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Shifty Characters Ch. 01

By: GigglingGoblin



Goblin's Note: This story is set five months before the events of Sea Slimes and right after the events of a certain flashback in Exposed. This is a semi-anthological sort of series with a fair bit of continuity sprinkled throughout. That said, each story is self-contained enough that you don't need to read the others to understand what's going on.

~~~~

Snatch wasn't an especially violent man. Well, not more violent than most. Not more violent than, say, a southern berserker, or a badger in a beartrap. Or a southern berserker in a beartrap.

Snatch was a very violent man. And he really, really wanted to punch his new adventuring partner in the face.

"Listen, I know it's hard for you to grasp," Balabar was saying. The younger man's orange eyes glinted in the dim light, full of amusement. "I understand you, Snatch. You were raised in a different land, with...different sensibilities."

"If by that you mean we actually have them? Yeah. Yeah." Snatch rolled over, rolling his pillow around his head to block out the unwanted noisemaker.

"That's what I'm talking about." Snatch heard Balabar chuckle. "That's your problem. Whenever anybody tries to discuss sex in polite conversation—"

"Mercenaries don't have polite conversation!" Snatch snapped. The thief knew this would only encourage his associate, but he was quickly losing his patience. Well, he hadn't had any patience to begin with, but now he was losing his scruples about committing murder.

It had started so innocently. Snatch remembered arguing with the baron about it. He'd been reluctant. He'd never had a partner before—Snatch liked to work alone. Other mercenaries always either showed him up or needed to be rescued. But the baron had insisted. "You'll have to have a hypnotist on hand," the fool had said firmly. "Doppelgangers can't resist flashy things. That pocket watch of his will be the end of her."

They'd refused to hire him alone. So Snatch had accepted. He'd even started to warm to the idea—much as he disliked the so-called "practical hypnotists" that used their powers on unwilling foes, it had occurred to him that a partner could be of some help. It would have been nice to have someone to help light fires and pitch tents for once.

Nobody had told him they'd be sharing tents.

"Look," Balabar said slowly, "the Kingdom of the Chosen does a lot of things wrong, I'll admit. But have you ever thought they might be a little bit right?"

Snatch said nothing. It was half-past midnight, and Balabar was still on this topic.

"My magic makes people happy," Balabar said. Snatch could positively hear the big smirk he was wearing as he spoke. "Makes girls happy. Is that so wrong?"

"Maybe," Snatch muttered. "Morality's not my scene, Balabar. Go preach at the goblins. See how you like getting mindfucked."

"Heh." Balabar got up. "As if they'd be a threat to me. Hypnosis only works if the victim secretly wants it, Snatch. That's the wonderful thing about my magic. Maybe the goblins are your idea of a good time. Me, I like my women a bit less warty."

Snatch said nothing. Please leave. Please leave. Please leave.

He heard the tent flap open and breathed a sigh of relief.

I'm never teaming up with another fucking partner as long as I live.

~~~~

Larya's eyes fluttered open. Vision blurred, she frowned, taking a moment to comprehend what she was seeing.

Green. Long blankets of thick moss hung over the branches around her. In fact, every way but up was a sheet of solid emerald green. Even the ground beneath her was covered in soft, silky moss and turquoise lichen.

She sat up. Instantly, she clutched her head, groaning. Why did I do that? Stupid. Stupid.

"Y'alright?"

A gasp escaped her. She turned, still holding her head in her hands.

A little man. Not even four foot in height, he had a build so petite she at first took him for a child. Only his braided sideburns gave him away. Not to mention his grayish, wart-covered face and glowing silver eyes.

He grinned, showing razor-sharp teeth. "Sorry 'bout that. Din't mean to afear you none."

"Y-you're..." Larya swallowed. "You're a goblin."

He cocked his head, looking surprised. "Hm? Not bad. Some chick knows her Fair Folk." He giggled. "Well, Fairish, I s'pose. In my case."

She smiled weakly, lowering her hands from her head. "Wh-where am I?"

The goblin frowned. "You're in the, uh, 'Greatest, Darkest Forest'. 'S what you humans call it."

"Oh." Larya's voice was small now.

She had traveled over three hundred miles in had what felt like seconds. And for some reason, she was completely naked. How? Last she'd known, she had been helping her master, Solus, prepare a summoning circle. After that...

She realized she must have been losing herself in thought, because the goblin cleared his throat. "So how'd you get here? We's usually right good at spottin' pretty lone lasses, but you snucked right in under our pointy noses."

"I..." Larya closed her eyes. She had to remember. "I think...I think..."

~~~~

Larya gasped. "Oh, yes! Oh, YES!"

She heard the demoness laughing. "Patience, little 'apprentice'. You aren't ripe yet."

She almost came just at the sound of that wonderful husky voice. That voice was oozing lust, dripping with desire just as much as Larya herself.

But she didn't come. Instead, she lay there, arms and legs pressed firmly against the smooth stone wall. Her hands were clasped together above her head, but her legs were spread very, very wide. She had never felt so helpless in all her life. She had a feeling this wouldn't be the last time she felt like that, either.

The worst part of it was that she wasn't even physically bound.

"Juicy," the succubus purred in her ear. "Your master may have been a fool, but he had exxxcellent taste."

"Oh..." Larya whimpered. "Oh, please..."

A soft, slender palm settled on her breast, gently rubbing her nipples. A long-nailed finger danced delicately along her naked belly, and Larya jerked reflexively.

"Oh, my. Ticklish, are we?"

Annuisetvio tittered, running her fingers across Larya's bare chest like skittering spiders. Larya gave a sharp laugh, then started giggling uncontrollably. "N-n-no! P-plea—heehee—pleeeeEEASE!" On the last note of the word, something phallous-shaped had slightly prodded between her legs.

"Oh, so sorry," Annuisetvio whispered. "My tail has a mind of its own." She nibbled Larya's earlobe slightly. "But you liked it, didn't you?"

"Y-y-yyeee!" Larya jerked in her nonexistent bonds. She tried to force herself to close her legs, if only so she could start rubbing them together, but the succubus's commands easily broke her weak will back down.

Eventually, the fingers' 'torture' subsided. Larya felt hot breath in her ear."I'm gonna make you come like a bitch with a bell," Annuisetvio husked.

"Wh-what?"

"Go."

Behind her blindfold, Larya's eyes widened. Pleasure was coursing through her—the purest, most sinful pleasure she had ever experienced. It filled her like a balloon, infusing her with need and ecstasy and promise—so much promise. She spasmed and jerked, but the lust magic holding her arms and legs in place was too powerful to overcome. Her lips felt like they were glued shut, too, which was good, because she wanted to scream herself hoarse.

So she just bucked. She bucked like her life depended on it, desperate for the merest touch of the demoness's tail against her dripping slit. But she couldn't—she whined, whimpered, begged in nonsense words—just couldn't—

"Go."

And it was in. It was inside her. Larya opened her mouth and gave a squeal of glee, cooing and babbling as the big, thick tail schlupped in and out of her. Once. She could feel the orgasm growing. Twice. Her babbling gave way to hoarse moans. Three times. The succubus was whispering to her, words in no tongue Larya knew, but just that wonderful, seductive voice—

And then it was out.

Larya gasped in shock. For a moment, she almost couldn't believe it. "Wh...why?" She shook in her 'bonds', letting out a wail. "Why?"

She went still as a long, rough tongue licked her cheek. "Because I'm training you," the voice said. "And...go."

"Bu—mmf!" Larya's protests were muffled as Annuisetvio lunged against her, taking her in a hungry kiss. The succubus's tongue grappled with her own, tiny little fangs dipping in and—

Larya screamed into the kiss, wrenching her arms free to wrap around a slick, nubile body, pulling the succubus close. She heard the succubus give an "Mm?" of surprise, but she wasn't letting her go. Not ever.

She could feel lusty venom coursing through her. Her only thought was to please this creature. And she could feel herself filling with the keen understanding of how to do it.

Annuitsetvio was struggling now, but faintly, half-heartedly, as Larya left the kiss. The demon shivered against Larya as Larya kissed her way down, grabbing the succubus's hips and holding them still. Her tongue probed in, eliciting an "Ooh! But—".

Larya moaned. She didn't care. She thrust her tongue into the succubus's cunt, lapping at the clit, holding the demoness steady as she started to hear moans. As she licked, she felt something—something strange. Something new.

With every lick, she could feel her arms getting weaker. With every shiver as she drew nearer to orgasm, she could feel her mind getting foggier. With every—

"G-g-go!" screamed the succubus.

Larya came instantly. Hard. She doubled over, writhing on the floor like a worm. She couldn't even scream—just gasp. It was beyond pleasure. It was the memory of pleasure—the association of this succubus's sinful delights with a simple word. She had been trained. Like a bitch with a bell. And somehow, that just made it even more overwhelmingly erotic. So this was what it felt like to lie with a demon.

Well, near a demon, anyways.

She was still orgasming when Annuisetvio began to recover. The demoness leaned over and stroked the wriggling Larya's hair, like one might stroke a pet.

"That was...n-n-nice," she said slowly. "But I think a specimen like you is destined for bigger things than getting your soul sucked out." Larya was barely comprehending the succubus's words. Just the voice felt like it could extend the orgasm forever, though, so she tried her hardest to listen. "Your master was a fool to summon me, but you...you aren't ripe yet, Larya. I'm gonna send you someplace nice. Find a better master—or, better yet, master yourself for a change. That sound easy enough?"

"Aaaaah," Larya replied.

She heard the succubus laugh. "Maybe you prefer being someone's slut, though. You certainly take well to it. Oh, well. I don't envy you the headache you're about to get, but trust me, this isn't a good place for you to be right now. The Chosen are coming, and you've got to move."

Something tapped her lightly on the forehead. As the orgasm began to fade and she started to black out, Larya was barely able to comprehend the succubus's last words.

"Be something more than someone's pet, girl, and you might just be a hero. Now...go."

~~~~

The next morning, Snatch woke up late. Or tried to.

"Come, now, Snatch!" Balabar laughed from outside the tent. "We have to catch that tricky girl sometime, you know."

Snatch pressed his face against his pillow. No. This could not be happening.

"I've already cooked up our breakfast. Pheasant eggs. You should get up before they get cold."

Snatch ignored Balabar. Not that that ever worked. But he was not getting up early. He was staying in bed until the sun was overhead, like he always did on his missions, and no king, priest, demon or fey in the land could convince him otherwise

"It wasn't easy to find the eggs, but you'd be surprised what those lovely fairies will do for you when...motivated. Heh. You see, last night I—"

Snatch sprang out of bed and rushed out.

Never again. Never another partner. Never another perverted hypnotist.

The two sat at opposite ends of a roaring campfire. The fire was being maintained by three little women, each standing at not even the length of a shortsword. Though they were technically flying, not standing, Snatch supposed. They hovered in midair, gossamer wings beating too fast to see as they fanned the fire with large leaves.

"Quite nice, aren't they?" Balabar smirked, passing across a small tin plate and fork.

"Fairies." Snatch snorted, messily eating the little eggs. They tasted better than he'd expected—but then, he didn't have the faintest idea what a 'pheasant' even was. He'd assumed Balabar had meant 'peasant', but Snatch had robbed enough peasants to know they didn't generally keep eggs this small.

"That's right, Snatch!" Balabar looked delighted. He speared several eggs on his plate, picking them daintily off his fork like a shishkebab. "It seems you know more about the Fair Folk than I gave you credit for."

Snatch stared at him. "They're fucking tiny women with bug wings."

"Oh, they're much more than that." Balabar smiled widely. He lowered his fork and gestured to one of the little creatures. "Lapis, won't you give my friend a closer look?"

"Oh, yes, Master Balabar!" The fairy's squeaky voice vibrated, making it sound like there were several speakers at once. Snatch noticed it carried an oddly breathless tone as well.

Without warning, the fairy zoomed up straight at Snatch. It moved as quick as a hornet, and buzzed twice as loud. Snatch gave a cry of surprise, swatting at the creature reflexively, but it moved too fast. It—or she, Snatch supposed—settled on his outstretched arm.

She sat down there, beaming and kicking her legs. "Hello!"

After a moment, Snatch overcame his shock. He vaguely considered flicking the little fey away, but something stopped him. He frowned, staring at the creature.

Her eyes were a bright, solid blue, and took up a huge portion of her face—almost insectile, Snatch thought. Her four wings weren't transparent, as he had thought, but mirror-like. He saw his own dark brown eyes reflected in her wings, and blinked.

Lapis smiled shyly. She was completely nude, her tiny, dark-skinned, perfectly-proportioned body on full display. But that wasn't what had caught his attention.

He had seen fairies once or twice before—he'd seen their eyes glinting in the darkness, watching him as he made camp. If Snatch was to be completely honest (not that he ever was), fairies were the one type of fey he didn't really mind that much. They never bothered him and he never bothered them. Sometimes their glowing eyes had even helped lead him out of dangerous areas.

Lapis's eyes weren't glowing. They were dull. Almost lifeless.

"Like what you see?" Balabar said, his voice smug.

Snatch snapped back to attention. He shook his arm, but the fairy only slid over and settled down on his shoulder. He paid her no heed for now. "No."

"Hm." Balabar shrugged. "Maybe girls aren't your thing."

"They're eight inches tall, dumbass."

"So are a lot of things." Balabar grinned. "Trust me, they have their perks."

Snatch grimaced. "Let's just get moving. The shapeshifter's probably already gained a lot of ground on us."

"We'll make it up." Balabar stood. He reached out one hand, and the other two fairies flew over and nestled in his palm, huddling against each other for warmth. "If her hideout really is in these woods, she can't be far. She'll be mine soon enough."

~~~~

THREE WEEKS AGO...

"And that is final, Peska." Baron Jasper said. He handed the papers back to his adviser, a slightly plump young woman in dark court dress. "If they didn't want their homes to be repossessed, they shouldn't have bought them in the first place. Honestly, am I expected to solve all my serfs' problems for them?"

Peska was a quibbling, 'idealistic' sort of woman, and she fidgeted with her stringy crimson hair as she spoke. "Um, no, my lord, but you are expected to keep them...alive."

"What concern is it of yours?" he snapped. Jasper stood up, resting his hands on the table in a somewhat possessive manner. "You and your family are well-looked after. Do I pay you to complain on others' behalves?"

"I merely mean that the king—"

"That fat old goat?"

Peska swallowed. "I understand, sir. I shall send the missives." She turned and hurried out of the conference room.

The baron rolled his eyes, sitting back down. He took a long drought of his coffee: Black as the Archdevil's heart, and twice as foul. Coffee beans had gotten incredibly inconvenient to import in since the Chosen had started their little crusades, though, so Jasper took what he could get.

A voice sounded behind him. "Anything to keep the dreams away, huh, Jazzy?"

He froze.

The voice was husky and crackly, like the speaker had a needle jammed in her throat. Despite this, it was brimming with amusement—and something else. Something terrifying.

Pure hatred.

Jerkily, like a puppet with a few broken strings, Jasper turned to face her—no, it, it was an it.

Except he'd never been able to convince himself of that. Not while looking upon her. Not while smelling her scent. Not even while seeing her body shift to his liking before his own eyes.

She'd taken her old form. It was a petite shape, thin and almost unhealthily pale. Her equally pale hair framed a heart-shaped face. Her eyes were steely gray, her lips ruby red, though he knew she had used neither paint nor pigment. She fluttered thick lashes, giving a little smile. "I've missed you, darling."

Jasper opened his mouth. A croak escaped his throat. He closed his mouth. She's supposed to be dead. She has to be dead. It's a trick. Another dream. Please. Please.

The creature raised an eyebrow. "What's the matter, Jazzy?" She thrust her chest out, pouting. "Don't tell me you didn't miss us. I don't believe it for a second."

"You..." Jasper almost didn't recognize his own voice. "H...how?"

She seemed taken aback. "How?" She considered it, her smile wry. "How'd I escape the slavers you led me to, you mean? You'd be surprised how easy neogi can be to work with if you actually bother to learn their language." She winked. "Or, y'know, you're born speaking all languages fluently."

"They...they said they'd take you far away." Jasper couldn't speak above a whisper. "They swore by...by..."

"Yeah. Thing is, Jazzy?" The creature took a step closer, eyes narrowing to slits. As she drew near, Jasper was able to see the goatlike hourglass pupils that had once entranced him so—and that still did, to an extent. She reached forward, and he flinched, but didn't resist as she cupped his chin in her hand. "They're spacefaring spider slaver monsters. They don't care about our gods or how they died. Why the heck would they care about our oaths?"

Jasper tried not to show any reaction. Inwardly, he was cursing himself. She was right. The neogi didn't believe in any gods, and certainly didn't fear the Reality like his world did. Of course they would have betrayed him. Of course it wouldn't have been so easy.

"I'm sorry," he lied.

"For what?" the creature asked. She shrugged. Subtly, her hands started to twist and morph, getting more gnarled, more claw-like. But her expression was as naïve and angelic as that of a Lobotomage. "For dumping me? For breaking my heart and betraying me? For tearing that heart to pieces and throwing every piece into deep space?"

She beamed, those innocent eyes worming into his head, working his mind like soft clay, melting it like a pat of butter. Jasper trembled. Even now. Even now, after everything he knew, everything he'd done. He still wanted to trust her. He still wanted to be hers.


Shifty Characters Ch. 01



"You know..." The creature leaned close, resting one claw on the table. He leaned back, sitting on the table now, unable to get his face more than a few inches away from hers. Whenever he squirmed, she would gently adjust his chin with her other hand, holding him still and captive. Her smile had taken on a beguiling quality. "I've been wondering, Jazzy. I spent a long time wondering after I convinced those monsters to fling me back into the atmosphere. I spent a long time wondering while I waited to hit the ground." She released his chin from her soft clutches and cocked her head.

It was such a childlike gesture. Coupled with that smile, Jasper felt it draining just a little more of the fight from him. He stared into those silver eyes, the eyes he'd once compared to lustrous will o' the wisps.

"Why, Jasper?" Her eyebrows arched. "Why did you do it? I would have left if you'd asked. I never made you do any of what we did together."

Jasper leaned back still more. His head was almost flat against the table. He felt a soft hand cradling the back of it, stroking his short black hair like he was a mere babe. The baron didn't answer.

The creature frowned, as if confused. The expression seemed purely genuine, despite what Jasper knew. "I wouldn't even have told the poor baroness. Experiences were all I wanted from you, Jazzy. I didn't want to hurt anyone." Finally, her voice broke, just a fraction. "Why did you do that to me?"

Jasper was now lying back against the table, his head in the creature's hand. His eyes stared straight into hers, much as he wished he could look away. She lay atop him, curvaceous figure pressed against his trembling body. Both of them could feel his rapid, fluttering heartbeat. He stared up into her beautiful eyes, feeling himself becoming slowly lost in them. He knew her too well for his own good. It only took one look and he wanted to melt in her once more. And there was nowhere to look but those eyes. 

But that meant his hands weren't being watched. And he also knew this creature too well for her own good.

"Because," he said hoarsely, "you made me want you. You...you owned me."

She smirked. "You wanted me all by yourself." She licked her finger, then traced it down his cheek, onto his lips. He shook, feeling his lust beginning to overcome his fear, feeling his cock starting to harden. "And you wanted to be mine." She leaned very close—close enough he could smell her sweet breath. "It's a common symptom of being around me, but it's not my fault. Why do you have to blame me for your own weakness? Why's it such a big deal, anyways?"

"You'll never understand why," he whispered. "Never understand humans. You're going to die alone, and fucking strangers isn't going to change that."

Her face went devoid of expression. She seemed to think a moment before speaking. "I came here to kill you, Jazzy. It's going to be slow, and it's going to hurt. I'll be here for every moment of your death." In spite of the words, her tone was fond. Her other hand stroked the back of his head softly. "I'll look after you once again, dearest."

"I think I've had my fill of being looked after." And Jasper lunged. His hand darted down to the creature's belt, drawing out the dagger where he remembered she kept it. She blinked, momentarily caught off-guard, and started to get up. But her proximity now betrayed her, slowing her movement by just a hair.

Giving a snarl, Jasper plunged the dagger into the doppelganger's stomach.

Many-hued blood sprayed out onto his hand and chest. The creature screamed, falling away, desperate to escape her own weapon. "No! You can't—"

"That's your problem, you miserable monster." Jasper sprang off the table, grabbing a nearby chair. "I can do whatever I want. Nobody is going to get in my way—especially not some shapeshifting whore. You may be faster, and stronger, but you're dumb as a brick, 'dearest'."

"No!" Her body was morphing rapidly. Teeth grew, then retracted. Skin went translucent, showing the black blood and organs beneath, then went as black as ebony, then as white as quartz. Her ears grew elfin points, then enlarged and grew fur until they were more like bat ears—then stretched bizarrely until they were like bat wings.

The creature struggled to her feet only to be slammed into. The baron rammed with his shoulder, knocking her down. She twisted, trying to rise again, eyes wide as saucers. "No! I have to—"

"You've had this coming a long time, you demonic bitch." He raised the chair over his head to break the shapeshifter's neck.

The door opened. Reflexively, Jasper turned to see Peska in the doorway. Beside her stood Bisem, the captain of the guard. They stared in shock.

"Bisem! Peska!" He scowled. "You're just in time to—"

"Your Excellency!" Bisem shouted, looking horrified. He started to rush forward, drawing out a spine-covered shield. "Don't!"

"What?" Jasper blinked, looking back down at...the scrawny-but-attractive woman that was his wife, Oefeli. Her face was screwed up in concentration.

Then Bisem rammed into Jasper, the man's plate armor brutally bruising the baron's side. Jasper was literally sent flying, slamming into the stone wall.

"No, you fool!" he howled, twisting to avoid being grabbed by the brawny guardsman. "It's a doppelganger! A doppelganger!"

Peska gave a strangled cry. "Bisem, look!"

Bisem stopped trying to grab Jasper and turned. Still lying on the floor, Jasper looked as well—just in time to see a young woman with feathery, wing-like arms zoom by them. She leaped, crashing through the window.

Rainbow blood sprayed everywhere as Jasper helplessly watched her struggle in the air a moment, then right herself and zoom away.

Bisem was calling for his archers. Jasper knew, though, that it was too late. The doppelganger was gone. And if she managed to tell someone what he'd done with her...with it...

He'd have to call in some professionals.

~~~~

Goblin's Note: Sorry, I know this chapter doesn't have much sex in it, but the balance between story and sex will get better soon, I promise!

I got the idea for this story when I noticed there don't seem to be a ton of stories on the site that use proper shapeshifters and not just werewolves (not that there's anything wrong with werewolves!). It seemed like a shame to me, so...here we are! Coming next: Larya learns a thing or two about goblins as Balabar gets directions from a 'willing' wood nymph.

Thoughts, critiques, complaints, suggestions and spam (the delicious canned meat kind) are always welcome! :D



Shifty Characters Ch. 02



Larya slowly got to her feet, clenching her jaw as her head throbbed painfully. Fortunately, the headache was already starting to fade. In its place, a numb, sort of fuzzy feeling was taking over.

The warty-faced goblin grinned encouragingly, sharklike teeth glinting in what little light reached the bottom of the so-called Deepest, Darkest Forest. "That's right, chick. Up an' at 'em."

"I remember," she mumbled. She leaned back against a tree trunk. The trunk was covered in soft, silky moss, and she found it surprisingly comfortable to rest her bare back on. "I remember how I got here."

"Atta girl." The goblin's head tilted. "We're mighty curious. Ain't a normal maiden what can get into these woods without us noticing. Even the fairies was a bit put off, and that lot...well, not much gets by them."

"I was..." Larya took a deep breath, trying to clear her head a little. She was reluctant to talk about what she'd recalled, but she had a feeling these memories were going to fade back into the dark corners of her mind if she didn't get them out in the open soon. And she didn't want to disappoint her only friend in this strange land—naked and alone in such a vast forest, there was no telling what would become of her.

She steadied herself. "I was...very far away. I was being controlled by a...there was a succubus. She—" Larya stopped. The goblin's expression had changed instantly from mild amusement to total fury. "What?"

He was positively spitting. "Demons! I knew it! Knew there was some sorta trickery afoot!" He stamped his little foot, glaring up at her. "Fey don't care for the demons, chick. An' they love to put us down."

Larya bit her lip. She was feeling extremely vulnerable right now, and remembering what that demoness had put her through didn't help. "She didn't...she teleported me here. She said I wasn't 'ripe' yet."

As she said that, she could tell she was making a mistake. The goblin's expression was shifting from anger to something else. Something calculating. He sat down, looking up at her, and scratched his pustule-covered chin. "Hm. Hm. Now that is interesting."

"Um...why?"

"She's got plans for you." The goblin tapped his beaklike nose. "Demons are good at that. See, chick, the fey see the present. To us, present's all that matters. Makes it hard for us to really do much long-term, since we just keep doing whatever's fun for the moment." He stood up. "The undead see the past. They can't let go of what they was feelin' when they died—if they was fightin' then, they fight now. If they was hungry, they just can't help but keep eating. Fey change too quick an' dead don't change at all."

He poked Larya in her belly, and she flinched. His dirty nail was as sharp as a cat's claw. "Demons an' their ilk see the future. All about great plans an' grand visions, but they never learn, see? They don't know how to learn from old mistakes, an' they's way too slow to take action. All that's why mortals run the world, while we're just the hazards."

Larya blinked. "So...you think Annuisetvio—"

The goblin hissed.

"S-so you think she wants to use me later on," Larya continued, voice shaking. "Why? What does she want with me? Why am I so special to her?"

"Eh, dunno." The goblin shrugged. "But we can find out. We're gonna help you, chick."

Larya instinctively tried to lean back, but she was still resting against the mossy tree. Her head felt too fuzzy for her to risk standing up straight. "'We'?"

Out of the corner of her eye, spheres of light began to appear. They bobbed in midair, glowing from behind the thick curtains of moss that surrounded the tiny clearing. The spheres glimmered and flashed dully, making her vision spotty, disorienting her.

She blinked. That only seemed to make her vision blurrier.

The goblin smiled, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a metal orb the size of someone's eye. His silver eyes shone brightly as Larya noticed the rest of the clearing beginning to grow dark. "Now, chick, I want you to look very closely at the shiny ball..."

~~~~

"I wish you wouldn't do that."

Snatch swung his iron scythe in a vicious arc. His weapon was an old, brutal-looking thing, notched and scratched, the handle partially broken off. He had to swing it twice more before the vines he was targeting at last retreated and he could turn to glare at his companion. "Balabar, they're fucking plants. They're on the path. You want us to go around instead?"

"We could, you know." Balabar chuckled, tossing his head to get some crimson hairs out of his eyes. "We aren't in a faerie forest, Snatch. The D.D.W. isn't overrun like...I don't know, the Evergreen. We aren't going to step off the path and immediately be lost forever as long as we aren't idiots."

"It's got fairies in it." Snatch turned away and swung his scythe again. "And goblins, and werewolves, and...well, things."

"And if they want to get to us, some beaten old trail won't stop them. Again, not the Evergreen." Balabar chuckled. "Snatch, my dear thief, has it entered your little head that these vines might be there for a reason?"

Snatch turned back and was about to issue a retort to the arrogant hypnotist when he heard a high-pitched giggle. His head tilted, eyes narrowing. He glanced at Lapis—but no. The eight-inch fairy was still resting on his shoulder, her tiny head lying against his neck, fast asleep. Besides, fairy voices were generally more vibrant than what he'd heard.

"The fuck was that?" he snapped.

"Hm." Balabar appeared to consider it. A slow smile was beginning to form on his uniquely punchable face. "How lovely. I do believe we've been 'blessed' with the presence of a wood nymph."

"A what?"

"Hee!" Snatch whirled around to see the vines ahead pulling away. A very delicate-looking woman was approaching them, though Snatch was sure she hadn't been there a second ago. She had long emerald-green hair tied up in a ponytail, bright green eyes, and large, pointed ears. Standing about a half-foot over Snatch and level with Balabar, the woman was so slender that, with any human woman, ribs would be showing. As it was, she just looked incredibly frail, like even the wind could knock her out.

Snatch felt instinctively drawn to her. Instead, he took a step back. At least she was clothed—clad in a very simple white dress. This was usually an encouraging side when it came to fey. Assuming those they encountered didn't want to fuck them, which was very rare.

One of her little hands was up to her mouth, stifling another laugh as she looked at the two mercenaries. "Wow. It's not every day I meet someone who recognizes me just on my laugh alone! I'm quite flattered."

Snatch felt Balabar brush by him as he backed away. The hypnotist looked confident.

"You should be," Balabar said. He gave a low bow, his face very straight. "Your musical voice and capricious tone was indicative of only a rare and special few. Of those, only the fair wood nymphs are prevalent in this vast ocean of greenery."

"Ooh." The wood nymph arched an eyebrow. "You have a way with words, Mister...?"

"Call me your humble servant, madam. And you are?"

"Sinthia." The wood nymph got a crafty look on her face. "I'm guessing you didn't come all this way to flatter me, though. What brings you to this 'vast ocean of greenery'?"

Balabar reached into one of his pockets, and the fey woman tensed slightly. "Before, we were hunting. Now I wonder if it has not turned to the reverse." Despite the nymph's wariness, all he pulled out was a simple silver pocket watch. He stared at Sinthia, his expression full of sincerity. "I look at you, and...I feel my words failing me. I have experienced the fairies. I've tamed the catgirls. I've even conquered a succubus or two and sent her back home gasping. I had thought myself impervious to the charms of lust."

"But?" the nymph prompted. She was looking a little bit confused. Probably ain't used to prey talking this much, Snatch thought.

Balabar dropped the watch so it dangled from the chain. Subtly, slightly, the pocket watch began to swing. It was still by his waist, but still the nymph's eyes were drawn to it—first out of suspicion, then out of a curious interest.

Snatch grimaced. He glanced at Lapis, ensuring she was still asleep. He was unsure that hearing Balabar's words in her dreams wouldn't still affect her, but hearing them awake would for sure. The sooner the fairy's free will was restored, the sooner she'd be—somewhat literally—out of his hair.

"But I see you," Balabar said. "I see you, with your beautiful, beautiful, shimmering hair. As vast and wondrous as the forest itself. I see your eyes, like pools of emerald flame, flickering...flickering..."

Balabar's voice got slower and softer as he continued, until it was almost like a lullaby. Snatch gave a start, realizing he'd been looking at the pocket watch himself. He rubbed his eyes, scowling. Hypnosis rarely affected him much, and it really pissed him off when it did.

The nymph wasn't blinking anymore. That was the first sign, Snatch knew.

"You're utterly hypnotic to me..." Balabar was saying. "The way you move, the way your hair catches-the-light-as-it swings, swings, swings in the breeze. Nymphs are very good hypnotists. Their words are like honey, and I am nothing but the fly. I'm helpless, drowning in those gooey, gooey words. Those words just drip, drip, drip into my brain, and I can't help myself, can I? Can I?"

"Yeah..." Sinthia mumbled. "I'm...good at that." She frowned, starting to look flustered. "Watch...watch is..."

"Yes. I keep watching you; can't look away from your beautiful, shimmering hair. So hard to look away. Keep watching. Keep watching."

"Keep...watching..." Sinthia gave a dazed smile. Her eyes were following the watch perfectly now. "I have you...under."

"Yes. Yes, you do." Balabar wasn't bothering to hide his smug tone now. Snatch knew those orange eyes would be gleaming now, shining with the excitement of a new catch. The thief swallowed, looking into the nymph's entranced eyes. Slowly, surely, the eyes were losing their shine, turning a little bit duller and more vapid every time the watch swung back. "Under your spell. Under your spell."

"...yeah. Under your spell." The nymph frowned again, her head giving the very most miniscule of shakes. "Uh. No, uh—"

"It's such a shame you keep your hair like that," Balabar said. His voice stayed smooth, but it was quick, firm. Dismissive. Like a schoolmaster criticizing a pupil.

The nymph's frown instantly vanished, replaced by a vaguely chastised look. "What?"

"Up in that ponytail. You hold it up, like it's above the rest of you. Your hair is so beautiful. It deserves to be seen. So beautiful."

"Oh. Y-you think?"

Slowly, hesitantly, the nymph reached up and unknotted the twine. Her long tresses of emerald hair spilled down her shoulders like a green waterfall.

"Good girl," Balabar cooed. "What a good girl."

Sinthia smiled shyly. "Y-y-yeah..."

"Sinthia, what is my name?"

Sinthia was still staring at the pocket watch, now swinging in wide, lazy arcs. Her mouth was slightly open. Her head tilted in confusion.

"Oh, silly me. I didn't tell you. So silly."

"Silly." Sinthia giggled. Snatch rolled his eyes. She sounded like she had a mental disability.

"Yes," Balabar said, "what a silly girl you are." He glanced at Snatch, showing the thief his utterly self-satisfied smirk, then turned back to Sinthia. "I am called 'Master'."

"Oh. Uh...but. But that's not a normal. Um." The nymph frowned, clearly thinking very hard. "It's a...it's a word."

"You're confused. Silly little nymph."

"Ooh. Yes." She instantly relaxed. "I'm just confused. You're...Master."

"Good girl."

The nymph gave a violent shudder, eyes widening. A little squeak escaped her.

Snatch was dumbfounded. Did she just have a fucking orgasm at that?

"Now, Sinthia..." Balabar kept swinging the pocket watch, but it was starting to slow down now. "...I have some questions for you. I need you to be totally honest. Do you know what that means? I want you to swear everything you say now is true."

"Yes, Master," Sinthia said, eyes half-lidded.

"First. What do you want to do? More than anything, Sinthia?" Balabar spoke very softly. "What have you always wanted, deep down?"

"Uh..." Sinthia bit her lip. "I, uh..."

"Do you really not know?"

"Uh..."

"It's a very easy question, Sinthia."

Tears were forming in Sinthia's eyes, which were screwed up in intense concentration—or the nymph's attempt at it, anyways.

"The answer is, serve. You want to serve me."

"Ooh. Yeah! I remember!" Sinthia was clearly lying, but she wasn't exactly in a state to realize that herself. "Yes, oh, yes! I swear by all the leaves in the tall maple trees that I want to serve you. Always."

"Second. Who is Master?"

"Ooh!" Sinthia's face broke out into a moronic beam of pure joy. "Ooh, I know! I know this one! You are! You are Master! I swear it by the morning dew on the petals!"

"Good girl!" Balabar said, acting delighted. "Such a good girl!"

Again, the shuddering, though Sinthia managed to hold in her squeak this time.

And so it proceeded. Snatch didn't want to watch. He honestly didn't. This was so many levels of gross; like watching a friend masturbate, except without the 'friend' part. Snatch looked at the radiant look in Balabar's eyes and quickly spat to the side.

But there was nowhere else to go. His paranoia wouldn't allow him to split the group up. Where there was one nymph, there could be more, and Snatch had never fought fey before.

So he just sat down on a nearby boulder and watched Balabar begin to break the wild creature's mind.

Most of the questions were ones Sinthia didn't 'know' yet—ones she had to learn. She had 'always' wanted to be dominated, for instance. She had 'always' been a dumb bimbo. She had 'always' loved Master. Slowly, Balabar chipped away at her memories, her hopes, her friends and family, until all there was was him.

And Snatch crossed his arms and watched.

At last, by the last question—"How do you feel?"—she was able to reply, perfectly eager now to help brainwash herself. Or maybe it was an honest answer by this point. The nymph squirmed under Balabar's intent gaze as she spoke.

"Horny," she whimpered. "I swear by the...by every perfect hair on your wonderful head, Master, that your slave is just too horny to think. And—and always h-has been."

The pocket watch had stopped swinging long ago, and now hung there still as a stone. Still she watched it.

"You've been staring at my crotch for a long, long time, little slave," Balabar said, raising his eyebrows in mock-confusion. "Is it the watch you want? Is it to know what time it is?"

Sinthia frowned.

"Or is it..." Balabar paused for several seconds, drawing it out, "...to suck?"

"Ooh." A slow smile formed as Sinthia 'understood'. "Yes. Yes! Please, Master, yes!"

Balabar's tone turned cruel. "Swear it."

Sinthia was visibly drooling, too far into the hypnosis to even swallow. "I s-swear it by...by..." She licked her lips. "I swear by your perfect, wonderful, yummy-yummy cock, Master. Please. I need it."

Balabar reached down, slowly pulling down his trousers. She stared at his full erection, eyes widening to the size of buckler shields—

"Okay, that's fucking it!" Snatch shouted. "Cut that shit out!"

Balabar whirled, looking strangely caught-in-the-act. It was almost like he'd forgotten Snatch was there. "Snatch!" he snapped, pants around his ankles. "I am trying to—"

Snatch was aware of the fairy on his shoulder stretching her arms and yawning. He pointed at Balabar, glaring. "I put up with this dragonshit for, like, what? An hour!"

"Ten minutes," Balabar said dismissively.

"And how in the hell would—"

"I don't know if you've noticed, but I actually own a pocket watch, Snatch."

Oh. Right. Snatch grimaced. "Well, I don't give a shit. I put up with all this hypnosis 'cause she was a fey and deserves it and shit, fine, but I ain't gonna watch you get sucked off by her!"

"Then turn away, maybe?"

"You creepy-ass little..."

"Joking! Joking!" Balabar threw up his hands, laughing. "Fine. If you're so deviant in your sexuality that you can't even bear to watch (or hear) a beautiful woman engaged in a natural act of passion, that's your problem."

It's not the woman I... Snatch ended the thought. Annoying as this new 'orientation' taunt was, even more insufferable would be if Snatch admitted to Balabar that he found fey at all attractive. That was how the fey got to you.

Sinthia was blinking, now, exiting her trance. She stared up at Balabar, a confused look on her pretty face. "...Master?"

Balabar turned back and smiled, quickly pulling his trousers back up. "Yes, Sinthia."

"I...no." Sinthia rubbed the back of her head, looking troubled. "No, that's wrong. And—" She gave a start. "My hair! And—" She looked up at Balabar, eyes wide. "What the hell did you do to me?"

"How do you feel?"

Sinthia's lip quivered. "Horny. I f-feel...oh, gods, why...why does that feel so..." She squeezed her eyes shut, giving a low moan. A dim smile spread across her face, and her eyes opened. "...nnnnice."

"You've always wanted to be honest with me," Balabar said, taking Sinthia by the hand and lifting her to her feet. "And you've always been a dumb, horny bimbo, haven't you?"

She leaned close to the hypnotist, seeming close to swooning. Her head rested against his chest, and Snatch saw her breathing eagerly of his scent. "Y-yeah. Yes, Master."

"Good girl! Such a good girl!" Balabar held the nymph tightly as she shuddered with pleasure. "Now, slave, listen closely. We're looking for someone."

"Ooh..." Sinthia gasped, starting to kiss along Balabar's neck.

"A shapeshifter. She came through here, didn't she, you silly slut?"

"Yeah," Sinthia moaned. "She came by and—" she kissed Balabar's cheek, "—and then she goed. She went to the, uh, the water place."

"Water place?"

Sinthia's eyes lit up. "River!" she squealed. "Is a river!"

"Good girl." Balabar chuckled. "You're remembering now. Remembering all those promises."

"Mm...Thank you, Master." Sinthia lifted her head and kissed Balabar on the lips. He responded instantly, holding her firmly, forcing her into the submissive position as he returned the kiss.

When at last he released her, her voice was breathless. "So happy. So happy I can feel like this. Thank you so much for making your slave feel so good. I'm so-so-so grateful."

"I know you are," Balabar said smugly. Because, Snatch knew, he'd already told her to swear she was.

He turned back to Snatch. "We have our heading, Snatch." He winked. "Nymphs always have to keep their word. It makes them the easiest sluts to brainwash of the lot, if you're clever enough to work out how. They think they're so good at controlling, but deep down they all want the exact same thing."

"Whatever." Snatch scowled. He heard Lapis give a longing sigh beside him, and his scowl deepened. "Let's just go."

"Of course." As Snatch turned, he heard Balabar addressing the nymph again. "Sinthia, take off that dress. You shouldn't pretend to be more than you are. And what are you, again?"

"Your toy!" Sinthia said, giggling. Snatch heard the simple white dress billow to the ground. "Your toy forever an' ever an' ever! Just your dumb horny little slut!"

Balabar laughed. It was a cruel, haunting laugh, and next to Sinthia's own mindless titter it was a laugh that would stay with Snatch for a long time after.

He couldn't hear the wood nymph's footsteps, but he knew she was prancing along beside Balabar. She would follow him to the ends of the earth, her beloved Master for all of eternity.




Shifty Characters Ch. 02



And in a week or two, he'd get bored and abandon the brainwashed little fey, and her remolded heart would be broken for just as long.

~~~~

Larya's knees were shaking. She locked them, desperate to keep her balance.

The lights were getting brighter.

"Now, listen close, little chick." The goblin gave a wide grin. Was it just Larya's imagination, or was his skin...smoothing? "You've been a good lass so far. Keep staring at the ball."

Don't stare at the ball, Larya told herself furiously. Once again, she tried to avert her eyes, only for one of the lights to be caught by the metal sphere in just such a pretty way...

"Yes," the goblin rasped. His silver eyes glittered in the darkness. "Don't think, lass. Can't think. When you think, the lights flash. Can't think. When you think, the ball spins just so pretty. Can't think. When you think, all you can think about is my voice, my words. Commands. You want to follow my commands."

She wanted to follow his commands. It would feel so nice if she followed his commands.

"S-stop," she said, her trembling voice barely above a whisper.

The goblin chuckled. Was his nose shrinking so subtly, getting shorter, less beak-like? "Can't stop this, silly lass. You can't stop us. You're ours now."

"No..." But Larya felt the fuzziness in her head growing like an infection, spreading, crowding all thoughts out and leaving only static. She bit her lip.

"Oh, yes. Can't think."

"Can't...no, please—"

"Light glitters. Reflects off the ball." His face was turning softer, less bony. "So hard to think."

"So hard to think," echoed voices all around.

Larya tried to make herself turn to look for the sources, but couldn't. She bit her lip harder, her last weak show of defiance. "Who..."

"We're alone." The sphere flashed. "You're imagining things." The sphere flashed again.

Larya felt her knees unlock and start to quake again. She visibly swayed. Imagining...things...

"Poor, helpless little waif in the woods." The sphere flashed. "We'll put you to good use."

And now Larya could see—see him. The goblin's hideous countenance had vanished, and now...

Still half her size, the goblin now had curly white hair. His skin was still gray, but his face was incredibly handsome, with a much squarer chin and a cute button nose. His teeth were still sharp, but more like those of a hunting cat than a shark now. He wore a simple dark suit. Only his piercing silvery gaze remained unchanged.

The goblin smiled, and with that beautiful smile, Larya felt her much-battered willpower crumbling away. The smile was friendly, but his tone was cruel, capricious. "Get on your knees."

Her knees were shaking. She started to let them buckle, then stopped, jerking back up.

Larya struggled mightily then. She struggled with the goblin's hypnosis. She struggled with the shiny ball. She struggled with the lingering lust from the succubus's 'attentions'. But more than anything, the young woman struggled with a need to be dominated that had been with her for many, many years.

She whimpered. "Don't do this."

The goblin just kept smiling.

Larya fell to her knees. She was now roughly six inches below the seductive fey, the top of her head level with his chin.

"Good girl," the goblin whispered. He stroked her hair, just like the succubus had done, and Larya couldn't contain a slight cry. "Ooh, eager, are we?"

She stared up at the silver ball, eyes wide. It was so...so pretty. So pretty.

The world had faded away, like it had never existed at all. Even the lights had vanished, though she knew they were not gone. All she could see was the pretty silver sphere and that beautiful, angelic face.

"Now you see us as we really are," the goblin said. "In your world, ugly little lepers. In the Murk..." He smirked, giving the sphere a little twirl. Larya felt her heart do a little twirl of its own as it went. "Well, I can tell you like what you see."

Larya couldn't swallow. All she could do was stare at the ball—and its bearer—in growing adoration. How had she not understood before? How had she not seen how beautiful they all were?

She felt something trickling down the inside of her thigh. Felt dozens of little hands grasping her, pawing at her, squeezing her breasts and tickling her legs. She twitched, helpless before the flashing ball.

"You're easy," the goblin said. He reached down with one hand, but Larya couldn't see what he was doing. "What an easy girl you are. You're really asking for this, aren't you?"

Larya sucked in a deep breath. The sphere flashed again, and she trembled as a hand brushed by her wet lips.

The beautiful goblin chuckled. "Interesting. Very interesting. It's like you're born to be dominated by fey." He leered at her, seeming to sense something. "Oh, you are, aren't you? Never had anyone break so easy. Easier than a wifwolf in heat. Easier than a lovelorn lust sprite. You're practically a fey yourself."

Larya shivered as the hand touched her cunt again—and this time started to enter. She wanted to fight. She needed to fight. She needed...needed...

The goblin unbuttoned his trousers, and the static in her mind flared up for a moment.

"You need to suck me off," he said. It wasn't a request. It was barely even a command.

It was a fact.

Slowly, the metal ball lowered, catching the light as it went and making Larya feel even dizzier. It came to rest beside an enormous, beautiful cock, pointed straight up at her.

Larya stared at it, mouth opening unconsciously. She heard laughter.

"Suck, chick," the goblin crowed. "Put that pretty mouth to work. Ain't every day we catch a human quite so eager." More laughter. "I mean, you practically dropped on your knees and begged for this."

The penis was larger than any Larya had ever seen—not that she'd seen many in her hometown. It gave a little throb, staring up at her expectantly.

Before Larya knew it, her lips were fastened around the cock and sucking like it was a delectable candy. She moaned into it, feeling the nimble little fingers push inside of her, thrumming gently over her moist clit.

The goblin gave a surprised cry as she grabbed him by the waist for better purchase. Then he started to pant. Then he started to moan.

She was leaning over to suck, and now someone pushed her over so she was on her hands and knees. And then another huge cock was pressing into her cunt from behind as the fingers withdrew, and she moaned louder into the object of her desire, spasming as she felt a mind-blowing orgasm overtaking her. The ecstasy surged through the young woman, making her even hornier, even more determined to please her new maser.

She ran her tongue over his cock, sucking hungrily. The goblin was screaming now, and cumming, and the sweetest taste was entering her mouth. The moment it did, she needed more. She kept sucking, holding his waist firmly in place. She felt her head getting lighter and lighter the more she tasted, until she wasn't even controlling her own body—only the primal need for more pleasure, more, more, kept her going.

She felt the other goblin cumming into her from behind, and the lust only grew. She needed them. She needed all of them. She needed to...to serve, to be theirs, to be theirs forever.

The goblin who had hypnotized her fell away, looking stunned. She didn't care. She just grabbed the nearest hot body and took its cock in her mouth. More. More.

The silver ball fell to the ground and vanished. She didn't notice.

But in an empty moss-draped clearing just a few yards off the main path, a bright metal sphere fell to the ground and lay there.

Just then, three travelers were coming up the path.

~~~~

Goblin's Note: Thanks for reading! Next chapter: The two groups meet up, and we finally see what that doppelganger's up to now.

As always, comments and feedback are very much appreciated! :D



Shifty Characters Ch. 03



========

Note: So sorry for the delay, everyone! Trust me, I've been hard at work, but I wanted to have everything set before I started uploading.

Enter Chapter Three, in which a thief, a brainwashed nymph, and a hypnotist walk into a clearing and see a naked girl. This chapter's pretty light on the erotica, by the way. You've been warned.

========

Night was falling in the Greatest, Darkest Forest, and Mier was running out of time.

The red-haired woman sprinted to a nearby rosebush in bloom. She peered beneath it, and when she saw what was there, she scowled.

Another snare sabotaged. She looked at the other three rope snares she'd set, now clutched in her left hand. All four had been tangled into ridiculously complex knots and left for her to find. All devoid of game.

Mier started cutting the snare loose, trying to keep it as intact as possible. She had to get back to the cave soon. The fey of this forest had not taken a liking to her intrusion, and by nightfall those of meaner inclinations would be quick to take advantage of any perceived vulnerability—such as, just for instance, being lost in the woods and unable to see more than two inches from her face.

She took the snare and started running. Just one more. No doubt it's been sprung, too, she thought bitterly.

The last snare was tucked by an old dead oak, which she knew for a fact was home to an old male badger. His meat would be tough and bland, but any meat was good right now. Mier couldn't live off berries and nuts forever, especially not in her current condition.

She moved quickly, springing over whortleberry bushes and ducking under low-hanging branches with trained ease. The day was dying fast.

At last, she came to the last snare. Sure enough, it had been sprung.

But the creature that had done the springing hadn't moved quite fast enough this time.

It was a fox. A mangy, scrawny red fox, with its bushy tail caught almost at the tip—just enough, it seemed, to hold it there. The fox was struggling to get free, but when Mier came barreling into the vicinity it went very still. The fox looked up at her, blinking large brown eyes.

Sighing, Mier stepped forward and lifted the fox up by the scruff of the neck. It did not struggle. "Well, you'll do."

Filled with grim resignation, she drew a long knife.

The fox started squirming frantically. "Whoa! Hey, hold on!" It was a feminine voice—young, with just a hint of the Wild East in her accent. "Um...okay, I know. If you release me, I will give you two—no, three wishes! Yes. Just please set me down over there, and turn around, and count to five..."

Mier didn't drop the fox from shock, though she came close. No. Of course it would be a talking fox. She should have known. Her luck did not afford for anything less.

After a moment's silence, the fox twitched. "Hey. I am still here. So, about that..."

Mier had done some terrible things in the past to survive, but killing and eating a sentient creature was...well, not yet justified, at the very least. She frowned, reaching over and undoing the snare. She tossed the fox to the ground. "I don't want any wishes. But how about you stop messing with my traps?"

The fox landed with a soft crunch on the leafy floor. It turned to look at her, a strange glimmer in its eye.

And then the fox was gone.

In its place stood a naked woman. A good deal shorter than Mier—who was currently approaching six feet—the woman had the amber skin and almond-shaped brown eyes of an easterner. In contrast, though, red hair even brighter than Mier's flared up from her head in a spiky ponytail. Extending from the tip of her pert rear were three bushy orange fox tails, each twitching independently of one another.

She met Mier's gaze, looking totally unashamed of her nudity, and gave a wide smile. "I am sorry I was messing with your traps, miss. It was only meant in fun." She winked.

"I need to eat." Mier's tone was quiet, but firm.

The strange girl blinked, then cast her eyes to the ground. "I am sorry. I...did not consider that, foolish though it seems. My kind do not eat out of need, and it is easy to forget..."

Mier gave no response, but started walking back. She heard no footsteps from her new acquaintance, but knew she was not alone.

After a minute or so, the fox-tailed woman spoke again. "I really am sorry. Perhaps I can...make it up to you?"

Mier paused. She glanced back. The slight young woman was smiling at her, one hand idly toying with her exposed breast. Her stance widened subtly, affording Mier a quick glimpse of the fey's sex in the process. Her tails were rubbing up and down one leg.

Mier felt a pang of desire, but quickly suppressed it. "Sorry, but I'm in a hurry. No disrespect intended, of course."

"Alright. I don't push." The woman shrugged. "But you are lucky to be dealing with one of my kind. Most fey would take it personally."

"I know," Mier said. "So, what's your name? And what is 'your kind'?"

"They call me Suisshu. Actually, call me Swish. I'm a fox."

"A fox?"

"Mm."

Mier gave Swish a hard look, then started walking again. "Foxes around here don't do what you do."

"No?"

"Uh-uh."

"Well, what I'm called is a fox." Swish sounded slightly put out now. "Um...you might have heard of a three-tail?"

Mier shrugged. "Rings a bell."

"Wonderful! I am that." Swish skipped ahead of Mier, small round breasts jiggling slightly as she went. Her tails flicked about happily as she glanced back at Mier. "So, if I cannot give you pleasure, can I get you food?"

Mier blinked. "You're being awfully nice to me for a fey."

"I like to be useful! And you spared my life." Swish flashed her a smile. "I owe you. You have no say in the matter, but I will let you choose your reward. To do otherwise would be shamelessly selfish of me. Really, I feel terrible about everything."

Mier suppressed a smile of her own. "Then...food would be fine. Meat, preferably."

"Wonderful!" Swish actually clapped her hands with joy. "I will be right back with your meat, Mier!" Her tails flicked once, twice, and then she was back in fox form.

"Great." Mier gave a curt nod. "Thanks, Swish, I..." She trailed off, frowning. "Wait, how did you—"

The little creature blinked up at her, then turned and scurried into the underbrush.

~~~~

"Listen, buddy—"

"I'm not your buddy."

"Okay, listen, asshole." Balabar rolled his eyes, leaning closer to the surly thief. "Just because I'm from the city doesn't mean I'm an idiot." He glowered. "I know a clue when I see one."

Snatch glowered back. Balabar couldn't deny that the hardened mercenary's glower was a good deal more menacing than his own probably was. Not least thanks to the huge notched scythe strapped to his back. "You found a couple footprints in the moss. And a rock."

"It's a focus charm. It's made of silver, you..." Balabar bit off the insult. "Listen. The baron hired me to come with you on this mission. You get why, right?" He pointed down at the ground. "I know this stuff. This isn't swords and knives and blood and mud, this is pixilation. Fey craft. Mind control, Snatch."

They were just a short ways off the main path. This part of the Greatest, Darkest Forest was actually rather nice, Balabar reflected. The handsome crimson-haired mindbender looked over the beds of moss, blanketing boulders and logs like big green pillows. They looked pretty comfy, really. He thought of his third companion, and his cock gave a twitch as he imagined testing the moss's softness the old-fashioned way...

He quickly snapped back to attention. Snatch's arms were crossed. The thief was unimpressed, and Balabar knew he would have to win his troublesome partner over if they were going to make any headway on their hunt.

"Look." He pointed. "Footprints. They don't come from anywhere. They don't go anywhere. Just a single pair of unclad feet. Someone just appeared here, and then left. Maybe the doppelganger was flying, took mortal form, and rested here for a bit."

Snatch didn't say anything. His frown softened, just a hair, and Balabar knew a miracle was taking place: He was getting through that incredibly thick skull. He pressed his advantage. "And look!" He held up the silver ball he had found. "It's shiny. Shiny objects are really, really good for hypnosis—that's why the baron thought a hypnotist would do great on our quarry, remember? 'Doppelgangers love shiny things'?"

Snatch swallowed, giving a minute nod.

"Sooo," Balabar said, "considering how fond goblins are of hypnotism, what if they captured someone here?" He twirled the sphere in his hand, letting it catch the dim lights from above. Snatch's eyes followed it only for an instant before blinking away quickly.

Balabar knew his point had been made. It occurred to him then to turn to his third companion: An impossibly slender wood nymph, with long emerald-green hair falling down past her shoulders. Her eyes were a vibrant green, though they had a glassy look to them now as they fixated upon his crotch. He gave her a patronizing smile, placing a hand on one of her large, smooth breasts and squeezing possessively. "What do you think, my little toy?"

"Ooh!" Sinthia giggled, leaning into her master's touch with poorly-disguised need. "Uh, what?"

Balabar would have liked to say that Sinthia's mind had broken much more eagerly than most, but in truth, it had broken just as willingly as that of any woman he set his mind to. He smirked, stealing a kiss on her bare neck. "Silly pet. Were you not paying attention, you ditzy slut?"

"Uh...unh..." Seeming confused, Sinthia had started to rub her crotch against Balabar's side, letting him feel through his shirt and trousers how wet she was. Balabar chuckled, turning to take her in hand...

...but he stopped himself. Work before pleasure, Balabar. Plenty of time to solidify her conditioning after the job is done. She's yours for as long as you want, after all.

Besides, he knew Snatch disliked his dalliances. At first, he had thought it to be jealousy—of either him or the women he was with. But the more time Balabar spent around Snatch, the more unconvinced he was that Snatch even had a sex drive. Then he'd assumed it was just another self-righteous would-be knight who took exception to hypnosis, but Snatch didn't seem to possess a righteous bone in his body.

Odds were good that the thief/bounty hunter was simply a massive prude. Nonetheless, Balabar curbed his libido for now. He pushed Sinthia away, like one might push aside a cat overeager for affection. "Control yourself, pet. I was wondering if you might be able to tell if there is goblin magic afoot here. We're looking for a non-fey who might have gotten caught here."

"Uh..." Sinthia blinked wide eyes, slowly processing. She gave a nervous titter. "Uh...ooh! Yes! Yes, yes, yes!" She beamed with idiotic joy as she stepped forward and hunched low to the ground. Snatch and Balabar watched as, slowly, the nymph dipped a finger into her own moist cunt. She pulled out a finger covered in slick juices. She raised it to the air, as if testing the wind—then plunged her hand into nothingness.

Balabar jumped, startled by the sudden movement. For a moment, Sinthia looked disturbingly...powerful. Free. Her eyes glowed with mystic green energy untouched by suggestions or horniness as mist began to swirl around where her hand had once been.

And just as suddenly, she wrenched her hand out. Now it was clutching the neck of a human woman.

Sweaty. Panting. Long sticky blond hair. Pert breasts even larger than Sinthia's, near-covered in a highly suspect white substance. Red-rimmed green eyes struggling to see a new world through a lens of what was, judging by the copious amounts of fluid dripping from between her legs, total lust.

She took one look at Balabar. One look at Snatch. Gave a weak smile. "H-hi."

Sinthia released the woman, whose legs instantly buckled.

She was asleep before she hit the ground.

~~~~

Mier's cave was situated right next to a small waterfall in the Drink—the great river that wound through the Greatest, Darkest Forest.

Mier leaned against the edge of the cave entrance, listening to the roar of the river behind her. For a moment, her eyes were shut, and she allowed herself to relax. The sun was setting, and still no news of...anything. She felt her features softening, her nose becoming less pointed, her skin a bit duskier, her bright red hair taking on a more natural auburn shade...

"Mier!" Mier opened one eye lazily.

It was Swish. The naked easterner came bounding in, clutching a dead pheasant to her chest. She smiled broadly, then frowned and gave a sniff. "Mier?"

"Mm-hm." Mier stretched. She idly regretted turning down sexual favors—relaxation wasn't an entirely comfortable state for her. When she felt safe, she needed to be doing things. New things. She looked at Swish's wagging tails and gave a small half-smile. 

"You look...different." Swish cocked her head, throwing Mier the pheasant. "You still smell like soap, but you look different."

Mier caught the pheasant and examined it. A wrung neck. Very clean kill. "Mm. Yes." She shook herself slightly, causing her hair to return to its bright coloration. She left her nose and skin be, but allowed her clothes to morph slightly, baring the midriff. She hid a mischievous smile.

"Oh. Oh!" Swish's eyes widened. Her ears flicked—it was then that Mier noticed her ears, while in the same place one would expect a human's ears to be, were orange, fuzzy, and shaped like fairly flat fox ears. "You are a fey as well? But..." She cocked her head the other way. "You do not want sex."

"Nnnno," Mier said reluctantly. "Probably not, anyways. And no, I'm not a fey. I'm a doppelganger."

"A what?" It was clear Swish did not recognize the word. Mier wondered if they had doppelgangers in the Wild East. Perhaps her kind had been hunted there even more militantly than they had here.

"A shifter of forms. Like you, but I can change into anything my size. We...aren't fey. Or demons," she added irritably. "We're like elves, or humans. Just...different."

"Hm." Swish blinked. The fox girl looked down—transparently checking her out.

Mier didn't mind. She smiled. She enjoyed attention.

"You are injured!" Swish exclaimed.

Mier's smile dropped. She looked down, seeing what Suisshu had spotted: A large, dark-looking wound in her belly. It had begun to heal, translucent skin growing over it to stop the bleeding, but the blood beneath was not the healthy rainbow of colors it should have been. It was pale yellows, and blacks and browns.

"Yes," Mier said quietly. "It's not as bad as it could have been."

"Who did this to you?" Swish looked outraged.

Mier was touched. She bowed her head, as the wound slowly vanished from view beneath new layers of skin. False, but a good sight more attractive.

"Spear for the soldier, sword for the knight." She spoke the old rhyme in a voice barely above a whisper. She knew Swish could hear her. "Wood staff for druid who beats back the blight. Poison for woman, a drop in man's gin..." She shivered. "Knife for the traitor who turn on his kin. Turn it once, turn it twice. He guts himself with his own slice."

Swish blinked. Her brown eyes were wide with a sympathy that was tinged with grim understanding. Fey knew well of such things, it seems.

~~~~

Larya felt a soft surface beneath her as she began to drift back into consciousness. She had been dimly aware of murmurings for quite some time, but now she was beginning to realize that these were what one would generally call 'words'. She stirred slightly, trying to make them out.

"...so the goblins got her." The male voice, gruff and irritable, suddenly flared in her head—in that way slightly louder voices do when one is fading in and out of sleep.

"Ooh, they can be fun!" The female voice was slurred, high-pitched, painfully chipper. It sounded like the speaker was drunk. "They's real...uh...pers...persswuss...persussive."

"Now, Sinthia," came a third voice, soft and smooth as buttermilk, "there you go again." Slow wet sounds—kissing, maybe. "Silly sluts do not need to interrupt the men, okay?"

"Oh...sorry." The female voice gasped weakly.

"Move aside. Good girl."

"Ohhhh..." Did the woman just orgasm?

"Would you cut that shit out?" the gruff voice snapped. "We have problems now, thanks to your meddling."

"Thanks to my 'meddling', this poor, sweet thing has been saved from a band of disgusting goblins."

"And now we have to deal with her. This ain't territory for...hey! What's your crazy slave doing there?"

Larya suddenly felt hot breath on her face. Her eyes snapped open.

A beautiful, completely nude young woman was lying on her side right next to her. Her long green hair shimmered as bright as the moss that she and Larya were on. Her eyes sparkled with the exact same shade as they locked on Larya's.

"Hi," she whispered.

"Um." Larya felt herself blushing. The woman's face was scarcely an inch from her own, and they were both naked. "Hi. Miss."

"Sinthia." Sinthia's hand reached out and rested gently on Larya's shoulder. "You...your skin feels good."

"What?"

"I can make you feel good, too," the creature cooed softly. Her hand rubbed down Larya's shoulder, coming to rest on Larya's breast. "Nice. Nice tits. Nice."

Larya frowned. Her head was still a little out there—she was starting to remember the recent debauchery, and she was still a little between sleep and wakefulness, and it was hard to understand what was happening. But the hand felt nice. "Nice," she repeated.

"Oh." The smooth male voice sounded positively delighted. "Oh, this is just too good."

Larya started to turn her head, but..."Don't listen to 'em," Sinthia whispered. She leaned in and kissed Larya on the lips. "Mm. Make you...mm...feel nice. See?"

The eyes were so bright. So insistent. Larya wanted desperately to blink, but she felt like if she let her eyes close, they would never...never...

Her eyes were starting to close. The more she tried to keep them open, the more tired they got, it seemed. She could feel a soft, smooth hand rubbing her breasts, another hand rubbing her thigh...kisses on her lips, her cheeks and neck...whispered words...

"...be mine, see? Ooh, see? Mm. Mm. Yes. Make you feel...so good...be my little...plaything? Yes?"

"yes..." Larya mumbled. It felt so nice...and she was so tired...

...so hot...

Her eyes closed.

For what could have been moments, could have been hours, could have been an eternity, she felt the fey woman's fingers on her thigh, her breasts, her butt, her...her...her...

Larya moaned into the kiss. Words were sinking into her, gripping her, but she was too tired. Too tired. They just sank into her, and filled her dreams, words and kisses and feathery touches and caresses and promises, so, so many promises, and—

"Stop it! That's e-fucking-nough!" A rough, strong hand gripped her shoulder. She jerked into wakefulness as the hand yanked her up onto her feet. She started to fall back down, but another hand gripped her. She found herself staring into two brown eyes, angry and bitter and completely devoid of guile—not through honesty, but some sort of simplicity of nature. The man who owned them was slightly short; roughly her height, with short dark hair and several ugly scars. He was clearly very fit, though it was hard to tell thanks to his traveling cloak and patched leather armor.

A large, notched iron scythe was strapped to his back, along with a patched haversack. Very curiously, a tiny dark-skinned woman with enormous solid blue eyes and four mirror-like insect wings sat on his shoulder. She blinked back at Larya, her eyes seeming strangely dim.




Shifty Characters Ch. 03



The moment he seemed sure Larya wouldn't fall again, the man released her with a growl of annoyance. "You got your mind?"

Larya hesitated. She thought—thought of the succubus, her strange arrival in this distant land, her hypnosis-assisted rape by dozens of tiny, handsome little men...

She squeezed her eyes shut for a moment, then opened them. She nodded. "I-is there somewhere I can sit?"

She looked from the stocky man to his companion, a tall, painfully attractive man with red hair and nice but practical clothes. A silver pocket watch hung at his belt, and he was otherwise unarmed. He smiled, and gave his head a tilt. "Sit. Please."

Larya frowned, but she found herself doing as instructed. To her surprise, there was something beneath her. She heard an "Oof!", and a small giggle.

"Silence, pet."

"Sorry," Sinthia responded from beneath Larya. Larya's eyes widened. Not at the horrid treatment of this fey woman, but at the fact that she had started to say the same thing.

Her mind was clearly still a little bit fragile.

"So." The taller man smiled, folding his hands together. "Goblins."

Larya smiled weakly.

The man reached for his pocket watch. "You're clearly very tired. And confused."

Larya nodded. "Y-yes. I..." She was tired. Even more tired than she had...wait. She frowned. "Are you—"

"Please, do try to relax." The man chuckled. "You're clearly very tired. And confused."

You just said that, she thought. But she didn't interrupt again. Interrupting just made her more confused, and that just made him say it again, and...

She shook herself. Gather yourself. You can't let this...

"You're so tired. And so hot. And so confused. Correct?"

Larya bit her lip.

"Correct?" The voice demanded an answer. It was such a nice, smooth voice. So easy to listen to. But so impossible to ignore. Impossible to deceive.

She gave a submissive nod.

The man dropped the pocket watch. It hung by a chain in front of her face. She looked at it, feeling herself drifting back into...

And then the other man was grabbing the red-haired man's arm, making him lower the pocket watch. He was saying something, angry and grumbling. His voice reminded her of an old badger she'd once tried to nurse back to health back in her home town. He had been badly injured by local children throwing stones at it, and had nearly ripped out her jugular when she'd tried to help him. Eventually, she'd had to put him down.

Larya snapped back again. Her eyes widened. She needed rest. Badly. She needed time to gather her thoughts.

And she needed to get away. She turned sluggishly. Needed to escape, before the man could speak again and...and...

But where would she go? Back into the forest, into the goblins' waiting arms?

"Okay." It was the brusque voice talking. Larya allowed herself to listen—for some reason, she trusted the man who looked like a serial killer a good deal more than the hot hypnotist. "Look." The man came around to stand in her way. "You can't run off. We aren't gonna save you if you get caught again."

Larya felt a momentary flash of annoyance, and she held onto it like a lifeline. It was a sign her will was returning to her. "Oh, yeah? Save me for what?" She gestured behind her. "Save me so I can get—get mind-raped into obedience for that asshole and his living sex doll?"

"I can't make you do anything you don't want," the pretty voice sang softly. Larya ignored it.

Actually, no. She didn't ignore it. She listened to it, and it made her angrier. She whirled on the red-haired man, standing up and poking him in the chest. "You are so full of bullshit! Trust me, I know hypnosis. I've dealt with hypnotists. And it's not two-way! It's one person's will on another person's mind, you perverted creep!"

The hypnotist looked startled, unsure of how to react. He opened his mouth to speak.

"Look," the other man snapped, "we aren't gonna hypnotize you. He won't fuck you or anything. We aren't slavetakers or anything, we're bounty hunters. That's like, what, number seven on the Honor Scale? Has us sittin' pretty above bandits, slavers, graverobbers, bards—"

"Actually, I think they put graverobbers at eight on that scale," Larya said, frowning. "And isn't that list out of, like, fifty?"

"Point is, we don't just go kidnappin' people without their permission." The man glared at her, then at his colleague. "Just don't get in our way. We'll finish our job an' deliver you to..what, your village? Farmstead?" He looked around. "Where're your clothes, anyways? Did the goblins burn 'em or something?"

"Uh..." Larya thought back. Her clothes. Three hundred miles away, in a small basement in a wizard's tower, being sniffed by a rogue succubus right now for all she knew. "Yes. The goblins burned them."

"Interesting." The smooth-voiced man sounded skeptical, but he kept his words patronizingly earnest. "Goblins don't usually use fire. I wonder what drove them to—"

"My name's Larya." Larya held out her hand to the rough man. "What's yours?"

The man stared at her hand a moment, then reluctantly shook it. "Snatch. It's not my real name, but it's not my job to be trusted." He pulled his hand away and quickly wiped it against his trousers.

"Th-that's sweat," Larya said quickly, realizing what he must be thinking. "From the...well."

"Balabar," said the smooth-voiced man from behind her. Larya spun, seeing his outstretched hand. She hesitated, then shook it, averting her gaze. "A pleasure," he said, and she believed it. She pulled her hand away very quickly.

She took a breath. "Okay. And who's...um..."

"Oh, her?" Balabar glanced back at the prostrate green-haired woman. "What are you doing on the ground, you silly little bimbo?"

The woman's head shot up, face growing bright red. She seemed to be trying to remember. "Master! Um...uh, I..."

"What a stupid girl." Balabar smirked. "No doubt you are on your knees out of a vain hope." He stepped closer to the fey, letting his clothed crotch come directly level with her face. "What a slutty girl you are."

Larya realized Sinthia was panting. She wanted to look away, but she couldn't make her eyes shift. The fey was so desperate...so submissive...

Larya shivered. So hot.

"Get up, Sinthia," Balabar said. "Don't be rude to our new friend. Look how your submission bothers her."

"I—uh, it's fine—"

Sinthia shot to her feet with a wide-eyed look of horror. "Sorry! Sorry!" She ran to Larya, giving her a fierce—and breathtaking—hug. "Sorry-sorry-MINE-sorry!" She pulled away, gripping Larya by the shoulders and giving a wide smile.

Larya blinked. Sinthia had hissed the odd word in her ear during the hug. Now, the fey looked at her with nothing but love and innocence, but Larya saw a burning hunger in those green eyes.

She pulled away quickly.

"Balabar," Snatch said. "Haven't you got any clothes for the girl? Bad enough I have to look at one naked whore all day."

"Excuse me?" And just like that, the anger was back. Larya supposed that was something this 'Snatch' was good for.

"What?" Snatch looked confused for a moment. "Oh. Right. Uh, not that you're a whore. Whatever." He rubbed the back of his neck. "I'm just sick of being around naked people. No offense, Lapis."

"That's okay!" said a squeaky, vibrating voice. Larya's attention was drawn back to the blue-eyed fairy, who lay against Snatch's neck, resting peacefully.

"I...may have something," Balabar said. He sounded friendly, but also more than a little smug. He reached into a little pouch at his side. "I keep a few outfits in my bag."

Larya snorted. "That can't possibly—holy devils, how did that fit in there?"

"Mercenary, darling." Balabar winked at her. "We pack light. We don't pack little."

~~~~

Goblin's Note: Don't worry! Next chapter will more than make up for the erotic portion!

Next up: Balabar keeps half his word, Larya gets visited by fairies, and Swish learns just a little bit more about doppelgangers.



Shifty Characters Ch. 04



========

Onwards to Chapter Four, in which can be found romance, nymph-assisted hypnosis, cruel denial, and moral relativism.

========

Ten minutes after a very strange group of four had left the little mossy haven within the Greatest, Darkest Forest—which was beginning to live up to the latter part of its name as dusk descended upon the world—there was a flash beside the green stones.

Six handsome little men appeared. They lay sprawled on the ground, moaning softly, and did not move for several minutes more.

A change began to come over them as they lay there. Their noses became hooked, their eyes beady, their skin rougher and warty. Their neat, tight-fitting clothes became shabbier and shabbier. Soon, they were back to their ordinary, hideous forms—the forms goblins generally wore when outside of the pocket dimension known as the Murk, unless they thought to put up glamors.

"Right," growled one. He struggled to his feet. This goblin was the most handsome of them all, making him an awful insult of an entity. "Now I'm right pissed."

"That..." The smallest of their number lay there, panting. "She was...she was..."

"Somethin' off 'bout that chicklet."

"Yeah, what's 'at about, Ancyl? She was just some loose girl a demon'd grabbed."

"There was a whole lot more t'her than that!" Ancyl, the handsome goblin, snapped. He leaned over and yanked two of his brothers to their feet. "That demon whore grabbed her and sent her here. She took an interest, she did. An' now I know why."

"She's one o' them." One of the other goblins managed to climb up onto a stone. He spat something out. "Has a power over us, if we're fool enough to let our guard down. I han't been persuaded t'lick a woman in..."

"Alright, alright, Cestod." Ancyl grimaced. "I can't lookitchya in this world an' hear those words. Speak 'em when we're in the Murk an' I'll listen rapt, you know it, but you're ugly as a goblin right now."

Cestod didn't seem offended. "So what now? We won't find one dirty as her in...well, a good spin or five, I figure."

"Yeah." The one that had been panting gave one last sigh as he started to rise. "I guess we can go back an' go back to each other's company."

"Uh-uh. Boring." Ancyl rubbed his eyes. "An' again with the sayin'-of-that-with-that-face, Hirud."

"Sorry, Ancyl."

"But no, no." A cruel smile appeared on Ancyl's comparatively-handsome face. "We don't give up so easy. Someone grabbed her from us, an' y'know what? I bet it was that hot little eastern savage."

"Ooh, the fox?" Hirud looked interested now.

"A human can dip into the Murk if we're still transitioning through, but we was all the way in just now. Only a fey can get in then. An' only li'l Swishy's dumb enough to try it." Ancyl's silver eyes glinted as darkness fell upon his face. "We'll track down that cunt. Put her in her place. An' we'll find our fledgeling druid."

He turned to look at what could be seen through the trees of the sunset, giving a nasty laugh. "They'll be ours before the big man's up, boys. We'll have our fun yet."

~~~~

"I can't believe the goddamn sun already goddamn set."

"These things happen, my incessantly irritable friend."

"Stop making up words. And this only happened because someone had to go 'pee'. With his hypnotized nymph. For an hour."

"Snatch. Can a man help it if he has stamina?"

"That just sounds really weird when you put it next to your cover story," Larya said. "Stamina for peeing? Seriously."

The hypnotist and his incessantly irritated friend turned to Larya in surprise.

Larya hadn't spoken much since she'd joined up with this party of psychopaths. She'd ignored Snatch's complaining, tried to ignore Balabar's constant come-ons, and failed to ignore the sounds of his and Sinthia's passionate lovemaking when he had stepped out for his 'bathroom break' that one time.

"I'm starting to like this girl," Snatch said, giving what a fifteen-year old vulture with syphilis might term a smile. If it was blind in one eye. "Yeah, Balabar, real creepy lie there."

Balabar rolled his eyes, smiling. "Snatch, if you're so bad at comebacks that you have to hide behind a girl, is that really something to be proud of?"

Hanging on his shoulder, the nude nymph once known as Sinthia but now generally referred to by a series of progressively more humiliating pet names giggled airily. "Ooh, Master's so smart and clever!"

Snatch's eyes bulged. "That—both of you, shut up! The point is, this is your fault we're already making camp, and...you're just a perverted idiot person!"

"My. I think you might be ready for one-on-one repartee with Sinthia." Balabar smirked, leaning down and kissing Sinthia on the neck. He steadily worked down her neckline. "Do you...mm...think you could handle that, my squealing little whore?"

"Oh! Uh...oh, yes..." Sinthia's eyes half-closed. She didn't seem to have heard the question, and this only made Balabar laugh as he began kissing her perky, round breasts.

Snatch looked away. Larya couldn't. She felt almost forced to watch.

Larya had been having a difficult day. Up until recently, she had been three hundred miles away, the reluctant apprentice to an impressively perverted wizard. Then he'd screwed up his first major summoning, and she'd ended up the plaything of a succubus. And then she had been sent here; made the plaything of a bunch of goblins. And when she'd gotten free...

Even Sinthia, dumb and addled and brainwashed, had been able to hypnotize her. Larya still felt a bit hypnotized—whenever Sinthia looked at her, her knees got wobbly, the command to go to sleep rang in her ears, and her pussy got just a little bit wetter. 

It didn't help that she'd been stuck with one of Balabar's humiliating outfits as her only source of modesty. It was barely even clothing, consisting of a bright red miniskirt, a pair of semi-see-through tights, and a blouse that showed much more of her ample bosom than it hid. It looked like something a woman in the Kingdom of the Chosen would wear.

"Hey. Girl." Fingers snapped in front of her face.

Larya blinked. She looked at Balabar and Sinthia, the latter giving soft moans as Balabar's hand rubbed along her naked form, teasing her with its nearness to her sex. Sinthia's eyes opened slightly, and she gave Larya a terrifyingly erotic smile.

Larya swallowed. She turned to Snatch. "Thanks. I—oh!"

Snatch had just shoved a large bag at her. She caught it just before he let go, and staggered from its weight. "Whoa. This is crazy heavy, Snatch."

"Yup. That's why you're taking it. We need to set up the tents."

"Oh. Okay." Larya dumped the bag on the ground and fished out several telescoping poles. "So, listen...I know you probably don't have three tents, but I can't..." She glanced back, seeing Balabar and Sinthia half-running, half-falling into the bushes. "I can't be in their tent."

"You won't be."

"Thanks." Larya flushed as she lay out the tarp. "And I assume you won't want me in yours."

"Clever woman."

They worked in silence for a moment. As Larya began setting the poles, she took a little risk. "I get the sense women make you uncomfortable, Snatch."

Snatch whirled on her. His face went through a few emotions—angry, embarrassed, angry, angry—before settling on annoyed. "Me and woman...It's not a matter of comfort." For emphasis, he slammed his mallet down on one of the tent stakes.

"Then what is it?"

Snatch snorted. "I don't like being controlled."

He looked at her, then. Frowned.

The bounty hunter quickly went back to work.

Larya felt she had done something wrong. Or, at the very least, unusual. She guessed Snatch wasn't used to being frank.

Larya scowled. Well, he was about to get a dosage of the receiving end. "That's a bit hypocritical, don't you think?"

"'Scuse me?"

"Who was Sinthia, before Balabar took her in?" Larya pointed at the tiny winged woman curled up on Snatch's shoulder. "Who was...Lapis? You hate losing control, but your friend takes it from people constantly. You realize him and his slave tried to rape me back there?"

"I stopped them, didn't I?" Snatch snapped. "Sinthia was some bitch who tried to harass us. She'd have done the same to us, so pardon me if I don't mourn her. And as for Lapis..." He glanced at the fairy on his shoulder. "Balabar hypnotizes people as he goes."

"Girls. He hypnotizes girls. He talks like a Chosen." Larya crossed her arms. "I know Chosen. My town's bordered their kingdom for years, before...well, he talks just like one. And even if he just hypnotized Lapis 'because she was there', that doesn't explain why you keep her around like a portable sex toy."

"Hey." Snatch glared. "I ain't touched Lapis." He seemed to notice Lapis was leaning against his neck. "Well, except for right now, but not touched-tou—you get what I mean. But girls he leaves behind don't fare so great without him. I'm just letting her tag along until the magic wears off."

Larya's eyes narrowed. "The fact that you know what he's doing is wrong just makes it worse. You still travel with him, help him, pitch his tent." Actually, she had no doubt Snatch was only pitching his own tent, but she went on before he could point that out. "He may be a monster and a rapist, but what does that make you?"

Snatch's jaw clenched shut.

Immediately, Larya regretted her words. She cringed. She didn't know this man. He hunted and killed people for a living. She knew he could cut her in two right now if he wanted to—or just let Balabar take her. She had just given a brutally honest speech about a wandering murderer's immorality to the wandering murderer.

Snatch reached over, grabbed Larya's last stake, and pounded it into the ground with a blow that could shatter bones. "Bounty hunters aren't in the business of questioning their teammate's morals, girl."

Larya straightened, nodded glumly, and turned away.

"Then maybe," she muttered, "you oughtn't be a bounty hunter."

She knew Snatch heard her, but he didn't say a word. He just stalked inside his newly set tent, pinning the flap shut behind him.

Larya registered then that the cries and moans from the bush had ceased. She turned, hurrying in the opposite direction.

Larya was glancing back, wondering if she was being followed, when she bumped right into Balabar's waiting arms.

~~~~

Suisshu—"Swish" to her friends—and Mier lay against opposite walls of the dark, humid cave. Between them, a small fire blazed, lighting their faces: Swish, brown-eyed, with spiky red-orange hair and a bright smile, and Mier, her eyes a shifting shade of silver, her short hair a shocking neon red.

Swish watched as the firelight sprinkled shadows upon Mier's small form, making her dull-colored clothes difficult to distinguish from her dusky naked flesh. Mier hadn't been that small before, had she? Now she was almost as little as Swish herself, and Swish knew she was short even by the standards of her homeland.

Swish knew Mier was looking her over as well, though there was both much more and much less to see. Swish, like most fey, was not clothed right now. Her relatively small breasts were on full display, though she had her legs close enough together to preserve some semblance of modesty. She looked down, seeing how the shadows danced and played across her body. "I am sorry for my manner," she said softly.

"Hey, don't worry about it." Mier leaned over and turned the little spit roasting her dinner. "You got me a pheasant. I'll put up with a lot for food. I've put up with worse than a nude woman."

Swish giggled.

"So I guess you're probably wondering the obvious thing," Mier said slowly. "About me."

Swish was silent for a time, but quickly spoke when Mier started to prompt her. "Yes."

"Well?"

"What kind of a name is Mier, anyway?" Suisshu looked up at Mier, giving a wink. "I have heard many names since my arrival in this land. That one sounds almost like a joke, considering who bears it."

Mier looked taken aback. "What? You aren't gonna ask about—"

Swish held up a hand. "That cut I saw in your below?" She frowned. Behind her, her three fox tails twitched in annoyance. "Erm...belly?" She waited on Mier's confirming nod before continuing. "You did not want me to see that. It was rude of me to ask about it before. Besides, you have so cleverly concealed it, and it would be rude to disregard such fine deception."

"You're a weird fey, Swish."

Swish blushed. She couldn't tell if she was being complimented or not. "You are...a weird doppelganger, Mier."

"Yeah." Mier gave a weird smile. "But anyways, the name? Doppelgangers like names like that. My sister's name was Shyfft—it's spelled funny, see—and my uncle was called Murph." She paused. "It's 'cause sounds kind of like morph. Which is a word for shapeshift. The joke may not translate."

"Oh. Okay." Swish laughed. She wanted to be polite.

She wasn't sure why, but she really wanted Mier to like her. Desperately. Something about the doppelganger was just...magnetic. Her personality, her confidence, her...something.

"So, hey." Mier raised an eyebrow. "I've never been with—never spoken with anyone from the Wild East. What's it like over yonder?"

There was a curiously hungry glint in her eye. Swish found herself eager to please her, to impress her. "Oh, it's quite nice. The land is beautiful, and the fey are...perhaps a bit wiser than those here. There are more dragons, as well. I know many of the great wyrms here were slain long ago."

"Slain or hidden." Mier pursed her lips. "Some of them got clever. The rest...didn't."

"So I have heard." Swish sighed. "In the Wild East, beasts and man and fey interact more peacefully between each other. I can walk into a town of humans and be treated like an honored guest." And much, much more, she thought. She rubbed her legs together, remembering.

"Sounds pretty nice."

"Oh, yes. Only..." Swish grimaced. "They treat each other like nothing. Humans fight humans, fey fight fey, and the demons keep it so. Local autori...authorities hold all the power, and not all wield it very good. War is constant. I loved the land, but I grow weary of taking a sword with me everywhere I go."

"So you left."

"Yes." Swish's smile returned. She started to stretch her legs, but quickly stopped herself. She might take it as a rude invitation, she thought, flushing bright red again. It is so dreadfully confusing to be a fey in this land.

"Huh." Mier seemed to be digesting this new information. She didn't appear to notice Swish's sudden embarrassment, and spent a moment silently turning the spit. "So, hey. This may come off the wrong way, but...you don't strike me as the other girls of the Wild East. At least, not those I've heard about. They're said to be a bit..." She paused, seeming to search for a non-crude way to say it. "...bothersome."

Despite herself, Swish pulled a face. "Oh. You have heard of the lust sprites."

"That what they're called?"

"Scandalous half-fey that take what they please for their own pleasure. Your land has them, too, but they take on the manners of whatever is expected of them. Being morons, those that come from my land quickly form what is expected of all eastern women, and so they took on that." Swish scowled. "With the 'sucky sucky', and the 'me so—'...well, you know. It is all they say now."

"That a fact?"

"...I rode the same ship that brought so many of them here to begin with. As I said, fey do not get along, but sometimes the conflict is handled...in other ways." Swish tried and failed to suppress the memories. Countless nights and days spent in the hold, being held down and licked on every inch of bare flesh, driven to constant orgasms that only ended when she managed to distract her tormenters with each other and crawl away for a few minutes' respite. Even that option had vanished when the sprites had worked out how to work the brig's manacles. "There are worse ways to travel, but one gets bored of the exact same sort of woman after three months at sea. I long for new experiences. That's...part of why I came here."

Mier blinked.

Swish was still reliving one of the many memories forged on that little boat when she felt a soft hand touch her knee. She looked up, eyes widening as she took in Mier's rainbow-colored eyes, the colors dancing, spinning, sending Swish's mind into spirals. Mier's voice was rough with desire. "Then how about we make some?"

"Whuh?"

Mier's red hair began to grow long, developing a gorgeous sheen. She'd crawled around the fire, and her face was a foot away from Swish's. She licked her lips. "Swish, you're really hot. And I can tell you feel hot."

Swish's mouth watered as Mier's fingers slowly dipped down between the fox girl's legs. "I...b-but..."

"But you're also really, really attractive when you talk about new experiences." Mier's voice was husky. She batted her eyelashes at Swish, and the on-off, on-off of the rainbow eyes made Swish's head spin. "I want to be with you. I have to be with you. Now."

The fingers came to rest against Swish's sex. Softly, gently, they pulled open the lips—not that it was difficult, as Swish was getting insanely wet. She took a breath in and inhaled Mier's smell. Only there wasn't one.

She stared blankly into Mier's gorgeous multihued eyes. No smell. Everyone had a smell, a scent only she could pick up, something unique to them. All foxes like her could smell it. But all the doppelganger had was what was added on—pheremones, sweat, pussy juices. Even the smell of soap from a recent bath was gone now. It was nothing but the purest scent of lust.

It was intoxicating. Slowly, eagerly, she leaned forward to kiss the beautiful, scentless creature—

"Well, well. Heh. This is a surprise." Swish spun her head with so much force that she bopped Mier right on the forehead. The doppelganger fell back, swearing. Swish wanted to apologize, but she was too busy growling when she realized who had interrupted. 

It was Ancyl. The warty-faced goblin—uglier than sin; the most beautiful goblin in the land—leered at them both, giving a throaty chuckle. "I wondered why you always turned me an' my boys down. And here I find you ready to lie with some...thing. Should've known you would have a thing for that."

"Ancyl!" Swish snarled, leaping to her feet. "You filthy little—"

"Hey, believe me, I ain't happy either." Ancyl shrugged, pulling his face in an expression of innocence. "I'd've loved to keep watching. It was just startin' to get good. But I got business here."

"What business?" Swish heard Mier getting up behind her.

"Druid business. We're lookin' for our wayward babe, Swishy." Ancyl scowled up at her as she advanced. "You made a big mistake grabbin' off us."

"I did not!" Swish's temper didn't often assert itself, but it did now. She had just been about to have sex—for the first time in many, many moons—with a beautiful, wonderful girl. Creature. Person. Goddess. And this stupid little goblin... "Why would I steal off of you?" She gestured behind her. "I am busy, as you can see! I do not invade your places. I leave you and you perverted gang free to grab and rape as long as you do not bother me." Actually, when she said it like that, it sounded kind of bad. But it couldn't be helped. Too many fey in this land were okay with 'taking' for her to get too forceful with her morals.

She heard a rustling in the bushes. Ancyl never went anywhere without at least four other goblins as meat shields.

"Hmph." Ancyl looked around Swish. He seemed to be weighing his chances. To Swish's surprise, he seemed to find them wanting. "You are busy, aren't ya? Maybe there's someone else runnin' about. Been hearin' things. Bounty hunters stirring up trouble. Hypnotists. But if you're lyin' to us, doll, there ain't a foxhole in the land that can keep us from you."




Shifty Characters Ch. 04



Swish crossed her arms. "You do not scare me, tiny tart. I have fought with dragons." Admittedly, mostly over biscuits and the morning paper, but dragons took their morning rituals seriously enough that this was still a fair boast.

"Huh." Ancyl spat at her feet. "We'll see."

He turned and stalked off. Swish waited a full minute before turning around, smiling weakly. "I am sorry. My neighbors, they are—"

She caught a glimpse of a long blade of bone melting back into Mier's hand. Mier looked at her, then quickly looked at her feet. Suddenly, Swish knew why Ancyl had backed off.

"You were ready to fight for me," Swish said.

Curiously, Mier still didn't meet her gaze. "I...do not enjoy violence. But I do a lot of it." She swallowed. "At least this time I'd have been doing it on someone else's account."

"Thank you. You are a good person." Swish reached for Mier's hand—deliberately, the one that had been forming the sword.

But the doppelganger pulled away. "No," she muttered. "Don't say that."

"It is okay," Swish said softly. She reached out again. "I know you are a good person, Mier."

Mier looked at her, stunned, and suddenly Swish realized the doppelganger had become much, much smaller than her.

Without warning, Mier's legs seemed to crumple beneath her like broken matchsticks. She slid down against the wall. Her hair grew long and tangled, shading her eyes.

"Mier!" Swish dropped to her knees, looking at the doppelganger. She didn't seem hurt, but there was a deadness to her expression.

"I'm so tired," Mier mumbled. "I messed up so bad. I mean, Swish, you don't know. I went somewhere I shouldn't have; went for revenge instead of moving on. Now I'm stuck in this dark cave, hiding from shadows, killing any who threaten me and...me." Her knees raised up, and she hugged them to her face, hiding her eyes. "This isn't how I'm supposed to be! They said there were bounty hunters. Hypnotists—I can't face a hypnotist. I don't have the will now. I'm so f...so in trouble."

Suisshu stared hard at Mier. In an instant, she came to a decision.

"Mier." Swish grabbed Mier's hand and squeezed it hard, trying to force life and hope back into the woman who seemed to have lost it. "I will not let anyone hurt you." 

"You should go. Go and hide." Mier's knees lowered, and she gave Swish's hand a weak squeeze back. Swish saw the midriff of Mier's outfit opening, saw the false flesh melting away to show the ugly, discolored knife wound she'd concealed earlier. "My mucked up life isn't your responsibility. I didn't even put out yet."

"Then whose is it? You are not able to be responsible for it right now." Swish pulled Mier into an impulsive hug, then got to her feet. "If there are hunters, I will find them."

"You can't. The warrant doesn't allow for me to be alive. These are trained killers, Swish."

Swish gave her hand a flick. A long, curved, razor-sharp blade appeared in it with a flash. She spun the blade with two fingers, then gave Mier a wink. "So am I."

~~~~

Larya leaped away from Balabar with a wordless cry. He just stood there, smiling as smug as ever.

"I heard you and my thief friend arguing," he said. Larya noticed his silver pocket watch was out. "How unfortunate. You two seemed to really have a bond."

"Just a small point of d-disagreement," Larya said nervously. Half of her—her instinctive side—wanted to keep an eye on the pocket watch. The other half—her lucid side—wanted to avoid looking at it at all costs. She compromised by watching his hands.

Balabar rubbed his palms, as if cold. They were such smooth, gentle-looking hands. These hands had never known the bite of metal or the sting of blisters, never done a day's honest work in their entire existence. Larya felt the insides of her own hands—badly scarred from her days managing the blacksmith's forge—and screwed her courage. "Is there something wrong, Balab—Balabar?" Stammer. Not good, she chided herself. Why does his name have to be so hard to say?

"Oh, I hope not." He smiled. It was such a kind, beautiful smile. Larya wanted badly to trust him.

And then his hands loosened, and the pocket watch fell out to dangle from its long brass chain. Larya's eyes were caught by the movement, and for a split-second she couldn't help herself. She watched it fall.

"There," Balabar whispered, though she barely heard him. She was staring at the watch. It was starting to swing, all on its own, as if by magic. The dim light from the campsite flicked and pranced upon the bright, well-polished silver disc, flashing and dazing her.

Her hands flew to her eyes. "Damn it! We agreed—"

"Oh!" Balabar sounded shocked. "I...I'm sorry, Larya, that wasn't intentional. I wasn't thinking. Old habits die hard."

He did sound sincere. No, you idiot, of course he does, he tricks and rapes girls for a living! And for a hobby. And probably for everything he does! "That's a poor excuse for picking at a woman's mind like it's a lump of goddamn bog iron!"

"No, really," he said earnestly. "I was about to put this watch away."

"You're a pig and a monster." Again, Larya knew she shouldn't be being so aggressive. No matter how true her words were, they could still see her killed. Or worse. But she was just so pissed right now.

"Oh, I may well be." Behind her hands, Larya frowned. Balabar's tone was shifting. "But think about it. I only hypnotize people for a few days at most. And believe me, during this time, they enjoy it. They're very, very happy." Larya could hear his smirk. "And then I leave them remembering none of it. No harm, no foul. They get a taste of something they secretly wanted—"

"Their subconscious wanted it."

"—they get a taste of something a part of them wanted," Balabar continued, louder, "and I get a companion or two for a few lonely nights."

"You're full of it," Larya muttered.

"Am I? All I do is make people happy. Have you heard how happy Sinthia is?" Balabar chuckled. "I know you have. I know you've been looking at her."

Beneath her hands, Larya felt her cheeks burning. "I...I didn't—"

"You've been looking at her ever since you met her. You've watched her every time she moans, wishing you could touch her. You've watched her every time she cums, wishing you could cum with her. You've seen that beautiful, stupid, dazed look in her eyes. The one I saw on you earlier today. And you've wished you could join her."

"No." Larya's heart was beating fast. "That's not true. She hypno—"

"Hypnotized you?" Balabar laughed. It was a musical laugh, long and cruel and beautiful. "She's just a mindless slut right now. She couldn't hypnotize a chicken. You wanted it."

"No," Larya whispered. "She...nymphs can..." She'd read about it once. But here, in the darkness, blinded by her own hands, it seemed so long ago...

"Nymphs? Oh, Larya. Stupid, confused Larya."

"Stop it," Larya hissed through gritted teeth.

"Stop what?" He sounded puzzled. "I only said you were confused."

"You said—"

"Because you said something wrong. Confused people do that. They say things that are wrong, because they're just so confused and horny and can't even think straight, can you?"

Larya shivered. It was the same shiver that had passed through her when the nymph had looked at her, and she had longed to be like—no, wait, that wasn't right—

"You're just so lost, aren't you? You're lost in a big, scary forest." Did Balabar's voice sound closer now? "You're just a scared girl with no one to protect you. And I'm making you soooo horny, because the part of you that matters wants to be hypnotized sooooo bad." He cooed the word.

"N-no, you're—" She felt smooth, soft hands pulling away her own, uncovering her eyes. "Stop, plea—"

"The wrong part of you is talking, Larya. That's the part that's confused. The part of you that matters knows what it wants." Slowly, Balabar peeled Larya's hands from her eyes. She stared in wide-eyed horror as she realized...realized...

Oh. Her eyes had not been shut. So she could see Balabar lifting the pocket watch, so pretty and shiny, as her hands fell uselessly to her sides.

"I think you're a bit of a slut, Larya. You let those ugly little goblins fuck you, and now you're going to let me hypnotize you. What a slut."

She trembled. Something was rising within her. Her breasts were growing flushed, her pussy, so poorly-covered by that tiny little skirt, growing moist...

"But you want this." Balabar's voice raised, very slightly, and Larya was struck as if by a tidal wave by his strength of will. "Say it."

"I..."

"You want this."

"I w...w..."

"You want this."

Larya felt her will snapping. It felt so good, so...so...

"No!" she screamed, kicking Balabar in the balls.

Balabar's eyes widened, and he fell to the ground, emitting a little squeak. Larya didn't stop to consider her confusing emotional reactions to this. She just ran.

Ran.

The haze was still over her. It was there, strong as a wire cage, thick as a gancanagh's pipe smoke, but she ran as fast as she could and tried to forget what she was running from. Larya had always been a fast runner. Frankly, it seemed a miracle that she hadn't fallen yet—the forest was so dense, and the tree roots here were arched and dangerously curved as though designed to trip someone—but she took all her courage up in her arms and ran like wind.

It didn't take long before Larya didn't remember exactly why she was running. She had certainly never had any idea where she was running. She heard cursing and thuds from behind her and only knew she had to keep—

"Oopsy!"

A hand grabbed her shoulder. Larya tried to keep going past, but the hand squeezed with so much strength Larya thought her arm had dislocated.

Larya was jerked completely off her feet, and would have likely hit her head against the ground...had the slender, supple arms of Sinthia not caught and cradled her as she fell.

"Shh," Sinthia cooed, holding Larya's struggling arms against her sides with complete ease. She fell to her knees, flipped Larya over and forced Larya's face right into two round cushions. "Shh. No fighting."

Larya felt the smoothness of Sinthia's breasts as they smothered her. She struggled, but that only produced tiny oohs and aahs from Sinthia as her face involuntarily rubbed against them. She couldn't breathe. She could barely move. "Mmf!" she cried.

"Good girl," Sinthia cooed. "Relax. Sleep." Larya felt fingers tickling down her leg, and jerked reflexively—helplessly—as they pulled up her little skirt and started to get to work. Tickling. Tormenting. Dancing around the one place she desperately needed to be touched. "Relax. Close your eyes."

"Nnmmf..." Larya's mind raced. She was panicking, and when she was panicked her heart beat faster, and she lost oxygen faster, and when she lost oxygen faster...she got tired. "Mmm..." She couldn't tell if she was even trying to say anything anymore. It felt so nice. But she had to do something. Before she passed out.

She tentatively extended her tongue and licked Sinthia's breast. Sinthia didn't say anything, but she seemed to flinch. Larya started licking the delicious skin between the breasts. Distract her. Confuse her. Make her... "Unmm..." She felt the fingers tickling around her cunt and bucked involuntarily. Make her hot. Make her cum. Make her happy. No, wrong, wrong...

Her oxygen was getting so low. She couldn't think. It was like she could feel her brain cells dying, and the more that died the less she cared, and...

"Good girl," whispered a smooth voice. Larya jerked with pleasure, feeling her pussy clench—but not flow. She felt Sinthia trembling beneath her, her grip weak for an instant. Suddenly her arms were free.

Larya forced herself away from the green-haired goddess, gasping for breath, barely standing. She tried to reach downward—if she could cum, she could think—but someone else grabbed her hands.

She looked up, slowly, confused.

Lost.

There was Balabar. There were several scratches on his face and arms, and his coat was torn in several places, but Larya had never seen anyone so handsome. So strong. So...dominating. His orange eyes burned into her, owning her.

She almost came right there.

"N-no," she mumbled, as he smiled down at her. "No. You're gonna...hypnotize."

"You already are hypnotized," he said, guiding her gently—but firmly—to sit against a tree. "You're already mine, you silly little bimbo."

"Oh," she whimpered. She saw Sinthia crawling towards her. "No."

"Stupid slut," he said, his smile widening. It wasn't even said meanly. Just...correcting her. "You're so confused. So sexy."

Larya blushed. "I am?" she whimpered.

"Sexy," cooed Sinthia, pushing up Larya's skirt with both hands and leaning in. "Horny."

"See how happy Sinthia is? Look into her eyes." Larya did. "She's just my adorable little toy. She knows that's all she wants to be. It's all you want to be, too. Isn't it?"

"All I want...a-all I want..." Larya's voice broke. She stared into those green eyes, lusty and fiery and yet...empty. Empty of all true thoughts. Just sex and love and desire and servitude.

"You want to be my slave." Larya could barely hear his words, or focus on the pocket watch as it was swung slowly, back and forth, right before her eyes, back and forth. But she did. It was important, she knew.

She tried to move away. Twice. But Sinthia was holding her so firmly, and the pocket watch was so hard...

"...so hard to concentrate on," Balabar whispered, "when your tiny little slutty brain is busy trying to escape, to get up, to think all those hard thoughts. But your tiny slutty brain really just wants one thing."

The tongue was probing around Larya's cunt. She looked back at the swinging pocket watch, lost in its beautiful swing, lost in Balabar's beautiful voice, lost, lost, lost. Lost, and it felt so good to lose.

The tongue entered Larya's cunt and she gave a soft moan. "No, you can't, I can't be—"

"Are you telling me what to do?" The tongue paused its ministrations.

For some reason, Balabar's scolding tone filled her with guilt. "No. I'm sorry."

"Good girl. You're a good little pet." The tongue resumed. "Call me master, pet."

"Unh..."

"Call me master, you begging little bimbo."

"Bimbo." She giggled. The word sounded so nice. "Oh!" The tongue had flicked by her clit. "Oh, yes. Master."

"Are you my bimbo?"

"I'm your...oh!" Sinthia had licked her clit again. It was like she had deliberately...Larya lost track of that thought as Master reached forward and pinched her nipple.

"Bad girl. Maybe you don't want to be my toy after all."

"Oh! No! No!" Larya shook her head eagerly, even as a tiny part of her mind frothed and spitted with rage. She stared into Master's smug, arrogant, wonderful, perfect face. "I'm your..." Lick.

"You're my bimbo."

"Your—oh—" Lick.

"You're my bimbo."

"Your bimb—OH!" Larya let out a shriek as Sinthia started to lap at her clit with gusto. "Yes! I'm yours, Master, oh, yes! I'm your bimbo!"

The pocket watch began to slow. Larya moaned, bucking against Sinthia ferociously. "Make me yours, Master! Oh, please, now, now!"

"You're very grateful, aren't you? For fixing you like this."

"Th-thank you so-o-o-o much!" she cried. And Larya meant it. She was so grateful to this wonderful man for fixing her. Fixing her brain. Making her feel so good and hot and slutty and obedient and eager to please her perfect, perfect, perfect Master.

She moaned again, screwing her eyes shut in pleasure. Sinthia was licking and growling with her, and she felt so good, and she was about to—

"Stop."

Sinthia stopped licking.

Larya waited. The pleasure didn't resume. She opened her eyes wide, staring at her perfect, smirking master. "I'm so sorry, Larya. I forgot. You were right. Snatch told me not to fuck you. Besides, you told me that this was wrong, didn't you? I'll respect his and your wishes. Sinthia, get up."

Sinthia rose. Her face and mouth was sticky with Larya's juices, and she leaned in to give Larya an orgasmic kiss, forcing Larya's own fluids into her mouth. Larya moaned into the kiss, but could only lie there as Sinthia rose.

"Master," she whispered. "No! Master!"

But her Master was moving, taking Sinthia by the arm. She rushed after them, her clothes a moist mess, and watched as they disappeared into their tent.

Larya dropped to her hands and knees and started to crawl. She crawled to the tent flap and pushed at it feebly. Something was stopping her from opening it.

She knew Master wouldn't like it. And if he didn't like it, her world was gone.

She heard moans and grunts from within. She peeked through. Though the light was almost nil, she could see almost perfectly. She'd always had good night vision.

Sinthia lay on her hands and knees, moaning like a...well, nymph. Master—wonderful, handsome master—was clutching her by her hips.

As Larya watched, actually drooling, Master drove his beautiful cock into Sinthia's pussy from behind. Again. And again. His stamina was unbearable—to Larya's fractured mind, anyways. She watched, whimpering, as Sinthia came.

And as Sinthia was screaming with bliss, she looked straight at Larya. And smiled. And giggled, as if Larya was the funniest thing she'd ever seen.

Even hypnotized, fey could be cruel.

Larya knelt there for what felt like hours, watching her Master fuck the toy that had hypnotized her. She couldn't masturbate. She just whimpered, and whined, and begged. She promised to be a good slut, to be her Master's pet forever, to serve and protect and be fucked. She begged to be hypnotized again.

Lost and confused, the bimbo eventually drifted off into a sleep of unsatisfying dreams.

~~~~

Swish prowled through the undergrowth, disguised in her fox-form.

She knew the disguise wouldn't be worth much against other fey, of course. Still, it kept her low to the ground. Besides, she thought, grinning inwardly, it made her feel a whole lot sneakier.

She had come to the camp. The goblins had been right—hunters were in the forest. The little fox sniffed the air.

Steel. Sex. Walnut leaves. Feces. And a very strong scent mingling with the second one—something unique, and peaceful. The fox sniffed the air again, enjoying the pleasant odor.

But these six scents meant something. Steel meant hunters. Dung meant humans. Sex meant...well, sex. The walnut leaves she recognized from Sinthia, the wood nymph who ran one of the denser parts of the Greatest, Darkest Forest.

The fox shook her head. Sinthia wasn't exactly cruel, but she was vain and oversensitive—easily riled up by travelers or fellow fey who did not show "proper" respect. That she was involved in this couldn't be a good sign.

The sixth smell...She frowned. It had to be the druidess the goblins were looking for.

She suddenly became aware of a seventh scent. A sour, tangy scent she knew quite well and was heartened by. Fairies.

Looking around, she noticed several flying overhead, and gave a little yipe to alert them to her presence.

The fairies were some of the only fey in this land she genuinely liked and respected. Of course, in fairness, many of them were not from this land. Fairies traveled with the wind high above the clouds. The three here paused, seeing her, and smiled brightly. One had wild hair and skin as black as night, another had violet hair and the dusky brown skin of one from the ice, and the third was as fair-haired and skinned as a local.

"Hey!" the fair one hummed at her. She zoomed down to perch on Swish's nose, her little (but relatively enormous) breasts bouncing violently from the speed of her descent. "What's up, Swish?"




Shifty Characters Ch. 04



Swish gave a little bark.

"No kidding! We were just heading there ourselves!"

"It's really important," the violet-haired fairy said. Her voice vibrated like someone was rapping on her back from the constant motions created as she hovered above Swish's head. "There's a real problem here. We're hoping we can help."

Swish barked.

"Yeah?" The frizzy-haired one landed right on Swish's bark (Swish fought the urge to sneeze). "Well, those bullies haven't found her yet. We won't screw with the truce, but we won't leave her helpless for them, either."

"And as for that hypnotist..." The violet-haired fairy cracked her knuckles, eliciting minute pops. "I'd like to give him a piece of my mind. Especially if that piece were sharp and made of metal. And I could put it in his mind."

"We can't risk losing anyone else," the black-haired one said. "Lapis is still caught."

"I hope she's alright," the fair one muttered. "If she's not..."

Swish barked.

"I hope you're right, Swish." The fair one was the last to take to the air as they zoomed back on course, straight towards the camp. "I hope you're right."

~~~~

Goblin's Note: WOW that turned out longer than I expected. I kinda like this length, though. I prefer my chapters to be about two pages—much more convenient to read!

As you've probably noticed, Shifty Characters is a bit more focused on plot than most of my stories. That said, there's still plenty of erotic encounters, and more on the way!

Next up: Larya meets the fairies, Swish runs into trouble, and Balabar runs into Mier.



Shifty Characters Ch. 05



This is a continuation of Shifty Characters, the story of two bounty hunters' quest to capture an elusive shapeshifter. Previously, unlucky Larya was caught and hypnotized by Balabar, with the help of Balabar's nymph slave, Sinthia. Elsewhere, Suisshu the kitsune set out to slay the bounty hunters on her new shapeshifter friend's behalf.

This chapter contains fairy sex, kitsune, and a lot of hypnosis. Enjoy!

~~~~~~~~

Larya was drifting inside a cloud.

She stretched her legs. The white vapor swirled around her body, carrying her with it as it floated through the night sky. She giggled softly. It felt like she was swimming in soft, fluffy cotton. She knew she was dreaming, of course—she'd always been a lucid dreamer—but that didn't make the cloud feel any less real.

She sank slowly through it, feeling the whiteness tickling her thighs and sides as she went. She was naked, but that was normal in her dreams. She ran her hand through the cloud, marveling at how soft and bubbly it felt on her skin, and gave a low sigh.

Further off, the cloud lit up momentarily. She blinked, seeing lightning streaking through it towards her. I hope that's not—

The lightning hit her. She gasped, her hips bucking reflexively. Oh! Ohhhh.

The moment the lightning had stricken Larya, a strange tingling feeling had washed over her whole body. The feeling had been...not unpleasant. In fact, it had been largely centralized in her breasts and between her legs. She looked at the cloud, blinking, trying to clear her vision.

The lightning came again, brighter this time. Thunder rumbled as Larya moaned softly. "Oh," she said dazedly. She felt like she needed to say something, but she just couldn't think of what. It was as if the tingling had filled her loins with a fire, and now the fire's smoke was inflating the rest of her like a balloon. As she had that thought, she felt her legs and arms go numb. "Oh," she repeated.

The lightning struck again. She smiled, rubbing her legs together as the tingling suffused her body. It felt...nice. Really nice. It was—

Not a second later, the cloud flashed again and Larya was gyrating, bucking and moaning as the pleasure stole over her. She tried to cry out her orgasm, but could manage nothing above a whisper. "Yes. Oh, yes. Please, more, more, more..."

As the flash hit again, her eyes rolled upwards into her head. She spasmed, giving a hoarse, low-pitched moan of pleasure. Lightning struck again, and she cooed and burbled, feeling any semblance of lucidity scattering. With every strike, the bliss grew. She wanted to buck, but she was totally paralyzed, helpless within the pleasureful cloud. She was numb everywhere. Everywhere except where it mattered.

Lightning struck again.

"Oh." The pleasure was whitehot, blinding. The world was turning into mist, and she shook uncontrollably as the orgasm drew nearer and nearer.

Lightning struck again.

"Oh!" A bit louder this time. She bucked and kicked, the sky going pink as she gasped from exertion.

Lightning struck again. And a split-second later, before she could even react, again.

Thunder rumbled around her, near-deafening, as she arched her back to a near-impossible angle. OH!" Her voice finally broke the dream's barrier. "Yes! Yes, oh, yes, PLEASE! More! Oh, love, love, l-love it, please—"

The dream was over.

She was staring up into two big soft lavender eyes. They were compound, like those of an insect's, and about the size of her pinkie fingernail. They belonged to a tiny little hovering fairy with bronze skin, short black hair, and four pairs of wings, which...

...which...

...which Larya at this moment could not remember why she would want to look away from because they were so so pretty and she was just a mortal girl who just didn't want to think about why she couldn't look away from the pretty pretty wings. Yes. Good girl.

Larya suddenly gave a weak cry as lightning struck again. She couldn't see it, nor hear the thunder, but she squirmed nonetheless with pleasure.

"Gooood," chorused little vibrant voices all around her. Larya felt multiple shapes—tiny, gorgeous little women like the one above her—crawling over her nude upper body. She squirmed. She wasn't normally too ticklish, but she'd spent the last day having her body hypersensitized by succubi, fey and one cruel hypnotist who she loved and adored and would forever serve because he was her Master and she was his hot little bimbo and—"Relaaaax," the swarm whispered to her.

She squirmed harder as she felt the fairies skittering around. She wanted to sit up, to push them off of her, but those wings...

She had always thought mirrors were dull. Mirrors were simple, predictable. They showed you exactly what you expected, without fail, and when they didn't it was a sign there was something extremely strange and probably dangerous going on. Usually involving a mirror daemon.

But she had been wrong. Mirrors were everything. Those beautiful, perfect wings beat as fast as hummingbird wings, casting shadows of color and light across Larya's spellbound face. Her eyes were dazzled. Her mind was absorbed totally into the mirrors, and she was helpless to stop what came next.

Slowly, she began to become aware of little tickling touches between her legs as the fairies moved down. She hesitated, then let out a whimper as she realized what was happening. The lavender-eyed fairy slowed her wingbeats for an instant, and Larya saw it all reflected, just for a second, in those glorious wings. And the sight was even more hypnotic than the lights.

She was being licked all around her cunt. Numerous tiny little fey women had gathered around and were near-covering her crotch, licking and tickling and stroking and humping her sensitive sex. She whimpered again, fidgeting. A few times, her hand would stray down, but one look from the lavender-eyed fairy stopped her every time.

"Shh", a fairy whispered in her ear, tickling her inner lobe. "Shh. Be a good girl. Be a good bimbo."

The word immediately set her at ease again. Yes. A good bimbo. Her Master would like that.

"Look at the pretty, pretty lights."

Larya smiled vacantly, obediently, staring up at the pretty, pretty lights.

Her mouth opened. "Oh," she breathed.

She could feel fairies settling on her breasts. She squirmed and writhed, unable to stop from giggling as their tiny, ticklish little tongues lapped around her nipples, giving little nips that hurt no more than a minnow's nibble. But there were so many of them.

"Feels good?" cooed the voice in Larya's ear. The words were echoed in sensuous tones by the other fairies—one of which, Larya noticed, was clenching her legs around Larya's nipple like an enormous sex toy.

Larya shook, giving another little titter from the sensations. She looked up at the colors. "Oh," she repeated. The fairies giggled, a whispered cacophony of buzzing laughter.

"Ticklish," teased the fairy.

"N-n-nnno!" But Larya's quivering denial came too late. The fairies had begun running their hands over her breasts, flapping their shining wings rapidly against her belly. They crawled over her arms, covering the undersides with messy, tickling kisses.

And the vast majority of them went to town between her legs.

Larya thrashed and squealed as violently and as loudly as she could. It came out as a shiver and a squeak. The wings controlled her. The little fairies had mastered her before she'd even fully awoken, Larya realized. And they did not want her to be noisy.

"Shh." Slender hands stroked her hair, adding only slightly to the unbearably subtle sensations running through Larya's entire body. "Good girl. Wise girl. Give in to the power."

"Wh...wha...ohhhh..." Larya quivered, powerless as a fairy pushed all the way into her. She felt hot little mouths taking in her clit, sucking and licking at it hungrily. The pleasure was excruciating. Her eyes were wide and wet as she felt herself nearing a silent orgasm.

"Yessss." The fairy laughed. "Can't resist because it's not in you. You're so close, so close..."

"It is time for you to come home," hummed a fairy in Larya's other ear. "Find your calling. Find your way."

Larya shook and wept with joy as the mouths doubled their efforts on her bounteous breasts, covering them with hot litle fey bodies. She would do anything these fairies commanded, if only they would—would—

"Come to us, bimbo," sang the lavender-eyed fairy. "Come, come, COME!"

And with a tiny little squeak of pure bliss, Larya came.

~~~~

Swish watched the young human woman get raptured by fairies with almost total impassivity. By fey standards.

That was to say, the fox girl from the Wild East had only two fingers in her pussy as she observed the strange rite. What were those creatures planning? It wasn't like the fairies to go around taking people without consent. Especially when they were already being mind-raped by sinister hypnotists.

Swish's three fox-like tails twitched behind her with excitement. Her equally fox-like ears twitched with annoyance. Fairies had reasons for everything. Sometimes she thought they bore more demon blood in their veins than lust sprites had ever had, for there was an impartial cunning in their actions that was distinctly...un-fey.

Swish—also known as Suisshu—sighed softly. It was none of her business, of course, and she didn't have time to risk her life on strangers' behalves.

Her fingers tightened around the long katana she was wielding. She was far too busy risking her life to save someone she'd just met that day.

But it was different with Mier. She frowned. Mier needed her. And Mier had a...a way. A sort of charisma Swish had never felt before. Unlike most fey, foxes were very picky about who they fell in love with, and something about the doppelganger was simply intoxicating to her.

That was why she was staking out the campsite of two dangerous bounty hunters, their mind controlled nymph, and now their mind controlled...woman. Mier was tired, afraid. Swish hoped so desperately that doing this would make Mier happy again.

Hidden amid the shadows of the Greatest, Darkest Forest, Swish leaned against her tree and waited patiently.

By fey standards.

~~~~

Swish yawned and stretched her legs as she felt the sunlight hitting herSHIT

The fox's eyes opened wide. It was morning. She'd fallen asleep! She quickly shifted back from her fox form—she'd been having a particularly pleasant dream involving a poorly-guarded chicken coop—into her human shape: That of a petite young woman with spiky red hair and a long curved blade hanging at her side. She sprang to her feet, looking about frantically.

The campfire was burning dully. The sun was beginning to peek over the canopy and settle on the floor, and Swish realized that had she slept much longer she would have surely been discovered.

She squinted. There was the young dark-haired woman. She'd been collared and tied to a post and was now lying on her back, rubbing her legs together. Her desperation was unmistakeable, but it was clear she'd been given orders.

As she watched, a man exited the further tent. He was a little short, though fit, with short black hair and dressed in plain, practical clothes. A large, notched iron scythe was strapped to his back, alongside a heavily patched haversack.

Swish squinted. Her eyesight wasn't especially good, but there seemed to be a dark shape on his shoulder. Could that be a fairy? No doubt hypnotized. Her fingers tightened around the katana handle. Found you.

She watched, eyes narrowed to slits, as the man approached the prone woman. He glared down at her, but the woman's eyes were shut. She seemed totally unaware of his existence, or anyone's existence. Swish caught a fleeting glimpse of emotion on the man's face. What was that? Guilt? Disgust? Whatever it had been, it was almost instantly replaced with anger. He turned away, muttering something Swish could just barely make out.

"Fucking hypnotist."

Swish's head tilted to one side. Her grip on the katana loosened.

So this wasn't the hypnotist. More likely a servant or partner. It occurred to Swish that he might be another slave, but she quickly disregarded the notion. Hypnotism ran counter to most "stressful" emotions, aside from those deliberately instilled (sexual need, for instance, tended to get added in). Why would anybody hypnotize someone to be angry? Unless he was a frothman, but he didn't really look the part.

She heard a rustling. From the other tent—the one the girl was penned right outside—emerged a tall, very delicate-looking woman with long, pointed ears. The nymph had long tresses of emerald-green hair hanging down well past her shoulders, complementing brilliant green eyes.

She was stark naked. Her tanned skin was slightly sweaty, Swish observed—more by smell than sight. She felt her cheeks burning as she took a deep breath of the nymph's delicious musk.

This was Sinthia, the nymph who had clearly been hypnotized. Her eyes were dull, like the collared girl's, but possessed an independent sparkle of cruel capriciousness as she looked upon the prone girl.

"Having fun, bimbo?" she sang.

"Mm..." The 'bimbo' gave a whine, spreading her legs wide and giving the brainwashed nymph a perfect view of her shaven pussy.

Swish caught herself envying her fellow fey. With large, pert breasts, a perfect figure, and gorgeous flowing dark auburn hair, the captured human was...well, extremely enticing.

The Wild Eastern fey scolded herself. She's enslaved, she thought angrily. You do her a grave disservice by looking at her in such a way.

But fey had their needs. Swish continued to watch, her guilt battling her arousal. The guilt was winning, but slowly. Slowly. Slowly enough that she had time to watch a little.

In the clearing, Sinthia leaned down, inspecting her captive. She giggled. "Are we a horny wittle bimbo?" she cooed.

"Yes!" The bimbo squirmed, reaching up and cupping her breasts, rubbing her nipples with a soft desperation. She whimpered. "Yes, we are. Um. We is. No. Um. Um."

"Stupid little bimbo," Sinthia hissed. She leaned closer, and Swish had to strain to hear the next bit. "Lick." The bimbo stiffened. "Lick." The bimbo shivered. The nymph reached forward and grabbed her by the shoulders, pulling her up into a sitting position. "Lick, little wet bimbo."

The bimbo stared at Sinthia's cunt, which Suisshu could see. The bimbo's mouth watered slightly. So did Suisshu's.

Nymph juices were infamously dangerous. Most fey juices (and semens) possessed addictive properties, but nymphs' were known to be among the worst of all. Right alongside those of succubi and a few specialized fey like Green Fairies, nymphs' delicious fluid, once ingested, would enter a man or woman's system and never, ever leave. Worse, it was contagious. Entire cities had fallen because one man had been allowed to escape a particularly sinister nymph, belly full of the sinful toxin, and begin infecting the people of the town.

To fey, the juices were simply an intoxicating delicacy, and nymphs did not part with them cheaply. Sinthia had heard of the sorts of 'favors' they demanded—periods of servitude so degrading only sex-crazed fools would ever agree. So, most fey. Plus any poor mortals they managed to ensnare. But to humans, the juices were...something else.

The bimbo surged up into the nymph's cunt and began licking, moaning and gasping, covering her face with the scrumptious-smelling juices. Swish gave a miniscule whine of jealousy, her fingers slipping down into her own pussy as she watched. She knew that this was going to ruin the woman's life, but all she could think about was that sinfully tempting smell, that look of pure joy on the bimbo's face as she licked and sucked and moaned and screamed. She wanted that look on her own face. At least, part of her did. She hadn't had sex in forever.

Sinthia gasped as the bimbo grabbed her. Then moaned, all pretense at smug superiority forgotten. She grabbed the human's head and shoved it into her crotch, clutching it between her thighs. "Oh...bimbo...bimbo... bimbobimbobobmi..." Only the increasingly high-pitched squeals and grunts from beneath her showed any sign that what was clearly a triggerword was having any effect.

Swish watched, fascinated. The nymph was stumbling, barely on her feet. In moments, she would fall, and then no doubt this voracious slave would really go to work on her. Swish's fingers worked in and out of her own cunt even as she struggled to clear her head. Once Sinthia was down, an opportunity would open up. That musk was just so distracting. Swish needed to cum. Then she'd be able to think straight.

"Enjoying the show?" purred a smooth voice in Swish's ear.

She froze.

Swish didn't know a great deal about hypnotism. It was common enough in the Wild East that everyone had to be prepared for it—nagas and peacock fey were dangerous creatures, as were the countless snakelike fey that roamed the wilds—but she'd never had a talent for that slow, melodic tone.

But she knew the basics. First: Never look directly at a hypnotist. This sat well with her, since it gave her an excuse to keep an eye on Sinthia. The nymph had just collapsed, screaming wordless cries of ecstasy as she spasmed on the ground.

"You seem to like watching them," the smooth voice continued. "Perhaps you'd like even more to join them?"

If you only knew, she wanted to say. But the second rule, never concede a point, rang in her head.

She didn't want to try to attack. Not yet. The whole camp would be alerted if she did so, and she had a feeling the man with the scythe knew how to use it. Besides, this hypnotist's voice reeked of overconfidence. So instead she smiled brightly. "No, no, I just like to know what I face. It seems you do not keep very tight control over your slaves."

The three-tail forced herself to pull her wet fingers out of her cunt. Third: Don't get horny.

The voice sounded impressed. "Hm. I must say, I didn't expect to meet such a clever little fox as you. I thought submission came easily for your kind?"

Suisshu rolled her eyes, reluctantly looking away from the rutting sex slaves. "Foxes, or easterners?"

"Sluts. And I actually keep very good control of mine. I just thought the wild one in the bushes might like something to watch while I take her."

"You really should have put a knife to my throat." Suisshu laughed. "It would be much more effective. Really."

"Oh, my." The hypnotist giggled. "Your accent. It's too precious. If I can be honest with you, I've always wanted to brainwash an easterner."

Suisshu laughed again, but she couldn't conceal the edge this time. This disgusting creature was pissing her off in a major way. "Then allow me to be the first to deny you something you want."

"Oh, I don't think I will. My name's Balabar, by the way." The oily voice was trying to wriggle into her head, Swish could feel it, but she knew what to expect here. She could push it away. "Tell me, you adorable exotic slut, why have you come here?"

"I just stop by." Swish's fingers clenched again around the katana. Her ears gave her excellent hearing, and she was getting pretty sure he was right behind her. Just one clean swing was all she needed. "You are new here."

"Oh, I don't think you're being honest, slutty girl!" Balabar crooned his words. "I think you wanted to hurt me. Kill me, even. Why would you want to do that?"

Before she could stop herself, a tiny thought made it to her head. I really don't. I'm sick of killing. That's why I left home. She banished it almost instantly, but she was off-balance when she answered. "I hear you are visiting a friend of mine."




Shifty Characters Ch. 05



"Oh!" Balabar sounded delighted, and Suisshu cursed herself. You gave him an opening, you idiot! Rule Four: Do not tell him anything! "Well, you must care very deeply for her if you would dare risk becoming my cute little toy."

Rule Five: If all else fails, get mad. And get him madder. She was almost sure he was within range now. She just had to keep him uncertain for a few seconds more—she was pretty sure the scytheman wouldn't hear if she managed a one-hit kill. "You will never catch her," Suisshu growled, her tails twitching furiously. "She is already left. Neither of us will ever see her again—and you go to die before you have chance to prove me wrong."

There was a pause. "...my, my. Such devotion."

Suisshu frowned. Balabar didn't sound angry, or even that amused. He sounded...pitying.

"You do know, of course, how many she has loved over the years?" Balabar sighed. "She's as whorish as any succubus, my delightful pet. You aren't the first she's gone down on."

"My history is not clean, either." Again, Swish cursed herself for giving up more information. He was starting to get to her, but she just wanted to shut that stupid slick voice up.

"Of course not, dearest little...why don't I call you Suki? I think it fits you."

"My name is—" She stopped herself.

"Anyways, silly eastern girl, of course I know your dirty little past. You are a slut, remember?" His voice lowered to a whisper. "In case you don't know what that word means, let me clarify: It means you like...let's call it 'sucky-sucky', my giggly, lusty pet. You like sucky-sucky very much, and—"

"I know what it means!" she hissed. Her fists clenched. She looked straight ahead, forcing herself not to look at Balabar. In the campsite, Sinthia seemed to be trying to get away now, but the human woman wasn't letting up.

"Good girl!" he cooed. "It's important word to know for you. So smart!"

That was it. Swish was done. She was just going to cut this bastard's head off and wing it from there. Rule Five: End the conversation as soon as—

"But anyways, pet, I wasn't talking about Mier's past. I was talking about Mier. Mier personally. She's had thousands of partners, darling. What silly thoughts got into your little brain to make you think you're any different to her?"

Swish's grip on her katana loosened slightly. She hesitated. What? she mouthed to herself.

Foxes were good at identifying lies. She'd believed Mier. But then...Mier hadn't ever made any promises. And this man wasn't lying.

"Oh, how sad. You poor girl. You must be just off the boat, Suki. She's using you, just like I'm going to use you." No. False. It couldn't be true. "At least I'm honest about it. Doppelgangers don't mate for life, they mate for convenience and fun. She wants new experiences. She fucked the baron behind his wife's back. That's why we're hunting her."

Swish swallowed. She knew she was being played. But...

She'd been bluffing when she said Mier had already left. Hadn't she? A vision entered her head: Mier waiting for her to go, to distract Balabar and his group...while she ran for it.

Mier had seemed so sincere. But... "Doppelgangers live and breathe lies, Suki."

"It's not true," she whispered.

"You know it is."

The voice was smooth, convincing, but the words themselves...

Swish felt tears trickling down her cheeks.

Foxes like her preferred to mate for life, but they formed attachments far too easily. She'd fallen for Mier in seconds. The doppelganger's bizarre charisma had overwhelmed her—she'd been so lonely, so desperate for a friend...

"Oh, my poor little dear," Balabar murmured. "My poor little lost lust sprite."

She jerked to attention. "What?" Her cheeks had gone bright red, not that he could tell. Or maybe he could. "I'm not—"

"I've met lust sprites before. You're so horny. Horny, horny. But no grasp on the language."

This had not been what she'd expected. "I am not—"

"You don't know, you dumb little sprite. You forgot. Isn't that what a lust sprite would do?"

Yes, she admitted inwardly, annoyed. "Yes, but I am—"

"Horny. Confused. You fell for a shapeshifting freak. You're such a silly pet."

"I—no, I did not!" Indignant, the fox spun to face him, raising her sword.

He smiled at her. And in the split second she hesitated, she caught a glimpse of the pretty spinning disc. She saw her reflection flash by in it. Was it just her, or did her ears look a little like horns?

She'd fucked a lot of lust sprites. Why did she do that?

"You're going to hurt yourself with that," he said, giggling. "What were you even going to do with it?"

"I will kill you!" she snarled. But at the back of her mind, a rational-sounding voice spoke. He's right. I don't even know what this thing is. The pocket watch twirled.

It looks sharp.

So tired of killing...

...so tired of fighting...

"...so tired of resisting," Balabar murmured. She snapped back into reality, realizing she'd spaced out.

She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to wipe the pocket watch from her mind. But she kept seeing it. Kept seeing that reflection. "I am..." she growled, "...not so easy..."

"Me."

"Me?" She barely kept her eyes from opening in confusion.

"You aren't speaking right. You still think you're a nymph."

She frowned. "I do not!"

"Then what are you? A lust sprite? A horny...needy...slutty-wutty horny lust sprite?"

She heard herself a little giggle. The image was still in her head. Horny. And I—I mean, they have horns.

"Yes. Isn't it funny how confused you are? So funny." His voice rambled on, melodious. Suki gave a little sigh. It was actually quite pleasant to listen to. She couldn't remember why she hadn't wanted to listen before. "You're just so confused, and so wet, and you just want to touch yourself but you're so dumb and horny you can't remember how. You silly slutty sucky Suki."

She giggled again at the rhyme—that was a rhyme, right?—but his words troubled her. "Stupid," she muttered. "I do remember how."

"Oh, do you?"

She heard Sinthia's near-helpless moans in the background, mixed with the slobbery sound of the human slave's licking. For a moment, she was almost afraid she wouldn't be able to remember, but the noise helped her.

She shoved three fingers into her moist cunt, smiling triumphantly. She opened her eyes expectantly as she started to piston in and out, staring at Balabar's cute face and imagining his big cock between her lips. She showed him!

No. Wait. She frowned, confused. This wasn't right. She had to fight him. Had to help...Mier.

Memories started to return, along with the tears. Balabar looked at her, again with pity. "It hurts you, I know," he said softly, reaching forward. He took her hand and helped it along, masturbating her through the sorrow. "But you're just a silly little lust sprite. You'll forget aaaall about it soon enough."

She knew, then, what was happening. Through the confusion, through her horniness, through the fog of the hypnosis, she saw what was happening to her. She was being offered a choice. And with her confusion, with her horniness—because she was so horny, so wet, so fucking desperate—it wasn't a choice at all.

She found herself continuing to masturbate—almost managing to convince herself it was purely reflexive—as his hand crawled along her other arm. He peeled back her fingers from something cold and metal. She wasn't sure what it was anymore. He leaned close, grinning at her. Nimble fingers ran through the soft, silky fur on one of her tails, and she gasped at the sensation. Betraying its owner, the tail wrapped around his hand. Eagerly. "How do you feel, Suki?"

"I..."

"Me."

He gave her a wide, smug smirk. This was it. He'd picked out her greatest source of fury—the bigotry she'd faced since arriving on this continent, the snide looks, the rude remarks—and forced her here. To give it up. To humiliate her.

She felt the anger boiling in her, but every time it tried to rise, she thought of the pain of Mier's betrayal. And every time she tried to hate Balabar, she thought of how good her fingers felt inside her. How good it would feel to suck him off. How blissful Sinthia was. And how good it had felt over those months to just be the lust sprites' fucktoy. Constant pleasure flooded back to her as she remembered—kisses, licks, moans, gasps, screams, again and again...never have to think about pain...

Would it be so bad to be a lust sprite?

And the moment that thought came to her, he had won. She knew it. He saw the look of defeat—of hot, needy, desperate defeat—and he knew it, too. His smirk only widened.

She tried to rally some last resistance, but once she'd started to break, it was already over. She felt the orgasm coming. She started moaning. He leaned close, kissing her neck, and her spare arm wrapped around her beloved Balabar. He whispered sweet nothings in her ear...At least, she assumed that was what they were! She giggled. She couldn't remember, but she knew they were important because he was telling her them!

She was so lucky to have a master like him!

Suddenly, his hand shot down. It grabbed hers, pulling it out of her drooling pussy, and she whined, struggling feebly."How do you feel?" he asked again.

"Oh...horny..." Suki the lust sprite trembled, rubbing her naked body against his clothed body, moaning. "Horny, horny. Me so horny!" For some reason, it felt amazing to say that. She giggled, not knowing why, but when something felt good it meant it was good to do. "Me so horny! Me so horny!"

He pulled her away from him and smiled at her. A beautiful, smug grin. He leaned close and kissed her roughly, possessively. "And what do you want?"

She stared blankly. "Um. Me not know! Um."

"What do you want, Suki?" he cooed in her ear. "What do you want, Suki, you adorable horny little eastern slut?"

It was her name that made it clicked, and she started tittering as she realized the similarity. "Sucky!" she squealed, and she found this felt even better to say. "Sucky-sucky! Me so horny, me wanna sucky-sucky lots! Please, Master, let me sucky-sucky!"

He gave a cruel laugh, and to her it was the sweetest sound in the world. "Are you wetty?"

"Ooh, yes!" She beamed. "Me wetty-wetty! Super wetty-wetty! Please, Suki sucky? Fucky-sucky?"

He looked at her for a long moment, and she felt terrified he would say no.

Instead he reached down and began undoing his belt. Suki moaned with longing. She felt somethings behind her flicking frantically, but lust sprites didn't have tails, so she was just being silly again! She rubbed against her master, anxiously waiting. But he took his sweet time.

At last, his trousers were down. She stared at his fully erect cock with utter longing. She fell to her knees. She would worship her master. She would worship his cock. His perfect, wonderful cock. She looked up at him with wide doe eyes. "Sucky-sucky?" she whimpered.

He considered it for a long moment.

"I suppose you may," he said slowly. "But you'll have to make it up to me later."

Joy swelled in her breasts. "Oh, thank you, Master! Thank you, thank you, thank you! Me love you forever an' ever an' ever!" She leaned forward and kissed his cock reverently at the base with her big, plush lips. She gave it a little lick, then began kissing her way all the way to the head.

She slowly took it into her mouth, sucking—sucky-suckying, she thought, giggling—as she went. She heard him moaning, and felt ultimate joy. She was pleasing her wonderful, perfect master!

She sucked. And licked. And sucked. And sucked. She sucked his wonderful cock like a delicious sweetmeat, moaning along with him. Almost of its own accord, her hand started masturbating again, and she came four times before he did.

But the real pleasure came when he did. He jerked in her mouth, and she nearly collapsed from the wave of pleasure she felt. She swallowed obediently when he told her too, and thanked him eagerly. And when he suggested she 'thank' him by sucky-suckying again...well, she thanked him extra for that.

Suki the lust sprite had never been happier in all her very short life.

~~~~

"So you caught another," Snatch muttered as Balabar returned. The hypnotist looked very disheveled—his suit had been slightly ripped, one of the buttons on his trousers had been lost, and his gait was that of someone very, very tired of standing.

Behind him pranced a petite eastern woman. Three fox-like tails twitched excitedly behind her, and a pair of orange fox ears rested upon her head. Brilliant spiky red hair hung around her shoulders, though it looked like until recently it had been more styled. That fit. Balabar hated his slaves showing too much pride in their appearance.

Snatch sat against a boulder right outside the camp, sharpening his battered scythe. Lapis, a tiny dark-skinned woman with enormous solid blue eyes and four mirror-like insect wings, sat on his shoulder. He glared at Balabar. "You think you're clever, don't you?"

"Extremely." Balabar grinned. "I've captured three truly winning creatures in less than twenty-four hours. How many can you claim?"

Snatch spat to the side. "Thought we agreed that Larya was off-limits. You have a lot of nerve."

"Hey, this one," Balabar gestured to the beaming fox-girl, "was out to kill us. I did us a favor."

He didn't say anything about Larya. Part of Snatch wanted to push that issue. Part of Snatch knew he needed to push that issue. Part of Snatch understood that if he didn't push the issue now, it would send him down a path he might not like.

Snatch didn't push it.

"Anyways, I have bad news," Balabar said. "It sounds like our quarry has fled the forest."

Snatch froze. He looked up, eyes bulging. "The doppelganger is gone?"

"Afraid so." The hypnotist coughed. "We can give chase, but...well, it's back to square one."

"You've gotta be kidding me." Snatch buried his face in his hands. "You goddamn idiot; now we've gotta start all over! If we'd left before now—"

"Oh, please." Balabar rolled his eyes. "Don't blame me for this. You walk slower than a two-legged elephant. If anyone's at fault, it's—hey, where are you going?"

Snatch had risen to his feet. "I'm going for a walk, asshole." He moved through the camp briskly. As he went, Larya—presently occupied fingering Sinthia—looked up at him, blinking. Her eyes were glazed over with desire, face sticky with fey juices.

He did not dare meet her gaze.

~~~~

Mier sat alone in her cave, thinking bigger thoughts than she'd dared in years.

Currently, the shapeshifter's face was totally blank. Literally—aside from two enormous silver eyes, her face was as smooth as porcelain. She leaned back against the cave wall, staring into the dying embers.

Everything had gone so wrong so fast.

Baron Bisem had betrayed her. The proud, stupid man had decided she was too much for him and sold her to eight-legged flesh peddlers. The cruelties she'd faced for the several weeks spent as a slave of the stars had been nightmarish, but they paled before the realization she'd undergone the first day.

And she'd gone for revenge. Like a stupid idiot. She'd thought herself a grownup, a worldly traveler. But she wasn't any of those things. She was a stupid child. She'd fallen into the oldest failure a mortal woman could make, and now she'd sentenced yet more innocents to death.

Suisshu was going to die for her. Or, worse, get her mind split open and rewritten. Mier realized this. She'd realized it when the fox-girl had left. Even before then. And she hadn't said a word.

Mier had never hated herself so much in her life. Tears were not reflexive for doppelgangers, but she consciously shed them now. It felt good. It felt real than anything else she'd ever done. She buried her face in her hands, whimpering.

Suisshu was going to die for her. And she was too afraid—for herself, for the last speck of agency she had left—to do anything about it. She looked down at her belly—the wound from Bisem had been from her own knife, and she had deliberately poisoned the blade without bringing the antidote with her. She'd wanted to give him a slow death.

Well, she was reaping what she'd sown now. And maybe that would be alright if it was just her.

Through her fingers, she stared into the embers. Suisshu, the fox-girl who hungered for new things. The fox-girl who was so infatuated with a stranger she would put her life and mind on the line for her, would return to the business she hated most for her.

Mier lifted her face up, lowering her hands. There were no easy answers here. There was no right or wrong path that she could see.

She'd never been very good at that sort of thing, anyways.

She looked back at the slowly dying embers and decided to take the brighter path.

~~~~~~~~

TO BE CONCLUDED.

As always, feedback, votes and comments are hugely appreciated—and encourage faster updates. ;P



Shifty Characters Ch. 06



~~~~~~~~

Goblin's Note: This is part of a big series, so if you haven't read the other chapters, you should probably do so now.

In this chapter , Larya, "Suki" and Sinthia are "introduced", Mier encounters Balabar, the goblins show up, and Snatch gets guilt tripped.

This chapter contains lesbian sex, hypnosis, moral quandaries, and a bit of gay sex. Now, I'm guessing not all my regular readers are here for the latter, so if it's not your cuppa, just skip to the next scene break when it rolls around.

Hope it doesn't bother you too much, but doppelgangers, hypnotists, it's kind of a prerequisite! Anyways, I'll quit jabbering. Enjoy!

~~~~~~~~

Snatch kicked a stone, muttering an old tavern tune under his breath. As a rule, the thief generally hated singing, dancing, laughing, people making jokes about his name, and basic ordinary fun. And here he was, trying to remember the words to "The Three-Bee Tease". That was how fucked up things felt right now.

The Greatest, Darkest Forest loomed over him, casting dark morning shadows. He wasn't afraid. No, he wanted something to try and screw with him. A goblin? A wifwolf? Bring it the fuck on. His hands clenched around the scythe he bore as he hacked his way through the foliage.

He didn't want to think about what had him so pissed. He really didn't. Unfortunately, he'd never been creative enough to really avoid subjects.

"This fucking job," he muttered, kicking the stone again. "This fucking job." He took on a high-pitched voice. "'Oh, Snatch, just take on a partner this once. He'll be super useful! Everyone loves hypnotists!'"

This whole job. It stank. Catching a shapeshifter was enough of a pain without dealing with some Chosen-sympathist sex-crazed garbage. Snatch really, truly hated Balabar. The man was insufferable, and annoying, and smug...

...and monstrous, that old part of his brain said. These girls he's taking, they ain't done anything to deserve what he does.

Snatch had never, ever been a moral man. He was the guy who took the moral man's purse while said moral man was getting his teeth knocked out by a third man of less high virtue. The thief reminded himself of that now. What did it matter if his partner was a bastard? Snatch just did the job. It wasn't like he was an assassin, or a slavetaker, or a moneylender, or any of those worse-regarded professions. Bounty hunting wasn't the worst job in the world by any means. And it paid damn well.

"Goddammit. Why's this shit so..." He cast about. "...shitty all of a sudden?" He kicked another rock and let out a shout of pain as it turned out to be partially buried, earning him a badly stubbed toe. He clutched the foot, letting forth a steady stream of multilingual curses.

"Maybe 'cause you aren't as bad as you think," whispered a vibrant voice in his ear.

"GYAH!" he shrieked as his hand shot up to swat whatever it was—

"Hey! Watch it!" Snatch realized that, of course, it was Lapis. A tiny dark-skinned woman with enormous solid blue eyes and four mirror-like insect wings was hovering in the air before him. The fairies reflective wings were oddly hypnotic, and he quickly averted his gaze. "Geez, you really are jumpy."

"You can talk?" Snatch immediately wanted to slap himself. Of course she could. She just hadn't talked much before because Balabar had...well, broken her. But now that he looked at her, he realized that her blue eyes had indeed regained their sparkle. The hypnosis had at last failed.

"Well, yeah." Lapis giggled. "I've been free for the last couple hours. Sorry, I didn't want Ma—ugh, Balabar finding out."

Snatch decided that not wanting Balabar to know something was a fully satisfactory justification for almost any crime.

"Look, Snatch, I hate to do the whole shoulder-angel thing, but..." Lapis cleared her throat, a sound not unlike a swarm of mosquitoes getting thrown into a very fast meat grinder. She flew to hover in front of him. "I mean, you know this is wrong. Right?"

Snatch bit back a retort.

"Snatch, you looked out for me this whole time. You took care of me until the hypnosis wore off. You don't do bad things." Her tiny arms crossed over her naked breasts. "But you don't do good things, either. That girl's a slave now and you're letting it slide."

"She'll break free in a day or so," Snatch snapped. "Balabar gets bored of his pets quickly."

"Is that what they are?" She zoomed to the side. "Pets? He's raping them, Snatch! And how long do his 'pets' last after he leaves? How long would I have lasted?"

Snatch threw up his arms, eying the ground. He muttered something generically offensive—he wasn't focused enough to really notice what.

"Yeah, pretty crazy how people expect you to not be evil all the time. Totally unreasonable."

"I am not fucking 'evil', gods damn it!" Snatch whirled on her. He felt his temper—that as it was—fraying fast. "I like my goddamned space. Larya's problems are Larya's problems. I have enough on my plate to go sticking my neck out. Leave that to the heroes."

Lapis's eyes narrowed. "We fairies have a saying, sir. Listen closely: Purging shadow isn't enough to make light. You can't just not get involved and act like you break even."

"Watch me." He turned away.

Snatch didn't hear Lapis go, but he knew she wouldn't be there if he turned around.

He didn't head back to the camp. He just took a random direction and started walking.

~~~~

Larya moaned with pleasure as a delicate tongue probed within her. She clutched at the nubile body lying on top of her and plastered kisses over the soft, dusky skin.

She couldn't remember how this had started. Of course, she'd been able to remember little of late. She took a big, round breast in one hand and started licking. Enjoying the pleasured gasps and sighs this elicited, she giggled and licked faster, flicking her tongue over the pert nipple and laughing again at the moan that followed.

Master—she came against her pleasurer's tongue at the thought—wonderful, sweet, wise Master had come over to her earlier. She'd been fingering Sinthia at the time.

She took the other nipple between her plump lips and sucked at it playfully, holding Sinthia against her to prevent the nymph from shaking too much. Yes, this nipple was Sinthia's. Sinthia was almost as much her Mistress as Master was her Master, and Larya had been desperate to earn the nymph's capricious affections, so she'd begun to finger her. She remembered that much.

Larya blinked as the tongue probed deep inside her. "Mmm," she said. She was having trouble keeping track of what was past and what was present. Having trouble thinking. She burbled happily, releasing the wet nipple and running her tongue over it lovingly. Thanks to Master!

She suddenly became aware that she should express this gratitude, so she craned her head away from the jiggling beauties. "Th—oh, oh, thank you Master!" Her voice went breathless and squeaky at the end as she came a second time. Or was it a fourth? She giggled—she could barely count anymore. "Thank you so, soooo much for making me a...oh, oh—" She tried to pout, only for it to be disrupted with another gasp. Whoever the licker was, she was making it very difficult to thank wonderful, sexy Master properly!

"Bimbo," said Master. Larya felt another orgasm hit her and squealed with glee. At the same time, she heard Sinthia and the third woman squealing with equal fervor. Yes! She was a bimbo! She was his bimbo!

Larya clamped her legs around the licker, ensuring the pleasure would not be allowed to ebb. She looked up adoringly as Sinthia rose over her, looked into those gorgeous, mesmerizing green eyes, that flowing green hair, and beamed.

"Good bimbo," her Mistress cooed down at Larya, even though the word clearly affected the nymph just as much as it did her. Larya squirmed. "Good, gooood bimbo." Sinthia shifted positions and took Larya into a passionate kiss. Larya moaned, writhing eagerly against the tongue—and against Sinthia's hot body.

She was remembering more. She had been fingering Sinthia, and Master had walked over. He had been smiling, which had made both her and Sinthia come at the same time. It was wonderful to see him happy. He had introduced a new friend, Suki, who—oh.

"Unnh," Larya moaned through the kiss, prompting a throaty chuckle from Sinthia. It was Suki. Suki was the tongue.

With one hand, Larya held Sinthia against her, but with the other, she reached down between her legs. She felt the spiky red hair of the Wild Eastern kitsune, and ran her fingers through it adoringly. Almost possessively, but a silly slut like her couldn't be expected to have anything but love and orgasms, could she?

Suki didn't seem very smart. Larya clutched Sinthia, breaking off the kiss and kissing along the nymph's neck. None of them were smart, and Master, her beloved Master, had been so clever as to show how they were not-smart in different ways.

"Bimbo," she whimpered, nibbling Sinthia's earlobe. "Your bimbos."

She heard her Master laughing and grinned like a moron. She'd made him happy. That was the equivalent of...the best thing ever.

She rolled over, on top of Sinthia, forcing Suki beneath to rapidly change posture to continue her efforts. She smiled down at the gorgeous fey, who giggled up at her in turn. For a moment, Larya was in control.

Then she looked down. Saw Sinthia cupping her own breasts in just such a way...

Sinthia lifted her hands away and pouted seductively.

Larya breathed in the nymph's musky aroma and couldn't help herself. She gave a moan and descended back into the tits, licking, nibbling, and finally suckling at one like an infant. Sinthia moaned and gasped with pleasure, stroking Larya's head in a true possessive gesture.

Feeling desperate to please her Mistress, the one who had led her to lap up her delicious, intoxicating, addictive juices, Larya reached down and began fingering Sinthia's dripping cunt. She looked up at Sinthia, still suckling, eyes wide with a question.

Sinthia looked down at her begging eyes. The slight increase of moistness down below was all Larya needed. She stuck two, then three fingers in and began touching in earnest. Sinthia's moans got loud quickly, and Larya was filled with joy—joy that intensified when Suki started sucking at her clit and she joined Sinthia in a tumultuous, screaming orgasm.

"I'm glad that you're so happy," she heard Master saying. He was somewhere behind Suki, and probably the reason Suki's little whines and whimpers were getting so loud. "I'm glad you've learned how you like to be."

"Ohhhh." Larya felt Suki jerk and writhe between her legs, and she tightened her grip even as she continued sucking at Sinthia's breast. "Oh, Master, me so...me so horny..."

"I know you are, you silly slut." Master gave a slow chuckle. "You and all your kind."

"Mm, Master, she taste good," Suki whined. "She—mm—wetty-wetty. Sucky-sucky? Licky...mm...licky-licky lots?"

"Oh, yes, pet." Even in her current state—her constant state, Larya knew, forever and ever—Larya could hear the smugness in Master's voice. It made her wriggle with joy. "You should 'licky-licky' good."

"Ooh, yes! Thank you so much, Mast—mmf!" Suki was cut off as Larya felt the easterner double her efforts. Larya moaned shrilly into Sinthia's breast as she was overtaken by Suki's sheer ferocity.

As the trio was approaching another orgasm, Larya heard an unfamiliar voice.

"Enjoying ourselves, are we?"

Larya tried to look, but she couldn't bring herself to stop sucking, or fingering, or letting Suki tongue her, not when she could hear Sinthia's pleasured moans getting so loud once more, not when she could tell how much it got Suki off to licky-lick—er, lick her clean.

Master sounded delighted, and Larya keened into the breast. She heard Suki whimpering—had Master stopped touching her?—and tugged on Suki's hair. She pulled off of Sinthia, just for one unbearable moment. "Move around, slut," she cooed, before Sinthia grabbed her head and firmly forced her back on. She could go without Suki's tongue for a while. She had something better in mind.

Being forced like that made Larya even hotter. She felt Suki's legs pressing against her and Sinthia and beamed. She switched hands, taking the one positively dripping with Sinthia's nymph juices and reaching out to touch between Suki's legs.

It took a bit of feeling around—feeling that was clearly very difficult for Suki, which made Larya giggle—but she finally got her fingers in Suki's pussy and started to rub her clit. Suki started moaning again, and her pleasure made Larya's even greater, and Larya switched breasts and started suckling even harder. She could taste something starting to enter her mouth—something warm and wet and sweet and wonderful—and her mind blanked out from pleasure as she swallowed hungrily.

The tongue brought Larya pleasure. These hot, beautiful bodies brought Larya pleasure. But more than anything, the feeling of giving pleasure was almost impossibly sexy to her. These moaning, wriggling women felt so amazing that Larya could feel herself starting to come, even without the tongue. It felt so right. And she could tell Sinthia and Suki weren't far behind.

Suddenly, she felt something inside Sinthia next to her right hand. Something strange. Something long and vine-like and...leafy? It forced her hand out, so she instead started rubbing over Sinthia's breasts.

At the same time, something similar had showed up and entered Suki. Larya left the fox girl's cunt and let her wet, slippery left hand travel up to her breasts instead.

Both girls suddenly became very, very loud. It seemed whatever the vines were, they were very good at—

And then she felt her orgasm hit her and Larya didn't care, she didn't care about the vines, she just wanted to come and come and make them come and come and be their slave and bimbo, their bimbo forever—

And as the three girls hit their climaxes, not a one paid a single thought to what was happening three meters away.

But Master did.

~~~~

"Enjoying ourselves, are we?"

Balabar turned, barely concealing his shock. And there she was. Petite. Pink-haired. Most important, wispy gray eyes like stormclouds, just like the baron had said.

She wore a simple black dress, like that a widow would wear. Balabar smirked. Fitting, considering her habits.

"I do enjoy watching happy women," he said, standing up. He heard Suki whimpering as his finger left her, but it couldn't be helped. He decided not to wipe off the finger just yet. Perhaps he would make this fine creature lick it clean for him. His cock hardened at the image this conjured.

"Happy women?" Mier the doppelganger looked at him with thinly-veiled disgust. "Brainwashed slaves."

"And what was Baron Bisem, my lady?" Balabar slowly approached. He could already tell that this one would not be difficult. "You hypnotized him, didn't you?"

Mier's eyes bulged. "A pathetic liar! I can't hypnotize a thing. I just 'reflect' what they expect. And I...tend to dominate."

Balabar caught her eyes straying to the Wild Eastern fey, who was currently engaged in a complicated sixty-nine maneuver with his human bimbo. He smiled in delighted realization as he recognized the look in Mier's eye. "She's very happy, you know."

Mier looked back at him, caught off-guard. "What?"

"Suki. Er, sorry...Suisshu, wasn't it? I named her Suki. It suits her true purpose in life."

"The purpose you assigned."

"The purpose she was born with."

Mier laughed. "You're a real racist piece of refuse, you know that?"

"But see how happy she is?" Balabar gestured back to Suki. The little Wild Easterner was sucking and licking hungrily, giving loud moans as the nymph licked her pussy. "Happier than she was before."

"She's—"

"Happier than you could ever make her." And there it was. The tiniest spark—not even true hurt, yet, just a little recognition of pain—flickered in her eyes.

She snorted. Her left arm seemed to shrink back, the flesh and bone melting away to reveal a long blade-arm of sharp bone. "I don't need to make her happy, friend. Just free."

"Is that really what she wants?"

"She told me—"

"I'm sure she told you many things," Balabar said smoothly (damn, but his voice was smooth). "And you liked it, didn't you? Liked her so-called free spirit, her lust for life. Because she wanted you to."

"I'm done listening to this."

Mier took a step forward. Balabar's heart skipped a beat, but he didn't let a trace of it show. He just let his smile widen. "Kill me and I can't undo it."

She paused on that. She couldn't know he was lying. "There are plenty of ways to take a prisoner," she said. Her bony blade took on a club-like form in the blink of an eye.

She moved closer, and Balabar snapped his fingers.

She turned. Suddenly, the three writhing bimbos had become three threats. They were on their feet, staring at her with a mixture of hate, amusement, and overwhelming lust.

They tackled her to the ground.

"Hold her there," Balabar instructed, "and take off her clothes."

"Yes, Master!" Sinthia squealed. So eager to please.

"No!" Mier shouted. "Drat it! I—stop! Swish, stop it!"

Balabar calmly began to undress as he listened to Mier's angry cries. He finished around the same time they did. Still not turning, he suppressed a snicker. "Now, pets—begin touching her, but do it gently. Do not make her come."

"Get off!" he heard Mier cry. "Stop it! Swish, pl—pl—argh!" He heard his pets giggling as they softly rubbed the doppelganger. He turned, and couldn't stop himself from laughing.

Mier's more erogenous parts were rapidly shifting around on her body—stomach, side, chest, shoulder—frantically trying to get away from the bimbos' probing fingers. Of course, they couldn't, and it seemed to be exhausting her. Balabar felt genuine glee. Tired women were easier to convince.

He went to stand over her, crouching by her side. He made his smile kind and sincere. "Mier, look at Suki. Look into her eyes."

She did, despite herself. Her gaze lingered. Balabar knew what she saw. A sexy, sex-crazed slut. "Suki's entire existence is pleasure, now, Mier. And she's very, very happy." He reached over and subtly began stroking one of Suki's three bushy tails at the base, making the fox-girl give quiet moans. "Aren't you?"

"Yes, me so happy...so horny...wetty-wetty...thank you, Master."

He pulled away, ignoring her whimper, and stroked Mier's cheek with his wet finger. She flinched, but couldn't stop him, not when Larya gripped her shoulders with such a vice grip.

"You want to be like her," he stated. "Want to submit."

"Go to the fire," she spat.

"She wants you to join us, don't you, Suki?"

Suki whimpered, rocking slightly. She was currently straddling Mier's legs. In theory, this was to restrain her, but the way she was rocking right now filled him with sadistic relish. He licked his lips. He needed Mier to be his. She would be his greatest conquest yet.

He heard Mier groan softly and knew the feathery touches of his girls were starting to have a visual effect. Balabar chuckled. "It's so easy to give in. So easy to join your friend."

His melodic, all-powerful voice overwhelmed most women, he knew. He didn't even need the pocket watch. As Mier was now, all she could do was listen, gaze into his eyes.

"You want to be with her, don't you?"

She glared.

"Don't you?" Balabar sighed, reaching over and tracing his wet finger over Mier's breast—the one Sinthia wasn't currently kissing. "If you don't answer, I'll have to start talking with the other you." He gestured down her body. "I have a feeling your other lips will speak muuuch more kindly of me once I've had my say."




Shifty Characters Ch. 06



Mier swallowed. She closed her eyes, then opened them. "Yes," she muttered.

"What was that?"

"Yes. I want to be with her."

"Aw," Sinthia cooed. "The silly bimbo thinks she's in love."

"Do you love me, Mier?" Suki's fingers danced between Mier's legs as she rocked. "Do you? Do you?"

"I..."

Mier was off-balance in all ways now. Balabar drove it home. "You love her," he whispered. "You want to be with her. There's only one way, though."

"Only..."

"You have to kiss me."

Mier looked at him, confused. He smiled disarmingly.

"One kiss, Mier. That's all I want."

"That's—unh—such bull puckey. I...I don't..."

"But it's your only chance, Mier." He smiled kindly, giggling madly on the inside. "You know you can't trust me, but what other choice do you have?"

"I can...I kin...unnnh..."

"You can't think of a better plan. There is no better plan."

"Bu...buh..."

"Just one kiss and all this will be over. No strings attached! You have my word."

Slowly, Mier's jaw set. She was thinking, which, in this case, was how Balabar knew she'd already lost. He nodded slightly to his pets, and they increased their efforts minutely. He traced Mier's breast fondly, admiring its shiny curves. Mier was extremely fit—at least in this form. She would make a delightful addition to his little harem. Another reminder that no woman was above him.

"Fine. One kiss. No strings." Mier seemed unsure. Confused. She wasn't exactly sure what she was agreeing to.

Balabar smirked. He leaned down, bringing his head just a few inches above Mier's pretty face. She had cute little freckles, he noticed. Had those always been there?

Scowling, Mier leaned up to kiss him—but Larya was still holding her head. She rolled her eyes, straining without success.

"Well, will you or won't you?" Balabar frowned. "Do you not want to be with her anymore?"

"What?" Suki's eyes widened. She let out a high-pitched mewl as she began to bounce even faster. Her fingers crawled down from Mier's hips out of sight, and Balabar knew she'd begun touching Mier's clit ever-so-slightly.

"I—ohh—I'm try-y-ying!" Mier probably meant it to sound annoyed, but it came out frustrated and whiny. She strained, struggling to reach Balabar's handsome face.

Balabar watched her struggle for exactly one minute. As he did so, he encouraged (through little taps on their sexes and breasts) his pets to speed up their ministrations, just a little. By the end, Mier was sweating with exertion, horny and disoriented. And then Balabar struck.

Mier had probably meant it to be a very little kiss. Almost nothing. Maybe even on the cheek. But the time and effort had warped her mind, her memories, and her certainty. She wasn't sure how big the kiss needed to be to qualify—and if it didn't count, then it would have all been for nothing.

So when Balabar leaned down and forced his tongue into her mouth, burying his fingers in her hair and forcing her to him, she didn't object. She went along with it. Because she wasn't sure that this hadn't been the plan all along.

She kissed him passionately, hungrily, and Balabar allowed himself to enjoy it a moment before pulling away. She strained to reach him for a moment.

Then she seemed to realize what she was doing. Her eyes widened. Her head fell back against the ground. "Oh, no."

"Oh, yes." Balabar laughed. "What was that? I only asked for a little kiss. Could it be that you wanted more?"

She licked her lips. She was hesitant now. Not as cocky and sure as she'd been when she came to the clearing. Like all women Balabar met, she'd made the classic mistake of underestimating him, of waiting too long. This slut had never faced a true hypnotist before. His were a dying breed these days, which worked out well for him.

She screwed her eyes shut. "No. No. No."

Balabar chuckled and stood up. He turned away. "Pets, hold her like that for one hour. Play with her as you like, but do not allow her to come even once." This was a bluff. He estimated Mier would be broken within the minute. She looked up at him, her eyes widening. Then those gray eyes narrowed. Almost as if something had just occurred to Mier. Balabar had a feeling his new pet had just realized she had truly lost.

"Ooh, yes, Master."

"Thank you, Master."

Balabar clapped his hands together, though silently. He was positively giddy. A doppelganger! Imagine the possibilities!

"Pets, let go of me at once," said Balabar's voice—his perfect, melodic voice.

"Oh, yes, of course, Master."

Balabar spun to see—Balabar.

Also naked. Down to every birthmark, every toned muscle, down to his large, erect cock. Balabar stared at himself, eyes wide.

Other Balabar smiled. "How do I look?" he purred.

"Ooh, so hot, Master!" bubbled Sinthia.

Balabar—Real Balabar—facepalmed. "No, you stupid whores."

The bimbos quailed. "We're sorry, Master!" Larya whimpered.

"Me so sorry!" Suki whined.

"Don't worry," said Other Balabar—Mier—with a fond smile. He stroked Suki's hair. "You're very good...bimbos. Now go lie down and go to sleep."

Beaming, the girls lay down right there and drifted off.

Mier advanced on Balabar. Balabar raised an eyebrow. "You think you're very clever, don't you?"

"Oh, yes." Mier beamed. "I think we're extremely clever."

Balabar was regaining control of himself now. He'd hypnotized men before. He obviously didn't gain any enjoyment from it, but it was something he did sometimes. It wasn't any different. Actually, it was sometimes even easier.

He gave a slow smile. "That is pretty clever of us."

"Isn't it?"

"But I think 'we' are forgetting something." Balabar reached forward and stroked Mier's cheek. A thin trail of dried pussy juice still lay there. "I still have you."

Mier flinched. He (was it a he or a she? Did doppelgangers even have genders?) took a step back. "Don't get excited."

"Oh, but we are, aren't we?" Balabar smiled, stepping closer. "Do we like this?" He gripped Mier's shoulder possessively. "I'm guessing we still do. Because I still have you."

His smooth voice rippled like honey. Mier visibly trembled. "I..." he/she whispered, "...have you..."

"Yes," Balabar said. He leaned close. He was most definitely not gay, but Mier was...everything, and a sexual element always made hypnosis stronger. He leaned close enough he could hear Mier's heavy breaths. "You're mine."

"...you're...mine..." Other Balabar stared into Balabar's eyes, biting his lip. "No, I don't—"

"God, I never realized just how sexy I am," Balabar whispered, stroking his—Mier's—cheek again. "You're already gone."

Other Balabar's eyes went glassy again. He swayed faintly. "...you're...gone..."

Dimly, Balabar became aware of Other Balabar's hard cock bumping against his leg. His smile widened as he leaned to the side, keeping his face close to Other Balabar's, not allowing eye contact to be broken. "God, you're so horny, aren't you?"

"...you're...horny..."

"Can't even fight it," Balabar said.

"...can't even fight..." Balabar repeated.

He found he was starting to enjoy himself. Here it was, the greatest proof of all—a hypnotist so brilliant, he could hypnotize himself. Or a clone of himself, anyways. He nuzzled Balabar's cheek and kissed it softly before going to whisper in his ear. "Lost, sexy little lamb."

"Lost...sexy little lamb..." Other Balabar swayed to the left.

Balabar swayed to the left as well, matching his prey's motions. Not looking away, he reached down and began stroking his cock lightly—Other Balabar's, he meant. "You want to be mine," he said.

"...want to be mine," his mirror echoed, voice weak. Other Balabar reached down and began stroking his—Balabar's—cock, too, almost as if he couldn't help but duplicate.

Balabar gave a soft moan of surprise. He hadn't expected that. Hadn't...But then again, it was his own hand. Of course it would feel...nice. Nice.

"Doesn't it feel nice, my little toy?" he hissed, eager to hear Balabar echo it. He tilted to the right as his hypnotized captive swayed again. He wasn't about to let himself out of his sights. Er...whatever.

"...feels...nice...so hard..."

"Yes, so hard," he muttered, giving Other Balabar a little peck on the lips. He ran his hand over his duplicate's tense muscles with a hand. Gods, he was so hot right now.

He frowned, blinking. He looked into Other Balabar's eyes. Wait. This wasn't...

He felt his cock give a throb as Other Balabar ran long, slender fingers over the head, stroking it slightly faster. He let out a moan and...couldn't remember what he'd been thinking. It didn't matter. He was in control now, and he wouldn't let himself do anything to himself he didn't want to. Or something like..."Oh, gods," he gasped, "keep that up. Harder. Harder. More."

"harder...more..." Other Balabar's voice was barely a whisper in his ear. Balabar stared up into his own piercing orange eyes and nodded authoritatively.

He worked his way down, kissing down Other Balabar's chest, feeling those strong, tense muscles. His own, perfect body. "You're mine," he gasped. To his amazement, he could feel his cock starting to throb harder with the pleasure. An intellectual orgasm from triumph, of course. Of course. Those fingers felt so nice...

"You're mine," Balabar whispered. He slowly began to sink down, taking his hand off and locking his lips around his own perfect cock. He started to suck.

"...I'm yours...yours..." Balabar felt Balabar's fingers tangling in his hair, pushing his cock in deeper. Er, pushing Other...other...He moaned, trying to echo his clone's statement, trying to...reassert...

Dimly, he was starting to realize something was wrong. Something was very, very wrong here. But it felt...He fell to his knees, sucking hungrily. He heard Balabar moaning, and knew that this was good. He wanted to feel good, didn't he? And when he felt good...he felt good. Or something.

"Mm—can't—unh!—fight," Balabar gasped. Or was it Other Balabar? "Keep...keep that...ohhh, gods..."

"Mmm," Balabar whimpered. He knew something had gone wrong. Horribly, perfectly wrong. He felt Balabar starting to buck as he sank all the way down, practically inhaling his member. His own member. Mier's member. Or something. Something.

"Oh! OH! Mine, mine, oh, yes!" Balabar—dominant Balabar—bucked harder, letting out wordless moans. Balabar swallowed eagerly, not even gagging. He tried to echo, one last attempt at taking control, but all that came out was moans into the cock. His hips bucked as he felt his own orgasm arrive, and any conscious thought of resistance flickered out. He couldn't resist. Couldn't stop himself. Couldn't fight. Didn't want to fight.

He had seduced himself.

And with a muffled cry of surrendering bliss, he came.

~~~~

'Balabar' rose up, looking down at his double. The other Balabar lay there on the ground, furiously masturbating, chanting to himself.

The doppelganger grimaced, rolling his eyes. "Why did I know that would work on you?" Mier's form shifted back into the earlier one—pink hair, gray eyes, little body. She gave herself a layer of 'organic clothing' for the time being, since it looked like the hypnotized Suisshu was using her clothes to masturbate with. Somehow.

She sighed. "Well, now what?"

"Now we finish the deal, chick."

Mier spun just a hair of a fraction of a second too slow.

The silken net settled on her form and instantly stuck fast, pulling her arms to her sides. It was unbelievably heavy. She swayed for a moment, then fell to the ground.

Six ugly wart-faced goblins stood over her. She recognized Ancyl, the least wart-faced and hook-nosed of the lot. He gave her a contemptuous smile. "That was some mighty fine work, girly, but I'm afraid you got involved in the wrong race."

Mier struggled, trying her usual escape forms—a snake, a seal, a human with big bone blades for arms—but quickly realized it was hopeless. This was fey magic, something she knew very little about. She'd had a silver knife, but one of the girls had taken it from her while she'd been grappled.

So she mostly just wriggled. "What do you want?"

"Nothin'. In honest, we've got no quarrel with you or yours." The goblin shrugged. "But he has."

She saw two goblins standing over the self-pleasuring hypnotist, muttering some kind of spell. "No! Don't! Drat it all!"

They completed the incantation. Balabar's masturbation slowed, then stopped entirely. He blinked and sat up. "Um..."

"Listen, boy," Ancyl snapped. The little goblin strolled over. "You came here on a job. If we take you, more're gonn' come for the same prize an' a higher bounty. My boys an' I, we don't need any new girls or boys, but we do need to avoid dealin' with folks what want us dead. So here's the deal. You take your doppelganger, with our compliments. Hell, take the nymph, too. She's too resistant to our tricks—we'd lose her sooner or later, anyways."

Balabar considered this a moment. He looked like a cat right after conducting a failed leap—cool, calm, and trying desperately to pretend he'd done all this on purpose. "I suppose that's fair. And what becomes of my other two?"

"The druidess is ours." Ancyl crossed his arms. "We had her first, you stole her from us, she's still ours."

"Druidess?"

"As for the fox-girl, she pissed me off before." Ancyl smirked. "I like what you've done with her. Especially the suckin' thing. Reckon she might be a permanent addition as well."

Mier's heart blazed. She started struggling again, futile as it was. No. No. No.

"I'll miss them," Balabar said sadly. "But at least I have Sinthia to keep me company. I can always find new bedmates."

"An' if I were you, I wouldn't go tryin' to hypnotize this one again," another goblin said, pushing his foot down on Mier to stop her squirming. "We won't save you if she takes you in again. It was actually pretty damn funny."

Balabar was silent a moment. "Thank you." He rose up. "That will be all."

"By the way," Ancyl said, "did you know before that that you were bi—"

"That will be all."

~~~~~~~~

Goblin's Note: PSYCHE! One more chapter, which is already being uploaded and should be up by the time you're reading this. Sorry for the confusion. In the final chapter, Snatch makes his call, Larya tries to fight and gets jumped by Suki, and...well, you'll see.

Hope you enjoyed, and make sure to post below stating what you liked and didn't like so I can improve these stories!



Shifty Characters Ch. 07



Note: And at last we come to the conclusion of the saga (geez, this one went on long). Chapter Seven, in which Snatch makes his call, Larya must resist the charms of a brainwashed kitsune, and...other stuff.

*****

Larya lay on her back, staring up into a little man's beautiful, twinkling eyes. She smiled vacantly, tilting her head to one side.

"You don't know why you left," the man purred, spinning the pretty silver ball in his hand. Her mouth gaped open in wonder. "You're so glad we decided to let you back in."

"So glad," she whispered. "Thank you, thank you so much."

"We'll let you thank us with your pretty mouth," he said, moving the sphere closer. He walked around, coming to stand right above her head.

Larya rolled onto her belly and pushed herself up, breasts heaving with exhaustion and urgent need. She leaned in as the beautiful, handsome little man pulled out his long, beautiful cock.

She kissed it once. Twice. Then, unable to resist the compulsion any longer, she wrapped her pretty lips around the head and took it deep into her 'pretty mouth'.

Nearby, she saw Suki doing the same thing. Larya was filled with joy that she wouldn't be alone. They didn't even seem to have hypnotized the kitsune much—she was so eager to keep doing what she'd been trained to do that it seemed she had already "sucky-suckied" two of the gorgeous fey off. And swallowed. And come at least four times during.

Larya moaned as she moved her lips up and down, schlupping and sucking, hearing the goblin gasping with delight. "Ungh...we got her, we—oh, gods, we got her back. Nnh. The glamor worked. Get us home. Get us ho-o-ome."

Dimly, she recalled hearing something about the Murk—the goblins' home dimension—the last time she'd been with them. But then the goblin grabbed her head and forced her all the way on his cock and she couldn't think anymore. She didn't want to think. She was so happy in this haze, doing everything her masters told her, just sucking away. Docile, obedient, letting them fuck her again and again and again until she passed out. She giggled. What more could a bimbo like her want?

The world around them began to shimmer—

Thunk.

Larya felt the cock in her mouth shift slightly, and her eyes widened with clarity—and a realization.

She sprang away, spitting and gagging. "Oh, gods, no, no, you have to be shitting me—might as well be literally—"

The goblin fell to the ground, the glamor dispelled. The warty-faced, warty-penised little fey monster lay there, twitching, an arrow embedded in his grayish skull.

She looked up.

Snatch stood at the edge of the clearing.

The thief looked somewhat unsteady. Even unsure, like he wasn't certain this was where he should be. Nonetheless, he was already loading another arrow. I didn't even notice he had a bow, Larya thought vaguely. He looked down at her, raising an eyebrow. "I can't think of anything to say," he said sourly. "Ain't I supposed to say something 'cool' here? Goddammit. Just can't win today. But, uh, I think that guy," he gestured to the dead goblin, "is having a worse day then me. So. Ha."

"You're bad at this," Larya said.

"Hey. Larya. Shut up."

The goblins were staring in shock. A few of them exchanged looks. Their leader shoved Suki off his cock, snarling. "Son of a bitch."

"Oh, yeah, I figured seeing your real faces would break the spell pretty good," Snatch said. He raised the bow again. "Looks like I guessed right."

He loosed the arrow, but the goblins were ready for him this time. The leader ducked, then leaped over the prone, masturbating Suki to rush the bounty hunter.

Snatch whipped out his scythe just fast enough to block the axe from splitting his skull. He swung wildly, and the goblin easily dodged.

"Suki," Larya whispered, crawling over to the prone kitsune as the other goblins ran past her to engage. "Suki, can you fight? I think I saw you with a sword."

"So horny," Suki moaned, eyes shut. "So horny."

"Suki—is that even your real name? Listen, you need to fight it."

"Unh...sucky-sucky...wetty-wetty..."

"Suki!" Suki's eyes opened wide. She stared up at Larya. Larya took this as a good sign. "Yes, Suki. Listen. I know it's hard, but—AAH!"

Suki had tackled Larya, pushed her down, and started licking around between her legs. Larya squirmed and writhed, but the fox girl's grip on her hips was iron. "Suki! No! No, no, no, don't—" Suki's tongue hovered over Larya's clit, and she looked up at Larya with a mischievous grin. "Suki. No. Suki. Don't."

"You horny?" Suki asked, giggling. "You wetty-wetty. Bimbo wetty-wetty."

Larya tried to ignore the little clenching of her cunt that still came with the word 'bimbo'. "No. I mean, um, yes, but—"

But that was all that mattered. The fey descended on Larya, lowering her practiced tongue into Larya's sensitive pussy and beginning to lick.

Larya struggled in vain, grabbing Suki by the head and trying to push her off. "No, Suki, don't—aaah—oh, gods, Suki, Suki, st—st—" She could feel her grip getting weaker. "St—ohhh..."

She wasn't fully aware of deliberately laying flat on her back, or letting go of Suki's head. The fact remained that she was now lying quite still, having a lot of trouble remembering what she'd been trying to do.

Suki giggled wickedly as Larya began to submit. Larya, for her part, was feeling rather disinclined to keep thinking quite so hard. The hypnosis was still so strong, and this felt...sooooo good.

As she started to come, she heard a vibrant voice in her ear. "How's it going?"

"Oh...ugh...aaah...peachy." Larya gasped as Suki started rapidly flicking her tongue over her clit, almost causing another orgasm right there.

"Hee! You're really deep under, aren't ya?"

A tiny body settled on top of Larya's head.

"Na' m' fall," Larya slurred. "Cn't..." Lick lick flick lick slurp lick... "...fight..."

"That's where you're wrong, Larya." Another vibrating voice was whispering in her ear now. "We can tell. They can all tell. You're special."

Larya became very, very vaguely aware that the battle between Snatch and the goblins was coming to a head. Snatch's curses were getting fewer, as though he could no longer spare the breath on them.

"What...oh...whaddya mean?" Larya wiggled her hips, unconsciously encouraging Suki to take a firmer grip. To move in deeper.

"Uh, you probably shouldn't do that," the first voice said, sounding nervous. Larya giggled.

"It's the reason these fey are drawn to you, Larya," the other crooned. "The reason they can't get enough of you."

"'cause I'm a dumb, sexy bimbo?" Larya bucked up into Suki's ministrations.

"Aw, geez. He's still got her, hasn't he?"

"Seriously, what's up with him and that word?" a third voice piped up.

"Girls," the second voice said, "focus."

The owner of that voice then flew into view, and Larya found herself staring up into two big, beautiful lavender eyes. They were compound, like those of an insect's, and each about the size of blueberries—quite disproportionate to the rest of her. They belonged to a tiny little hovering fairy with bronze skin, short black hair, and four pairs of quick-beating wings. She looked very, very familiar, especially when Larya focused on those pretty, pretty wings...

A bit of drool escaped Larya's mouth as she stared at them. She only noticed it when the fairy landed right on her chin, hands on her hips, and stopped flapping. "It's in you," she said. "Your passion for nature makes you unable to resist her..." Lick lick lick suck licklick. "But it also makes her unable to resist you. Look within, beyond the pleasure. Find its source."

"Uh..." These were a lot of big words for Larya to be piecing together while she was having her pussy licked so well. She could feel another orgasm building, and instinctively knew that when it broke, she would be lost again.

She looked down, around the pretty fairy, and into Suki's blissful, vacant eyes.

She knew an equally vacant smile had to be forming on her as she contemplated. Would it be so bad? Being lost, being owned. It felt so...deliciously...

Wrong.

Larya stared into Suki's eyes—those dead, lusty eyes—

—and saw Suisshu.

She saw a kitsune, fiercely loyal but hungry for change, fighting a brutal battle to protect a young couple from a cackling demoness. She saw a kitsune, brave and canny, running through a maze of webbing as eight lute-playing women gave chase. She saw Suisshu, a woman bound and trapped, in danger of being lost forever to magics of lust.

A spirit of nature trapped in a cage.

What am I doing?

Her eyes felt curiously warm, and she was filled with sudden strength. She reached back and gripped something. It felt like a tree root. Not much, but it would have to do.

She ripped the tree root out of the ground like one might tug a sword from its hunk of rock and pointed it at Suisshu. Her eyes felt like burning embers in their sockets. "Bind," she whispered, in a voice that both was not her and was her in a way it had never been her before.

Suisshu looked up, blinking.

A mass of roots, vines and long tendrils of grass surged out of the earth, lifting Suisshu with them and carrying her high into the air. The kitsune squealed, struggling and finding the bonds much stronger than they looked. "Ooh! No! So horny! Me so—aah, please, please—"

Larya felt her fury growing as she looked at the captive. She sprang up, the three fairies buzzing around her, and turned to see the goblins.

Snatch was on the ground, cut up in several places and surrounded by the remaining four goblins. Their hideous leader was pointing a notched axe at the bounty hunter's throat, giving an ugly grin. "You made a big mistake, here."

"I know," Snatch muttered. "...but that doesn't make your two buddies any less dead, does it?"

The goblin's eyes bulged. He gave a hoarse cry of rage, raising the axe above his head.

Why does he have to antagonize people like this?

Larya's anger, in contrast to the goblin's, was cool and collected as she pointed her staff of oak.

Suddenly, there was a tree branch in the goblin's skull.

The goblin jerked and twitched, going cross-eyed as he tried to look at the length of wood between his eyes. That branch had not been there before. It did not exactly belong there.

He fell. So did the axe.

"Shit!" Snatch rolled to the side as the axe came down where his arm had been.

"Sorry," Larya said. She looked at the remaining three. Her vision was tinted green. Her eyes felt like they were literally on fire, though the pain was strangely distant. Her voice vibrated like the distant rumble of the earthquake, like the thunder following the strike of thunder, filled with ancient and terrific power. Earthly power. "Do you want to try the silver ball again, or do you want to keep the balls you've got?"

The goblins exchanged a look.

They vanished.

"Yeah, okay," she grumbled. She walked over and helped Snatch up. "Are you alright?"

Snatch was a mess. There were several new cuts on his face, and his leather armor had several large cuts dripping blood. But he shrugged. "Yeah, I guess. We gonna catch Balabar?"

Larya looked back and up. The three fairies had gathered around Suisshu and seemed to be performing some kind of ritual.

As she and Snatch watched, it apparently concluded. The three fairies took on three bright, colorful glows. Suisshu's eyes widened as she hit one final orgasm, screaming with total bliss, and then...

The vines lowered her to the ground. The kitsune lay still there, shuddering.

Larya walked over. She bit her lip, unsure what to say.

Suisshu lay on her hands and knees for a moment.

She looked up at Larya, eyes narrowed. A long, curved sword appeared in her hand. She said something in her native tongue, then wiped a bit of, erm, Larya from her lips and said it again in the western tongue for Snatch's and Larya's benefits.

"Wake from death and return to life. Let us go put a bastard in death where he belongs."

Snatch crossed his arms. "Well, I like her."

~~~~

Balabar trotted along the path. Sinthia trotted right behind him, lugging the bound Mier.

"I think this has gone rather well," he said cheerfully. Mier was silent. She'd been silent ever since they'd left the clearing.

"Ooh, me too, Master!" Sinthia giggled. "Now I have you aaaall to myself." He felt her hand touching his stomach, then reach downwards towards his crotch.

He scowled at her. She shrank away, but he cupped her chin—eliciting a soft gasp. "I think your old will is starting to shine through, bimbo."

"Unh..." She closed her eyes, making no effort to pull away.

"Remember your vows, Sinthia," he crooned. "What do you want to do?"

"S-serve..." she moaned. "And suck, and pleasure, and...serve..."

"Good girl!" He released her and patted her head. "Such a good girl!"

"Oh..."

He smirked, turning back to the path and continuing to walk.

A few minutes later, he heard Sinthia clear her throat. "Um, Master?"

"Yes, pet?" He turned to her, smiling indulgently.

Sinthia beamed. "We're being watched, Master!" She giggled.

Balabar's eyes narrowed. He looked around warily. Perhaps the goblins went back on their word. "Then flush them out, you silly slut."

Sinthia nodded. She closed her eyes.

CRASH.

All around them, both on and off the path, vines and branches lashed out. The vines viciously grabbed at all living things, putting some very startled birds to flight. Nothing was safe—save for Mier, Sinthia, and the wonderful Master, of course.

"Shit!" he heard Snatch cry.

Balabar blinked. "Oh, you've got to be joking me. Snatch?" The vines lifted higher and began carrying a struggling, swearing human towards them. "You're finally back from your little walkabout, are you?"

"Fuck off, Balabar. Get this shit off me." Now that Balabar was closer, Snatch looked pretty badly beaten. Perhaps his reckless 'walkabout' had cost him a little blood. Well, served him right for wandering off.

Balabar smirked. "Well, of course. I didn't know it was you, Snatch. Sinthia—"

"Master, um, there's more."

He turned to her, frowning. "What?"

She smiled vacantly. "I'll bring them over." She gave her head a little flick, then frowned. "Aw, they're trying to cut my nice vines. Dat's not vewy nice." She giggled, snapping her fingers. "We'll have to be extwa nice to dem to change deir wittle bwainses!"

Another form jolted up out of the brush and came sailing overhead. It was Suki. Balabar's teeth clenched, recognizing an ugly look in her eyes.

"Snatch, you broke my bimbo."

Suki said something that was probably very foul which Balabar did not understand. That made him angrier. He whirled on Snatch, suspended several feet across and above from him. "Snatch, what the hell are you playing at?"

"Um, Master?" Sinthia tapped his shoulder.

"Not now, bimbo," Balabar snapped. His cock gave a throb as he saw her chastened look, but he focused on Snatch. "Well?"

"'Well' what?" Snatch glared, still struggling pointlessly. "I don't fucking like you. Because you're a nasty fucker. Do I need more reason?"

"You never liked me, Snatch." Balabar raised an eyebrow, forcing a smirk even though he was livid on the inside. "Jealousy, or unresolved sexual tension, or a bit of both."

"Well," Snatch snarled, "I like you a hell of a lot less when you're raping people!" He raised his arms—or tried to, anyways. "I'm sick of this dragonshit. Sick of just standing by. It doesn't feel right. Alright? It's...stupid!"

"Master?" Sinthia ventured again. "There was ano—"

"Not now!" Balabar said to her, glaring. "Go fuck yourself on a vine or something."

"Ooh! Okay!"

He turned back to Snatch and thought a moment, remembering what his 'partner' had said. He chuckled. "My, you have a way with words." He tapped his chin, leaning close. "You know, I know you're resistant to mind control, but I could do it. I could. I could make Sinthia do it. Walk you through it. Second-degree hypnosis, how's that for humiliation?"

"I'll kill you," Snatch snarled. The thief swung impotently in Sinthia's vine prison.

"Well, not yet, I don't think." Balabar grinned. "But I think for now you're a bit too tired for—"

A brilliant blue blur appeared between him and Snatch, giving off a painfully radiant light. He and Snatch both cried out. Balabar stumbled back, clutching his eyes. "F-f-fuck!"

The voice of one of the fairies—who cared which one?—spoke. "Stay away from him."

"Hey, Lapis," he heard Snatch say. "You mind turning it down a bit?"

"Sorry. Fairies don't have much in the way of firepower."

Balabar rubbed his eyes furiously, feeling reflexive tears running down his cheeks. Can't see can't see can't see—

"Sinthia!" he hollered.

"Oh...uunnnn..."

"Sinthia, quit masturbating and kill that bitch!"

"Can't...oh...mm, yes..."

Balabar could feel his eyesight slowly returning. He stared through a haze at what could only be Sinthia. The green-haired beauty was lying against a tree. Vines and wet leaves were pleasuring her, covering her, making her almost invisible against the foliage.

"Don't you know better than to try nature control around a druid?" came a voice.

Bimbo.

No, wait...He wracked his brains. Larya. Her name was Larya. He turned and saw her pointing a long wooden staff right at his face. It was almost touching the tip of his nose, in fact. Her eyes were narrowed to slits, chock-filled with murderous intent.

He blinked. "Watch closely."

Larya's eyes widened. Her hands trembled.

Though still caught off-guard, Balabar couldn't resist his smug, self-satisfied smile as Larya fell to the ground, wriggling and jiggling, moaning uncontrollably. She rubbed along her body in the wet leaves as the orgasm-without-end coursed through her entire consciousness, pushing out all thoughts but those pertaining to being a happy, horny bimbo.

He laughed. Loudly. "Did you really think I would be so foolish as to give a sexy little toy like you to those goblins without installing a few 'cheats'?"

"Oh, yeess yes yes, thank you, yes, mmm..."

"Triggers are easy." He grinned, filled with immense pride. The adrenaline rush was beginning to fade, and he was feeling quite pleased with himself. "I'm so glad you decided to come back to me. Thanks to you, I now have f—three mind-controlled sluts once again. And I bet you can't wait for me to punish you for being so naughty...and to thank me for making sure you'd come home."

"yes...yeeeeesss..."

"You didn't put a trigger on me."

Balabar turned to Suki, swinging away in the vines next to a glowering Snatch. "Well, no. I never gave you loyalty to any one master, you see. I just made you want to serve. A natural state. Very difficult to counter...though it seems that someone did make you forget that."

"It seems risky."

"Not really. I was going to sell you as a very valuable whore—that means 'bimbo who make money', in case you don't know—" He winked at the captive Wild Easterner. "—so a trigger didn't make much sense. Besides, those hurt the willpower of the creator if you do them too often."

"But now I am free-willed. Is that not concerning to you?"

"You're bound physically." Balabar shrugged. "And you still want to be my slave, deep down. I made you Suki once and I can do it again."

Hanging in the vines, she seemed to consider it. "Huh. Neat."

Then she fell through.

Balabar sprang away, yelping in terror, as the fox-girl fell to the ground. She rose unsteadily, holding up her left hand. The nails looked very sharp, almost like... "Foxes are unique among canines," she said chipperly, "in being capable of retracting their claws, not unlike cats."




Shifty Characters Ch. 07



With her right hand, she swung a long, curved fey blade downwards.

"No!" Balabar cried.

But too late.

As the tatters of an enchanted net fell away, a silver-haired woman rose. Her hair was very straight and went all the way down to her hourglass hips. Her breasts were small, and as she turned to face him, solid silver eyes glimmered like pearls. Or like lightning clouds.

"That's a pretty neat fact about foxes, don't you think?"

Balabar stared at her blankly.

Before he could speak, before he could advance or fight or think or breathe, two very long-fingered hands were clasped around his throat. The silver eyes bored into his as the hands seemed to stretch and grow, wrapping once, twice around his neck, squeezing and squeezing and...

His vision was fading. The doppelganger looked at him with an expression of pure loathing, pure righteous hate, and he kicked his feet in the air and whimpered like an infant. Everything was going black.

Was that a hint of emotion in her eye? Balabar wracked his brains. He had always depended...on reading. Reading people's faces.

It wasn't guilt.

Wasn't anger.

It was pain. Not emotional pain. Physical pain. She was.

Hurting.

Hurt.

Air.

Air.

Air.

~~~~

Snatch was being cut down when he heard the doppelganger whimpering. She was still strangling the choking hypnotist, but there was something in the way her hands were shaking. Something he recognized.

Suisshu didn't hear, so he coughed. "Um...hey, fox-girl."

She heard it just as she was cutting through the last of the vines. Snatch yelled in surprise as he hit the ground. "Mier? Mier!"

Mier was shaking all over now. A groan escaped her lips. She seemed to be struggling to hold onto Balabar now.

"What's going on?" Larya squeaked, getting up. She was still a little winded by...what had happened, though Lapis's and her sisters' ministrations had broken her free.

"Contractions!" Snatch said. He leaped to his feet and ran over. "How long have you been having those?"

Suisshu grabbed the doppelganger away from Balabar, catching her as she collapsed. No one caught Balabar, but he was unconscious anyways. Or maybe dead.

"Uh..." Mier shuddered as Suisshu set her down gently against a growing bed of moss. Larya's doing. "A few months?"

"No, I mean—" Snatch buried his face in his hands. "Oh, gods. Okay, bend her knees. Keep her on her back unless things look ugly, then—well, we'll work out what to do then."

"Wait, what?" Larya stared at him, stunned. "She's—"

"Haven't you ever delivered a baby?" he snapped.

Larya blinked.

"Look, just keep an eye open." Snatch grimaced, walking over. "I've done this a couple times. I'll walk you through it. And if anyone asks me any stupid questions about why I know this stuff, you'll critically distract me and the baby will die right there. Got it?"

Larya's head tilted. She nodded.

Behind her, Sinthia let out a loud moan, still pleasuring herself.

"Oh my god. And someone please get rid of that nymph. Or at least—"

"Aaargh!" Mier cried.

He whirled. "Okay, I guess doppelgangers finish that stage quickly. Let's, uh, do this."

~~~~

Silence reigned in the Greatest, Darkest Forest.

Suisshu decided to break it.

"She—"

"It."

She looked at Mier questioningly. The weary doppelganger smiled and nodded. "Doppelgangers don't usually have real sexes or genders. Just...mild leanings. It."

"Well..." Suisshu sighed. "It is a beautiful baby, Mier."

The creature that lay in Mier's arms looked exactly like a human baby. Except for the 'transparent skin' thing. That was taking some getting used to. It certainly hadn't exactly helped the delivery along when Snatch had taken one look at 'it' and had to move away to vomit.

"I know," Mier said softly. "Not that it matters. Any form it takes will be as ugly or beautiful as it wants." She smiled at it, then looked up at Snatch. "You're sure about this?"

"Yeah. Whatever." Suisshu saw Snatch roll his eyes. "Antivenom. Elf crime family operating rural cults. Sounds like a piece of cake. Adventuring. How hard can it be?"

"I'm sorry." The doppelganger reached up and touched Snatch's hand. "I know you've already done a lot."

"A lot?" Snatch snorted. "I did shit. All I did was...well, not nothing."

"Baby steps, Snatch." Larya punched him on the shoulder. Suisshu watched as he stiffened, as if expecting an attack. "Don't worry, Mirror. We'll get you your cure." She tossed the staff in her hand. "I think I've got enough firepower to take down any elf crime lord that Snatch can't, uh, cut in half."

Suisshu noticed Mier didn't bother to correct the druidess on her name. "Neither of you have ever adventured before. You'll have to be careful."

"'Care' is literally in my middle name," Larya said. "And I think Snatch just attacked a garter snake. Snatch, don't do that. That's not—it's not poisonous. Calm down."

Snatch was already replacing his now-bloodied scythe at his back, glaring. "Could've been a...a poison snake. The kind with poison. You never know." He looked at Mier. "Anyways, I've been hunting bounties for years. How different can adventuring be?"

"Well, there is the partner thing," Larya said slowly.

Snatch looked at her. Cocked his head. "Y'know, you're a damn sight less obnoxious than Balabar. Less annoying, too. I don't think we'll have too much trouble."

"Well, that's good to—"

Snatch held up a finger. "But this is the one time we're working together, got it? After this, we go our separate ways. I don't want a damn long-term partner, not for anything."

"Got it."

"It's just this once," he repeated. Larya nodded.

The four were silent for a moment. They listened only to the sounds of life—the rustling of leaves, the crackling of branches, the gurgling of a newborn...

"Okay, seriously," Mier said, "am I the only one who just noticed that nymph's still at it?"

~~~~~~~~

Goblin's Note: And THAT'S a wrap! The story of the "rural elf crime family" will continue in the next series, which will start soon (brothels, nymph juices, and will o' the wisps/wills o' the wisp will all be involved!), but we'll be heading back to Sea Slimes for just a little while. Those mermaids have been neglected down there for far too long.

Thank you so much for reading. And as always, please leave your feedback/comments/votes in the appropriate venues! Later!