"You're sure about this?" The batgirl merchant eyed her skeptically, glancing down at the glimmering emerald brooch. "I'm leaving town tomorrow. I won't be about to give you a refund."

"I gave you the money, didn't I?" Limini held out her hand with a small smile. Her voice twanged with a Western Plains accent, friendly but firm. "No offense, but where I'm from, that means it ought to be in my hands by now."

The peddler shrugged and handed the necklace over. Her large, pointed bat ears twitched uneasily. "I'm just saying, the thing requires a lot of focus to use, and it won't work right past the first few seconds if you get too distracted. But you know best, I suppose."

"These will activate whenever someone tries to grab me, right?"

"Whenever someone takes you off your own feet." The batgirl held up a finger. "That could be grabbing, could be shoving. But yeah. Anyone who tries it will be in for a rude surprise."

Limini placed the brooch around her neck and clicked the clasp. "That's what I like to hear." She tipped her wide-brimmed hat and smirked. "Thanks very much, ma'am."

The batgirl gave a grim little smile. "Hey, it's your funeral if you lose control. Just be careful with those. The spectacles, too. Heck, even the box. There's no perfect defense against a good hypnotist, and you gotta have a backup plan if you're gonna be tangling with demons."

Limini turned away and walked back to her horse, tucking the little pair of tinted dark glasses into her shirt pocket. "Oh, I always do. And for your information..." The bounty hunter clambered up and sat herself down in the saddle, and flicked the reins. The horse started off at a trot. "... I'm not the one who'll be getting tangled up tonight."

~ ~ ~ ~

Limini left the horse tethered outside with a bag of oats as she ventured into the old keep.

Ruined castles like this were a common sight in Lacra, and some of them weren't even that old. The Royal Family hadn't died out so very long ago at all. This particular castle, though, was placed close to the coast, and the proximity to wind and surf had worn severely at its foundations. It looked decrepit, a building on the losing side of a bitter war against time.

No doubt the thing that lay across the strait didn't help, of course. Demon-tainted winds never did.

Limini had to wonder at that. This was the closest she'd ever been to the Emerald Jungle—the twisted Verdant Cataclysm across the sea, tainted beyond repair by sinful energy, its every living being corrupted into an avatar of demonic temptation. A lot of bounty hunters and adventurers saw the Emerald Jungle as a good place to make easy money when no one was hiring. Limini knew better, and had always stayed well clear.

She wondered why her target would have come here, so very close. Was the Jungle drawing them here? Or... she banished the thought.

In the open box in her hand danced a graceful ballerina, spinning and twirling and swirling with the blue magics animating her. The box was barely the size of Limini's open fist, the ballerina barely the size of a grasshopper, and fine glowing azure threads connected her to the base as she leaped and twirled.

The music emanating from the box was quiet. Very, very quiet. Still, Limini flinched at how the dainty tune echoed off of the crumbling stone walls around her.

The closer she got to the source of these demonic energies, she'd been told, the faster the music would play, and the faster the little ballerina would dance. And the ballerina spun faster the deeper Limini went into the castle. Limini was close. And judging by the strength of the energies, she knew in her gut the demon had to be mighty indeed.

Her heart raced.

Finally. Finally, she was going to get some damn payback.

Limini made her way down the hall towards a great metal door. As the music sped to a merry festival dance, she paused, briefly running her hands over her eyes to place the anti-eye contact spell that reduced the eyes of those she encountered to blank white orbs. It wasn't a perfect anti-hypnosis protection, of course. Nothing was. Which was why she followed up with the tinted spectacles.

Limini grinned. She always had backup plans. Lots and lots of them. This time, she was going to bring Celeste to her knees at last.

Not that coil fiends had knees. Or legs at all, really.

Limini rolled her eyes. No matter.

She came to a rest right before the door and crouched, setting the music box down by her side before leaning in to listen at the rusty keyhole.

The music was racing, an infectiously catchy melody now, and the ballerina leaped and spun with a speed that caused her diaphanous white dress to fly up almost provocatively. Limini's attention singled in on her sense of hearing. She took a deep breath to calm herself.

She didn't hear anything but the music. And she couldn't see anything through the rust and grime.

Limini straightened, adjusted her leather jacket a little, cracked her back in a leisurely stretch, and twirled her fingers to warm up her magic. She'd learned the hard way that demons could be highly resistant to enchantments, of course—but 'resistant' and 'immune' were two very different things.

And it was time to show this damn snake who was Mistress.

The wizardess took another deep breath to steady her nerves... and opened the door.

The chamber beyond was a little better-decorated than the halls leading to it, Limini noted subconsciously. The walls glimmered with the remnants of inset gems long-since pried out by looters, and the windows were a deep emerald-green hue that cast the whole room in a faerie glow beneath the moonlight. The floor was decorated with complex abstract blue-and-white tile, the blue mosaics spiraling like waves.

And the woman in here was not human. Not even remotely.

Two dainty silver slippers glided and flitted across the mosaic like fluttering moths, graceful and delicate in their dance. With eight segment horns rising from her long, flowing bloodred hair, skin mottled green, red and gold like a garden spider's belly, and a flicking tail tipped with a heart-shaped barb, their wearer was about as blatantly demonic as one could be.

But she was beautiful. Gorgeous. Breathtaking, even.

Limini couldn't help but admire that pronounced, indulgent swell of her hips as the woman swayed in time to the song of the music box. Her lips were plump, and neon green. Her tail—long and red and sinuous, rising from under the swishing diaphanous crimson skirt—swished and flicked in time, and Limini grinned, noticing how it kept pulling the skirt up, revealing a pair of flawless, plump cheeks ripe for grabbing. The succubus had a perfect bubble butt, and it jiggled enticingly as she swung her hips to and fro. Ribbons red and gold fluttered from her arms and hair, complementing the motions. All she wore aside from the almost see-through skirt were some even more ethereal red silks around her chest. She was a being of perfect temptation, perfect sexuality.

But this succubus was not Celeste.

Limini sighed. She had tracked down the wrong demon.

At the sigh, the demon paused, though her swaying didn't stop. She turned to face Limini, blinking big, blank white eyes. "Oh! Well, hello." Her hips swung to one side, then to the other. "I was wondering where the song was coming from." She smiled brightly. "It's so wonderful to meet you."

"Likewise," Limini said politely, hiding her disappointment. She gave a short bow. "The name's Limini, sugar."

"Nidalvectes," the succubus said, looking delighted at Limini's manners. "But you can call me Tess, my sweet."

Limini brushed her hair back with a casual smile. "You're quite the dancer, aren't you, Tess?"

Tess raised one eyebrow, smiling quizzically. "I suppose I've had much time to practice." She tilted her head slightly. "Are you a dancer?" Her hips swayed.

Not Celeste. But still very beautiful. And very interested in Limini right now.

"Oh, no. Just an appreciator of the fine arts." Limini laughed. "All left feet, I'm afraid."

"Perhaps I could teach you a few steps?" Tess's lashes fluttered. Limini couldn't make out much in the way of details about those eyes, thanks to her spell, but she could tell Tess was eyeing her up. Admiring her.

Limini smirked. She didn't mind being ogled. "Oh, I'll bet you could." She eyed the demoness's gorgeous round ass with naked appreciation. "I'll bet I could teach you a few myself."

Tess giggled. "Oh, you're a delight!"

"Are you the only demon in this castle?" Limini kept her voice casual, sauntering around the dancing succubus—but never taking her eyes off her.

She wasn't afraid of Tess. She'd handled succubi before, and they were nothing compared to a coil fiend. Still, she didn't like taking risks, and she could tell from the tail that Tess was some sort of succubus 'offshoot'. There could be some surprises.

"Were you hoping for more?" Tess winked. "Perhaps I could call a friend?"

"Nah, I'm good." Most succubi were long past still possessing the strength to gate in 'friends', Limini knew. Tess was probably bluffing. But no need to be stupid about this when Tess was being so kind and unsuspecting. "You're quite enough for any woman, I'll bet."

"Aww, thank you!" Tess tossed her hair with a flirty little smile—and gave her ass a little bouncy wiggle. "I try to be. And aren't you a pretty thing yourself!"

Limini made a show of cooing her humility, glancing down over her own body. Her strawberry blonde hair and bright blue eyes tended to attract attention for their exotic novelty, especially this far north, but she knew Tess wasn't looking at her eyes. Limin's comfortable jacket-robe was left unbuttoned at the moment due to the heat, and her massive breasts and lithe, fit physique were on full display within her tight-fitting short shorts and white blouse.

"You're too modest," Tess purred, watching Limini over her shoulder with a sly smile as her ass wiggled. "Oh, to see those legs spring into the air..."

"Aw." Limini giggled, watching the ass's slow, rhythmic pendulum sway. "Well, I'm sure you already see plenty of pretty girls, bein' some manner of demoness." She left a note of uncertainty in her voice, as if she wasn't fully sure that Tess was a demon. Best to keep Tess underestimating her a little longer yet.

"Oh, it's a lonely life in the Jungle," Tess said with a pout. She twirled back, matching the rising swell of the music, and swung her hips in time. "There are plentiful beautiful creatures, of course—plant-tainted demons and demon-tainted plants—but little can compare to the true beauty of the mortal world."

"Oh, yeah? Well, if you're looking for mortals, an old castle doesn't seem like the best bet." Limini kept her tone neutral, flippant, even as she picked at the conversation with a jeweler's delicacy.

"This is a resting place." Tess raised her arms above her heads and gyrated her whole body with the fluidity of a trained belly dancer. Limini licked her hips. Gods, but Tess had a perfect ass. To grasp that plump, jiggling butt... "Although you are an exquisite surprise. Were you looking for something?"

"Mm..." Limini shrugged. "Well, you know how adventuring is. It looks like this place has been picked pretty clean, though." The ass swayed back and forth with such an addictive rhythm. The bounty hunter cleared her throat. "You... must be lonely here. So far from other demons."

She was pretty sure now that Celeste was nowhere near here. She just had to finish crushing her hopes... so she could move on to crushing Tess's will and having some fun to take her mind off it.

"Oh, you would be surprised how tiresome their company can get. Other succubi are so preoccupied with carnal pursuits."

"Mm-hm." Limini nodded lazily. "I'll bet."

"Oh, yes. Other demons are constantly looking for pleasure and indulgence when left to each other's embrace. And the pleasure of a demon's touch is delectable, of course, but you would be amazed at how dull it can become." Tess's voice was sweet and musical. It nestled itself easily into the music box's melody. Matched the swinging of her hips perfectly. "How easily one can get lost in the monotony, the repetition, the grind."

A short silence hung, punctuated only by the music. "Oh, yes?" Limini asked softly, subconsciously reluctant to disturb the rhythm.

"Oh, yes." She needn't have worried. Tess's rhythm was perfect. It absorbed all, even Limini's gentle voice. Tess's sweet, syrupy voice dominated all. "They get so obsessed with corruption, with sex, with the constant push-and-pull against the Woven Wall. The constant... back and forth."

Another silence. Limini nodded, to show she was listening—then realized that Tess had turned away to jiggle her ass at Limini. The tail played upward, betraying the lush, enticing curves. "Mm-hm?" Limini mumbled.

"Mm-hm!" Tess agreed, giggling. Her tail flicked, and Limini swallowed at the gorgeous sight of her plump cheeks bouncing with her sway. "It's such a struggle to pull away. Things get so tedious. Exhausting. We advance toward the wall, they push us back. We go forward, they go back." She gave a breathy sigh. "Back and forth. Back and forth."

"Mm..."

"Eventually, it all melts away into the rhythm." Tess's voice was as molten and sweet and sticky as molasses. Singsong. Her words rang in time with the movements of her body. Back and forth. Back and forth. Back and... "Back and forth. Back and forth." Her ass swayed. Her ass was so... so round. So soft. So warm. So beautiful. "So easy to get lost in the daily grind, the endless rhythm... and you start to lose yourself to it, don't you?"

"Mm... mm-hmm..." Limini nodded slightly, feeling herself swaying. She was starting to feel tired. Relaxed. It was easy to relax here, after all, staring into Tess's plump cheeks, watching that lazy, swinging swirling sway...

"It's so easy to sink." Tess's voice dripped like honey into Limini's ears, an addictive melody catchier than any other. "So easy to sink under the sway. So easy to sink deep, deep, deep-deep-deep down... and obey.

Tess's perfect ass swinging, around and around, spiraling, almost like it was... reeling Limini in...

Limini blinked. She shook her head blearily. "Mm... wait..."

"Oh, yes, the weight," Tess encouraged. "So heavy. Soooo heavy. Swinging back and forth, and standing is sooo difficult, because you feel that weight..."

"Weight," Limini whimpered, nodding along—then catching herself, feeling confused, shaking her head... "No, I'm... not... under..."

"Under her sway," Tess sang, "so easy to sink. Nice to obey. Nice not to think."

Under her sway. So easy to sink. Nice to obey. Nice not to think. Limini felt her mind sloshing about as she moved dreamily to the rhythm. Tess's ass swung so gracefully. So flawless and curvy.

Limini was drooling at the merest glimpse of the curves beneath now, revealed so tantalizingly every time the tail teased upward. She watched hungrily for those glimpses. Gods, she was getting so turned on...

No! She had to fight it. Limini screwed up her will and, reluctant to use the spectacles so soon, managed to tear her gaze away. It was like lifting a hundred-pound weight. She gave Tess a sour look. "I'm not... that easy to hypnotize," she said firmly. "Trust me, darling, no offense, but stronger fiends than you have tried."

And one has succeeded again, and again, and again, a bitter thought whispered in her head. A bitter thought laced with rose petals at the thought of letting Celeste take her again, and again, and again...

Tess didn't seem as disappointed as Limini had hoped.

"Aww." Tess gave a sly grin. "Not easy? But it is so easy to stare, sweet thing." She reached forward, and Limini realized with a dull thud in her chest just how close she'd allowed Tess to dance as the demoness caressed her cheek. The red-and-gold ribbons fluttered close, tickling Limini's neck. Tess swung her hips to one side. "And if you're so good at resisting... where's the harm in looking?" Tess swung her hips to the other side. From the left to the right. From the right to the left. And back and forth. Back and forth.

Under her sway. So easy to sink. Nice to obey. Nice not to think.

Back and forth. Back and forth.

"Nnnooo," Limini said, trembling, her voice not quite as confident as she'd intended it to sound. Actually, her voice almost sounded like a whimper. She blushed and stumbled backward.

"It's perfectly safe to look," Tess soothed, stepping forward—hips swinging with every step with the seductive sway of a demonic temptress. "You're soooo strong... and it's soooo eeeasy to waaatch..."

"Nn..." Limini felt so heavy. So groggy. So confused and dizzy. It... it was easy to resist... wasn't it? Wasn't that what she'd said?

"Sooo." Swing. "Eeeasy. Swing. "To." Swing. "Resiiiist."

"eeeeeasy..." Limini watched, lips parting, as the ass swung back and forth. Left. Right. Back. And. Forth.

"Good girl!" Tess cooed in delight.

Limini's mouth hung agape. Tess's ass was so luscious and curvy, bouncing and jiggling with every swing, the swishing skirt so tight, so short, doing more to tease and tantalize than conceal...

"l-lenses," she whispered, "hide her from my sight."

The succubus vanished in a puff of shadows, replaced with a blurry murky form.

"Hm?" Tess sounded intrigued.

Limini took a deep breath and watched the shadowy form continue to sway—but with all fine details denied, she could feel the succubus's hypnotic power fading. She managed a smirk, hiding her lingering dizziness. "s-Sorry, sugar—afraid I came prepared."

"Oh?" There was a pause. "Oh, you can't see me anymore, can you? I thought I tasted illusions in the air when you came in."

Limini's eyes narrowed. She snapped her fingers, forcing the mind-melting energies to crackle at her fingertips. The magic was a little harder to draw than usual, she noticed. Apparently she was still a little fuzzy.

"Is it those glasses?" Tess gave a little hmph. "So unfashionable."

Limini bit back a quip and circled the dancing shadows. She knew she had to be a little careful—her head wasn't fully back in the game yet, and succubi could be deceptively quick. The last thing Limini needed was to escape the hypnosis only to get her throat cut in her hubris.

The music went on. Limini supposed that made sense—the demon was still here, after all—but she was beginning to deeply regret not closing that music box before entering. The song remained as catchy as ever, and the rhythm was a little... distracting.

"Such a shame," Tess sighed. "You looked so pretty, just staring at my ass like a lovesick puppet. Didn't you like that?" Her voice turned syrupy sweet. "Didn't you like watching my ass, dear?"

"Maybe for a little while," Limini murmured, watching the form's moments and trying to gauge intentions. "But... well, I'm afraid I have places to be, sugar."

"What's the rush?" Tess giggled. "Looking for that coil fiend of yours?"

Limini stiffened.

"Aw..." Tess's voice dripped with mocking sweetness. "Does my horny little Limini have a crush?"

Limini felt her cheeks burning. "I... shut up." She couldn't think of a better comeback. She was too distracted looking for an opening. It was hard enough to focus on that, much less witty banter.

"Oh, there's no need to be in such a hurry all the time, my sweet." Tess's voice flowed with the music like a tributary joining the main current of a slow, deep river. She spoke with an easy, bobbing rhythm. A familiar rhythm. An intoxicating rhythm. "I know you must be tired. You've come so, so very far from home."

Lim shook her head slowly. Sluggishly. Her head lolled in time with the music.

"Don't you recall how easily my hips swayed to the gentle beat?" Tess cooed. "You looked almost inspired. Where's the harm in letting your eyes roam?"

Limini kept shaking her head, uncertain. She swayed in time. She couldn't stop thinking about it. About Tess's... Tess's...

"That's right, my dear," Tess purred. "Just think about my perfect, curvy ass, its weight... the way your brain just sank and gave its thoughts away, my nice, blank slate..."

"Um..." Limini remembered dimly to blink. "N-No, I'm... I'm, um..." Despite herself, her dizzy mind swam with delicious memories. Memories of Tess's luscious, curvy hips, so bouncy and soft, moving to that lovely, infectious rhythm... that playful tail teasing her with tiny, intoxicating, addictive glimpses of what lay beneath that skirt...

"And oh, my goodness, such a pretty pair of hips to just obey. So nice to watch and sink into and fall under my gentle sway."

"So... nice..." Limini felt her pussy clenching at the mere sound of her own voice—she sounded so heavy, thick, so sleepy, so dazed and weak-willed and hypnotized and horny.

She knew she needed to stop listening. Needed to stop letting Tess control the conversation. But all her thoughts felt so weighed down right now. So... heavy...

She couldn't stop thinking about Tess's ass. It swung in her mind's eye, following the music's rhythm, the rhythm of Tess's words, so slow and hypnotic, alluring, entrancing. So indulgent, so round, so... nice... to watch...

Under her sway. So easy to sink. Nice to obey. Nice not to think.

"My darling silly pretty girl," Limini whimpered and felt her panties getting absolutely soaked at the molten coo of Tess's voice, "I think my Minnie wants to play!" Tess's form came closer. Her ass swayed—or Limini imagined it swaying, so slow and rhythmic, so easy to watch, so lovely to serve... "And good sluts, hypnotized to watch, do every little thing I say~"

"Ev... everything..." Limini whined, staring off into space, drowning in desire to see it, to touch it... to see the beautiful ass that had hypnotized her so easily with its mere memory...

Under her sway. So easy to sink. Nice to obey. Nice not to think.

"N-No," she whispered, trying to shake off the compulsion. But it clung to her like sticky honey, weighed all her thoughts down, the vision in her mind's eye dominating her mind and flooding her with dreamy, dazed, hypnotized desire. She blinked rapidly, desperate to clear her head—but nothing could shake the divine sight from her mind.

Divine. Holy. She panted at the blasphemous thoughts and rubbed her legs together, biting her lip to hold back a moan, swaying in time with the imagined hips' swing. The ass was so perfect in her mind's eye. So easy to watch. So... hypnotic... addictive...

Under her sway. So easy to sink. Nice to obey. Nice not to think.

Gods. She whimpered. She was being such a... such a slut... a good slut, hypnotized to watch...

"My ass controls you now," Tess hissed, "and needy bimbo sluts' good cunts betray—" Limini squeaked as she felt a sinuous length—the loop-tail—dart between her legs and caress her through her trousers, and she realized how wet she was— "what docile-pliant-needy toys they are when they let their eyes stray."

Under her sway. So easy to sink. Nice to obey. Nice not to think. Back and forth. Back and forth. That ass swinging around and around, reeling her in like a catch on the line... Under her sway. So easy to sink. Nice to obey. Nice not to think. Under her sway. So easy to sink. Nice to obey. Nice not to think.

Limini stumbled backwards, out of reach, nearly falling backward in her dizzied panic. She kept drifting back and forth, moving in time, feeling as if the whole world swam in her head, a world of rosy-pink mist adoration and a demonic's addictive, sugary voice and a beautiful, flawless swaying ass to devote herself to, to worship, to beg to worship.

Docile, Tess's musical voice sang in her mind. Needy~

"That's right. Good girl. Oh, my, my, my." Tess's voice dripped with singsong amusement. "I recognize your name!" She giggled. "So you must be that coilslut caught in Celeste's little game." Limini whimpered softly at this, but Tess pressed on, lacing her addictive, hypnotic words around Limini like a spider's web as she moved closer. Swayed closer. "Now, now, my pet, you must continue being my hips' good little slave! So whimper like a horny slut—but don't stop sinking 'neath the waves~"

Limini's mouth was open. She drooled a little.

"And don't you want to see me dance? To see my perfect swinging hips?" Tess laughed as Limini whined. "I think you do! Just look at these adoring, pouty, drooly lips~" A finger played over Limini's lips, wiping some drool away—and down below, another finger teased between Limini's legs again, feeling Limini's wetness. "And good sluts neeeed to fill their holes. They love to feel so nice and full..."

"nn... ahh... Limini swayed, drooled, moaned. "f-full..."

Just her good little slutty bimbo... hypnotized by a pretty ass like a dumb, helpless, horny slut who needs to be... to be...

... filled... She drooled longingly at the thought. Under her sway. So easy to sink. Nice to obey. Nice not to think.

"Good girls will worship swinging asses," Tess teased, sliding her finger into Limini's mouth. Limini found herself sucking without thinking as pure instinct took over, tasting her own juices on the finger. "Their bimbo brains melt like molasses." The ass in Limini's mind bounced, jiggled, swayed... "And good, dumb sluts

take

off

their

glasses."

"y-yessss... Limini moaned, as she reached up and, with trembling fingers, pulled the glasses off her face.

No sooner had she done so than Tess took her by the wrist and, with a gentle squeeze, made her drop the glasses to the floor.

Limini watched numbly as Tess ground the glasses under her heel. Tess beamed at her. "Good girl," she cooed.

And as Tess pulled Limini into the center of the room, the succubus's ass began to sway to the music. Her beautiful, perfect, round, bouncing, swinging ass.

"May I have this dance?" Tess asked sweetly, with a triumphant smirk.

Limini drooled. She stared longingly down as Tess wiggled.

She began to sway in time.

TO BE CONTINUED...