A large sabertooth tiger led the way down the hallway while the rest of us followed behind. As the only other one who was in Were form, I was right behind Dr. Merchant. If nothing else, my appearance would be enough to shock anyone we encountered enough to make them hesitate…especially if that someone else was male.

So far, we didn’t see anyone inside the large house but Amylia looked to Jake and Kaylie, saying, “You two should probably change again. It will be easier to escape in your flying forms.”

“We couldn’t just fly off and leave you guys,” Kaylie protested.

“No fucking way,” Jake agreed emphatically.

“If things go wrong,” Amylia told them grimly. “You two may be our best chance of getting help.”

Jake and Kaylie reluctantly agreed and transformed again. We found a side door ran out of the very large house with a glowing pixie and a flaming phoenix flying above us. I thought that maybe it might have been a bad idea having them transform again since the two of them created too much light and would draw too much attention. However, it was too late now.

“We’re almost free,” Darek said with a grin, pointing to the trees that surrounded the large yard. “If we can make it there, I can help cover us more…” He was already beginning to change back to his dryad form.

“Don’t you dare change,” I warned Traci with a grin. “I really don’t need the distraction right now.”

“Good point,” she agreed with a chuckle. “Being stronger and great at jumping might be useful, but not if I can’t focus on escaping.”

Suddenly, a loud rumbling voice called out, “Stop right there…”

“What the…?” I gasped, looking to the sound of the voice.

A monster was coming towards us, or at least that was my first impression. He was enormous, about eight feet tall with knotted and warty dark green skin that looked sickly in the yard lights. He had long black hair that appeared greasy, and I couldn’t help but comparing him to the Hulk’s ugly brother…or maybe Shrek.

“Conrad,” Amylia stated as she stared at the Were troll. “Don’t try and stop us. You know what they’re doing is wrong.”

“I know,” the massive troll responded in a deep voice. “But I don’t care. I’m not gonna let my mom down…”

Conrad charged towards Amylia, obviously intending to grab at her. Suddenly, Dr. Merchant leapt at him, digging at him with claws and fangs. At the same time, Kaylie and Jake began flying around his head, trying to distract him.

“Bad kitty,” Conrad exclaimed with a laugh, throwing Dr. Merchant away from him with incredible ease. It didn’t appear that the cat claws or fangs had even pierced this thick troll skin. Then Conrad yelled out “HELP, they’re trying to escape!”

Kaylie flew right into Conrad’s face, scratching at him with her clawed feet and burning him with her flames. He screamed and swatted at her but she flew back and out of his way. The scratching didn’t appear to have done any good, but the fire had. He was burned and looked hurt and angry.

“I’m gonna smash you,” Conrad snarled furiously, swatting at Kaylie and Jake frantically.

“If we wait till sunrise, he’ll turn back to puny Banner,” Trey joked as he kept his distance.

“But so will I,” I reminded him.

“We have to get out of here quickly,” Amylia exclaimed. “We’ll be helpless before fully armed sorcerers.”

“But you’re a sorceress,” Traci protested. “Can’t you and Erin throw some spells at them?”

“You saw how long it takes to cast a spell,” I reminded everyone. “We don’t really have any prepared ahead of time…

Amylia glared at Conrad and snapped, “Stop that right this instant. Don’t make me hurt you. Please don’t force me to hurt you.”

Conrad just laughed, demanding, “You and what army?”

“I may not have any tokens at hand,” Amylia stated grimly. “But I still have my talent.”

When Conrad charged at her again, she jumped back and gestured towards him. Suddenly, Conrad’s hair burst into flame and he began swatting at it, screaming in a panic. Amylia stared at him with a pained look on her face as well as one of guilt.

Suddenly, a woman yelled out, “Invoke!”

I turned and saw two of our kidnappers running towards us, the man and woman whose names I didn’t know. The ground rumbled around us after she’d activated her token and suddenly a giant hand reached out of the ground, appearing to be made of dirt, stone, and grass. It grabbed for Dr. Merchant who leaped away.

Conrad had put out the fire in his hair and charged at Amylia again, suddenly lashing out with his hand and hitting Kaylie. There was a crunching sound and the bird went flying, hitting the ground and remaining there. Jakes screamed and flew to Kaylie’s side. I snarled and jumped at the troll, trying to slash at him with my claws though they had little effect against his thick hide.

“Damn you have big hooters,” Conrad exclaimed, grabbing one of my breasts and squeezing painfully. I dropped to my knees in pain and he grabbed hold of one of my wings, picking me up by my wing and swinging me around. There was a loud cracking sound while I simultaneously felt agony shooting down my entire wing and shoulder. “Bye bye birdy…” And with that, Conrad threw me.

“Erin,” Amylia cried out, running to my side.

“We need to get to the trees,” Darek yelled, pointing away from the yard.

“Damn,” Trey snarled, looking around in helpless frustration. “Why couldn’t I be a dragon instead of a mermaid?”

“Don’t try to fight them,” Amylia yelled to us. “Just run… Get away…”

“Just give up,” Conrad said. “Please don’t make me hurt you anymore. I don’t want to but I will if you make me.”

I staggered to my feet, grimacing from the burning agony of my shattered wing. I quickly looked to Conrad and then the other two sorcerers joining him. Amylia had reminded me of a resource that I’d forgotten all about. I still had my own talent. With that, I activated it, pushing the effect to the woman. She froze and dropped to her knees as her body transformed and her clothes became painfully tight on her.

“Damn,” Traci exclaimed, staring at the now very busty woman. “How in the world did you do that? And can you do it to me?”

“My talent,” I said with a grimace, noticing that Amylia was giving me a look of surprise. Of course, she knew what my talent was but not that it mutated a little when I was in succubus form.

“Rebecca,” the male sorcerer exclaimed to his companion. “Are you all right?”

“I’m fine Tyler,” she responded with a grimace of pain as she struggled with her now far too tight bra. “Just get that monster…”

The man…Tyler turned his attention to me and screamed, “Invoke!”

A moment later, there was a red mist around me and within a second I began to feel a burning pain all along my skin. It started strong but only grew stronger, feeling as though my very skin was on fire. I screamed in agony but then my throat began to burn and only a gurgling sound came out.

“ERIN,” Amylia yelled with a look of horror on her face as I collapsed to my knees.

I saw my arm which was covered with large blistered and bleeding sores. As I watched, the blisters popped and revealed new sores while the other sores grew larger and deeper, revealing muscle and even a little bone. My entire body was overwhelmed with an indescribable agony. In desperation, I tried getting up and moving, but it was no good. I could barely move at all. And when I caught a brief glimpse of my wings, I saw that the membranes had large holes through them which were growing even larger.

There were screams of shock, horror and rage from all around me but I was in such a daze that I could barely absorb them. Then something tickled my mind and drew my attention, someone crying out my name in horror that I never would have expected. It was Monica’s voice.

I managed to force my attention to the source of Monica’s voice and I saw her standing a distance away, staring at me with a look of horror. “What are you doing?” Monica demanded of Tyler and Rebecca, looking frantic. “You can’t do that to someone… What kind of monster are you?”

“Get away,” Tyler snapped at her. “You’re only here because of Marcus. Don’t get in the way…”

“Gregor will want them alive if possible,” Rebecca said. “But it looks like we’ll have to lose a couple…”

“Oh my God,” Monica cried out, tears running down my eyes. “I didn’t want that…”

“Shut up,” Tyler exclaimed, suddenly hitting Monica and knocking her down. “What are you…some kind of monster sympathizer?”

I was vaguely aware of Amylia trying to look me over but afraid of touching me. Dr. Merchant stood in front of me, crouched down and snarling as he tried acting as my bodyguard.

Suddenly, I felt something else…something different. A strange cooling sensation bubbled up from inside and spread over my body, soothing the pain and leaving me almost numb instead. This was followed by a surge of extra energy and renewed strength which flooded through me all at once.

“No,” I whispered, finding that I could move again, though not very well.

I struggled to get back to my feet, finding that it was getting easier with every passing moment. My eyes went to my arm and I gasped, realizing that my wounds were healing up and closing right before my eyes. I stretched my wings, noticing that the holes in the membrane were gone and the bones were once again unbroken.

A second later, I realized that the massive reservoir of sexual energy that I’d gained from Traci was what was fueling this healing surge. The energy was almost all gone but I was nearly back to normal. However, I was growing very hungry.

Monica was back on her feet and glaring furiously at Tyler, whose clothes all began to dissolve and vanish. The pouch on his belt vanished as well, dropping all of his tokens to the ground. He snarled in anger and grabbed Monica by the throat, looking as though he was going to choke her.

“Let her go,” I commanded, going straight to Tyler.

“What the…?” Tyler exclaimed, dropping Monica as he turned to look at me with a look of shock on his face. “You were dead…”

Without another word, I grabbed hold of Tyler, holding him too tight to get away. Then I gave him a long and passionate kiss, sticking my tongue down his throat so far that he was gagging and unable to breath. Only then did I begin to feed.

Until now, I’d avoided feeding on the sexual energy inside of a person, only taking the excess energy that they were radiating. The only exception had been Traci, who generated so much sexual energy that it had been like a bottomless well. I fed on Tyler’s energy greedily, finding that it was strong, sweet, and oh so delicious, though still not in the same range as what I’d gained from Traci.

“What are you doing?” Trey demanded. “You’re supposed to hit him…not kiss him.”

“I think this is probably worse,” Amylia said grimly.

“TYLER,” Rebecca screamed furiously. “Kill that thing…”

A moment later, I finished every last bit of Tyler’s sexual energy and dropped him motionless to the ground, completely drained but still alive. As I did this, my succubus instincts told me what this would mean for him. Tyler would be exhausted for some time, but more than that, I’d absorbed every ounce of sexual energy he had. There was no longer any left to regenerate or replenish itself. From now on, he would never be able to get it up again. He would never be able to father children. He would never have a sexual fantasy or any interest in sex again. For all practical purposes, I’d just neutered him.

“Delicious,” I whispered, turning my attention to Rebecca who stared at me with a look of horror.

“Invo…,” Rebecca started, only to get hit on the side of her head by a furious pixie. Jake had interrupted her before she could activate her token so now it was my turn.

I held up Vera and said, “Engage.”

Rebecca gasped, then suddenly began scratching her arms frantically. I just grinned at finally being able to see my itching spell in action, though admittedly, I rather would have had something a little more dangerous.

“From now on,” I promised myself, suddenly realizing the advantage of using jewelry as tokens, “I am NOT gonna go anywhere without more tokens.”

Rebecca held her token up again and tried to focus but she was suddenly hit from behind by Traci. Amylia joined her, yanking the token out of her hand and then taking the tokens from her belt.

“You won’t need these,” Amylia said.

Conrad snarled and came towards me, ignoring the sabertooth tiger that had leapt on his back. Thanks to Tyler’s unwilling donation, I was feeling a lot better, but I was still tired and feeling achy after what I’d just gone through.

“Come and get me, big boy,” I taunted him in my most seductive tone.

Conrad gave me a lust filled look, responding to the lust aura that I was pushing out. I just hoped it would keep him distracted. When he reached for me, I lashed out and kicked him between the legs with all of my enhanced strength. He collapsed to the ground like a rag doll.

“Holy shit,” the tiny Jake exclaimed. “You took him out with one kick…”

“A well aimed kick,” Amylia said. Then she said, “Kaylie…”

We all turned to where Kaylie had been knocked to the ground, seeing that there was small bonfire around her body. Suddenly, a golden phoenix flew out of the fire, seeming to be in perfect health.

“Glad to see you’re all right,” I said with a sigh of relief.

“I didn’t know you could do that,” Amylia said, giving me an odd look. “I thought you were dead…”

“I didn’t know I could either,” I admitted, knowing that my surprise healing ability had saved my life. Then I turned to Monica, who was watching me with a slightly nervous look. I sighed, wincing slightly as I stretched my newly healed wings and told her, “I’m not as scary as I look.”

Monica stared at me for a moment before saying, “You don’t really look all that scary.” Then she paused for several long seconds before saying, “Actually, right now you look kind of pathetic…”

“I just can’t win,” I said with a roll of my eyes.

“I suggest we leave,” Amylia said grimly. “You all should have run off when I told you to. You would have been able to escape…” Then she paused and looked us all over before adding, “But it was very brave of you all.” Then she looked at Monica and told her, “I suggest again that you come with us. After this, I don’t think you will be welcome here any longer.”

Monica hesitated a moment, quickly glancing at each of us before she reluctantly nodded agreement. “Okay.”

“This way,” Darek called out, waving for us to follow as she ran to the trees.

As we entered the cluster of trees, the branches and roots began to move, closing the path behind us and making it more difficult for anyone to follow. Darek might not have done much during the fight, but the little dryad was definitely showing her use now.