FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

An island lay beyond a forest of trees that reached the clouds. The residents of the canopy and branches called it the Isle of Demons. It was there beyond a cliff and over the coast that one would find themselves on an island inhabited entirely by serpents. These were not the typical snakes of the forest floor. Their scales were said to gleam like gemstones, and they were larger on average than any of the snakes back in the forest. The young warrior and scouts of the treetops loved passing words and rumors of the happenings of the island. How could such a place even exist? Did they consume one another for sustenance? And of course, there were tales of terror shared during uneasy nights and cloudy days. Avians who traveled far too low, feathers clipped in the wind by the jaws of beasts whipping into the air. Despite this and the many terrors told of the island itself and the residents tucked within, there were those that sought challenge and glory. To soar through the low woods of the island to make it be known that they planted their feathers among the den of beasts and lived to tell the tale, while others had more foolish ideas.

The ravens could be considered some of the boldest of the avians of the forest even among their corvid brethren. They were bigger than most of the other corvids but still small enough to be in danger when stealing from larger birds. However, they had the bravery and capability to steal from larger birds or even face them directly should they need. They were strong in their own right and fought fiercely, but they were also more clever than they were fierce allowing them to surpass mightier foes. That being the case, cleverness at times led to very foolish behavior at a young age. Wise old ravens only get to that age because they found a way to survive their younger years. Every raven, after all, tries to pull the tail of a wolf once or twice; and some don’t succeed.

Sprig was a raven among ravens, a young feather that had earned her wings and then some. She was considered a beauty among many with azure eyes and feathers tipped with frost but she had a habit toward that youthful cleverness that made folk wonder if she would get to those wise years. Part of it, was that she hung around a few crows that liked to goad her, and oh my did she love to be goaded. At the moment, Sprig and two crows perched on a set of branches enjoying the peace of the day. Sprig usually slipped out to the coast to feel the salt-kissed air, to feel the cool breeze on her feathers, and on occasion, she would fold her wings and dive before coming back up.

The crow at her left bounced in place and pointed at her with a feather, “You know, you pick the most terrifying of spots to rest our wings.”

The other crow laughed aloud, “Yes she does. Not only high up but with a terrible view as well.”

Mischief and mischief. Both of them were nothing but it and, in many ways, braver than she ever would be despite their complaints about frightening and terrifying views. They were a troublesome pair that followed her around and annoyed her to no end, and she would not have it any other way. She felt a smile as she peered at one of her friends and then the other, “The view of the lapping waves bothers you that much? Do you think the sea will come out this high to swallow you whole? Or perhaps you don’t trust your own flight feathers! I thought I was here with two fully grown crows, not two chicks who quiver alone.”

As she laughed, the one to her left puffed himself up, feather’s ruffled as if taking great insult, but she knew that he was just bluffing as he soon puffed out of his beak with a titter, “Hah! Your tongue is still sharp as always but no, no, you named none of what we find so terrifying.”

And the other hummed, “You see, there’s a specific sight off the shore that sets us ill at ease. Surely you know it? The one with all the stories?”

“The one with all the demons!” Hopped the crow to her left.

Sprig raised a brow, “Demons?” She then looked to where one of the crows had pointed but all she could see was the island and then it dawned on her, “Are you two really frightened of that place? We’re so far away!”

The one to her left crowed, “And serpent’s tongues are quite long! As are their bodies, you know?”

The other tilted his head, “Aren’t you frightened of snakes? There are so many kinds, and an island full of them. There are stories of those a plenty, of the different kinds that inhabit the isles. A venomous spitter, one that can even spout flames! And of them, there is the largest, the Garnet Flame. Scales bright and dark like pretty garnets but if you stare into them too long, you see the amber flames within before you are dragged to the ground and taken!”

She stared at the storytelling crow until he was finished and without hesitation she said, “Those are just stories and any snake is far, far away.”

The crow to her left hummed, “You’re so confident, so eager to prove yourself, so how about you fly over to that island? Show us how brave you are, oh great Sprig. While you’re at it, how about you snatch a scale from the demon king himself!”

Sprig tilted her head at a deep angle to look at the crow, mischief and excitement plain on her expression as she squawked, “Why, little crow! That’s a fantastic idea.”

“Sprig, Sprig, I beg you not listen to my brother. The idea is stupid and foolhardy and not even we should encourage to you as such, my brother will apologize at once.” Said the other crow with a genuine ruffling of his feathers.

At first, it seemed like his brother wouldn’t say anything at all before he shook his feathers and cleared his throat, “I shouldn’t encourage you to do such a thing. My brother is right, he is most certainly correct. Sprig, I’m sorry. Please don’t think of such things.”

For a moment, she thought to stay and listen more to them sopping and sobbing about what she shouldn’t do. Unfortunately for them, the idea was in her head; the challenge laid so neatly before her. The brother’s realized that they weren’t getting to her and opened their wings to mount a protest before she took flight with a single powerful flap of her wings. Both crows began to bay and holler at her, but she was already diving around leaf and branch alike. An island of demons, of snakes! Hah! She had tangled with serpents before, given them their due with a talon or two, and had even stolen a snack from one. Their speed was something to be wary of, but stealing a single scale from an overgrown beast meant nothing to her. She’d be back before they knew it, and as she soared over the open ocean, she felt no remorse or regret weighing her down as she made her way to the Isle of Demons.

The woods were small compared to the forest of the mainland. Many of the branches were lacking leaves as if there just weren’t enough nutrients on the small island to sustain them all, or perhaps it was simply the weather. Fall and Winter could be terrible for trees that weren’t prepared for it. This meant that in many places she could see without trouble, and anything looking up could see her in turn. Wherever she perched, she saw exactly what the twins had talked about. There were serpents wandering the rocks and brush below, snakes of all kinds that didn’t seem to pay her any mind. There weren’t many other creatures, but most of the smaller inhabitants of the island seemed to move from hiding place to hiding place. Even some of the smaller snakes did as such. No one really looked up at her, and the only thing she found eerie was the lack of birds. She was so used to being back in the forest where nearly every tree had a nest, where there were communities bridged together, but here there was none of that. The only thing in the air was dead silence. Her bravery did not wane as she took flight again with a flap of her wings, but she did find a new respect for this place. Had it earned the moniker of a home of demons in her mind? Perhaps not yet, but a river between the worlds would suffice in her mind. Between purgatory and oblivion.

Sprig floated high above the ground while recalling the stories she heard. She wasn’t ignorant of the existence of the Garnet Flame. He lived beneath the gnarled roots of a tree and curious eyes that had wandered to and from the island had said that he slept in a coil most days. No one dared get close, but they said that he was big enough that even an eagle would think twice before approaching. The largest tree on the island turned out to be the one that she was looking for. There were rocks surrounding it as if the great roots of the tree had upturned the earth. She landed on one of these boulders to peer down into the cover of the roots and, sure enough; she saw him there. Curled and just as large as they said he was. His eyes were closed, but what she could not help but notice was the sheen of his scales. Wherever the sunlight touched, his scales seemed to glimmer like rounded and cut garnet. There weren’t any fallen scales on the ground for her to snatch, so it seemed like she would have to pluck one from him. Such a large boy basking in his den wouldn’t mind just one tugged from his hide, would he?

Careful and quiet as she could, Sprig opened her wings and glided down while uttering a quiet prayer to goddess and land. She was brave, but not entirely stupid. When she touched the ground, she was careful to see whether the sandy footing would make a sound. When nothing happened, she looked around and began to hop toward her foe and query. She continued approaching until she got to his side. She had to be careful, had to look for a scale that was already loosened. Sprig did not want this massive thing to wake, and did not want to attempt to fight it in genuine. Up close, she could not even conceive of the idea of her talons doing through these things, but what else she noticed was how damn beautiful his scales were. It was that beauty that distracted her from the flicker of amber eyes opening, and from the forked tongue tasting the air to scout her out.

The snake moved with surprising speed for its size. All around her, it flowed like a crashing sea, and she opened her wings wide to fly away before she found her back hitting a root. When she hit the ground and pushed herself up onto her talons to try another crack at escape, she saw his face where the sunlight had been. The gleam of amber in his eyes seemed to reflect in the color of his scales. Flame and demons bearing down on her.

“My.” Hummed the snake in a far too pleasant tone, “It has been a long time since such a pretty bird has visited my den. Would you like a drink from the creek near here, or perhaps you would like a chance to pray?”

She shivered and backed away against his cool hide, against his body as she tried to steady her heart and opened her beak to speak, “See, I was only visiting. They told me how pretty your scales were, how beautiful they could be up close and I couldn’t help but wander here.”

The serpent chuckled, “Terrn is my name. I’ll have you say it before you utter that stupid nickname you flapping nuisances give me.”

Seizing an opportunity wherever she could get it, Sprig launched herself toward the beast’s eyes right as his tail swung like a whip to strike her back down. Blinking pain and soreness away, she got up and shook herself, “How did you—?”

“Dear, do you think I got this old by getting blinded by prey? Now then, what will you say for your last?” Hummed the snake.

Sprig shuddered and breathed out, “Terrn, was it? I’m nothing to you, right? What is one raven let loose? I’m a female as well. It would be stupid to rob yourself of future prospects.”

The coils of the snake approached but stopped as Terrn chuckled, “You’re not wrong. I had honestly planned on toying with you a bit before letting you loose, but dear, you attacked me. So what will you do to make it better?”

As the coils close in again and panic began to rise, she squawked aloud, “Anything!”

Again, the coils stopped and the serpent tilted his head, “Anything? My, would you even be my mate for this lovely day?”

The panic that had broken for just a second appeared again and she tried to fly away only to find that the serpent’s coils were around her. He tightened his hold on her and looked down at her with those amber eyes, her strength sapped away as he squeezed just enough for it to hurt. When he let go, she found that her waning strength meant that she could barely flutter. She needed to keep him talking, but becoming his mate? What sort of foolishness did he plan?

“You have quite the clever mouth.” He began while his coils moved, “And you’re quite pretty and full for a raven. So, satisfy me with that pretty beak of yours.”

Sprig saw what he meant with a terror that she could not articulate. Two shafts sliding out of a genital slit appeared and grew just ahead of her as he curled around her so his head was hanging above her. Both of his cocks were barbed about the tips and she had never seen anything quite like them in all of her time. That was what she wanted him to use her beak on? She could probably swallow one if she tried hard, but as she went to stage a complaint, he shoved his lower half toward her and pushed those massive things against her beak. No, no, no, this was all wrong!

The coils tightened around her body again, one loop and then another until that strong body was pressed against her throat and her eyes were forced to peer directly up at the serpent’s two shafts. And as the beast squeezed her, he muttered in a far too loving tone, “Open wide, or I’ll keep squeezing.”

Of course, her beak opened! Of course, she responded to that. She was far too clever not to listen, far too clever to be brave in a situation like this, so her beak lay open wide with her little tongue sticking out. Sprig kept her eyes shut tight while her entire body shook, she didn’t want to see it but she could feel his coils moving as he dropped his shaft closer and closer to her open beak until the tip touched her tongue. What she tasted was heat, a heat like no other. She could even say that what spread across her senses might have been spice, but it was simply the heat pulsing off that shaft that surprised her considering every other part of the snake felt so cold. Salt and heat dipped down into her open beak, pushing along her tongue and continuing to grind until she was forced to take a few inches. The other shaft lay across her head, the snake humming joyfully as he violated her mouth. His humming was horrible. She hated it above all else because it sounded and felt so alluring. It was the sound of the forest itself vibrating, the noise and feeling of feathers on the wind caressed so gingerly. It was almost as if he were rewarding her for opening her beak and letting herself be violated. Just when she began to feel some sort of anger, he shoved hard with his strength and forced her to take every inch of his cock into her throat.

Swallowing for a bird was something simple and common, but this violent movement caused her to gag, and again it did as he began to mate with her maw in genuine. He pushed and thrust, rolling a bit before dipping in again and again. Each thrust was accompanied by a chuckle or a sigh, each movement joined by his dreadful humming. She hated every facet of what was happening right now but she dared not move. Any little twitch she made, any little flutter or attempt to struggle, was met with a gentle and patient squeeze that made a promise she would rather not see kept. It was difficult to maintain this posture, difficult to keep letting him violate her throat with every single movement, and it even soon began to be difficult to keep herself awake. She opened her eyes just to confirm that this wasn’t a nightmare of some sort, and still, she struggled to draw breath.

Suddenly, he stopped and began to pull out of her mouth. He kept the tip against her tongue as it leaked little drops of something sticky and warm that made her head hazy as he hummed, “That’s right! I should let a poor little thing like you catch her breath. After all, I wouldn’t want to break my mate so soon. Here, I’ll let you down so you can pleasure me yourself.”

His coils were removed, his twitching shafts slipping away from her beak allowing her to cough. There was a snappy response on the tip of her tongue but when she saw him staring down at her waiting for her obedience, she shuddered and stepped toward his slit in order to begin. She had no strength. She couldn’t run away and couldn’t imagine taking flight in such a situation. However, Sprig could recover without his constant squeezing and rough treatment. What she couldn’t do, though, was delay. She could feel his eyes burning on her, waiting for her to make some sort of mistake or even breathe in the wrong way. Rather than tempt fate, she placed her wings on that horrible shaft sticky with her drool and opened her beak wide to take it in. Tears formed at the edge of her vision as she began to push her head forward to capture more of his lounging dick. Forward and forward she moved, forcing herself to ignore that heat on her tongue, forcing her to ignore her own gagging as she felt sticky strands of pre-cum staining her tongue. Had she even sunk this low for a mate of her own? No, she always teased and played but never had someone take control of her like this, and she loathed it; and loathed the smallest part of her that found that stupid humming addicting.

“Refer to me as sir when I speak to you, master will do as well.” Hummed the snake.

Right away she pulled her beak back in order to keep him happy with a raspy, “Yes, sir.”

And back she went while he chuckled. Humiliation colored her mind as her mouth was stained with his taste and mark. She could feel him getting close as well, could feel his seed ready to spill as his shaft twitched and throbbed. There was no way that she would swallow that, no way that she would take it all. However, his head was hovering closer to hers, his forked tongue coming out to flick against her feathers. She could feel his sight, could feel his damning vigil, and she wondered if he wanted her to swallow? Would he desire that of her? Would he want that of her? If he did, then she would have no choice but to obey. Damnable goddess and land, she was going to let him do it, wasn’t she?

Whatever bravery she had before paled in comparison to the fear she felt with him hovering over her like that, and so she doubled her efforts to hopefully keep him pleased. She felt more of her strength returning to her and it was unfortunate that it had to be wasted on this of all things. The first shot of his virile load kept her still, her eyes shut tight as she willed away her discomfort and disdain. Her beak was pressed against his hide as close as she dared, and she felt his horrible pulsing cock draining itself into her beak. He sighed with such delight while she held her wings against his body to try and steady herself against the constant torrent. Every throb added another line or three of seed, and every twitch filled her beak more and more until she struggled to swallow. Bitter, salty, and somehow spiced. She drank down every drop until her mind was hazy. Until somehow, it became her only comfort. The warmth that glowed within her like a tired ember.

When he pulled out of her beak, he practically purred, “Good, now show me your rear and lift your tail feathers.”

She coughed and fell forward, only held up by her wings. Her eyes were hazy, her mind foggy as she answered without thinking, “Yes, sir.”

Realization glinted back into her vision, her eyes wide now as she pushed herself back up and hopped away. She darted back and up into the air, just sliding through a hollow in the gnarled roots before she felt his tail lash around her neck. He pulled her back down and she whined until the noise was choked away. There was no chastising or chiding, no punishing words, but that horrible hum continued, that vibration of the air that promised something horrible if she didn’t obey. She wasn’t sure if it was his nature as a demon, or if she was simply that frightened, but she felt her hope being drained away as he dragged her back. When he brought her to his mouth, she thought the worst would happen, but as she gasped, he closed his maw over her beak and forced his tongue within. A sticky kiss was formed, a lock and seal between them of warm spittle mixing together. It drained her further of her sanity as the touch was so loving compared to the pain she felt wrapped around her body from his tail. When he let go of her, the shock was such that she could not move, her body simply as she simply stood there under the force of his humming kiss. Her eyes were hazy again, her mind slipping as she realized that this creature was not something that she could ever contend with. She couldn’t run. She couldn’t escape, and her bruises were simply reminders of that fact.

When he tore his maw away with a few strands of spittle still clinging to her beak, she took in a breath and turned away from him. Instead of fluttering, instead of opening her wings and trying to flee again, she lowered herself and raised her tail feathers with a sob. She knew that she couldn’t win, but she still would not love the idea. Even with her body like this, he still had to curl around her. Part of his body around her neck, part of it around her chest, squeezing ever so lovingly while he let his head hang next to hers. She whimpered when she felt the tip of one of those massive things grinding against her slit. He pushed and prodded until her heat was spread. The tip grazed into the shallows of her insides and he began to take it nice and slow. Goddess, why? Why was it slow? Why could he not just use her and get it over with? She whined and whimpered, shaking her head as she felt him entering her inch by inch. Pain was met with motes of pleasure that she did not want to feel! The deeper he went, the more she felt everything so intensely. Her insides were growing slicker by the second, the forced arousal making it easier for him to stretch her apart until she could feel him in her womb.

“And so, we get to your new role in life. You get to live on, as my dear hatchery. Worry not, I’ll keep you safe once you break.” He hummed near her head.

Such a thought brought out the last bit of fight in her as she struggled and chirped, as she tried to beat her wings, only to find that there was no escape. He began slowly again, began to hump and grind against her, but soon he was thrusting inside of her, soon he was moving in such a manner that jolted her forward that dug himself deep inside of her with every movement. No, she muttered, no she chirped, and again she let her last strength out in a useless whine. Nothing happened as her insides were violated, nothing but the gathering of eyes on the horizon. Gemstone scales along the tops of the rocks. Eyes like the elements themselves staring down at her. The serpents slid down onto the sand to watch, and her nightmare was cemented. No, night had to come. A way to escape had to come. All she had to do was bide her time. Eggs could be destroyed. Life could continue!

Her insides were plowed, her insides were stretched to their limit, and she managed to clamp her beak down and remain resolute. What she could not stop was the occasional whimpering sigh that escaped her as she found the forced pleasure of his forced intrusion soon outweighing the pain. She managed to keep herself from climaxing at the very least, and she was almost glad when she felt his seed start flooding her. Sickly heat filled her bit by bit until she felt fat and pregnant with it all. The violent throbbing of his cock signaled that more and more of it was ready for her. Every single shot of cum struck her insides in a way that ground against her senses, that pleasured her until she was crowing out in a mixture of horror and delight.

When he was done, he pulled out and slipped away from her, but she simply remained on her stomach on the ground, uncertain of what to do. She muttered drunkenly, “Is it over, sir?”

Her neck was seized again by his tail, and she did nothing to stop him as he pulled her up. Slowly she was brought onto his underside as he lounged like a fat king and muttered near her head, “Do a little bit of work. Impregnate yourself.”

There were still a few tears to fall, still a few humiliations to feel. When she was let go. She turned to see his shaft there. Sprig brought herself up his body to lower her heat onto one of his cock still hard and twitching. She closed her eyes and eased herself down, huffing out and stopping on occasion when she couldn’t get it in. She didn’t want it in, but she had no choice. Sprig continued trying until she felt the tip pop inside with a pop. She squirmed as she felt it grinding against her inner walls, but she steadied herself with a huff and brought herself down hard and far harder than she meant to. Her wings could only do so much clinging to his body, and her insides were now full of his cock. Every inch of it stuffed inside of her again, and now she began to ride him, now she began to bring her body up only to slam it back down. When she thought that he might be displeased with her pace, she continued moving faster, and her mind kept pushing her to go faster, but why? It was the pleasure; it was that damnable pleasure telling her to take what she could get, and she loathed it all to oblivion. She climaxed before he did this time, her insides clenching tight and her voice slipping as a groan.

Of course, he reacted to that with a chuckle, and she hated it, she hated the fact that he leaned down to nuzzle beneath her beak as if they were truly lovers. And yet, wasn’t that what they were now? Mates. She was hatchery; he had said. She shuddered and threw the thought aside before continuing to move before she kept ongoing with the thought that she would escape once all were asleep. One more movement of her hips, one more drop of her fat rear on his hide, and she felt the rush of his seed again impregnating her. She could feel his seed searching for her eggs, searching to make her full and pregnant. It felt so much more potent than anything else she had experienced and in some sick part of her mind she understood that she would become a great brood mother, but no, escape was her truest desire.

When he finished, she had to pull herself off this time. She fell off of his underside and onto the sandy ground. He moved away as if to give her room, and she had to wonder if he was letting her go. She almost uttered a thanks before she watched the other snakes approach her. They were all a bit smaller but still larger than the snakes she had seen. All of them were watching her, all of them were approaching and she wasn’t sure what they wanted until she remembered that she had been called a hatchery. A hatchery not only for him but for all. One last bit of defiance brought her wings out, though she did not have the strength. One of the snakes hissed and threw himself at her, curling around her legs, and she uttered a cry of dismay as more and more of them piled atop of her.

Sprig had been pulled into a sea of serpents, a ball of demons curled around her. The sun had been blotted entirely from her vision and her senses were full of sex. The scent of it, the taste of it. Her beak was stuffed, her insides were used and even her talons and feathers were ground against. Every sticky sound she could hear was coming from her whorish body being bred. The surrounding snakes all sighed and hissed, but the sound that she honed in on was the Garnet Flame humming outside of the ball. She focused on that sound as her vision grew hazy, as her mind darkened, and as time ambled on. Each thrust was a new sensation, each different cock a new world for her to experience. They finished quickly, but never let her have a break. Her insides were flooded, her maw was stained permanently in the stickiness. And her pleasure was erupting forth. The taste had become something she had adjusted to and now welcomed as it warmed her insides just as much as the seed filling her breeding hole. More and more of it flooded her from all ends and even painted her, but at some point, she spoke of her own accord.

“Please, don’t waste your seed on me…Inside, please.” She said.

Sprig was vaguely aware of the horror of what she had said, but she couldn’t stop herself once the words were out. She was moaning beneath the weight of a countless number of snakes. All of them surrounding her and using her like a toy. Their presence had coiled around her soul itself, the ball squeezing in tighter and tighter until she could feel it snap and break. Sprig the warrior. Sprig the brave. Sprig the scout. None of these existed. Sprig the whore. Sprig the hatchery. Sprig the wife of demons.

By the time the snakes finished, it was night. She laid there sticky and somehow still awake and yet, she did not move. The moonlight shone down on her as if beckoning her to fly toward it, as if telling her she could escape, but she did nothing at all. She was pulled by the talons into the coils of the original demon that had bred her and she looked up to see his maw waiting for her. She opened her beak to suck down the warmth of his kiss, to take what love she could get in this situation while she felt him enter her again. He ground himself inside of her pleasantly, and his humming was a pure delight to feel and hear against her beak. When the kiss separated, he coiled in tighter but she only found comfort in it rather than horror. She moaned aloud; she sighed and whimpered for more, and when she felt his seed filling her, she cooed in delight.

And the final vestige slipped through as a mournful whisper, “Father…”

Comfort came in the form of the snake’s snout pressed against her cheek, his words a warm delight to hear and feel, “Worry not pretty bird, you will find many fathers here among the snakes. Chief among them, me. I want you to hold on to that thought. I want you to tell me all about your home. Tell me about the forest that you hail from. Is your mind still able to recall without shattering? I wonder?”

As he held her there, she began with a glassy look in her eyes peering out to the moon, “There are communities and settlements in the trees. Birds roost freely. Hawk, eagle, owl, and raven. We all share territory, hunt, and scout. The forest is so vast, so beautiful.”

“I should like to see it one day. Perhaps after our clutches are born.” He hummed joyfully.

She shook her head, “No, it wouldn’t be possible. The ocean is there.”

The demon chuckled and rumbled, “My dear, demons can do many things. Serpents of this island are clever and strong, are powerful in strange ways, and they can most assuredly swim.”

Surprise touched her expression for a second before she shuddered, “Then that means our children will be strong, too.”

He pushed his snout against her cheek and whispered, “Does that mean you wish to be bred?”

“Yes, sir.” She said without hesitation.

“Beg for it.” Muttered the demon.

Sprig breathed out, “Please, breed me. Make me your mate in truth and yours. As many times as it takes, I will foster your children within me. I will care for your eggs, I will make sure they live and thrive.”

In truth, she would have let anything use her. Survival was far from her mind, and her thoughts were focused on the pleasure of the body. She had been pushed to become a breeder, and so she would be bred and love every second of it. If a hound mounted her she would take it, if a random bird begged it of her, she would let him use her too but right now this demon had hold of her and she owed him this new mindset, owed him this new heart of hers that she was beginning to love more and more by the second. Nothing mattered but the pleasure, and it seemed like the demon was in agreement. By now she had been stretched enough that she could handle both of his cocks at the same time. He forced them in bit by bit until he thrust them all the way in. She cried out in a mix of pain, pleasure, and surprise, but her glassy expression remained as she faded beneath his coils, as he covered her entirely in the cool embrace of his scales. The last thing she saw was the moonlight reflecting off his garnet scales, and amber flames. A single scale had fallen free of the demon’s body and she kept it close to her heart as he whispered one last thing to her within the coils.

“My mark. A gift. For my wife and the wife of all demons. Keep it close to you. We’ll even fashion it into a pendant. Understand now that whoever you were does not matter, whatever you were does not matter. Only understand who you belong to and what your purpose in life is.”

The wife of demons answered, “Yes, master.”