around Larya, leaving her spellbound

Spellbound. Because she was spelled. Larya was screaming at herself to look away, to somehow break free. She'd done it before. Surely at least once. Surely she'd broken out of hypnosis without someone else saving her, right? At least once in her life?

The music was settling around her like cool spring water, soothing her fears and sending chills up and down her spine. Larya swayed in time with the rhythm, with the dancing demon.

Uh-oh.

The tail flicked back and forth. Every time Larya thought she was about to look away, that tail caught her eye—and led her back to the demon's cute butt. Larya held in a whimper. She was usually more of a breast girl, but this... she imagined kneeling beneath the demon, smelling her musk, worshiping her gorgeous, soft, overpowering ass. It sounded so degrading. Larya was getting wet. Not even Thriae had hips like that, surely.

And not even fauns could dance so beautifully, so alluringly. The dance was such a perfect display of eroticism, a dance that called to Larya on the deepest, most primitive level, that ignited every ounce of sexual kindling in her heart and set her heart and soul ablaze with lust.

She was swaying. Swinging. Almost humming to herself. She watched in joy as the demoness leaped into the air and began a pirouette, and she had a moment to wonder...

... if the demon's eyes were open, was it a problem that she was turning arou—

The demon froze, staring at her in shock. Her eyes were open, one eye gold, the other red. Warning colors, Larya thought, icy fear trickling into that warm, easy rhythm and making her stumble in place.

She realized, in her dancing daze, one of her feet had slipped a single toe onto the floor, sending a rippled note across the chamber to the fiendish dancer.

The succubus blinked, staring in stunned silence.

Larya stared back, a faun in the wisplights.

Slowly, the succubus smiled. "Hi," she purred, swinging her hips from side to side. "Do you... want to dance, pretty girl?"

Larya's tongue lurched into motion. "L-Larya," she said automatically, just to say something.

The succubus giggled, swaying slowly, sensuously. Larya swayed in time. "Nidalvectes. Call me Tess."

She swung her hips in circles, and Larya felt as though a rope had been physically wrapped around her waist. She stared at that swinging ass as she stumbled forward, like a reeled-in catch...

She stopped herself abruptly, surprising even herself as her feet froze in place on the ringing floor. She trembled. "I. I, um. Shouldn't."

"It's harmless just to watch," Tess said reasonably, running her hands over her curvy, supple body, caressing every inch, a peddler showing off her wares.

"But." Larya's brain kept clicking on and off. She was still swaying, still trying to dance along. Her thoughts felt so jumbled, like every shake of Tess's hips shook her mind up, too. "I don't. Can't. Um, I should really. Really..."

She trailed off, lips parting in a sigh as Tess turned and began to dance once more, feet gliding across the ringing emerald waters.

"It's harmless just to watch," Tess said, smirking.

"Uh-huh," Larya said, eyelids drooping.

"Easy to just watch me dance."

"No," Larya nodded.

"Yes," Tess said, gyrating her hips and dancing away from Larya. Larya took a hesitant step closer, deeper into the chamber. The music was so... so resonant. The acoustics here could make a Piper tremble. "Yes."

Larya's legs felt a bit wobbly as she took another step. "Nnuh," she managed weakly. Her head felt so sparkly and... cloudy. Everything seemed to be fogging over.

Tess twirled and spun, and Larya felt waves of dizziness rush over her. Tess leaped into the air and landed to Larya's right. Larya turned slightly, watching her ass rock back and forth. Like a pendulum, almost. She had such a lovely shape, so perfect, so... sexual... like the embodiment of sex, of... fertility? Something primal, at least.

Larya blinked. She watched the tail flick and turned slightly as the succubus passed between her and the entrance. That worried her a little. Harmless to watch, the voice echoed in her head. What if she blocks my escape?

But these thoughts were distant and staticky, and when Tess circled back around to face Larya once more, Larya felt herself smiling with relief. It was harmless. Harmless to watch.

Tess paused in her steps and craned her neck to survey Larya, beaming as her hips swung from left to right, right to left, slow and yet abrupt. "You're a mess, aren't you?"

"Uh..." Larya blinked rapidly, trying to shake herself from the trance. Not that she was entranced. It was harmless to watch. Wasn't it?

Vaguely, she felt something tightening around her. She saw the ribbons go taut in Tess's hands, and something like a question occurred to her.

"Am I?" she whimpered.

Tess licked her lips. There was a hungry glint in those odd eyes as she advanced on Larya, and the druidess suddenly felt afraid, the primordial fear of a prey animal being approached by something marked in poisonous colors—and smelling so intoxicatingly wonderful. Like soapy lavender. Danger. Danger. Danger. Like a mouse in a gopher snake's eyes, she couldn't get enough of it. She wasn't designed to escape this wonderful predator.

Larya tried to step back as Tess drew near, but the ribbons went taut, and the next thing she knew she was clutched in Tess' embrace, staring into those strange eyes. A little, "Ooh," escaped her lips as Tess's hand slipped over the small of her back and pulled them together Tess was so soft. So commanding. So warm.

"You're a pretty thing, aren't you?" the succubus cooed, stroking Larya's cheek with the back of her free hand. Larya found herself whimpering, leaning into the touch, overwhelmed with the basic animal need to submit.

"I d- I don't, um-" Larya's breath was shallow as she hung helpless in Tess's clutches. "A-Am I?"

She'd meant that to sound playful, defiant, even. It did not.

"Dance with me, pretty thing," Tess whispered, and pushed Larya away.

Larya went spinning away from the succubus, twirled along the ribbons like a yo-yo. She squeaked in surprise, stumbling, a frantic and pitiful tune accompanying her footfalls like she was the waif in some cautionary ballet.

She heard Tess dancing after her, a sinister but alluring, otherworldly tune. The ballet's villain, the wolf to lead her astray, the spider to catch her in its web. Larya didn't know why she felt so... so weak at the thought. The music surrounded her, immersed her in her role as she hesitantly turned around, dizzy and dazed.

Tess advanced on her, hips swinging, lips curved upward in a sly, confident smile. Larya stumbled away, her footfalls making meek, scared little notes that echoed through the room, reminding her of her vulnerability. She bit her lip, watching the succubus' ass sway. Tess was like a spider with an ass like an arachne girl's spinneret.

Larya needed to get away. Needed to run.

She watched Tess's butt jiggle and sway, and realized she was turning around again as Tess wound the ribbons around her. A little whimper of pure terror escaped her.

Well, not pure terror. Her head was spinning with unwanted need.

Tess tutted, turning and stepping up close. The music rang in Larya's ears, reminding her of her role, and she stared with a quivering lower lip at her seductress. "What's the matter, little bunny?" Tess cooed, running ticklish fingertips over Larya's lips, over her cheek and neck. Larya squirmed as Tess held her to her, lifting her slightly into the air.

"I- I duh- " Larya's words cut off into a tiny squeal as Tess spun her about in the air, sending her into a pirouette she'd had no idea she could do. The music rang endlessly in her head as she spun round and round, her thoughts scattering to the corners of her mind, her mind sloshing like an ocean in storm.

She came to a step, staring at Tess, and realized she was holding the other end of the ribbon. She stared at it, shocked.

Had she... been dancing along without even realizing it?

"Oh, Larya," sang Tess's lovely voice.

Larya's eyes climbed with dread to see that the ribbon was now tied around Tess's hips. The succubus was smiling as Larya's gaze sank once more into the marvelous, swinging bubble butt.

The druidess stumbled to regain her bearings as Tess advanced. The music swelled, filling her mind, flooding her thoughts with... with...

Larya realized she was sinking to her knees, and she couldn't even tell if Tess had bound her legs together or if she was just doing what the music told her to do. It felt like the notes weren't coming when she touched the floor—the notes were guiding her to touch the floor just so, to step here, to kneel there. Guiding her to obey.

Oh, gods, she thought, whimpering and squirming on her knees as Tess drew near, I'm being brainwashed by a dance number.

"I've noticed you like my ass," Tess said sweetly, swinging her hips as she twirled around Larya. "Is that right?"

Larya blinked and stared at the jiggling posterior, now eye level, inescapable. So soft, so round, obscured only by such a minimalist article. "It's... it's um..." The notes rang in her head, incessant, unbearably catchy. "D-Do I have to sing about it?" she whimpered.

Tess's dancing paused for a moment.

She burst out laughing.

"Oh, Larya," she said sweetly, resuming her dance, "I enjoy you! You needn't sing... unless you feel inspired."

Adoring mockery dripped from her voice. Larya drowned in it.

Back and forth. Back and forth. Larya swayed from side to side, and suddenly even staying on her knees felt so difficult.

"It's l-lovely," Larya whispered. "So... big... plump... I can't..."

"It's just pulling your thoughts away, isn't it?" Tess purred. "It's so big, and it keeps... winding... around... that's your problem, my Larya."

"Ah?" Larya couldn't think clearly. Everything was a green fog. The tail flicked about, keeping her eyes trained on Tess's rear, keeping her thoughts dedicated to... "... pretty?"

"Your problem," Tess said softly, "is gravity."

Larya blinked. "Oh."

"Oh, yes," Tess went on, dancing and twirling, swinging her hips, caressing her body, "it's so hard to resist gravity right now. My ass is too big, and you're just so small. Your brain is just so tiny. It's just getting pulled away from you, isn't it?"

"Uh. No." Larya tried to shake her head, but realized she was just moving in time with Tess's swinging ass again. Her cheeks burned, realizing she was naked, half-tied up with ribbons, kneeling before an obvious demoness's ass like it was her new goddess.

"Pulled away," Tess sang. "Drained. I'm just... reeling them in..." Her ass wound around and around, like a... a fishing pole's, um... "Reeling you in," Tess added with a wicked smile.

"No," Larya whispered.

"Yes," Tess admonished, dancing around Larya with a sweet voice and a sweeter melody. The tail was sliding over Larya's shoulder, and though Larya struggled to keep up with the spinning succubus, she couldn't quite see where the tail had gone.

Larya's eyelids drooped. "Yes?"

She felt something slipping around her neck, and had only a moment to whimper in confusion before it tightened. And locked.

The tail had tied around her neck like a noose.

Like a leash and collar.

"Yes," Tess hissed, stroking Larya's hair with a hand as she started to move away. "And it's all just... too... heavy."

"H-Heavy." Larya's head lolled, and she felt something—was it gravity?—tugging her forward. She fell onto her hands and knees, staring up at that worshipful, wonderful ass. It was like a great, big heart, swinging and squishing, so soft and serpentine in its motions as it gently moved away from her.

Tugging her forward.

Like gravity.

"That's right," Tess cooed, leading her on. The music was dying down, now, the final chords of Larya's fading will as Larya crawled after. "So heavy. Just a nice, dumb, heavy silly slut."

Larya moaned, her eyes wide. She couldn't. Couldn't resist. Couldn't remember why to resist. A blissful peace was settling over her as that tail tightened.

"And you want it," Tess went on, giggling. "Greedy little bunny. You want me."

"Yes," Larya whimprered, and she realized how good it felt to just say yes, how easy it was. "Yes."

"Good little bunny." Tess's tail tugged Larya sharply, and Larya crawled faster. "And you're okay if I brand you as my little hypnotized toy, aren't you?"

"Yes," Larya cried. She wanted that. She wanted all of it so much. The music rang in her head endlessly, enticing, intoxicating. She wanted to belong to Tess, didn't she? Wanted to belong to that wonderful ass. "Yes, please!"

"Kiss me."

Larya blinked.

The collar tugged.

She found herself craning her neck up, whimpering in soft humiliation and bliss as she started to kiss Tess's lovely, soft rear. Tess was so soft. Smelled so sweet. She moaned, licking and kissing, lost in the scent. The touch. The ownership. The fly was in the web now, and bound fast.

All she needed was the bite.

"Yes," Tess purred, stroking Larya's hair as the collar grew tighter and tighter. "Mine. All mine."

"Uh-huh," Larya moaned, kissing and licking and worshiping this wonderful creature, worshipping her wonderful ass. She wanted it. She wanted all of it. She deserved it. She needed it, needed to let her thoughts drip down between her legs, needed to submit forever, to be a happy little docile sex bunny for the succubus who had claimed her.

She'd been claimed for the price of a song, and it felt so meltingly good.

"My eternal slave," Tess cooed.

And Larya was flipped onto her back by the collar, and she stared up in wonder into Tess's sparkling, odd eyes.

"Yours," Larya whimpered. She would do anything for it. Debase herself to any level. She was prey, and Tess her predator. This was all she wanted.

Tess smirked, and rose up. And the next thing Larya knew, the demoness' rear was above her, and her mistress was readying to sit down—to smother her, to make Larya give herself totally as the collar grew tighter and tighter, hotter and hotter, ready to brand her for all of eternity as the music built to a sweet, foreboding crescendo—

An ear-piercing feline yowl struck the song like an axe to a cello.

Larya felt whiplash both tonally and physically as a red blur tackled the ass—and its owner—away from her, yanking her along with it by her neck.

The music turned discordant, confused as Lim wrestled with the extremely startled succubus, hissing and spitting like a feral creature. The catgirl was totally naked, sweaty and still covered and kiss marks, but her eyes blazed with fury.

Fey really, really didn't like demons.

Larya clutched at her neck, struggling for breath as catgirl and succubus rolled and thrashed, dragging Larya along for the ride. She tried to cry out, though she had no idea what she was trying to say. Beg Lim to stop? Cry for help?

She felt rough hands grip her shoulders, and Snatch entered her frame of vision, eyes narrowed as his fingers struggled to undo the strange sort of clasp Tess's tail had locked into.

Some spark of consciousness was returning to her Larya reached up and, brushing one of Snatch's hands away, slipped her more delicate fingers between the 'clasp.' She forced it off with a choked cry and fell back to the floor. The caterwauling just a few feet away from them was reaching a high octave.

The next thing she knew, Snatch was dragging her out of the room. The music dragged on like a snake over piano keys. She massaged her neck as she was unceremoniously plopped back onto cold, ordinary stone.

"Aw, shit," she heard Snatch mutter, and she turned to see what was happening.

Lim and the succubus were locked in combat: Tess struggling to get a grip on the catgirl, or at least to push her away long enough to recover, Lim refusing to let up. The catgirl wasn't yowling anymore.

Because her sharp teeth were buried in the succubus' shoulder.

They rolled back and forth as Larya and Snatch watched. Larya vaguely felt she should do something, though she felt confused, sleepy. And Snatch seemed reluctantly to reenter the room. The music was a chaotic medley.

And then with a sudden rise in pitch and tempo, the catgirl and succubus went tumbling head-over-heels and crashed through the stained glass window.

"Shit!" Larya cried, bolting to the window. The music rang out like an alarmed chase, but she paid it no heed. Snatch hurried after.

One of the last intact stained glass windows was no more, and as ordinary moonlight struck the emerald floor, the music seemed to die slightly.

The succubus was nowhere to be seen.

Lim, however, was thrasing and squealing in surprise as a massive whorelip plant draped over the jungle canopy wound around her, bathing her in kisses and giggling, ticklish touches. Her eyes were wide, her ears flat, and her mouth open as a mewl escaped her.

Larya exchanged an uncertain look with Snatch. "Okay, now what?"

"Ah! Ah! No! EEEEee!" Lim writhed and giggled as the whorelip kissed and tickled all over her wiry frame. "Haha! Hee! No! Ee! Yes! I'm fine! I'm fieEEEE!"

"Do we rescue you or what?"

The catgirl giggled and nodded desperately. "No! Heehee! I'm - ah! mm! - fine! Ooh! Ah!"

Larya giggled slightly. "Okay, there's a lieberry bush somewhere in that mass of vines, isn't there?"

"Hee! Ah! Mm! Nuh-uh!" Lim started to nod, then shook her head, her eyes assuming a spiraling purple-and-pink pattern as she beamed up at them. "They t-totally didn't - ah! Didn't slip a whole clump in my - ah! haha! - mouth and m-m-make me swall-" Her voice broke off into a high-pitched mewl.

"Fucking hell," Snatch muttered, hefting his scythe. "We're gonna have to actually cut her down and drag her back inside, aren't we?"

Larya cast a nervous glance about them. "With all this noise, there's gonna be a lot of trouble pretty soon. We still need to work out a way into the vault."

"What? Oh." Snatch shrugged, gesturing back. "I broke the lock with a rock. It's not trapped or anything."

Larya stared at him, trying to ignore the shrieking catgirl off to the side. "What. There isn't a demon, or - or some sort of evil magic inside?"

Snatch blinked. "I mean, why would there be a demon inside? The whole point of this artifact is that the demons never got to corrupt it. The room's just got some standard 'no evil shall enter' wards on the doorway, which barely bug me and definitely wouldn't bug you." He glanced at Lim, then back toward the vault. "I was wondering why you didn't just go in. Would've saved us a lot of trouble."

Larya's whole face heated up as she slowly walked across the chamber. The ebbing magical music of the floor produced something suspiciously similar to a "whomp-whomp."