"Thank you very much!" Larya chirped, leaping off the barge and onto dry land. "We appreciate you being so understanding."

"Lady, they don't pay me to keep people off the continent. Here, steady now—" The ferryman tugged on the netting, preventing the barge catfish from immediately leading his boat back out into the gulf. "If y'all really wanna head toward the Emerald Forest, y'all are welcome to. Can't say I endorse it, though." He gave Snatch a questioning look. "Hey, you gonna get off anytime this year, boy?"

Snatch rose slowly, clutching his stomach, and staggered towards the end of the barge. The contents of his stomach seemed to slosh with every step he took.

"Need any help, Snatch?" Lim asked, prancing up behind him. The red-haired catgirl patted him on the shoulder. "You look a bit peaked, what?"

"'m fine," he grumbled, slowly making his way toward the edge of the barge. "Don't touch me or I'll throw up again."

"Not on the boat, boy!"

~ ~ ~ ~

"... and all things settled, turned out the dog had eaten the rutting shoe."

"Damn." Larya whistled. "I guess we got off lucky on our visit."

"Or unlucky." Lim winked. "We all had a good time of it, naturally. No revel like a Standing Stones revel."

"Our visit took two hours," Snatch grumbled, scythe out as he watched a curious purple bush nearby, "and at least one and a half hours were spent wasting time instead of getting our questions answered."

Larya giggled, twirling her staff in her hand. She watched the purple bush, too. "All that matters is, they think they can help me with my, um, problems. After that whole mess with the Celestials, I pretty much thought I'd be a bimbo forever!"

"And we wouldn't want that," Lim said with a wide grin. Larya rolled her eyes and shoved the catgirl lightly away from her.

Snatch's eyes darted from side to side. "Can we cut back on the chatter? I've got to be able to focus. This whole area gives me a bad feeling."

"Yes, well, a Verdant Cataclysm will do that to you." Lim grimaced, looking towards a vast field of pink poppies to the right of the dusty road. "I've been into the Southern Evergreen once. Ten feet in. Never going back, and this place can't be much better."

"What even caused the Southern Evergreen?" Larya glanced at Lim, ignoring Snatch as he began methodically slaughtering a clump of suspicious ivy.

Lim caught her eye, looking unsure. "I wasn't born then. All I know is one day the Southern Evergreen became the Deep Evergreen, and now the only fey that come out of there are pipers and... well, nasty things." She set her jaw and looked up towards what lay ahead. "No demons, though. That's Emerald Incident stuff."

Behind the sparse trees ahead of them stood a great wall of thorns stretching twenty feet up and off into the eastern and western horizons. The Woven Wall. One of the two mighty defenses constructed with the sole purpose of keeping the Emerald Incident as isolated as possible.

Larya considered Lim's words, pursing her lips. She wasn't entirely certain what a piper was—only that they were objects of awful terror back home. If a piper showed up, it was known, no man or woman or grown person in general would be safe from her intoxicating music. A village would be emptied in days, lost to her power.

With pipers as comparison, Larya certainly didn't want to know what would be classified as 'nasty things'. She swallowed.

Up ahead, Snatch cocked his head.

He whirled around. His eyes were wild. "The birds have gone quie—"

"Drop the sickle, boy!"

Larya and Lim jumped.

Snatch's shoulders slumped slightly as an arrow thudded into the ground next to his boot.

"It's a scythe," he muttered, turning halfway. He lowered the scythe, but did not drop it.

Four people—all seemingly human—emerged from the brush. A woman held a longbow trained on Snatch, while two men carried curved scimitars. A third man leaned on a spear—unlike the other three, he did not wear the cloak and armor of the Rift Rangers, but simple traveling clothes. He could easily be mistaken for a wandering beggar, in fact. Larya instantly felt wary towards the man.

One of the scimitar-carrying men turned to the archer with a scowl. "Yala, you were supposed to stay in the bushes."

"Whoops." Yala adjusted her grip on the arrow. "I know, I got caught up."

"So it's just the four of you?" snatch asked, with a very unconvincing air of idle curiosity.

They glared at him.

"Hey, hey, hey." Larya waved a hand. "We come in peace. We wish to pass through the Woven Wall."

The two male Rangers exchanged unsure looks. The archer kept her eyes trained on Snatch's scythe.

"We can't let just anyone through the Wall," one of the Rangers said, rolling his eyes. "Do you have any idea how dangerous the Emerald Forest is? We just dealt with an incubus two days ago."

"But we've got business in the Forest!" Lim said insistently, leaning familiarly on Larya's shoulder. "We're sent to collect an artifact lost in the Verdant Tower! The Heart of Light!"

"The Heart of Light? Sounds familiar. And also unlikely." The Ranger gave a cold chuckle. "You'll never make it to the Tower. That's at least a quarter-mile in, by our measurements, and the forest expands inches every year no matter how hard we try to keep it down."

"Well, it's our task." Larya folded her arms. "A task set forth by the druids of the Standing Stones."

"Standing Stones?" The spearman blinked. "Say, that's interesting."

"Hush, knight." The archer gave her bow a twitch downwards. "He still hasn't dropped his scythe!"

"Yeah, I'm not gonna do that." Snatch snorted. "We're coming from the south, you're coming from the north. Seems to me like you're more likely to be a danger to us than the other way around."

"Why you—you could be Knights of Yoric!"

"Knights of who?" Lim's tail twitched.

Larya leaned over. "A corrupted knighthood," she whispered. "They fell to the demons during the, um, Horny War, but unlike the demons, a lot of 'em are still around."

"Hey! Stop that whispering!" snarled one of the scimitar-wielding rangers. "What are you scheming?"

"Oh, let up, Maple," said the spearman, who Larya was beginning to guess was a vagrant knight. He yawned. "You ever heard of a catgirl or a druidess working for the Knights?"

With a broad smile, Lim casually twirled a finger, causing flowers to sprout out of her hair. Larya giggled, rolling her eyes. Lim really needed a bath.

The spearman pointed a lazy finger towards Snatch. "Plus, that guy's definitely an adventure. Smell that adventurer musk?"

Snatch smirked. "That's vomit, not musk."

Larya winced. He probably thought that sounded clever and wry.

"Okay, okay." 'Maple' pinched the bridge of his nose. "We don't have time for this. You can come through the wall, but we'll escort you. And... get you a change of clothes."

"Thank you," Larya said, genuinely surprised.

"Thank nothing," the archer said, slowly lowering her bow. "We just don't want to have to worry about your smell leaving a trail so that whatever eats the three of you decides to follow it back to our hideout."

Larya grimaced.

Well, she thought, as they approached the great wall of thorns, this can only get much, much worse from here.

~ ~ ~ ~

One week later...

Snatch—Alrek to his friends—gritted his teeth as he tried to focus on wrapping the bandages around his wrist. He looked up angrily at the cause of this minor injury.

Directly outside the room, a mass of rose vines stood, as solid as a wall. They twitched and spiraled, as if trying to beckon him back towards them, but there was no way in hell he was falling for that.

The worst part was, he was pretty sure they hadn't even meant to scratch him. He'd just been a bit too squirmy when those roses had come towards his face and he'd caught a whiff of their sweet scent. Snatch didn't trust anything sweet. At leas they seemed unable to follow him into this room, and he was pretty sure the scent wasn't strong enough to leave him more than mildly tipsy at worst.

Of course, if the roses had some way to amp up the speed at which they pumped out that scent...

"Snatch!" called a voice from behind the stone wall he was leaning against. "Shit, Snatch, are you okay?"

"Fine!" he yelled, glowering. "One of the fucking vines slowed me down."

"I saw." Larya sounded extremely stressed. "Do you see any way to get this door open?"

"It's not a door. It's a wall now." He looked over the featureless gray stone bitterly. "The only way to open it would be to use the key on the fountain again—"

"And we have the key."

"Yeah, and the fountain is packed behind a wall of demonic roses." He kicked the floor angrily. "It's the way of it."

"The ways of what?" he heard Lim ask.

Snatch thought about explaining just how high the fatality numbers were on dungeon crawls like this, but he decided it probably wasn't a good idea. Larya was too interested in playing hero—she'd probably try to rescue him, or something, and then it would be on him if she died trying. Or got captured and turned into a brainwashed slave. He didn't want either outcome.

"I'll have to find another way in," he said, trying to conceal his lack of conviction. He wasn't a very good liar, but the three-foot stone wall between them helped. "Maybe get this door open somehow. I've been in worse scrapes."

"Have you really?" Larya sounded extremely skeptical.

"Well, there was the time I went into a..." He bit off the exposition. "Point is, I'll find a way after you, or make my way out otherwise. If I don't catch up, it means I've shipped out for the hideout."

"You shouldn't try to get back on your own!"

"Yeah, I'm not hanging around this place on my own, either. It's harder to hit a moving target." He chewed his upper lip. "If you don't see me outside the tower, the best thing to do is meet back at the hideout."

"And if you can't make it out?"

Snatch rolled his eyes. Always with the questions. "Then the best thing to do is go back to the hideout. Unless you're suddenly able to control these vines or burrow through spelled stone?"

"... no."

"I'll meet you at the hideout, druid."

There was a pause.

"Good luck, Snatch."

"Yeah, best of luck, guy." Lim's voice was uncharacteristically restrained.

"Sure. You too. Remember to check the ceiling."

There was a longer silence, and Snatch concluded that Larya and Lim had moved on. He was left alone with his thoughts.

He let out a long breath. The breath became a growl of frustration. "This is dragonshit," he snarled, kicking the floor again. "I'm a fucking adventure, not some bumbling rookie. Fuck off, Verdant Tower!"

Snatch normally tried not to be too noisy in dungeons, but what did it matter? He walked over and kicked a glass bottle into the wall, where it shattered. The lamp he'd left in the center of the room cast brilliant green reflections on the broken shards from the several dozen emeralds embedded into the floor.

This was beneath him. He knew that the Verdant Tower was infamous, he knew that the Emerald Forest was known as one of the most dangerous areas on the continent (at least, until they'd blown up the land bridge connecting it to them). But it was still beneath him.

"Fuck you, druids," he muttered, pacing rapidly. He felt like a beast in the zoo, trapped in a cage, longing to escape and devour the passersby gawking at it. "'Larya must prove her commitment to the druidic path'. Bullshit. You just wanted this thing and decided to make her get it for you. Dragon. Shit."

He hadn't had to tag along. But the pay had been good, and... well, damn it, Larya never would have made it through this far into the Tower. Hell, he was worried she'd still get caught, even this close to the Heart of Light's vault. This place was one of the most advanced dungeons he'd ever been in, and it wasn't even a proper dungeon.

It just seemed like a goddamn waste of a perfectly decent person for her to die here, while he was helpless to give her any advice or to tell her to stay damn well away from the cool fountains and the glowy gold coins.

"It shouldn't have been me in here," he muttered darkly, kicking the wall. "After all the shit we went through to get through the forest, all I did in this tower, all the times I saved her ass in here, it should've been..."

Well, no, not Larya. Larya didn't deserve that, and besides, she'd been invaluable back in the jungle. "Should've been Lim," he said, and found he felt no significant compunctions there.

He let out another angry sigh, even as it hit him that taking deep breaths might not be a very good idea right now. This little room had no windows, and in fact, no ventilation save what the roses provided. Snatch had a will like iron, but poison... well, poison could break anyone.

Luckily, Snatch always came at least a little bit prepared. He reached into his pocket and drew out a set of plain bamboo panpipes. He took a shallow breath, then blew out three simple notes.

The panpipes vibrated in his hands, and cool, fresh air smelling strongly of reeds and marrsh entered his lungs. So, well, fairly fresh. But nontoxic.

The Moor Pipes were one of his most useful gadgets, and he'd gotten a lot of use out of them since acquiring them on the road to the Standing Stones. They, at least, would probably let him keep his senses, as long as he remembered to take a few breaths from them every minute or so. But no more deep breaths.

"Ooh, what are those?"

Snatch looked up sharply. Had he just heard something? Something like a wispy, breathy voice.

He paused, looking around. There was nothing in this room save a few colored glass bottles and the old remnants of a rug and a table. And, of course, the emeralds. And the vines trying in vain to snake into the room, held back by some sort of spell. An anti-demons spell? He probably wasn't so lucky.

He didn't hear anything else. Probably the wind, Snatch carefully did not think, because Snatch wasn't a complete dumbass. Probably my imagination, Snatch explicitly did not consider, because his mentor had taught him very strictly about what happened when an adventurer chalked up something suspicious to imagination. She'd been a lot of things, but reckless hadn't been one of them.

Eyes narrowing, he unhooked his scythe from his back and stalked towards where he'd thought the sound was coming from.

"Hi!" The voice was so faint, he could barely tell, but he was pretty sure it was coming from a small blue bottle at his feet. He stooped, examining it cautiously.

In the glint of the blue bottle, almost like a reflection, hung the face of a woman with long, dark hair. She had a cute heart-shaped face, plump, pouty lips, and very large eyes. She stared up at him. "Um, hello! Do you think you could help me, mister?"

Ordinarily, Snatch would take one look at a suspicious happenstance like this and back far, far away. But he was sort of out of options, so he stowed the scythe and folded his arms. "Help you how?"

"Um, well..." She blinked rapidly. "My name is Starri. I used to be the Headmaestress of this tower! But I, um, got trapped in this room!"

"Yeah? In this bottle?"

"Yeah!" She beamed, then bit her lip. "I mean, no. In the emeralds! Do you think you could break some of those for me?" She batted her eyelashes. "I really, really wanna get out of here, so I can rest in peace and stuff."

"Uh-huh." Snatch leaned against the table, lifting the bottle to eye level."Right. Sure. You want me to release you."

"Uh. Yes!" She giggled. "Like, um... that'd be awesome if you could release Starri! I mean, release me! Who's Starri!" She giggled again, looking nervous. "Saved it," he heard her mumble under her breath.

"Why should I free you?" Snatch asked. He was playing along for now, but his patience was already getting very, very thin. He rather suspected this was one of those 'ancient evils seeks release'-type deals, and if their plan was to feign stupidity to get him to underestimate him, well, it wasn't going to work.

"Because... because I wanna be free?" She blinked rapidly. She actually had very thick eyelashes, Snatch had to admit. "Everyone wants to be free. Don't you wanna be free?"

"Yeah. Sure."

"Sure you do. Everyone does!" She beamed. "I mean, y'know, except for... those." She seemed to shrug. "Y'know, those silly bimbos who just wanna feel good no matter what."

"Hm. I know the type." Snatch rolled his eyes. "Trust me."

"Ooh, you do?" The woman in the bottle tittered. "Yeah, see, some people, like, they don't wanna be free. It just feels so good for them to submit, I guess they don't feel like it's worth the effort. It's so hard to be free, to resist control."

"You mean keeping basic dignity?" Snatch remembered how Larya and Lim had acted throughout this trip with one another and scowled. "You mean keeping some basic sense?"

"Ooh, but it's so hard to keep sense!" she cooed. "Isn't it? So hard to keep your head sometimes. It just feels too good to submit, to obey."

He snorted. "If you say so."

"Yes." She smirked. "See, you know the type. But you, like, seem like the sort who doesn't like doing that. Doesn't like giving in, slipping into pleasure. Right?"

"Um, right." Why were they even talking about this? Snatch wanted to move on. Actually, he was distinctly considering putting the bottle right back where he'd found it and pretending he hadn't seen it.

The bottle glimmered in the lamplight as her coy, whispery voice rang intimately in his ear. "You don't want to be a dumb, happy little bimbo. You wanna be nice and free, even though sometimes it's exhausting, sometimes it's just so, so difficult... right?"

"R-Right." He needed to put the bottle down soon. She was definitely starting to move into hypnosis-mode.

"Sometimes it's just so much energy," she sang, and it almost seemed as though her eyes were getting wider, her face was getting bigger, her... she was getting closer... "So, so exhausting. You just need to rest sometimes, but you also need to keep resisting, don't you?"

Snatch blinked. Her tone was shifting, but it was hard for him to think clearly. Dimly, he registered he needed to take another breath from the panpipes, but her breath was so wet and breathy and sensual in his ear...

"That's right," she went on, not waiting for a response, "but you'll have to rest sometime. It's been such a long, long day of resisting... of swimming against the current..." The bottle shimmered. "Sooner or later, it's time to sleep, right?"

Snatch stared at her numbly. "Cut that out," he mumbled. He needed to look away. Very soon.

"Aw, but we're having so much fun!" she cooed in his ear. "Don't you want to relax? Don't you feel... exhausted?"

Snatch swayed slightly. Her face took up the whole bottle, now. Her voice filled his left ear, filled his thoughts...

Realizing he was being hypnotized, he fought fiercely. Think of gray stone. Think of gray stone. The former thief gritted his teeth. Gray stone. Gray stone.

"Come on, silly," Starri breathed, her breath tickling his ear. "It's time to sleeeeep..."

He swayed. Time to sleep.

Time to sleep.

Time to... to...

He staggered forward and spun around.

A lovely young woman with violet skin and long dark hair stood before him, looking a bit off-balance from losing the shoulder she'd been leaning against. She was the spitting image of the woman—the reflection in the bottle. She blinked. "Um. Whoops. Um..." She spread her arms gleefully. "Free! Free at last! Oh, what joy to be, um, free. Yay!" She gave him a sly grin. "Oh, however shall I thank my benefactor?"

"Can it, demon," Snatch snapped. He threw the mundane bottle to the ground, where it cracked. "You forgot to disguise your skin color."

"Oh. Right." She giggled, and in a flash, her skin turned a dark umber. "There we go." She smiled, adjusting her bra slightly. "So, um, you have..."

"I know you're a demon now!"

"Aw, man." She pouted. "And I was so close!"

"No, you weren't." Snatch scowled. "You just hadn't asked me to do anything yet."

"Sez you." She stuck her tongue out. As she did so, her form shifted. Her skin returned to its pastel violet hue, and her hair grew even longer, wavier, taking on a dark purple shade. Twin horns rose from her head, curling just slightly forward at the tips. Her eyes turned a brilliant yellow, with a sliver of blue serving as pupil. "I think you were about to be my silly little bimbo toy."

"You're bad at this."

"Hmph." She folded her arms. "I'm rubber, you're glue. My stuff bounces and I get all sticky to you." She giggled, jiggling her breasts with her arms folded beneath them. "See?"

"I thought demons were supposed to be smart."

She scowled and pouted, sitting on the old table. It crumbled beneath her and collapsed, but she continued to sit in midair, suspended casually as if there was an invisible chair beneath her. "I'm an imp. We start out dumb. I got really smart by fucking Starri molten, but then..." She bit her lip. "Well, I guess I got a bit greedy. I was chasing two apprentices when these stupid spells kicked in, and now..."

She trailed off, blinking. "Um, what was I saying?" She giggled. "Oh my gods, I'm such a bimbo nowadays."

"Yeah. Okay." Snatch was edging towards the... the ex-door. "So are we gonna fight? 'Cause trust me, the hypnosis thing won't work twice. And it didn't work once."

"You haven't killed me yet," she pointed out with a grin.

"Yeah, well..." Snatch bit his lip. "That's because..."

Actually, why hadn't he killed her yet?

"Because you love me!" she crowed, beaming at him. "'Cause I'm so sexy and cute and you wanna fuck me!"

"Nope. That's definitely not it."

"Is it because you think I can get you out of here somehow?" she asked, blinking inquisitively. With another demon, Snatch would have assumed she was being coy, but he was reasonably certain she was genuinely ignorant.

"I'm not selling my soul or fucking you or anything."

"Aw, but why not?" she whined.

"Because you're a demon."

"That's racist!"

"It's not racist to point out systemic incentives you have to eat people. Demons aren't an oppressed class, and they don't suffer from systemic persecution."

She blinked. "Huh?"

Snatch grimaced. "Uh, huh. Speaking for a friend there. Friend with strong opinions. Anyway, no, I'm not fucking a demon because I'm not a fucking dumbass."

"Well, fine. We don't have to fuck." She sounded very petulant about this, however. "But we don't have to fuck to make a deal!"

"Meaning?"

"Secrets for secrets!" she said excitedly, kicking her legs excitedly. "That's what imps do. I'll share a secret with you, and you give me a secret in exchange!"

"A... secret?"

"Yes." She winked. "I should warn you, though, handsome, it does require a, um, act of passion to seal the deal." She wiggled her hips. "We don't have to fuck, though. I could just make yiu cum by, like, sucking you off!" She giggled, smacking her lips, and Snatch noticed just how plump and lush her lips were. Kissable lips. Cocksucking lips. "Or I could stroke you. Or tickle you to climax, if you're ticklish." She waggled her fingers meaningfully.

Snatch's heartrate was accelerating slightly. He folded his arms. "No deal."

"Oh, come on!" she whined. "Fine, maybe a kiss. A kiss would do."

"If I let you kiss me, you'll hold onto me and draw it out." Snatch rolled his eyes. "And probably make me..." Dizzy, confused, horny... "... want to accept another."

"But you're, like, soooo strong-willed..." she gushed.

"No. Fuck off."

"Aw." She bounced agitatedly on her nonexistent seat. "What if I promise to only kiss you or touch you with permission?"

"If you're not trying to brainwash me," he growled, "what's the need for a kiss? And why do you need secrets, anyway?"

She scowled. "I mean... it has to be a kiss to make sure we're both telling the truth. That's imp magic. It fills us both with the answers to our questions. And I wanna know things!" She looked at him imploringly. "I've been, like, stuck up here for years. Centuries. Days, even! I'm so confused and I don't know what's going on out there. Is it a crime to wanna know what I've missed?"

Snatch chewed his upper lip. "Okay, fine. Fair enough. I'm still not making any deals. You're way too into this."

"'Cause I'm horny!" she said, bouncing as her voice took on a keening tone. "I'm a horny little sinslut back home, and when a demon can't act on her Sin—I'm Gluttony, of course, 'cause most imps are Gluttony—it gets even needier! I don't need to fuck you molten, but gimme something!"

"Sorry. You seem like a nice evil hellspawn. But no." Snatch turned back to the wall, scowling as he searched it for seams. No such luck. Out of the corner of his eye, he watched for the demon's shadow, making sure it didn't touch this wall. If it did, it meant she was crossing the room and past the lantern.

He was sure she was telling the truth. She legitimately did not seem smart enough to manage these lies—her botched hypnosis had been easy to break out of once he'd realized the reflection trick. Enticing, yes, he grudgingly acknowledged, but easily escapable. Not that he'd admit to her it even came close to disrupting his willpower.

Those roses were probably getting to him. He took out the panpipe and blew several morenotes, taking in several gasps of fresh-ish marsh air.

Instantly, he felt much clearer. He needed to be more careful about that. Before, the risk had been him steadily getting more and more drugged until he forgot the pipes and wandered into the midst of the roses for gods-knew-what. But now, with this creature here to distract him...

She was definitely telling the truth, or most of it. But Snatch didn't trust demons. No one did. That was about as common sense as 'don't lick strange flowers' or 'don't follow strange lights' or 'never give an adventurer a loan'.

Even though it was damn tempting to accept her deal. If he could make it out of this room... gods, he really didn't want to die here, so many miles from home.

He swallowed. It was how adventurers died. But not today.

But he wasn't a fool. He'd have to find another way.

"You'd be able to help your friends," sang her sweet voice behind him.

He spun around, glaring. She was still seated in midair, resting partially on her palms, kicking her feet, grinning at him. "They'll be fine," he snapped. "Two druids can handle themselves. They just have a couple more rooms."

"Oh, I dunnoooo..." She gave an airy laugh. "I'm getting some very interesting whispers from the girls the next two rooms down."

Snatch tried very hard to hide his unease. "That's their problem," he muttered.

The imp hopped off her seat and bounced over to him, giggling. "You could save them!" she cooed, clasping his hand. He jerked away. "You could help your adorable little catgirl get out of all that... ooh, and that cute brunette? Ooh, she'll be tasty if Mesiticalys gets ahold of her..."

Okay, so she knew what Larya and Lim looked like. That didn't prove anything. She could have seen them before, from hiding. Or maybe she was getting a picture, but wasn't telling him what was really happening.

The imp leaned in close, licking her fulsome lips. "They're so cute," she burbled, beaming at him. "The kitty found some yarn to play with... or in..."

Snatch leaned away sharply. "I don't care; I'm not interes—mmf!"

The imp had leaned in, grabbed him, and seized him in a wet, messy kiss, practically devouring his face. Her plump, soft lips touched his, her tongue thrust into his mouth, and he heard himself gaspin reflex—a submissive, needy gasp.

Unlike Larya and Lim, Alrek had been very careful on the trip in the forest, and had not been fucked by vines, temporarily enslaved by cambions, or trapped inside any flowers. In fact, he had not been made to cum since... well, since the Celestials, he realized.

And Alrek didn't masturbate.

He was very, very horny right now, and for a few seconds, her kiss felt so good, he found himself going limp, allowing her lips to touch him, allowing her tongue to explore him, bathed in her soft sighs and moans of pleasure—

He recoiled with a gasp, leaping back against the wall. "Get off!" he snarled. He had no idea how much time had just passed. Seconds? Minutes? He felt... dizzy. Confused. Like he wanted another kiss like that.

The imp was licking her lips, a very satisfied look on her face. "Yummy," she said. "If you want, we can keep doing that." She giggled at his scythe. "I'm pretty fast. I bet I can kiss you again, and again..."

"I'll... I'll split you in half!"

"Oh, c'mon, I felt your cock while we were kissing." She giggled. "It's not that big."

Alrek's... Snatch's heart was pounding. She was quick. And clever. She probably could manage at least a couple more kisses. And this air was going to get to him eventually. He took a deep breath.

"You know, you don't have much time," the imp said, pouting impatiently.

Snatch was thinking just the same thing.

"We have to set a few rules," he growled. "And I'll know if you're lying."

"Oh, yes!" She clapped her hands together gleefully. "I love following rules! Please, Sir, what are the rules?" She grinned at him coyly.

He tried to keep his voice level. Anger wouldn't get him anywhere right now. He needed a way out of this room. "No touching me without my permission."

"Deal," she said happily.

He swayed slightly, uneasy with how easily she'd agreed to that. He thought a moment before a loophole occurred to him. "And you can only touch me for... for two seconds before you ask permission again. Permission only lasts for two seconds."

"What?" she protested. "But I—that's—that's such a pain!"

"How long were we kissing just now?"

"Ummm..." She bit her lip. "Two minutes?" She batted her eyelashes convincingly.

Snatch was actually very bad at telling when people were lying. But if she was lying, he couldn't imagine how long it had actually been. "Every two seconds," he repeated firmly.

"Ugh. Fine. I won't touch you without your permission, and I have to get permission every two seconds to keep kissing you." She rolled her eyes dramatically. "Anything else, Your Highness?"

"In exchange, I'll accept a few trades. But you can't ask me for any secrets that would allow you to escape."

"No deal," she said flatly. "That could mean anything." For once, she seemed a little more alert. "But you don't know how to free me anyways. I promise I won't take any secrets about, um... like, how the Emerald Forest is being kept back, or what else is in this Tower."

Snatch hesitated. That wasn't ideal, but he supposed it was the best he could hope for—especially now that she knew his cock was hard. Her eyes hadn't left it since he'd escaped the kiss.

"But before we do that," she said, licking her lips, "I have one secret I'd like to know. I really, really want it."

Snatch waited, eyes narrowed.

"I wanna trade our names!" She giggled. "Just so I know yours, and you know mine."

"Call me Snatch," he said tersely. "I don't share my names that casually."

"Aw. Fine." She did a little twirl, her diaphanous purple dress billowing up a little. "I'm Sindra! Short for... well, doesn't matter. So." Her eyes shone like those of a predator after dark. "Let's make a deal, handsome!"

She stopped twirling. "So, like, what's your first question?"

Snatch thought about it a moment. He needed to get the door open. But he also needed to make sure this wasn't a trick. Everything about this screamed 'trap' to him.

He came to a reluctant decision: If Larya and Lim were really in danger, he'd keep going. Otherwise, he'd find another way. Or just rot. Better than being enslaved by some bimbo in a tight dress, after all.

"Are my companions actually in danger?" he asked slowly.

She smiled, and danced forward. He braced himself as she leaned in. "Do I have your permission?" she asked, looking inordinately excited.

"Yes," he said, swallowing his doubts.

Sindra gave a happy hum, leaned in and planted a big, wet kiss on his lips.

As she did so, images sank slowly into his mind, and he found himself convulsing in sudden pleasure. Her kiss sank into him, devoured him, and he realized dimly that she was probably leaving a lipstick mark with every kiss like this. Something about that felt... hot. Very hot. He held in a moan.

In his mind, he saw a circular chamber. The walls were covered in slick green moss, and serpentine vines slithered all across the floor. He saw Lim squealing in delight as those tendrils tickled her, tickled her pussy, as two large, pink blossoms pumped puff after puff of pink smoke into her face that made her eyes flash pink and her lips quiver and her squeals of laughter turn higher and higher. The vines held her suspended over a vast rose-colored pitcher plant, from which there came wet, lewd sounds and feminine moans.

Nearby, Larya struggled to escape a familiar plant—a vine of whorelip that was kissing over the ankle it had wrapped around. More vines were approaching as she crawled away, whimpering in delight, lunging for her staff.

As she touched the staff, a pair of red lips slipped beneath her shirt—

And the vision ended. Sindra pulled away, hands clasped behind her back. She was unable to hide her big, happy smile.

Snatch realized he was staring at her, a big, dumb half-smile on his own face. He quickly jerked back into full consciousness, shaking his head roughly. "Okay, he growled. "Next question..."

He leaned back against the wall, still a little dazed from the kiss. He felt hot, not least because of the suffocating kiss. He really was breathless. He took in a reluctant deep breath of the rosy air, and instantly felt better—and worse.

"What secret did you ask, anyway??" he asked, suddenly realizing he still didn't know. That was dicey. Who knew what she might be learning about the world... or about him?

Sindra stifled a little giggle. "Oh, just curious about something, I guess. Those are some nice panpipes, by the way!"

Snatch looked down, and realized he'd pulled out a set of plain bamboo panpipes. He blinked. Where had those come from?

Had Sindra given them to him?

Eyes narrowed, he set the panpipes down and straightened. Sindra seemed to find that hilarious, so he took the extra precaution of nudging them a ways away from himself with his foot. Whatever trick she was playing, he was not falling for it.

"Next question?" Sindra asked. She still seemed to fine something really funny.

Snatch eyed her suspiciously. Well, forget it. Next question. "How do I get this door open?" he asked.

Sindra giggled. "Would you like me to touch you, mister?"

Snatch glowered. He did not trust this show of subservience one bit. "Yes," he said reluctantly, even though there was a distinct part of him that was rolling around with delight at the thought.

Eyes shining, Sindra leaned in and caught him in another two-second kiss.

Her lips drowned him, drowned in him sensuous touch, in pleasure, in need. He found he couldn't help but lean in as images poured into his spiraling mind.

He saw the emeralds shining, blinking rapidly, almost hypnotically. Some of them flashed, and the door—it was a door again in his mind—swung closed and sealed shut.

He moaned slightly as Sindra's hands slipped under his shirt, trembling at her touch—

She pulled away with a gleeful grin, leaving him just as dizzy and confused as before. She was bouncing from heel to toe. "This is fun!" she said. "What's the next question?"

Snatch blinked blearily. He was a little sorry the kiss had ended so soon—it seemed a bit silly that he'd made the rules so strict. Her kisses were so soft... just nice, harmless, sweet kisses...

He snapped back to attention. Harmless or no, it made sense to be careful. "Um. It seemed like there were only a few emeralds that flashed for the door." Those were probably the emeralds he needed to break to dispel the door's enchantment.

The imp beamed and waited for him to continue, still leaning back and forth between toe and heel, her breasts bouncing slightly with every second. He watched them bounce for a second, eyes going up and down, before tearing himself away. "So, um... what happens..."

"Hey, wanna kiss?" she suddenly chirped, beaming at him. She leaned in, plumping her lips. "Just a little one? No trade necessary!"

Snatch blinked. "Um, I... I, um..."

He knew he probably shouldn't accept it. She was clearly trying to stall him.

But her kisses felt so, so good. At least she couldn't mess with his mind while she was busy planting wonderful, sweet, harmless kisses on him. He stared at her lips as she smacked them meaningfully, beaming innocently at him.

She might be trying to get him horny so he'd accept more than a kiss next time, he realized numbly, even as he watched her sensuous lips move. Suddenly, he wondered what her lips would feel like around his cock.

He snapped back into attention with a shake of his head. "No," he said abruptly, coughing. "We don't have time for that. What happens if I break the wrong emeralds?"

She pouted, then leaned in. He leaned in in anticipation, heart pounding. She seemed to like this.

And as she kissed him, he moaned, lost to her touch. She clutched him tenderly, moaning back. Her tongue slipped into his mouth, and he marveled at the softness of her lips as they smacked wetly over him. He was drowning. His cock was throbbing, and he moaned eagerly as she pressed her whole body against him.

He felt himself sinking into trance as images floated through his mind. He saw the room again, saw several emeralds break. He saw a reddish flash, and suddenly, he saw himself, standing over an emerald he'd just trodden upon.

And as she kissed him in the real world, he saw a vision of Sindra come up behind him.

She seemed to giggle as he obliviously stared at the crushed diamond... then wrapped her arms around him and start to jerk him off. He saw himself whimpering, whispering obedient mantras as she poured her magic into him, making him good and horny for Mistress, and he felt the real Sindra pressing against him, felt her grinding against his bulge...

She pulled away with a giggle, leaving him blinking in dazed confusion.

So.

The emeralds managed multiple spells in this room, and if he broke the wrong ones, Sindra would escape. Would capture him. Would fuck his mind away.

She clasped her hands behind her back and giggled. "Are you sure you don't want a little kiss?"

He stared at her uncertainly. Something about her request was strange, but for the life and soul of him, he couldn't place it. He couldn't... couldn't quite remember... something.

"No?" he managed.

She pouted. "Well, then, you might as well have a seat, sweetie. Let me just..." She took him by the sleeve and gently guided him down, down into a large, comfortable armchair that he knew hadn't been there a second ago.

"Stop," he protested, though he wasn't sure whether what she was doing was actively dangerous or just overly familiar. He sat down in the armchair, though every muscle remained tense.

"Why?" she whispered, prancing around the armchair and leaning down behind him to whisper in his ear. "It's, um, not like we're in any hurry, right?"

He couldn't argue with that, he realized, biting his lip. He had nowhere to be in a hurry.

He had no excuse to refuse her.

He flushed bright red as he felt her breath tickle his ear, as he felt her fingers playing over his clothed shoulder. "These deals sure are fun," she purred. "But are you suuuure you don't want some kisses before we keep going? Just to, um, keep you satisfied for a little while?"

She made a kissy sound in his ear and giggled. "I can tell you like them."

He swallowed. "What... which emeralds do I break?" he managed.

"Mm... Do you want me to kiss you?"

"Yes."

Her lips brushed over his neck. "Yes, what?"

The words escaped him before he could think. "Yes, please," he panted.

She started wetly kissing his neck, moaning. He leaned away without thinking, opening himself up to more and more decadent little kisses, quivering in half-unwanted pleasure.

Images trickled through his head, slowly, slowly. He saw an emerald by the corner behind him flash bright green. One out of seven, he intuitively sensed.

"That's one," she cooed sweetly, still kissing him. "Another?"

"Yes!" he whispered.

"Mm..." She crawled into his lap, kissing tenderly up and down his neck, covering him in lipstick marks.

An emerald just by his foot flashed bright green.

"Another?" she asked with a little laugh.

"Yes," he whined. He felt strangely confused. Numb.

Again and again she kissed him, wriggling in his lap, pressing her ass against his cock as she kissed and kissed and kissed. Her every kiss scattered his thoughts, fogged his mind, until he could barely see straight into her gleaming yellow eyes. She was giggling at him. His head was spinning. He kept trying to make notes—"Yes, please."— but she kept—"Yes, please."—confusing him with her sweet touches, distracting him with her—"Yes, please."

And on the last emerald, she started to bounce lightly in his lap, grinding against him, and he let out a pitiful whimper.

He lay there in there chair, dazed and needy. He stared up into her bright red eyes, briefly confused.

She was still in his lap.

She beamed, apparently sensing his confusion. "I'm not touching you!" she cooed, wriggling a little. His cock throbbed beneath his trousers. "I found a loophole!" She seemed extremely delighted with herself over this new development.

He stared at her helplessly. He couldn't focus. He couldn't think straight. He couldn't remember the emeralds.

She felt so good in his lap.

She leaned in, grinning at his predicament. "Uh-oh," she cooed, giving her ass another wriggle. "Looks like someone's enjoying this more than he purported!"

In desperation, Snatch lunged forward with his hands. The imp recoiled, eying his bare skin warily. "Hey!" she protested, balancing on his knee. "No fair! I can't touch the parts of you that aren't clothed, silly!"

Through the fog, Snatch's eyes lit up. Before she could react, he'd lunged down, unbuckling his belt and dropping his trousers—and forcing Sindra off him in the process. His shirt quickly followed suit.

Totally naked, he gave a sigh of relief.

"oh, wow." She pouted, crossing her arms together. "I guess you've outsmarted me. Now you're all naked, and I can't play with you unless you tell me do. And you know all the emeralds now! Darn it."

She bounced to her feet, giggling. "So, those emeralds..."

Snatch blinked.

He stared around fuzzily.

He knew he needed to get the door open. He couldn't quite remember why, but he knew it was important, wasn't it?

Or was that just what she wanted him to think?

Which had been the emeralds, anyway? There'd been... one by his foot... um, one behind him...

She batted her eyelashes. "Gosh, do you need me to repeat any of them?"

Snatch forced his mind to clear. He concentrated on the ceiling for a moment, tuning out the giggles and sly glances of the imp.

He stood up, cock bouncing—it was halfway erect now, to his embarassment.

He raised his foot and smashed deliberately down on one emerald. It crunched easily beneath his foot. At the same time, he stooped and smashed his fist down on another.

As both shattered, a hum went through the room. His ears popped. And a shower of sparkles and glitter erupted from the gems.

Snatch blinked rapidly as the imp gave an impressed, "Oooh." The green sparkles flashed and glimmered around him, causing his head to sway. They swirled, gleaming, glowing, like a little dust devil he was caught in the center of. Dimly, it occurred to Snatch that he'd never asked what would happen if he smashed the right gems.

He realized he was on his hands and knees now.

"So pretty," he heard the imp murmur. "So sparkly."

Detecting a softness to her tone that he didn't like—or rather, liked a little too much—Snatch tried to look away. Tried. Tried to look.

Tried to.

"Sparkly," he repeated, when prompted by her giggles, as the gem shards hovered around him, spinning, spiraling, immersing him in green light.

"Imagine that each one reflects a tiny little fragment of your mind," she whispered. "Imagine that your mind is contained inside every... little... piece. Scattering. Sparkling. Spinning. Spinning into sparkles. Lost in the light. And they're so very, very pretty, aren't they?"

His head felt so light. The sparkles held him captive, even as he fought to resist, fought to...

... so sparkly...

Pretty, he tried to say, but all that escaped him was a soft sigh.

"That's right," she cooed. "That's... so sparkles... good..."

As the shards swirled around him, Snatch fought to close his eyes. It was horribly difficult, because every time his eyes would start to droop shut, the shards would sparkle just so, causing him to blink. And he couldn't shake the sense that she wanted him to close his eyes, that this was all some kind of trick.

"So pretty," her voice droned. "So pretty and nice and pretty and dumb... pretty dumb..." She giggled. "Pretty dumb nice horny dumb dumb horny..."

He sighed again, softly, happily. His cock was getting very hard, and he felt the urge to stroke it as these emerald lights and her sultry voice bathed him in blissful promises of thoughtlessness... It was getting harder and harder to fight, harder and harder to close his eyes, harder and... hard... so hard...

"So pretty," she whispered. Her voice was giving way to a moaning, breathy, uneven tone. "Sleepy silly pretty sparkly little horny little dumb..."

Snatch's eyes finally shut.

Instantly, the effects dissipated, and he felt his mind clear a little. The rosy air still permeated the room, however. He rose unsteadily to his feet, leaning on the chair for support.

Sindra's voice was gasping and weak, and Snatch realized her dirty talk was getting a little... disjointed. "Silly horny pretty dumb pretty sparkly pretty sparkly prettty..."

He cautiously opened his eyes and confirmed that the emerald dust was mostly dissipated. She was still staring at its remnants, her red eyes wide and glazed-over, her mouth hanging open and drooling slightly.

She'd been hypnotized by her own little trap.

Snatch stared at her a moment, uncertain what to do. She continued to chant the adjectives, standing over the swirling mass of emeralds, eyes wide.

"Silly horny sparkly dumb..." she whispered, her fingers hovering around her pussy.

Snatch hesitated, then leaned in.

"... little Sindra," he whispered.

There was a pause in her chant. She blinked rapidly, and for a moment, he thought he'd gone too far.

"... silly sparkly pretty dumb little Sindra," she whined. She seemed almost relieved to have an end to the chant. "Horny little dumb Sindra. Horny silly sparkly Sindra!"

"Do..." His lips were dry. "Do you want a closer look?"

She gave a tiny nod, barely listening to him.

Using a scrap of her discarded dress—just in case—he pressed gently down on her head, pushing her down into the midst of the remnants of the emerald spirals. She let out a soft, blissful sigh as the broken magics immersed her.

He stared at her, head swimming. He still felt... a bit confused. Dumb. And gods, did staring at her quivering body make his cock twitch.

But she was still dumber than he was. He tried not to ogle her beautiful body as he petted her hair through the cloth. "That's good," he whispered. "That's nice, isn't it? So pretty and sparkly. You want more pretty and sparkly, right?

As the sparkles at last started to fall, she let out a little whimper and nodded.

"Where is the next emerald like that?" he whispered in her ear.

She squirmed. "Kiss," she whined.

"No, I won't—"

"Kiss!" she insisted, turning to him, her eyes still sparkling. Sparkling so prettily. Glimmering, gleaming...

He stared at her, biting his lip. He still felt so... so...

... horny. And as her eyes flitted down towards his cock, she gave a sly smile. "Kiss," she repeated, licking her lips.

Without thinking, he smashed another emerald. It didn't matter which one—he just needed to confuse her. He closed his eyes just in time as he heard the shower of emerald sparks that followed.

She let out a soft sigh of contentment, mixed in with a disappointed whine, as she drifted back into the trance she'd been under.

"No," she whimpered, "I wanna... wanna drink you... not... fair..."

"Later," he promised, petting her more. He hesitated, then reached down, hand hovering over her pussy. "You can drink me all up soon. Just tell me where the next emerald is."

"Okay." She giggled, and he got the sense that in her current state, he could ask her for the keys to the Neogi Voidcraft and she would agree. She pointed.

He gently guided her over, and she crawled alongside him when he shattered the emerald. She gave a happy sigh, totally content to let the shards swirl around her once more.

He cautiously opened his eyes, making sure not to focus on any point for too long. She was panting, tongue lolling out, eyes shimmering in perfect, stupid bliss.

"It, like..." She moaned. "... feels so good... forgot h-how good it feels, being... totally dumb... about to drink up a cutie's brains..."

"Brains?" Snatch swallowed.

"Teehee!" She squirmed, and he realized he'd started stroking her pussy without even thinking about it. "Yeah, like... when an imp trades secrets, she makes the other person a little bit, like, dumber! But I've only gotten a little taste of you so far." She bit her lip, swaying. "Need more..."

"The next emerald." There were seven in total, he dimly recalled.

The next went easily. So did the fifth and sixth. Sindra seemed so happy to be of help, but his promise hung in the air, heavy as iron chains. He knew she would hold him to it, but when?

She'd been drinking his mind. How much had she taken? How much had he lost? Could he make her forget about the promise? Snatch was no mindweaver. And she really, really wanted him to keep it.

And he really, really wanted to fuck her. He was almost whimpering as she rode his fingers, feeling the tight, slick warmth. He raised his foot to crush the final emerald.

Just then, she started chanting again, gasping as his finger slowly fucked her..

"Feels so good. Feels so nice. So nice. So much pleasure. So much nice good pleasure nice! I am a nice, horny little... fucktoy!" She squealed the last word as she came, and beamed up at him in idiot bliss even as he readied to shatter the seventh and final binding. "A n-nice, horny fucktoy for Alrek's pleasure!"

Snatch froze.

He wasn't sure why she'd called him that, but dimly, it called to him. Compelled him in a way he didn't understand. He stared at her in confusion. "W-What?"

His fingers slid out of her pussy with a slick, sticky sound. He felt her take his hand in her smooth, soft, silken fingers, and realized he was stooping, letting her guide it into his own mouth.

He started to protest, but she cooed, "Shh. Shh. Good boy!"

"T-Touching..." he gasped.

She giggled. "You touched me first, silly."

And his fingers slipped between his lips, and he tasted her sweetness.

Instantly, his head grew heavy, and he collapsed atop her. She squealed with excitement, locking her legs around him. "We're both cheating," she whispered conspiratorially at him. "But... I'm better, aren't I?"

He stared up at her, gasping as he slipped inside her, as her pussy started to contract and milk...

"There we go," she cooed, kissing his cheek. He whined, so she kissed him on the lips. Twice. He stared at her dazedly, losing himself to her pleasure, to her sweet kisses, and she smirked. "Poor, dumb boy is 'bout to get a little bit dumber, okay, Alrek?"

His response was cut off by another kiss. She bounced her hips teasingly and giggled. "I guess dumb li'l me was still pretty enough to turn this big, smart man into a stupid little—"

He brought his hand up with the last fragments of his strength and smashed it down against the emerald beside him.

She grinned and closed her eyes immediately. Too late, he remembered he was supposed to do the same.

As the emerald shattered, the gem shards exploded around them, and his jaw went slack. Behind them, he heard a grinding, a crackling, and a fizzling sound.

But he was lost. Lost in the emeralds, lost in her hot, tight, wet pussy...

"I'm gonna fuck you molten," the demon hissed, gyrating her hips beneath him, kissing him fiercely. "Gonna—mm—make you forget I'm a demon next! You'll assume I'm some cute human girl with funny horns. Then I'll make you think you're a demon. A stupid, easy demon, and me your clever summoner. Doesn't that sound like fun? But don't worry, I'm gonna trade you some really useful info." She gave a wicked grin. "Like how to always obey me! And how to be a giggly little bimbo fucktoy for me!"

He moaned and whimpered, totally lost, totally empty...

"Silly boy!" she sang, as her tits bounced above him, as her hips bounced in his lap. "Silly, horny boy, thinking he could brainwash a demon! Like those silly emerald shards could brainwash me." She gave an unconvincing giggle. "It was all a trick! I was in full control all along!"

He gasped as she wrapped her arms around him and kissed him right on the lips. He knew he was covered in her marks now, and a part of him reveled in it. He was hers. Hers forever. "Shards are gone now, anyways," he whimpered.

"Ooh, really?" Her eyes opened. "That was...fast..."

She blinked rapidly.

The emeralds still encircled her. They swirled, sparkled, spun and shimmered, captivating her, making her lips part slightly, making her eyes glitter in reflection of their endless spiral.

She gave a whimper. "Boy, I... really am still really... um, dumb... dumb... horny..."

He nibbled her lower lip and gave a little whimper in her ear, eagerly bucking his hips up into her. "Let's play for a while," he pleaded.

"Ooh... let's..." She giggled.

And she started to bounce. His eyes widened, and 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 he 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 anymore secrets. He would give it all up if only to be lost in her arms for the rest of his life.

And even in her trance, she clearly knew it. And she 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. And 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 was leaning against the wall, covered in someone else's lipstick kisses, naked. But free.

She winked. "Bad timing?"