Dangerous Foreplay

by by bububub2

Tan’Ya dropped her coat over the dingy bar-stool and leaned forward, placing her forehead directly on the bar’s cool wooden surface. She muffled out a drink order, but the bartender didn’t really hear it- nor did she need to. The demoness got the same drink every time she came in - spiced rum over a candied cherry. It was exactly the kind of thing that helped take the edge off after a long day at the firm, and boy did she need it. Some pit lord or other had just accumulated land in half a dozen fae realms that were interconnected and overlaid on top of each other, and two of them shared boundaries with an ancient shrine containing the slumbering soul of a forgotten archangel - real messy stuff. Usually when stuff like that happens, mortals just shake their head, hold up their arms and say, “This is beyond our abilities, let the gods sort it out!”. Well, the gods don’t do the work, nine to fiver’s like her do it. Though recently it’d been more like nine to nine.

She sighed and undid the first few buttons of her blouse to cool off. This wasn’t what she’d signed up for when she became a demon. Granted, she had exactly signed for anything - it was a chance encounter with a magic pen, of all things, that had expanded her horizons from a simple real estate agent to... well, a cosmic one. It was mostly the same sort of gig, but now, instead of finding ways to exploit neglected laws deep in the books of a city charter, she occasionally had to negotiate with djinns to translate the text of forgotten infernal tongues engraved on pillars at the bottom of sunken temples in the third substratum of a magically created demiplane.

With another sigh, she plopped the cherry from her drink and twirled it around a bit, spitting out its stem in the shape of a neatly tied pretzel. It was a trick she had picked up in college. With another sip of her drink, she realized she wasn’t exactly sure how long ago college was for her. Time works differently in the supernatural realms, and can be especially confusing for people born into dimensions where it’s expected to be linear. It could easily have been centuries ago... which would mean it was about that long since the last time she’d gotten laid.

The demoness turned her head, letting her green shaggy hair sway back and forth as she surveyed the bar for potential one night stand material, her gaze lingering on specimen after specimen. Most of the patrons were men, some even rather good-looking, but she just didn’t bat for that team. A few succubi caught her attention, but those tended to attach themselves to people with a lot more disposable income than Tan’Ya - and a much higher willingness to throw that income away in the endless quest to getting laid. She counted all of them out. One could call it sour grapes, but she’d dated a succubus once and it had honestly been a rather horrible experience - vapid, boring, and self-centered, and never interested in anything more than carnal or epicurean pleasures. Other than that, there was a rather cute fish woman of indeterminate species holed up in the corner - but it looked like she was smoking some kind of kelp, the mere thought of the smell enough to make Tan’Ya’s nose curl. Major turn off - she had to deal with enough heavy smokers down at the office.

More than a little disappointed, Tan’Ya turned back towards her little space of counter and prepared to order another drink from the zombie behind the bar when she noticed another full glass of spiced rum sitting right in front of her, complete with cherry.

“Hrm?” she voiced, to no one in particular.

“Well, you looked like a girl in need of a refill,” replied a cute, though slightly nasally voice from beside her.

The bewildered purple-skinned demon looked towards the source of the statement. The woman it came from had grayish blue skin, mottled with darker colored scales that ran down the sides of her face and neck. Tan’Ya’s eyes traced the pattern of the markings downwards, watching them disappear beneath her blouse, sweeping down to the floor to take in her entire outfit. She was petite, probably six or seven inches shorter than the demoness, but she had fantastic legs, complimented by a pair of classic black garters that really completed the look.

“My eyes are up here, cutie,” the grey skinned woman chuckled.

Tan’Ya coughed and looked up quickly, embarrassed that she had indulged in the eye-candy so readily and so obviously. It really had been a long time since her last romantic encounter. Looking back up, she met the woman’s gaze and gasped, recoiling slightly in surprise when she found herself looking into a pair of slitted serpentine pupils framed by a pair of glasses. Only then did she notice the hissing, a low sound barely audible over the background noise of the bar, emanating from the nest of white vipers that occupied a space on the woman’s head that would normally be reserved for hair. The snakes were tied back into a simulacrum of a ponytail, though their heads still twitched this way and that, each clamoring to get a look at the purple demoness sitting beside them. Tan’Ya quickly averted her eyes, holding her breath anxiously.

A gorgon! How could she have missed that?

...Right, the fantastic legs.

Realizing it had been a few seconds and she wasn’t yet a garden display piece, she considered whether she should venture another glance. Thankfully, the cute monster girl beside her spoke up before she could make up her mind.

“Hehehehe... don’t worry, I get that a lot,” the gorgon said, her squeaky voice doing its best to be reassuring. “I’ve got an enchanted pair of glasses. You’re totally safe.”

Curiosity (and no small amount of prurient interest) gave Tan’Ya the courage to risk a second peek, though she decided to be diplomatic about it and focus first on the surface of the bar. There she saw the gorgon’s well-manicured fingers idly playing with the pretzeled cherry stem from earlier, enough to get the demon’s heart racing. Gaining a bit of bravery, she traced her eyes along the supple wrist and arm, following it to the curve of the woman’s graceful neck (still covered in that fetching pattern of scales) then, finally, up to her face once more. The woman certainly was attractive. Cute pouty lips, an adorable button nose, and large, expressive eyes, each enough to drum up more interest in the currently sex-starved demoness.

And that’s when she realized the glasses weren’t covering the eyes, but instead had slipped slightly down to the tip of her nose, in that classic position you always see from the stereotypical sexy librarian. With a jolt of anxiety, Tan’Ya quickly reached down to pinch the flesh on her forearm to make sure that - ouch - yes, she was still made of flesh.

“They don’t actually have to be blocking my eyes,” the gorgon explained, holding up the cherry stem with a smile. “As long as I wear them, it’s fine. A useful little trick of modern magic... though I can see you have some tricks of your own. Let me guess - a lawyer? You certainly seem to have talent with your tongue.”

Tan’Ya smiled weakly; the day had been too long for her to really come up with a witty response to the flirting, so instead she took a sip of her rum and told the truth.

“Real estate law, but yes. Um... though honestly I do more research than talking, so I’m afraid my tongue might be losing its edge. Or... its softness? Wetness?” She began to flounder, coughing in embarrassment. “Erm... sorry. Long day. I’m just a bit frazzled.”

Her hope for a stimulating sexual encounter with the gorgeous gorgon began to drain away from her. Was she really this out of the game? But to her surprise (and delight), the gorgon just laughed and inched a few inches closer.

“Hey, Purple, you don’t have to woo me. I’m already interested.” She giggled, dropping the cherry stem into Tan’Ya’s palm. “Though I’d rather not have to call you Purple all night. I mean, it might get a bit confusing - I’m kinda purple too.”

It was a cute giggle too, with a hint of a snake hiss at the end. Tan’Ya felt her cheeks grow warm, no doubt causing her face to dark shade of prune.

“Ah... w-well I’m Tanya,” the demoness said, before realizing she forgot to pronounce the extra apostrophe in her fluster. Revealing her true name from when she was human was a bad idea - a surefire way to give someone power over her. “Tan’Ya, I mean. Attorney of the Fourth Circle.”

The gorgon tilted her head a bit, causing her serpentine coils to sway from the motion. ”Well, Tan, I’m Matilda. I’m a secretary to some big shot demon or other - and a damn good one, too.”

Tan’Ya’s eyebrow twitched upwards.

“Some demon or other? How could you be good at your job if you don’t even know his name?”

“Oh, I know her name, I was just seeing if you were actually listening to what I was saying... or if you were trying to catch another glance of my legs.”

The demoness’ eyes darted down to the well toned legs once again, and then she flicked her horn with a sharp nail a few times in annoyance.

“W-well, my eyes are up here!” She lamely said back, and ever so slightly thrust her cleavage a bit more to the forefront. To her annoyance though, it seemed like Matilda was actually tracing her slitted red eyes over the graceful curve of Tan’Ya’s neck.

“Yeah... I can see that,” the gorgon countered simply, leaning back to allow her to cross her legs alluringly. “You know, it’s a bit noisy here. I can barely hear your attempts at witty banter. Want to go back to my place so you can have some privacy while you flounder around?”

The gorgon’s lips curled into a smile that was - even for this place - rather devilish. Alarm bells went off somewhere in the back of Tan’Ya’s head. It would be a terrible idea to blindly follow an unfamiliar demon back to her home, to her place of power. Underworld Living 101 was you never willingly put yourself in a position where you didn’t have the upper hand, and a fallback option if you lost it. Tan’Ya had neither, which meant that if she had half a brain she’d turn the offer down, or at least take a rain check. But unfortunately for her, it wasn’t her brain that was calling the shots right now.

“You know what? Yeah... let’s ditch this dump. Do you live close by?”

---

Walking through the park was no... well, it wasn’t what it sounded like- at least not in this particular multiversal plane. Sitting on the border between the territories of monsters and demons, the parks were home to most of this world’s feral, barbaric or just plain smelly creatures. Though a far cry from a true “wilderness”, the fact was that such old-fashioned concepts didn’t really exist nowadays, with most entities fully integrated into a unified and generally civilized society. Sure, the demons mostly stayed in Demonville and the monsters mainly lived in Monstertown, but they still worked in the same office buildings.

Tan’Ya was actually quite familiar with the route they were taking, though she usually travelled it in the daytime. She knew there was a lovely little noodle shop just at the edge of the park, run by a charming husband-and-wife pair of kappa (though for the life of her she couldn’t tell you which one was which). But as familiar as it was (and her mouth was actually sort of watering at the familiar thought of the noodle shop’s #4 Special) the park was an entirely different animal at night. The normal challenges during the day - foolish muggers and rabid hellhounds - were replaced by the all-consuming silence of the evening, the new-age spooky creatures, the boogiemen that reinvented themselves as tall and thin, suit-wearing performance artists. Posers, really. A good mauling was a classic, and way more artistic than slowly breathing down someone’s neck until they had a heart attack.

The purple demoness clicked her pen a few times in annoyance, and pointed at one of the shadows behind a tree, hurling a small ball of violet flame at one of the creepers. The snake haired woman chuckled at the display of magic.

“Oh don’t mind them, they’re harmless.” The gorgon waved dismissively at a shadow sulking in a corner. “Only a threat to mortals, really.”

“They just kinda creep me out,” Tan’Ya replied, clicking her pen anxiously a few more times.

The medusa next to her didn’t respond. Instead she slid in closer and wrapped her arm under the demoness’ own, pressing her chest against the purple demon’s arm. Tan’Ya could feel the warmth through the black suit jacket the gorgon was wearing. So, she was warm blooded. Well that answered that question.

“You like that pen a lot... is it your focus?” The gorgon looked down at the small brass pen with an inquisitive eye.

“My focus?” Tan’Ya looked down at the pen. It wasn’t a focus, not really, though it was responsible for her becoming a demon in the first place. It felt quaint to her, almost comical, that she had been a normal human until a magical pen from another world had dropped into her lap. The more she thought about it over the centuries, the more she wondered if it was somehow intentional, if someone or something had been the one to engineer her path to cross with the object. Maybe it was some kind of destiny, or maybe she just had the right sort of personality to make use of its powers.

Not that she needed the powers anymore, of course. She’d long since surpassed the need for the magical relic, developed her own understanding of magic and sorcery enough to get by in a world so totally different than the one she was born into. Though sometimes she wondered if the pen had some additional secrets she’d not yet discovered...

“I...guess it’s just sentimental?” The gorgon asked, cocking her head curiously.

“Yeah... just a trinket from my past,” Tan’Ya said thoughtfully.

“Ha! I keep more than a few trinkets from my past,” laughed the snake woman, as she pivoted and headed in the direction of a large apartment building.

It was an older structure, designed to look like it was made from marble, a far cry from the glass and steel affair where Tan’Ya lived. It was quaint, very rustic and elegant. Demons always needed to be on the cutting edge with their displays of power - the newest phones, digital locks, the fanciest and most powerful computers. It was rather nice to see an actual brass revolving door instead of the automated sliding one at Tan’Ya’s place. As the pair moved into the lobby, a large round face behind a neat wooden desk turned and regarded them with warm, but predatory eyes. The sheer size and rocky exterior of the doorman’s face revealed him to be a troll, at least if Tan’Ya was remembering her monster lore right. Wow, though, an actual troll doorman? Swanky.

“Evening Miss Medusa, a package was left for you in the mail room this afternoon,” said the tusk-toothed man, giving a respectful bow and a tip of his tiny guard hat (clearly standard-issue, and not adapted for the size of his head).

“Thank you, Thrug. I’ll swing by to pick up some time tomorrow”, she said, leading Tan’Ya towards the stairs.

The demoness blinked a few times, looking at her companion with surprise.

“Medusa? As in the legendary family?”

Matilda waved the air in front of her nose with a hand, as if dispelling the idea like smoke. “Well, an offshoot, anyway. It’s not like I have the genealogy papers to prove it. You know how it is, I’m in no rush to pay for one of those ancestry tests.”

“I can imagine there’s all sorts of legal rites associated with your genes,” said the demoness, trying to counterbalance the austerity of the Medusa name with the mundane familiarity of her legal work. “I looked over a couple of cases like that. Evil twins tend to pop up from time to time, especially for people from powerful bloodlines. I remember one case with a demon lord and a magical sword - it ended with a genetically engineered clone sealing the poor fool away in a pocket dimension.”

The gorgon merely giggled and pressed the up button on an elevator panel.

“Oh, no... I’m not really worried about that. Or at least, I wasn’t until you mentioned it. Athena’s sake, my actual sister is enough as far as evil clones go.” With a ding, the elevator door swung open. “No, I meant more that a test might prove I’m not actually real descendant, you know? I’d rather the mystique remain with the unknown, rather than ruining it all with certainty.”

Tan’Ya nodded and walked into the elevator car as a drider moved aside, holding a laundry basket. Matilda smiled and greeted her, though something in the spider woman’s body language, a judgmental, regal demeanor, that suggested she was unhappy sharing the space with the two of them. Tan’Ya considered herself a good enough judge of character to be able to pick them out, those ageless entities with centuries of experience, the ones who always gave you those withering glares just for occupying the same plane of existence as them.

“Don’t mind her,” Matilda whispered as she leaned over, her breath hot on Tan’Ya’s ear. “She just doesn’t have the charisma to pick up women at bars like I do!”

The whisper caused a tingle to run up Tan’Ya’s spine - all the way up to the horns, even (it was a common misconception to think that demons and other horned beings didn’t have feelings in their bony appendages).

“Is that all I am? A bar pickup?” The demon hissed back, filled with giddy amusement at the attention she was receiving.

“Well, for now, at least,” the gorgon replied in a surprisingly husky voice, “but maybe you can prove to be something more.”

With a ding, the elevator opened on Matilda’s floor. As the filed out, the purple demon looked back, long enough to notice the drider scowl in their general direction. Matilda took her by the arm and led her away as the elevator slid shut, over to a door past a corner at the end of the hallway. She opened it with a brass key on an ornate key ring she was hiding on her person somewhere, causing a series of glowing runes to shine into existence in the air before dissipating into a shower of sparks. Protection spells on all the apartments? This was a swanky place. Tan’Ya had a digital alarm system she bought herself, rigged up to fire a poison dart in a way she was actually quite proud of, but there was something to be said about old style curses. A good curse-based security system was a work of art!

The demoness laughed silently at that last musing, though it was also a sobering thought. I wonder why, she thought, I am thinking about art. Her eyes darted over to the white snakes dotting around her companion’s head, as Matilda turned to look at her.

“Something funny?” she asked the demon with a smile, one that showed off her sharp snake-like fangs.

“Something... amusing to me.”

The demoness didn’t quite know what she was expecting to find in the gorgon’s lair - her home, she mentally corrected herself - but it certainly didn’t include a shoe rack filled with sensible loafers in the entryway. She supposed she was expecting... an art gallery of some kind, a museum. Trying not to dwell on it, she removed her heels (thank goodness, her feet were killing her), and took note of the table with a bowl full of mail, the posters of some kind of foxy football team called The Amazons, and other perfectly mundane things that were decidedly not part of an art exhibit. In fact, the only piece of sculpture she saw was that of a rather large and realistic tortoise, which Matilda bent down to rub on its marble shell before leading Tan’Ya further into the apartment.

“Is that...?” Tan’Ya gestured towards the small stone creature.

“Oh, him? Yeah that’s my oldest and dearest friend. Tortoises live for a long long time you know... but they aren’t immortal. I couldn’t bare the thought of saying goodbye to him. So I didn’t!” The gorgon chuckled as they made their way to the living room... and also the dining room, it seemed, with only a table separating the two sections. It looked like a rather modest apartment, all things told, not at all what Tan’Ya expected from all the ritz she encountered on the way in.

“So... not to say that this isn’t cozy, but aren’t these sorts of old buildings famous for providing extra dimensional spaces on the lease?” She couldn’t help asking. Real estate was practically in her blood.

The gorgon didn’t seem to take offense. “Oh, for sure. My closet space is amazing! But I like having a quaint living area.”

*********

As Tan’Ya surveyed the apartment, looking for said closet, Matilda moved over to a glass cabinet and selected an old dusty vase adorned with satyrs...well, enjoying each other’s company with no pants on. She blew on it a little bit, and then lifted it up for the demoness to inspect.

“It’s an authentic draft from...heh...” The gorgon trailed off and began to giggle, and her snakes soon joined in, making a hissing chorus of laughter.

The demon raised an eyebrow. Glancing along the surface of the vase to try and decipher the joke, before finally giving up.

“A draft from...what?” She asked.

“Lesbos.”

The demon rolled her eyes, but then found she couldn’t help but join in with her own laugh.

“A bit on the nose isn’t it?” Tan’Ya said.

The gorgon’s face moved closer as they both lost themselves in the moment...

“Well, aside from the obvious, they actually did make excellent wine... Shame Sappho didn’t influence their pottery the way she did poetry,” The gorgon said, gesturing to the decidedly male figures on the wine urn.

Tan’Ya bent a bit lower to get a good look at the ancient clay...but the heat of the gorgon’s breath so close to her cheeks caused her to change her intent. Moving just a tiny bit closer was enough to finally meet Matilda’s lips with her own. There was a moment, exciting and terrifying, where she wasn’t sure how the other woman would react- even now, having been invited up to her apartment, and sharing a joke over ancient lesbian wine...she wasn’t sure if this was leading to what she wanted... But it seemed Matilda had the same thoughts, for in but a moment the warm lovely pressure on her lips was returned was returned in kind. Passions welled up in both women, and soon a kiss became an embrace- which then became a mad dash to see who could get the other’s clothing off first.

Only then came the awkward realities of such an encounter- with a few bumps and painful elbows as stockings were worked off, buttons got stuck...and the wine was remembered, placed gently on the table, before the passions resumed in earnest. Romance novels never touch on these small moments of reality, of the sheer embarrassment of attempting to be intimate with another- but that is a shame, for in their uncoordinated and downright silliness, these moments are also what strengthen the entire experience.

In a few moments, both women found themselves on the couch; Tan’Ya having lost everything but her blouse (completely unbuttoned) and panties and Matilda wearing no more than her garter belt. Having finally landed on something soft, the pair uncoupled and simply looked at the other for a few moments...drinking in the beauty in front of them. Tan’Ya’s eyes traced the dark scales that formed a few freckles on the gorgon’s face... but then became strong patterns down her neck, arms...and thighs... A well manicured finger traced the patterns there...enjoying the contrast of the textures between that and the gorgon’s normal skin.

Meanwhile, Matilda couldn’t help but run her own hands up Tan’Ya’s surprisingly well toned core...and sizable bust - still garbed in a lacy black bra. Realizing they matched her panties, the gorgon laughed.

“Someone had plans tonight?” She laughed.

“Someone...ah...had hopes at least.”

Matilda did not respond, shifting her focus back to the demon’s lovely stomach. A flick of a forked tongue served as prelude to a pair of warm lips pressing against Tan’Ya’s navel. The gorgon seemed determined to explore every individual muscle and curve as she moved down...and down... and then she found a more enticing spot to explore. Incredible sensations filled the demoness’ body at every stroke of the snake’s tongue.

Tan’Ya wreathed under the display of talent from the medusa, causing muscles to tense and un-tense in waves over her body. Pillows were thrown off of the couch during moans of passion, and at one point the demoness accidentally tore a hole in one of the cushions with her horn. Before too long both women were panting in a pile on the couch, bodies slick and awash in the after glow of a perfect moment.

“Did I live up to your hopes?” The gorgon asked.

“Ah...haha...ahh...I’d say...maybe,” Tan’Ya said with a fanged grin.

“Well, the night is still young,” Matilda said, reaching for the urn of wine that had been momentarily forgotten.

The gorgon’s sharp nails dig into ancient wax and open the seal of the wine- and a fragrant scent of...something wafted out of it. It actually smelled a bit disgusting to Tan’Ya’s nose, but a reassuring grin from Matilda made her smile.

“It smells like...rotten egg and olives?” She said with a giggle.

“Yes, it might be too old. Let me see...I think I have some traditional dishes to drink this out of...” The gorgon sauntered over to her kitchenette and produced a pair of red saucers and then poured the ancient wine into them.

“Dishes?” The demoness asked, taking one and swirling the alcohol around in it.

“Yes, this is how we did it in ancient greece you know,” Matilda said, and then with a slight toast, she downed her wine.

Tan’Ya hesitated for only a moment, but then drank hers as well. The first thing she noticed is it was sweet, much sweeter than she expected- and incredibly strong! She coughed a bit, catching her breath...and then felt the lingering sourness in her mouth. The gorgon winced and then began to laugh.

“Well, yes, that is quite good...or would have been about a thousand years ago. Now I think it will only be suitable for a salad,” Matilda said.

“Well, I always love trying new things...” The demoness replied with a fanged grin.

There was a long pause...where both women poured and drank far more of the spoiled wine then they should have...before Matilda took Tan’Ya’s hand and lead her into a bedroom. The lightning was dim, and there were silken sheets draped over a four poster bed. It was small, but...comfortable. Snug was another word that came to mind. And the entire room was a sort of rich purple color- complimenting both of it’s current occupants nicely.

“This looks...nice. I could get used to this- ah, I mean...uhm...” Tan’Ya began to sweat nervously. Had she really said something like that? Did she really want this to go beyond a one night’s stand?

She looked over at the beautiful monster across from her. Matilda slid on to her bed and began to lounge on her back- her slim body enticingly on display.

“Get used to this? Hrm...maybe... I’d like to try something...kinky. Are you game?” The Medusa licked her lips... her red eyes half lidded and looking Tan’Ya’s own well nude form up and down.

“Game for...what?” The demoness slid into bed, arms and legs straddling the gorgon below her.

“Well, gorgons like me...these limiters...” She gestured to her glasses, “They make the world more dull. If you were ok with it, I could put a blindfold on you, take these off...and really give you a night to remember...”

Tan’Ya considered this for a few moments. A blind fold would be alright, wouldn’t it? Not too much danger of anything happening... And the medusa was so lovely...

“Alright. I’m interested.”

Matilda licked her lips and produced a silken strip from the side of the bed. She offered it up to Tan’Ya to inspect, before gently sliding it in place over her eyes. After affixing a complicated knot in place, she ran her fingers down Tan’Ya’s face gently...lingering on the demoness’ lips.

“How does that feel?” She asked.

“Uh...it’s new,” Tan’Ya answered, her voice a bit shaky. It was a new sensation for sure. She wasn’t used to being in this kind of situation without the ability to see. Every movement along the silken sheets, and the hissing of the hair...all her sensations were more intense, though somewhat...fuzzy from the alcohol in her system.

“I’m taking off my glasses now. Don’t take the blindfold off...” Matilda said, her voice barely above a hissed whisper.

A moment later, Tan’Ya heard a small light tap on the lamp desk that had been by the bed. That was probably the pair of glasses being put down. That meant... There was now nothing between her and the woman’s gaze but this flimsy silken blindfold. A bit of panic suddenly gripped her...but then the reassuring sensation of Matilda’s hands over her skin made all that melt away. Without her sight, Tan’Ya wasn’t sure what to do, or where to direct her attentions, but that seemed to not be an issue for the gorgon. In moments she felt her stomach peppered with kisses, tongue and fingers exploring the demoness’ curves...

A moan escaped her lips- she couldn’t help it, the gorgon was so talented! Her arms were lifted over her head, thrusting her breasts out, before she felt the gorgon’s tongue eagerly exploring her nipples. The lovely sensations distracted her from the silken bindings being tied around her wrists until she tried to adjust her arms and found them to be stuck above her head and tied to one of the posts.

“W-what-” She started to say, but found the gorgon’s lips on her own an instant later, silencing her protests... and then after a few breathy moments she forgot what she was about to say.

It all felt so... wonderful... every touch was electrifying and caused her nerve endings to sing in joy! Tan’Ya gasped in delight as more and more of her body was explored by the gorgon.

“You’re...so beautiful, Tan’Ya...” Matilda said between kisses.

The demon felt her lover’s fingers move downward...further and further along her stomach...then her hips and thighs... She felt the fingers move along the muscle of her inner thigh...and then meet her lower lips. Tan’Ya found herself losing all sense of everything as the greatest pleasure she had felt in recent memory consumed her entire being. Unconsciously she began to kiss the gorgon’s other fingers by her lips. Addled by pleasure as she was, she didn’t feel the fingers move away, along her face...running through her hair. The ecstasy brought on by the gorgons ministrations was all consuming. Sweat glistened all over her purple skin as she was brought closer and closer to climax. Tan’Ya’s world became narrower and narrower, all thought and worry melted off of her until she found herself on the precipice of release!

She squealed in pleasure as she was pushed over the edge, and in that instant Matilda’s other hand pulled on the special knot she had tied, causing it to fall away. Tan’Ya’s eyes opened on instinct, and she found herself looking deeply into the red eyes of her lover. Her consciousness already suppressed due to the orgasm rocking through her, she barely registered the sudden tension along her entire body. Her vision faded a moment later, but the image of the eyes burned into her brain...that was all she saw now. Her hearing registered a faint crackling noise, like ice dropped in a glass of water...before she couldn’t hear anything. As the sensations of the release faded...they brought with them a chilling nothing. Tan’Ya’s thoughts returned to her for the briefest of instances, as she mused about how beautiful those eyes were, before they too flickered and went out. Then, there was nothing. All was still.

All, that is, for the burning pleasure she had felt. No longer tied to physical experience- but more of a dull ever present background feeling. It drew her thoughts, soon becoming everything in her experience. She became lost in an endless sea of bliss with no signs of it ending, thinking only of the intense erotic haze that drifted over her mind.

***

All was still save for the gorgon Matilda, who cried out in pleasure for the fifth time that night, before sliding off of her bed and moving into the living room towards her kitchenette. The other occupant of the bed did not move as she left. Hair hissing with relaxation and and satisfaction. She prepared a light meal and ate it while watching the late night news for a bit, before then washing her hands and getting to work. Walking over to a closet, she removed both a hand cart and a heavy padded blanket. Moving back into her bedroom, she wrapped the figure on her bed and slipped it on to the cart, gently guiding the heavy load through her apartment and around some furniture. As she passed by the living room, she gathered up all the stray bits of clothing, tossing her garments into a hamper, and all the others on to the truck itself.

As she crossed the threshold of the closet door, she emerged into a large well lit chamber- fashioned like the main room in an ancient greek temple. All around her were pedestals that each had exquisite marble statues resting on them. The figures themselves were all of exceptional detail, down to even individual pores and hair strands... and without exception, every one was a woman of exceptional beauty. On one, was an apparently human woman with a single long braid over her shoulder, standing nearly six feet tall with a body of a trained athlete. And in fact, that statue had been one. An amazon in fact, from more than two thousand years prior. Every statue here had a similar story. In one corner, was a Kitsune, and across from her a statuesque oni, still posed with her club over her head, ready to strike down at some unsuspecting victim below her.

Matilda’s face flushed as she regarded her gallery. The romantic encounters with each of the women depicted in stone bubbling up in her memories as she passed by. Eventually, she located an empty pedestal and hefted the figure on her hand cart to it’s rightful place. She removed the blanket, folding it neatly and placing it back where it belonged and then she walked back to the newest addition to her collection.

In a kneeling position was a figure of a demoness. The marble nude had its arms held up above it, as if bound by some invisible shackles above it’s head. Breasts and chest were thrust forward, stomach taunt and flexing in an erotic display of effort. The gorgon couldn’t help but run her fingers along the lovely midriff, tracing her fingers over every rock hard detail, before she looked up into the statue’s face. Blank eyes stared forward, seeing nothing, on an ironically angelic face framed by a mass of messy hair. The statue’s lips were open, and the face was held in an expression of mild surprise- and not so mild euphoria. Matilda couldn’t help herself while glaring up at the visage, so she leaned in and stole another kiss (she had already peppered the figure with kisses back in her bedroom, and suspected she would do the same moving forward).

“Mmmphm, Tan’Ya, you’re a masterpiece,” she said after leaning back.

The statue, of course, could not hear her. Nor could it reply even if it had.

Matilda, meanwhile, eventually found the will to look away from her new collectible and go through the statue’s old clothes. Most of them would be tossed into the incinerator. While there was little doubt in her mind that one missing demoness wouldn’t attract much attention form anyone (there was no law enforcement in the land of darkness after-all), it still paid to be cautious. ID, wallet, a loyalty rewards card to a noodle shop a few blocks away... all of it went into a black garbage bag. The only item she kept was Tan’Ya’s pen. Something about it was cute, and Matilda couldn’t throw it out.

“Well, I’m going to just dispose of this stuff, you understand I hope? You don’t need them anymore...” She giggled and once again leaned in to kiss the marble statue that had been Tan’Ya, “Don’t go anywhere...”

And with that, the gorgon skipped out of her gallery, and closed the door behind her. After a moment, the lights began to go out, plunging the marble figures into darkness. As the lights went out one at a time, the inert stone form of Tan’Ya did and said nothing, still frozen in the act of ultimate pleasure. All things considered...it beat having to go into work the next day.

...Though, Tan’Ya would not be in a position to confirm or deny that.

With a final click, the last light went out, and the gallery once more waited for its mistress to come in and appreciate the figures trapped within.