The knight cut a dashing figure. The strong lines of his jaw gave him a heroic aspect. His long blond hair billowed out behind him in the breeze. It was the kind of face that had the village girls clambering over each other for a glimpse and set them swooning when they finally got it.
At the knight’s feet lay the foul body of a demon from Hades. Its leathery wings were sliced to ribbons, black ichor still oozed from a multitude of mortal wounds and its fiery red eyes were clouded over.
The knight wiped the demon’s black blood from his sword until the blade shone again like the finest silver. He acknowledged the villagers’ cheers before climbing back on his horse and riding off down the road. His work here was done.
“Buggery and damnation!” a harsh voice snarled.
The demon Tenjeth smashed a fist into the stone table, causing the crystal ball to wobble and smoke to obscure the image revealed within.
He immediately regretted his action as pain shot up his arm and aggravated his aching scars.
“Can none of you rid me of this accursed pup!” he roared.
Nervous silence followed as the demons up on the balcony slinked back into the shadows.
“Poor Tenjeth. Always trying to solve problems by hitting them with your fists,” a voice, sweetly seductive, said from behind him.
Tendrils of strong perfume tickled Tenjeth’s nostrils. He snorted in annoyance.
“What are you doing here, succubus?” he growled.
“Why, I’ve come to help, my Lord,” the succubus replied, running soft hands along his muscular arms. “I can kill your little nuisance.”
Tenjeth snarled and snatched up the demoness by the back of her neck. He examined her feminine form with his one remaining good eye. Soft and weak, he thought with disgust. Good only for pleasure.
“Help me?” Tenjeth said in a low growl. “Take a look at your foe first, little demon.” Tenjeth tapped the crystal ball with a black talon and forced the succubus to look into the depths.
Smoke swirled and billowed. The knight appeared again. This time his muscular body was marred with cuts and bruises. He roared with fury as he cleaved a giant serpent’s head with one savage strike of his gleaming sword.
“Mmm, yummy,” the succubus said.
The scene switched. The knight fought a one-eyed abomination at the top of a waterfall. The demon tried to swat him with an uprooted tree, but the smaller human was too agile. He ducked and rolled under the makeshift club. With the grace of a dancer he skipped behind the monster and slid his sword right into its black heart.
“Ooh, isn’t he dreamy,” the succubus said.
Tenjeth stared at her with his baleful red eye. A snarl twisted the corner of his scarred mouth, revealing the cracked and jagged stump of what had once been an impressive incisor. He pushed her right up against the ball, enjoying her little squeal of pain as her cheek ground up against the glass.
“This mortal has killed over a dozen of my strongest, most fearsome minions. This,” he spat the word, “human even had the audacity to cripple me, an overlord of Hades!”
His rage triggered the magic of the crystal and the smoke cleared to reveal a new scene, one painfully familiar to Tenjeth. The knight was on the floor, his body battered and bloody. Fires raged in the castle around him. The Tenjeth in the ball turned and stalked contemptuously away. Back then the knight was just another weak human, nothing more than a nuisance like all the others. The Tenjeth in the ball had other matters on his mind, like the delicious scent of the virgins he was about to ravage.
In the ball the knight rose, unsteadily, to his feet. A steely glint of determination flashed in his eyes and then he’d charged the unsuspecting demon. Up until then the mortals’ blades had been nothing more than annoying stings to Tenjeth. So it had come as a real shock when the knight had run him through with a blade that burned with icy enchantments.
Tenjeth had known then that these wounds would be hard to heal, but he’d not anticipated receiving so many of them. The knight had been fury incarnate, his enchanted blade a blur as it hacked and sliced at Tenjeth’s toughened flesh.
Tenjeth had fallen, blood oozing from too many wounds to count, half his face staved in. He’d watched through his one remaining good eye as the knight had advanced on him with a sword raised and grim purpose carved into his features. That final image would forever be burned into Tenjeth’s mind. Only a hastily whispered spell to port himself back to Hades had saved him from meeting his end at the tip of that knight’s sword.
Tenjeth’s wounds still ached with the memory of his defeat.
Soft moans from the end of his arm returned his attentions to the present. He looked over and noticed the succubus’s cheeks were flushed. The reason for that — and her moans — became apparent when Tenjeth looked down and saw she was pleasuring herself with her tail.
Pleasuring herself… At images of his most shameful defeat…
Tenjeth roared and, with a mighty throw, sent the wanton little demon skittering across the obsidian floor.
“You try my patience succubus!” he yelled. “You, a creature built only for pleasure and sin, have the insolence to think you can succeed where even I have failed. Go back to the flesh pits. I might call on you… when I have need of a whore to warm my bed.”
“I can beat him,” the succubus said.
She picked herself back up and stared defiantly back at a Tenjeth. Blood trickled from her split lip. She lapped it up with a pink tongue, savouring the taste.
“He won’t know how to fight me,” she said, her eyes glowing with a feral gleam.
*****
Elan stared at the tower as it poked up above the trees of the dark forest. This was an ill-omened place. Dark things stalked these woods. Elan felt no fear though; he had killed enough of those dark things that the rest knew to leave him well alone.
This morning Elan had been entertaining the village girls with his lute playing when he’d been approached by a shy girl in the habits of a holy order.
“Forgive me for interrupting,” she’d started, nervously biting her lip.
“There is no need to apologise,” Elan had replied, giving the girl a broad smile. Though he couldn’t see much beneath her hood, her face appeared to be most comely. She seemed troubled.
“I come to ask for your help Sir,” the girl said. “They have taken my sisters and I fear what they plan to do to them.”
“Who?” Elan said, putting aside his lute. The other girls watched intently, sensing they were privy to the beginning of another epic tale.
“Bandits, brave knight,” the girl replied. “Foul uncouth bandits. They abducted my sisters and stole them off to a deserted castle in middle of the Shadowald woods. Here is the letter from my divine mother superior requesting your aid. Please come, I fear to think of what abuses those heathens might have already inflicted on my defenceless sisters.”
Her pretty face looked vulnerable enough to melt the stoniest of hearts. Elan opened out the letter. It was as she described.
“I’ll leave right away,” he said.
“Oh thank you brave knight,” the girl said. She rose up on tiptoe and kissed him delicately on the cheek.
It was odd. Elan still fancied he could feel the soft imprint of her lips as he led his horse beneath the dark canopy and towards the tower. His skin still tingled with the memory of her kiss. Elan was shocked to find he was thinking some very unchaste thoughts. That would not do.
The keep was deserted and almost fallen completely to ruin. Its dark history and the surrounding woods had left it fit habitation for only the lowest of the low. It was exactly the kind of dwelling he’d expect bandits to haunt. It was strange not to see any sign of their presence though. Where were their horses? Where was the smoke from their cooking fires?
Could the girl have been wrong? Elan thought.
Or worse, had they moved on after first taking their fill of pleasure from the defenceless sisters?
Elan steeled himself for the worst as he pulled open the main door and entered the keep. The foyer beyond was dusty and infested with spiders. Elan moved through the living quarters. All were in the same state of abandonment. It didn’t appear as though anyone had been here for a long time.
All save one.
Elan found a bedroom that looked as fresh and welcoming as if it had been cleaned only yesterday. A large bed stood against the far wall and was covered in freshly plumped pillows. It was as if he’d been expected.
A puzzle for sure, Elan thought, but it was one that could wait until the morning. He was weary from a long day’s ride and the bed looked soft and inviting. Elan took off his armour, propped his sword against a chair and collapsed onto the warm bed. He was asleep the moment his head fell onto the soft pillows.
Elan was visited by strange dreams in the night. A beautiful girl, her long black hair fanned out behind her as if she floated in water, entered the room and glided slowly to the bed. It was the holy sister that had asked him for help back at the village. She pouted her lips and blew him a kiss. Her robes fell away to reveal a slender body with luscious, full breasts. Smiling, she got into bed and lay beside him, her warm body pressing up against his.
“I’m so glad you came,” she whispered silkily in his ear. “We’re going to have so much pleasure together.”
This was a nice dream, Elan thought. He lay back and relaxed as she put a slender arm around his chest. A long leg crossed his and her shapely calf muscles rubbed lightly against his. She lightly nuzzled his neck. Her tail slithered into his lap and slowly pulled his leggings down.
Her tail?
Elan’s eyes flicked open. He turned towards her and saw two blood red eyes staring back at him.
This was no dream.
“Succubus!” Elan cried.
He threw her off him and jumped to the other side of the bed.
“You know what I am,” the demon on the bed purred.
Her appearance had altered. Her breasts were fuller and her legs had grown a little longer. Two little red horns poked up between her raven-coloured tresses and a pair of leathery wings were folded behind her. Despite these inhuman features Elan still felt a strong desire tug at his heart.
He looked at her full pouting lips and wanted to kiss them. He looked at the round swell of her breasts and wanted to cup them in his hands. He looked at the naked lips of her pussy and wanted to—.
Lord, where were these impure thoughts coming from? Elan had lived a chaste life full of self-discipline and moderation. This filth pouring into his mind couldn’t be him, could it?
The succubus smiled and spread the lips of her vagina apart to reveal the pink secrets within.
“I’m not dangerous,” she said sweetly. “I’m a creature built purely for pleasure and sin. Come dally with me, brave knight.”
Elan didn’t trust her. He’d heard that the pleasures of a succubus were not something a mortal man could withstand. The legends spoke of men left as nothing more than dried up husks, all the vitality drained from them.
His eyes darted around the room as he searched for his sword and armour. They were not where he’d left them.
“I took those nasty sharp things away,” the succubus said. “There’s only you, me and this lovely soft bed. Wouldn’t you like to lay with me on this luxuriously soft bed?”
Elan was tempted.
No.
He shook his head to try and clear it. There was a strong musky perfume in the air that clouded his thoughts.
The succubus got off the bed and walked towards him. She wore a simple top that covered her nipples with two V-shaped strips of red silk and left the rest of her pale flesh exposed. Her hips swayed seductively with each step and her breasts jiggled mesmerically.
Elan was unarmed, but that shouldn’t matter. She was smaller and slighter than him and his strength was spoken of throughout the land. He was easily her physical superior. Still, he was reluctant to get too close to her. He suspected grappling or wrestling with that sensuous body would only play into the demon’s hands.
The light touch of delicate hands against his hips shocked him out of his reverie. The succubus had already closed the gap between them. Elan looked down into eyes that smouldered with desire. Her hands roamed up around his back. He watched as she pursed lips glistening with shiny pink gloss and planted a soft kiss on the hard muscles of his chest.
No!
Elan shoved her aside and ran for the door. His mind was still clouded by the perfume pervading the air. Her kiss itched against his skin. The red imprint of her lips was still on his chest. Elan tried to rub them off, but the marks seemed to have seeped through his skin and into the flesh underneath.
“Mmm, I knew you’d be fun,” the succubus called after him, her voice low and sultry.
Elan took the stairs two at a time as he rushed down to the foyer. A host of conflicting emotions battled in his body. Elan was a brave warrior. He’d fought and slain many more fearsome demons than this. But Elan was also a chivalrous knight, raised to both protect and care for the fairer sex. He knew the succubus wasn’t really human, but the prospect of inflicting physical violence on that sweet face and slender woman’s body was an action he felt deeply uncomfortable carrying out.
There was also fear. The sight of the succubus had planted dark sweaty images in his mind. Even now those desires were taking root and sending tendrils creeping through his thoughts. He wasn’t sure if he could trust his body not to betray him in her presence. His manhood had already swelled up between his legs. He felt it throb with the need to slide into the demon’s inviting sex.
He reached the foyer and tried the entrance. The doors were shut fast and wouldn’t budge. Pink mystical energy glowed in the gap between the two doors.
“You need the key.”
Elan turned and saw the succubus standing at the top of the stairs.
“Come play with me and I’ll promise to tell you where it is,” she said.
Her body was perfect. Her legs were long and shapely. Her breasts, covered with strips of red silk, were ripe and inviting. Elan was entranced as she descended the stairs towards him.
The succubus smiled and brought up a delicate hand as if to blow him a kiss. Elan watched as a spinning ball of shimmering pink energy grew in the palm of her hand. As she breathed it grew larger and larger, before taking on the shape of a transparent heart. The succubus pursed her bee-stung lips and gently blew.
Totally entranced, Elan stood motionless as the heart, as insubstantial and light as a soap bubble, slowly floated down. He didn’t move as it collided with his face and popped with a soft fluttery sound. Elan breathed in and his lungs filled with a sickly sweet perfume that softened the tenseness in his muscles and lit fires in his groin.
Elan stood there, lost in the intoxicating scent. He realised the succubus had caught up with him when he felt an arm slither around his body. She pulled him tight to her.
“Why would you want to run away from this?” she said, rubbing the soft pillows of her breasts against his chest.
She kissed him lightly on his chest and left a trail of kisses up to his neck.
“My lips are coated with an aphrodisiac venom,” she whispered in his ear. “It is extremely pleasant.” She blew warm air into his ear before teasing the lobe with her tongue.
She crouched down before him. A warm hand lightly cupped his balls, sending a pleasurable shiver up his spine. The hand ran up his manhood, encouraging it to greater length with gentle little squeezes. The succubus stared intently at his growing erection. She licked her lips and put a hand around the shaft. Her eyes gleamed hungrily as she pursed her lips and prepared to suck.
Though he wanted nothing more at that moment than to feel those soft lips wrapped around his manhood, Elan had become the hero he was through a deepness of both resolve and character. He was able to draw on that now, at a time of mortal peril, and summon the will to push the succubus aside.
Elan ran unsteadily to the back of the keep, in search of an exit but mainly wanting to get as far away from the seductive demon as possible. The succubus’s venom burned in his veins. His mind was under siege from dark, lustful images filled with heaving flesh and wild moans. It took every ounce of will to drag his feet in a direction away from the temptress behind him.
“A game of hide and seek, how fun,” the succubus giggled behind him.
Elan staggered blindly through a succession of corridors and rooms before collapsing in a small chapel, his mind a whirling mass of fear and carnality. He tried to fight off the effects of her poison. His balls ached with a need for release.
He saw a plain wooden cross hanging from the wall and clung to it like a drowning sailor to a piece of driftwood.
“Help me Lord as I once again face terrible darkness,” he prayed.
He grasped the cross and drew both strength and steadfastness from the plain wooden shape. His thoughts cleared and the burning in his blood subsided to a niggling itch. He took the cross from the wall and hung it around his neck.
“Thank you Lord for this focus,” Elan said.
“Come out little knight,” the succubus called sweetly. “The pleasures of my body await you.”
Elan put a hand on the cross, before walking back to the foyer with fresh purpose.
“I knew you’d come back,” the demoness said. She pouted suggestively and pushed her hips forward to show off the moist folds of her sex.
“Your spells won’t work on me any more,” Elan said.
“Oh. Really,” the succubus said. She arched an eye-brow.
Before Elan could react the succubus crouched down and threw three little heart-shaped bubbles of energy at him. The first enveloped his head and flooded his lungs with sweet perfume. The second enveloped his sex and slowly pulsed, sending waves of pleasure breaking across his body. The third sank into his chest and enveloped his heart. It began to beat faster and faster, driving Elan’s heart with it until his whole body raged with irresistible lusts.
The succubus slowly walked up to his helpless writhing body, her hips swaying sensuously from side to side.
“They seem to be working fine to me,” she commented.
She languidly examined her nails while the knight squirmed and quivered helplessly in the grip of her sex magicks. Her hearts throbbed to a faster and faster beat, enflaming his arousal beyond all control. She let him writhe and shudder in ecstasy for a while, before finally dismissing her spells.
She gripped Elan’s buttocks and pulled him into her embrace. “I only want to give you pleasure,” she whispered.
Her hands roamed up his back. She pressed her soft breasts into his wide chest. Her wings folded around his body as she put two hands on the side of his face and pulled him down onto her luscious, glistening lips.
Elan shivered in pleasure as her sweet poison flowed through his lips and into his bloodstream. The succubus pulled his body closer and kissed and kissed until Elan’s resistance crumbled to jelly.
She broke off the kiss and stared deep into his eyes. “Let’s go to bed,” she whispered.
Fog shrouded Elan’s mind as he allowed the succubus to lead him up to the bedroom. He knew he shouldn’t be following her, but couldn’t recall why. A nagging little voice at the back of his mind insisted she was dangerous, but he didn’t pay it much heed. She was just a slip of a girl and he was the strongest knight of the realm. He could break her in half with his bare hands if he wanted to.
Elan had other desires on his mind at the moment. Such as running his hands over the beautiful swell of her ass and then up to cup the soft mounds of her breasts. She really was most comely.