“Once you enter the caves, tracking it down should be easy, just follow the trail of bodies,” that’s what I’d been told anyway. It was an awfully dramatic thing to say, but the provincial governor was absolutely one for theatrics. What really hammered that home for me was the distinct lack of corpses—emaciated or otherwise—inside the cave. Mostly it was just rocks. Stalagmites—which were the ones you might trip over—and stalactites—which were the ones that hung tightly to the cave ceiling—the echo of dripping water and my own footfalls. Light was lackluster, but between my lantern and the sporadic natural skylights I was able to at least avoid losing my footing. And, more importantly, I was able to get a clear enough view of the ground to see a distinct lack of bodies strewn about. But hey, the townspeople had reported a vampire living in the caves, and everyone who had gone after it never came out, so obviously it was only a matter of time before someone called in a professional. 

Still, I was a professional monster killer, not a professional spelunkerer; I wasn’t even sure if spelunkerer was the right word. It probably wasn’t. Regardless, navigating caves didn’t exactly come naturally. While I may have been able to sort of see where I was going, that didn’t keep me from stumbling around in the dark. At some point though, I got lucky, sort of, anyway. Lucky is relative. If you consider tumbling ass-over-head down a steep chute and belly-flopping directly into your target’s lair lucky, then I got pretty damn lucky. I came to a halt on the cold, hard, wet, but fortunately fairly smooth stone and pushed myself onto my hands and knees. Across from me was a sight that made my blood freeze. Hanging upside down off the ceiling of the cave from clawed feet was my target. 

The vampiress had folded herself up in her brown, leathery wings, allowing only her long bat ears and dark hair to peek out below. She was big, taller than most men, taller than most tall men. At the sound of my rapid descent her ears perked up, turning to follow the noise. The rest of her followed suit shortly after; pale reddish eyes opened, glowing faintly in the dark of the cave as they caught the light of my lantern. Her eyes focused and, after a moment, she seemed to take in just what was going on. She unfurled her wings and flipped down onto her feet. In the dim lamplight I saw all of her. Aside from her eyes, wings, ears and feet, she was entirely human, and she was absolutely beautiful. Also naked. Her face was curious and apprehensive, lacking any of the animosity or aggression I’d come to expect from her kind. It also didn’t have the distinct, shallow gauntness of most vampires, Instead her cheeks were plump and rosy. Her lips were full, her eyes big and round, her jawline delicate and smooth. Then there was the rest of her.

She obviously didn’t get much sunlight, being a vampire aside, living in a cave didn’t exactly allow much exposure, even if she could feel the sun's rays on her skin without burning to ash. Nonetheless her skin was flawless and smooth. Her toned arms were partially attached to her wings at the base, but could mostly maneuver independently of them. Apparently she had also been gorging herself on her victims, as, along with a voluptuous frame came a slight, attractive plumpness around her belly and hips. The trend continued with her breasts, which hung heavy and full; dark, pert nipples stood in proud contrast to the porcelain flesh around them. I couldn’t help but stare. Lady monsters had always been a bit of a problem for me. Women in general, really. They made me feel things, unwelcome things, wistful things. And I’m not just talking about the obvious attraction, though that was definitely a factor. Moreso, though, I had this bizarre fixation on women, they were fascinating, living these rich inner lives of beauty and elegance that I knew so little about. 

The duty of the monster-hunter was to live among strife and violence; to constantly balance on a razor’s edge between life and death. So admittedly, I sometimes envied women, who got to just be pretty and spend their time doing far more interesting hobbies than carving a path of blood and grime. Regardless, I couldn’t let my feelings get in the way of my duty. I squared up to meet her as she in turn approached me. “Hello human, are you lost?” She called cautiously. Her voice was silky and sweet, but laced with apprehension. Still, it was so pretty, the sort of voice I could get lost in. But no, I wouldn’t let myself be charmed by her and fall into thralldom. Not bothering with a response, I drew my hand crossbow and loosed a bolt. She yelped, and dove behind a thick stalagmite, before I could finish drawing my blade for a followup she had risen into the air and bore down upon me, pinning me to the ground with her hands and talon like feet. As I crashed into the cave-floor below I felt and heard a wet squelching noise. Oh Goddess, what did I land in? Some half eaten corpse? “Stop this at once!” She hissed. “Why do your kind insist on killing me?” 

“Why? Why do you insist on killing us? I know what you are, vampire,” I shouted, struggling in vain. 

As though slapped, she recoiled, “vampire? You think I’m a vampire? Do you think all bat-people are vampires? That’s awfully ignorant of you,” she huffed.

“Make up whatever lies you like, fiend! At least five other men have been sent here to kill you and none of them returned,” I spat, baring my teeth as I thrashed beneath her grip, trying to ignore the other feelings I got from being pinned down by a very beautiful naked woman. 

At that, her face fell a little, she sighed. “I tried to help them get out, okay? But they were so intent on killing me they wouldn’t listen. And they just kept chasing me further and further into the caves.” 

“You lured them in and killed them you monster!” I screamed.

“I didn’t! These are big caves, they go on for miles, they’re my home and even I haven’t explored them in their entirety. Those men are probably dead, yes, but not by my hand. It was their own bull-headedness that caused them to become lost in these caves. No doubt they fell down a hole just like you did, only this time didn’t find anyone kind enough to help them on the other side.” The bat-woman crossed her arms and upturned her nose in a dismissive harumph, but there was no hiding what appeared to be regret and sadness written in her eyes.

“That’s not true; if you really were harmless you wouldn’t have me pinned down like this. Besides, when you tackled me just now I felt something wet crunch below me. Likely your latest meal. What do you have to say about that?” I’d gotten so caught up in arguing with her that I’d neglected to consider that me being right almost certainly meant I was about to be eaten. But I wasn’t about to be tricked by a vampire into letting my guard down.

“Well, yes, you are right that it was my latest meal. Or one of them anyway. From the smell of it I’m guessing you fell on a pile of peaches and plums.” Her nose twitched cutely as she sniffed the air.

“What’s that supposed to mean? Is that code for brains or something?” 

“No it means plums and peaches. I’m a fruitbat, you idiot, look.” She motioned to the ground around us and it was indeed littered with all manner of half eaten or untouched fruits. Then, to drive her point home, she bared her teeth to show no fangs and extended then retracted a very long, tube-like tongue. “See? Besides, what self-respecting vampire would live in a cave? They don’t care about nature and stuff they’re all about opulence and debauchery and stuff—though admittedly, I’m always down for a bit of debauchery, just the less cruel kind and more fun for everyone kind. Anyway, I’m gonna let you up now, okay? No more funny business, I might not be a vampire, but I’m not harmless. You attack me and you’ll find out what cave-bat magic can do,” she chided, rolling herself off me and flapping her wings, carrying her into the air as she hovered above me.

“Wrong move, monster!” I cried out, leaping to my feet and slicing forward with my blade. She dodged effortlessly, looking more disappointed and annoyed than anything. 

“Alright, didn’t want to have to do this but let’s get you nice and pacified.” Suddenly she emitted a deep purple light, which burst from within her and wrapped around me like a warm, fuzzy blanket of laziness, relaxing my limbs. My eyelids grew heavy and my head foggy as I swayed on my feet. “Okay then, obviously I need to find a way to convince you I’m not evil. So let’s take a look at what’s inside that mind of yours.” She murmured, puppeteering more glowing masses of magical energy all around me. After a few moments her look of annoyed concentration softened into one of sympathy. “Oh, you poor thing. I see what’s going on. They’ve got you all confused and so tightly wound up. I’ll fix you right up. Just go to sleep now,” she whispered. The pulsing glow of magic around me grew somehow both softer and more intense as it wrapped a warm, soothing aura around me. I couldn’t put up any resistance as her hand extended to swipe my eyelids shut. Darkness enveloped me.

Eventually I came to, tired and hazy, thoughts slow and dizzy, but aware. The first thing I noticed was that, wow, I could see really well. That was confusing, because the only light source in this part of the cave was my lantern, and it had been non-ceremonially perched atop a rock formation toward the center of the chamber. The light it cast spread pretty evenly, but it was very dim, the lantern was meant to light a few feet around it, not a whole room. Still, everything in my field of view stuck out to me in sharp relief; all around me I could see the makings of a living space carved out of the cave walls. There was a table, a bed, a cushioned rock formation that made for a surprisingly comfortable-looking sofa. In one corner was a pile of discarded fruit which sat next to a subterranean garden. Compost, maybe? 

And, of course, lounging in on another cushioned rocky outcropping, was my assailant. The “fruit bat.” She was looking down at me through half-lidded eyes, wearing an aloof expression of curiosity and detached interest. When she saw me stir—which, oddly, made some kind of weird schloping sound—her expression livened, growing amused and excited, and... was that apologetic? “Hey you’re up… uh, listen, things got kinda weird. It wasn’t on purpose, I was just trying to help you out. But I think there was some, well, other organic matter that got caught up in the spell I cast and just... take it slow okay? Everything’s gonna be fine once you get used to how your well, everything works.” The sound of her voice rang kind of muffled and muddied in my ears. Regardless, I wasn’t really listening. I had a job to do: rid the world of the danger she posed. 

“Not another word, fiend! No more tricks, this ends now!” I shouted as I charged her. Or, at least, I tried to shout that. What really came out was a sort of wet, low pitched, vibrating hum that shook my whole… body? My charge wasn’t really going particularly well either, I was kind of just slowly drifting toward her, and why was she above me? She was sitting down. Something was wrong. I stopped short to inspect what she had done to me and oh god, I couldn’t see or feel my arms. Or my legs, or my anything. All I found when I looked at myself was this amorphous purple goo. Another goopy hum emitted from me as the thing I’d become vibrated. Goddess, what the fuck? This was so disorienting and wrong. Somehow, despite being adhered to the ground I felt dizzy and off balance as I took it all in. Horrified, my gaze cast back to her, the evil witch of a bat who had done this to me. Maybe she wasn’t a vampire after all, I’d never heard of this sort of ability coming from the undead. That didn’t suddenly make her turning me into a horrifying goo creature okay. 

She seemed to glean my own realization of what had happened. A sympathetic, guilty look crossed her face. “Again, please listen. I know you’re freaked out right now, but if you try you can shape yourself back into a humanoid form. Then you’ll be able to move and speak like normal. Just focus.” 

I paused, staring at her—could it be considered staring if I didn’t really seem to have eyes? Regardless, I looked at her, still vibrating menacingly, as I considered her words. I could, theoretically, keep scooting myself toward her, and then what? Just kind of flop at her? Envelop her and quiver like gelatin? That didn’t sound particularly effective at accomplishing much of anything. And, well, this bat lady didn’t seem particularly aggressive at the moment, it wasn’t as though I had anything to lose by trying. Maybe If I really could exert that much control over my form this would actually turn out to be a boon. Being able to contort myself like liquid certainly would have some advantages. Pausing to concentrate—which was actually kind of hard since I still felt all woozy—I reached out with my senses to get a feel for myself. Slowly, I started to become aware of each part of me, which really was just a viscous, shapeless blob of goo. Experimentally, I tried to flex my whole body, and as I did so I started to feel less like a half melted, lopsided glob of butter. The edges of myself contracted inward as I sort of rose and condensed into a semi standing state, before the shock of how bizarre it all felt broke the loose grip I held on my concentration, causing me to fall apart again and collapse into a puddle. 

It was disappointing, but, more than that, reassuring and motivating. I could definitely do this with a bit of practice and concentration. And from there, well, the sky was the limit, I could probably make myself into any form I wanted! What was initially horror buoyed into excitement as, once again I tried to coagulate myself. This time, I attempted to make myself “stand” so to speak. Results were… mixed. I managed to form something akin to a torso and head, but they lacked any detail or consistency, also my entire lower half remained an undefined dripping blob. Soon after I collapsed once more. One might think I’d find that disheartening, but it was actually the opposite. I was making progress, I would persevere. Over the next hour or so, I repeatedly attempted to shape myself at will, slowly building up more and more control over things like surface tension, fine motor skills, minute detail. As I went on I became increasingly aware of the everpresent eyes of my unwanted audience. She looked on, sometimes in amusement, sometimes in fascination, occasionally offering unsolicited advice or comments, but never acting maliciously. She was just there. She even offered a few good tips, loath as I was to admit that. 

Finally, after far too long for my taste, I seemed to develop an effective method. I took it little bits at a time, forming and deforming working individual body parts. First I did arms, then legs, then a head. I built hands with individual fingers which could finely manipulate things. I made feet that could maintain their shape as they held my weight. I formed a human face, then let it dissolve into myself and then formed disjointed parts like a nose, or a lips, or eyes. By taking things one bit at a time and not bothering to maintain their shape once I had them down I was able to separately build all the individual parts of a complete body, while ensuring the goop I shaped stayed firm, consistent and well incorporated with high surface tension. Honestly it was way harder than it felt like it should have been, because I simply could not shake that disorienting, dizzy feeling the entire time. The room was always kind of blurry or swimmy, holding onto concentration for long periods like that felt so exhausting. Really it came down to ensuring that I could hold those shapes without needing to concentrate; to make it all come naturally. 

Regardless, with my prepwork done, I made one last attempt to collect myself into a human-like shape and, wouldn’t you know it, my slimy body did exactly what I asked. The formless, sticky mass I had become slowly but surely coagulated into something else, an actual recognizable body. One with arms and legs and a head and a face and oh my god, I could see and hear so much clearer with proper eyes and ears. With a tongue I could taste myself: sour and sweet with a familiar sharp, heady flavor underlying it all. I looked around the room in wonder, I’d done it! My eyes fell on the fruit bat-woman—whose name I had yet to learn, which was probably something I should fix—she gave me a big excited smile. Part of me considered charging her again but, well, she really didn’t seem to actually pose a threat. Plus, like I’d mentioned, she might have actually done something pretty helpful and useful in the long run, once I got used to being this way and could really take advantage of it.

Overjoyed at my success, I held a small, delicate looking semi-translucent purple hand in front of my eyes and laughed with joy. Well, actually, laugh was maybe not the best word to describe it. The actual sound was more of a giggle, high and sweet and feminine. I froze in place. Trembling with trepidation, I lowered my gaze to take in my form. Soft curves filled my vision, an hourglass figure and shapely legs along with what was probably the most obvious addition: two voluminous lumps on my chest. Whatever was serving as my heart roared in my chest as feelings of shock, confusion, fear, elation? all welled up inside me. “What the fu—” I was immediately cut off as the shock of what I’d just seen completely destabilized my form, and I collapsed into a furiously vibrating pile of purple goo once more. Holy shit, holy shit holy shit. I’d turned myself into a girl. A slime-girl. One with breasts, and sexy legs and a pretty voice and what the fuck? I hadn't meant to do that at all! Had I been pretty though? I never got to see my face. Wait, no, irrelevant, why did this happen? Was this her doing? Again my attention fell to her. 

My monster-girl onlooker seemed simultaneously amused and concerned, stifling a giggle as she cocked her head and asked, “hey, are you alright? Look I know that kinda freaked you out but, well, you made yourself that way not me so don’t vibrate all angry-like in my direction. Just try again and this time don’t dissolve the second something weird happens like you turning yourself into a cute girl.” She rolled her eyes a little, leaning back to observe, biting into an orange she’d plucked out of a rocky outcropping and sticking her tongue inside to scoop up all the juices.

Still quivering angrily at her, I turned away. And yeah, fine, I would listen to her, but not because I wanted to listen to her or anything. I was gonna try that anyway, gosh. Who was she to call me cute? Or a girl, for that matter. Goddesses, this cave suddenly felt kind of hot, and parts of my form were turning more magenta for some reason. I did my best to just not think about it, and work on reforming. It was a little easier the second time around, though I still felt somewhat hampered by a woozy slime-brain. Still, my body felt like it was coming along nicely. This time I was extra careful when making it, so as not to accidentally create anything weird. Just arms, legs, a head, a torso, something resembling hair, that was it. Simple. A few moments later I was standing at full height. Triumphantly, I quickly spun heel to face my adversary and gloat, only to feel the distinct pull of gravity as two bouncy orbs on my chest jiggled wildly at the rapid motion. Gasping, I looked down to see the exact same form. Actually, no, this wasn’t the exact same, this one was even more well defined, and, as a consequence, even more feminine. Why did seeing myself like this literally make my insides burst with bright colorful emotion? “Dammit!” I screamed in a shrill voice, throwing my arms in the air as my body wobbled comically. 

Without warning, my adversary stepped up and hit me with a little blast of magic sparks. “Okay, let’s just stabilize you a little here before you collapse into another pile of goo, as entertaining as that is to watch,” she smirked down at me, towering over me as I gazed up at her and quite literally quivered all over. Her eyes were boring into me, sizing me up like, well, like a meal. I hadn’t seen her look at me like this before, that is, when I was a human. But now, there was this strange assertiveness about her, not menacing, but commanding, take-charge. I yelped, and leapt backward away from her.

“What did you do to me?” I demanded.

“That? Oh, that was just meant to help you hold yourself together easier. Now you should have no trouble holding that shape so long as you don’t just completely lose any and all semblance of focus. Like maybe when you’re sleeping you’ll de-coagulate a bit. Also maybe if you… nevermind.” Suddenly a blush had crossed her cheek as she caught herself staring at my form. Why was she staring at me like that? It was way too much. I didn’t have any blood whatsoever, but it seemed my bias toward a human form had created some kind of makeshift circulatory system as I could feel hot red slime beating fast all through my body, making me hot and flush. I couldn’t help but wonder how I looked, all colorful and voluptuous and blushing brightly. I must have looked so cute. Thinking about that just made my body react even stronger and wait, shit, that woozy feeling, it was getting worse. I could hardly form a cohesive thought, the mere act of trying to keep my focus felt like mentally swimming through thick gravy. Just needed to push through it, beat her then convince her to fix me… even if part of me was really excited at the prospect of looking this way.

“Noooo,” I slurred. “Naht that. Why’m I a girl?” I was teetering on my feet, suddenly kind of grateful for that extra bit of help her magic was lending me. Not that I wanted her help or anything.

“Why are you a girl? That’s probably more a question for you, not me. You could have made yourself into any form, but your subconscious mind chose a woman. Why do you think that is?” She asked patiently. Gosh, she was so pretty, and so tall. Wait, what had she been saying?

“I’m gonna subconsciously kick yer asss and make you change me back.” I murmured.

“To a human? I can probably un-slime you if you want, now that you’ve got a shape picked out. But you’ll need to promise not to actually attack me afterwards. I confiscated your weapons, but still.” A spark of deep blue swirling energy formed in her hands as she stared at me with tense concentration.

“Stoppit. Not change the slime. The slime is okay, like being slime. ‘Skinda fun. Turn me back into a… a… I’m dizzy.” Losing my balance, I toppled forward into her, somehow managing to stay in my humanoid form.

“Ah fuck. I figured this would happen but it’s getting a lot worse.” She caught me in her arms and held me up, looking down at her. Wow, pretty eyes. She reached down to touch my forehead, then my neck, then right where my heart would be and oh holy fuck, her hand went inside me. She scooped out a bit of reddish slime and tasted it, nodding thoughtfully. Meanwhile I was absolutely losing my mind. What the hell you can’t just reach into someone like that and taste them or touch them places even if you were a really hot tall girl who was holding me in her big strong arms you have to at least buy me dinner first. The beating of my ‘heart’ grew only stronger as I flushed an even more reddish purple than before. And what the heck? Was I starting to deform again? There were like little drops of me leaking between my legs. It was really hot down there too, was I melting? Why was it getting even harder to focus?

“Wha’s goin on? Did you curse me to be a girl and also be stupid then melt or somethin?” Admittedly, that would be a very specific and weird curse, but I wasn’t really thinking clearly enough to consider that.

“No, that’s not what’s going on. What’s going on is you unconsciously based your internal anatomy on a human’s internal anatomy. Including a heart that pumps ‘blood’ to a ‘brain’ which functions as your central nervous system. Normally slime’s don’t have that, and everything is spread out evenly, but you have all that stuff concentrated in one place, making it susceptible,” she explained patiently. Even if I had the presence of mind to listen though, I was too busy staring at how pretty and plump her lips were. And thinking about how long her tongue was.

“Wazzat?” I answered eloquently.

She sighed, shaking her head. “You have a slime brain that’s getting slime blood.” 

“So?”

“So the ‘blood’ that’s pumping to your brain is actually highly concentrated alcohol. It doesn’t have anything else to make itself out of so it just absorbs as much of it as possible and pumps itself right into you. You’re getting drunk off yourself. Like absolutely fucking wasted. The fact that you’re clearly flustered and horny is just making it way, way worse because it just makes things pump even faster.” Hey! I wasn’t horny! I was just… confused and needy and tingly. Also, wait, drunk? Admittedly, that actually kind of made sense. I definitely felt drunk, but wait, why was I made of alcohol? Obviously I would need to ask her in politely and articulately just why I was made of alcohol. 

“Why’m made ah booze?” I demanded.

“The same reason you’re a slime. Originally I’d tried to just make you a human with a body you would feel more comfortable in, but the spell wound up picking up the fruit you fell in and incorporating it into you as well. That fruit you fell in happened to be my fermentation pile. I was trying to make cave wine and now, well you are the cave wine.” Oh, that kind of made sense, even in my drunken stupor. Dumbly, I bobbed my head up and down. “Okay, next step is obvious, you need to sit and calm the fuck down. Once you’re relaxed and pumping less concentrated alcohol blood into that makeshift brain of yours you should start thinking a bit more clearly. Then I can help you solve this problem more permanently.”

“Wow, you’re really nice to me even though I tried to kill you.” I was speaking probably more to myself than her, actually. She just smiled, and helped me sit myself down without going splat on the uneven rock floor. Just as she turned to leave, I called after her. “Hey, sorry I yelled at you for turning me into a girl or whatever. I actually kinda l-like it.”

Smiling, the bat-girl rolled her eyes, “yes, I know you do, silly. That’s the point. Get some rest.” She turned and ruffled the top of my head, which felt warm and electric and sent another pulse of no-thinky juice straight to my brain, then headed off to do her own thing.

I lounged there for a while, letting my body calm down over the course of an hour or so as coherent thought slowly returned to me, leaving me distinctly tipsy, but not stupid-drunk. As I lay there I gazed down at my body, trying over and over to hide from the shameful little thrill I got from looking at it. Reluctantly, I attempted a few times to return myself to a more masculine shape, but it was always a little off, and, more importantly, really uncomfortable. Every time I did so maintaining it took immense concentration, and, inevitably when I relaxed my feminine features reformed. If I felt any relief at seeing their return, I did my best not to acknowledge it. My best wasn’t really good enough though. And unfortunately, examining myself like that didn’t exactly make my boozy-blood cease from rushing to my slime-brain. So eventually I had to stop with that too and just like, focus on my no-longer necessary breathing to calm down.

I’d gotten pretty damn relaxed, and had actually begun to feel what must have been whatever sort of sleep slime people had creeping in when suddenly the looming figure of my bat… acquaintance came into view. She’d done her best to cover up a bit, wearing a loose cloth robe, no doubt in an attempt to prevent a repeat of last time. “Hey, you feeling a bit more present?” She called softly. 

“Blraup,” came my burbling reply as I realized too late that I’d started to dissolve a little in my relaxed state. Quickly, and surprisingly instinctually I reformed myself to give a proper response, “yeah, definitely more clear headed.” I did my best to not blush at the entire situation, and mostly succeeded, still, one could hardly control their natural responses to stimuli. 

“Okay good, now to solve the alcohol problem. We could get rid of that circulatory system you naturally made for yourself since you don’t actually need one, but that won’t change the fact that your slime-brain is both made of, and is literally floating in a bath of booze. So instead lets try this: you should basically be able to just kind of put a little shell of protective slime around your nervous system, or core or whatever you want to call it. I’ll enchant it with a filter that will neutralize all the alcohol inside,” she instructed. Nodding, I focused on the little lump of semi-solid mass I’d formed in my head, and moved some of my internal bits to cover it. Giving her a thumbs up, she waved her hand over my head; I felt a little tingling go through me, then suddenly the dizziness began to clear. The world around me sharpened as my mind worked in overdrive to fill in the blanks for everything my inebriated self had just experienced. I must have been making a weird face, because as I scrunched up my nose and furrowed my brow in concentration, my bat-like companion giggled. Just then, a thought I’d previously put on hold piped up in the back of my mind. “Hey, what do I call you?” 

“Oh people call me lots of things, monster, vampire, demon, hottie. You can call me Melanie, or Laney, for short. Mistress is also acceptable.” She winked, and I already found myself grateful for the little barrier she’d set up around my mind, because I was heating up. “You don’t seem to be actively trying to kill me, so I take it you believe me now when I say I’m a fruit bat and I don’t mean anyone any harm?” 

Blushing shamefully, I nodded. “Yeah, err, sorry about that whole thing.”

“And, given the fact that you’re no longer freaking out about your body I take it you’ve also decided you don’t mind staying a slime-girl?” Again, I responded with a blush and a nod. Then I realized the logistics of life like this might be a bit more difficult than I’d initially considered.

“W-wait, what do I do now? I’m not human anymore. People back home will probably be terrified of me. Also even if I were nobody would believe I’m the same person who came into these caves. I have nowhere to go,” I muttered dejectedly.

“Hey, hey, relax. Don’t worry about that right now,” Laney soothed, taking my hand in hers. I looked away, flustered, and quivered in her tight grip. “Why don’t you start by deciding on a new name for yourself, are there any that come to mind?”

There was one, actually. One I’d held near and dear to my heart for years, one I’d pretended I thought was just really pretty and would be a good name for a spouse or to name a daughter if I’d had one. But really, those were all just excuses to bury the truth: all along what I had really wanted was to take that name for myself. “Cadence,” I whispered.

“Aww,” she cooed. “Sorry, just the way you said that, you just looked so happy. It’s a really pretty name, Cadence.” 

“Th-thanks,” I squeaked. 

“Don’t mention it,” Laney giggled. “Now, regarding the other thing you mentioned. I guess I do kind of feel a little responsible for you, seeing as I’m the reason you’re not human anymore, though you don’t seem to mind—actually, I wonder if you winding up a slime-person wasn’t an accident after all? Being a slime seems to suit you really well. Oh well, question for another day. Regardless, I do feel responsible, so, if you want, you can stay here with me for a while?” She offered weakly. “I have plenty of space and we can even make you your own place in these caves once we get everything we need to make another home, but, well, as strange as it sounds I’m kind of fond of you. I know we just met,  but you’re cute, also fun to tease. It gets lonely here all by myself, and a friend would be nice, or more. Plus, well, when I looked inside your head with magic I saw who you really are, and I think deep down you’re a good person—even if you did try to kill me at first.” She was blushing all the way down to her neck by the end. Not that I was that different.

“I guess I could stay for a bit,”

 As soon as I said that, Laney  perked up, smiling wide. “Really? Great!” She pulled me into a big hug, and I felt her warm, soft body against my own even softer body. Her plush curves and breasts pressed into me, causing my own liquid form to contract and distort against her as she squeezed me tightly. And oh Goddess, she was so pretty, and oh fuck that robe she was wearing was slipping and I could see and feel everything. I was heating up all over, and that feeling in my core was back. The hug loosened a little, and Laney flashed me an amused smile. “Uhm, Cadence? You’re kind of, well, leaking on me.” I followed her gaze downward and oh no. Oh shit, when had that happened? Nestled between my legs was a set of lower lips, glowing with a hot burning red under all that purple, radiating from inside my lower belly and dripping right out through my lower lips. With my blush only came an even more intense glow and flow down below. 

“S-sorry,” my response came as a barely audible squeak of embarrassment, choked by throbbing need. 

Chuckling, Laney placed her finger under my chin, tiling my head up until my gaze met hers. “You know, you did ruin my cave wine. I was planning on getting absolutely sloshed tonight. You might not know this, but fruit bats love alcohol. We have insanely high tolerance.” 

“I’m sorry again.” Try as I may, Laney wouldn’t let me avert my eyes. Her gaze left me fixed in place, vibrating with pure anxious desire and anticipation. 

“Do you think, maybe, there’s some other way for me to get my fill. Maybe you know of some other place where alcohol is?