Chapter 7: Sleeping with the Fishes 🌶️🌶️

JED

When I opened my eyes, I found myself tied up in a shallow pool of water, slimy roots binding my hands and feet.

I was in an underground cavern. A strange, glowing orb in the center of the cave provided light, which reflected off the glittering quartz crystals that jutted out of the ceiling.

The walls were covered in crude finger paintings of voluptuous figures with fins.

I struggled to pull my arms free, but the roots wouldn’t bend or break.

I tried to shift, but something in that glowing orb was sapping my power.

It wouldn’t have mattered anyway. I doubted I would’ve been able to swim out of here and back to the surface on my own.

Water suddenly splashed in my face as the two Sirens who had dragged me down here surfaced underneath the glowing orb.

“Nerida!” the golden-haired Siren shrieked. “I called that one! He was supposed to be mine!”

The red-headed Siren smacked her lips. “Mmmm, he was so yummy. Maybe if you weren’t so fat and slow then you could have had a taste too, Drakea.”

Nerida tossed a bone into a pit already filled with them. My stomach churned as I thought of the squadron that had met their doom at the fins of these fucking fish.

As Nerida locked eyes with me, she picked up another bone and started sucking on it.

She moved her head up and down, taking the bone deep into her throat, never breaking eye contact.

It was the grossest thing I’d ever seen and yet…strangely arousing.

These creatures definitely knew the art of seduction.

Too bad it was followed by disembowelment.

~I’ve got to get the hell out of here.~

Drakea suddenly screamed and grabbed Nerida’s flowing red hair, slamming her head into the cave wall. “You bitch! You’re not having this one too! You take everything I want!”

As the girls splashed and scratched at one another, another voice boomed through the cavern.

“GIRLS! ENOUGH! There’s more than enough of him to ~share.~”

A third Siren, who had been bathing in the shadows, slinked into sight.

Larger than the other two, she had sleek, jet black hair and a voluptuous figure.

~The mother,~ I said to myself, remembering Kimbringe’s briefing.

As she came into the light, I recoiled. Her breasts were heavy and shapeless, like sacks of soggy potatoes.

Her silver eyes looked old and tired.

As she swam over to me, her flapping breasts knocked into my chin and her greasy hair wriggled around me like tentacles.

“What do you want?” I asked, cringing.

“Just a little fun,” she said in a sing-song voice. “We like to play with our food before we feast.”

The fin of her tail lingered at my crotch and then grabbed me through my jeans, holding me by my balls.

I shuddered at her slimy touch. It was revolting, but I was still getting hard for some inexplicable reason.

Had to give the old hag credit. She knew what she was doing.

“Mother, let us play too,” the other Sirens whined.

“What are you planning to do with me?” I asked, trying not to look at her.

“Do ~with~ you?” the mother repeated, laughing. “You mean do ~to~ you.”

Wiping their bloody mouths on their hands, the three Sirens swam around me, checking me out like a piece of meat.

“He’s erect, mother. I can ~see~ it. Yum!” Drakea exclaimed.

~Fuck, why was I still aroused? These damn temptresses!~

“Don’t be so ~hard~ on yourself, honey,” the mother chortled. “No pun intended. It’s only natural.”

“It looks so tasty, mother. Can we eat it? Please? The last one wasn’t big enough, and I’m hungry!” Nerida said, baring several rows of sharp teeth.

“Girls, girls. Manners. Remember, this is dinner,” the mother said, reprimanding her daughters.

Nerida and Drakea pouted, splashing their fins in their temper tantrums.

“I WANT HIM NOW!” Drakea shrieked whipping her tail fin violently into a rock and splitting it in half.

~Is this power coming from the Haze? They’re freakishly strong.~

“Do NOT challenge me,” the mother yelled, silencing them. “The pearl has led us to an area full of men to feed on. Let us give thanks.”

~Pearl? She must be talking about that glowing orb. But it was the Haze that led them here, not some shiny disco ball.~

The three Sirens began swimming around the orb and chanting as if they were praying to it.

When they finished, the red-headed Siren, Nerida, swam up to me. “I’m first,” she said with a domineering tone.

She had the most beautiful green eyes. I recognized her as the Siren who’d pulled me under.

She grabbed me by the throat.

And I liked it.

~What the hell is wrong with me?~

“Nothing is wrong with you,” the Mother said, reading my mind. “You’re just a man. You’re all the same.”

“You…you can read my thoughts?” I stammered.

“We can do all in the presence of the pearl,” she said, smirking.

That damn pearl must be the source of their powers. Maybe it’s like a conduit for the Haze or something?

The golden-haired Siren, Drakea, swam over and started teasing my cock with her fin.

She began unbuttoning my pants with her fingers as Nerida continued to lightly choke me.

I lost sight of her eyes as she descended into the water. I felt her tongue trace the elastic band of my boxers.

Her mouth was wet and warm, even underwater.

~How is that even possible?~

Her tongue flicked around my tip then she looped around the whole shape of my rock-hard cock and put me deep in her mouth.

~FUCK!~

I wasn’t sure how I was feeling total ecstasy and utter disgust at the same time, but I felt mesmerized by these Sirens and didn’t want them to stop.

“Get him nice and primed,” the Mother said, licking her lips. “They always taste better when they’re more relaxed.”

~Oh right…~

~They’re going to fucking EAT me.~

REYNA

Eve threw her ring in the air. “AGAIN!” she yelled at me as it turned into a scythe.

I slid across the floor and caught it before it hit the ground, swinging it and slicing a training dummy in half.

Finally, I was making some real progress.

“Good,” Eve said, surveying the dismembered dummy. “But you can do better.”

There was no pleasing her. ~Ever.~

“I want you to try throwing the blade and hitting your target from a distance,” Eve said, setting up a new dummy.

“You want me to ~throw~ this thing?” I asked, dumbfounded. “I can barely pick it up! It’s practically the size of Anya!”

“You don’t get to decide how comfortable you’ll be in combat,” Eve said, prodding my back and shoulders, positioning me into a stance.

Sweat dripped down my forehead as I tried to keep my balance and hold up Eve’s scythe at the same time.

I swung the scythe with all my might—and it flew wildly in the wrong direction, right toward…

“SNOW!” Eve shouted as Snow walked into the training ring. The scythe was aimed right at her.

She didn’t even blink as she waved her arm and the scythe changed trajectory, beheading three training dummies instead.

Eve and I looked at each other with wide eyes. Snow was growing more and more powerful by the day.

She ran over to us and started bouncing up and down on her heel, like she had to pee. She was pointing frantically toward the door.

“Jed! Jed!” she shouted.

“Jed is here?” I asked. Good. Because I wanted to give him a piece of my mind for ignoring my concerns earlier.

She started shaking her head. “Jed! Help!”

The fear in her eyes said everything. “Jed’s in danger?”

She nodded emphatically.

“Do you know where he is?” Eve asked.

“Follow!” Snow said as she jumped out of the ring.

***

The muddy riverbank was littered with boot prints, but the river itself was littered with dismembered limbs.

I was going to be sick. It looked like the whole squad had been torn apart.

“Jed…” I mouthed quietly, tears forming in my eyes. Snow tugged on my sleeve and shook her head.

“Jed!” she pointed down.

“He’s down there?” I asked hopefully. She nodded “yes.”

Before Eve could stop her, Snow waded into the bloody water.

“Snow, get back here NOW!” Eve shouted.

Snow began to glow with white light as she disappeared under the surface.

Eve immediately dove in, and I followed.

There was no time to ask questions like, ~why is your daughter a divining-rod for evil mermaid monsters?~

We followed Snow’s light as we dove deeper and deeper. I quickly realized that I wasn’t going to be able to hold my breath and started to panic.

I expected water to fill my lungs, drowning me until my vision went black and my life faded away, but…

Eve’s voice echoed in my head.

~EHTAERB!~

Suddenly, I stopped struggling.

Eve had cast some sort of enchantment on me that allowed me to breathe underwater.

~Time to get wet and wild, I guess.~

Snow led us underneath a formation of rocks that turned into an underwater tunnel. At the end, we rose until our heads broke the surface. We looked around, finding ourselves in a cavern.

A glowing orb spotlighted the crystal-covered rock walls, but that wasn’t all it lit…

~Jed!~

He looked completely exhausted. He was bound by roots and surrounded by three fish-like women I immediately identified as Sirens.

One with golden hair was bending over, her open mouth heading straight for Jed’s huge, engorged…

~Oh.~

~My.~

~God.~

Jed caught sight of me, and his eyes widened. “REYNA!”

All three Sirens instantly whipped around and hissed at us.

“The orb!” Jed shouted. “Break the orb! It’s making them stronger!”

Eve rocketed out of the water, angling for the orb, but the biggest Siren launched herself into the air and smacked Eve with her tail fin, sending her flying into the rocky wall.

Eve recovered quickly. “You must be the mother,” she said, glaring at the Siren.

“Yes, and I’ll do anything to protect my spawn,” she snarled.

“So will I,” Eve said, materializing her scythe and instantly slicing the old sea cow in half.

Her detached upper body flailed around for a moment before it stopped dead.

The two younger Sirens screeched in agony and bared their razor-sharp teeth. Their mouths looked like wood chippers.

~I hope they know not to use teeth during a blow job.~

One of them lunged at me and grabbed my hair, pulling me underwater. Eve dove in after me and kicked the Siren away. We struggled as the two Sirens wrapped themselves around us, constricting our bodies and trying to break our bones.

Suddenly, they released us and shot to the surface. We followed, and when we emerged, they were crawling onto the rocks, withered and ugly.

Their hair whitened. Their skin wrinkled. They were drying up and suffocating, flopping around the cavern like a pair of hooked fish.

I looked over to see Snow, holding a cracked and sizzling orb.

~Good girl.~

***

We emerged on the riverbank, coughing and sputtering, not even caring that we were covered in mud and fish guts.

Snow’s light dimmed as she stood over us, seemingly oblivious to her own powers.

She’d not only saved Jed by bringing us here.

She just saved us all.

Eve got to her feet and placed her hands on Snow’s shoulders. “How did you know to come here? How did you find the Sirens?”

Snow placed her hand over her heart and moved it in a circular motion.

“You…you felt it?” Eve asked. Snow nodded. Eve sat down in the mud and placed her head in her hands.

“What does that mean?” Jed asked.

It suddenly hit me.

When Snow stowed away to the party in the woods…

When she showed up at my doorstep and revealed the vampyre…

The way she led us to the underwater cavern…

“It means that Snow is acting as a beacon…” Eve said, her voice unsteady.

“…for finding these Haze-induced creatures.”