Jungle Babe — In the Clutches of Cernunnos (8 of 13) (2025)

Jungle Babe and Anna had been making decent progress; they hadleft the clearing with ample motivation to move as quickly aspossible, and the forest had finally, mercifully begun to thin. Theywere approaching the outer edge of the hilly terrain making up thecentral spine of the Beast’s realm, and here the grotesque trees weregiving way to rocky outcroppings and a gravelly soil. Without theoppressive omnipresence of those pale, twisted shapes laden with theirweb of flaccid vines, Jungle Babe had actually started feeling herspirits starting to rise. It would be far too easy to let the respiteof finally escaping the hellish nightmare-scape of the corrupted woodslull them into a sense of false security though; they had to remainalert, ever-vigilant. They were entering the heart of the monster’srealm now, and there was no telling what horrors awaited them.

But just as she felt the spring re-enter her step and the fire ofdetermination stoke itself brighter in her chest, there was a suddenrumbling in the skies above. Dark clouds had gathered overhead, andlightning flashed in the creases of the tumultuous roil. Dana felt thefirst few droplets splash in warning against her bare skin,surprisingly cold.

A moment later, and it really began to rain.

Jungle Babe sighed, closing her eyes and raising her face to greetthe falling shower. She shivered a little as the breeze picked up, butwelcomed the sensation of the cool water against her pale skin. Maybeit was just the exertion from pushing through the forest, or somelingering effect from her encounter with that bitch of a Bat, butshe’d been feeling increasingly winded, her body almost feverish. Therain was almost soothing.

She was reminded of the countless times she’d experienced the samething deep in her beloved jungles, where the heat and humidity couldget so overwhelming that even breathing seemed an obstacle. But thenthe rains would come, and for a few precious moments she could enjoyfeeling the world cleansing itself.

I could use that right about now, she thought ruefully to herself;a good downpour, a really solid soaking...if only to get the oilycling of the forest mist off her skin.

A little behind her, she heard Anna yelp in alarm, and looked backto see her trying to shield the ancient, leather-bound book shecarried with her own hunched body. She frowned, feeling a twinge ofregret. As much as she might enjoy it, there was no way they couldstay exposed for long. For one, that book was about their only shot atvictory. And secondly...

Dana looked at her young companion, and found herselfalmost...admiring how the last few hours had changed her sodrastically. Without the large-ish sweater and leggings to mask it,Anna’s lithe form looked positively stunning. The girl certainly had afigure! But more than that though, Dana found herself feeling more andmore outright respect for her tenacity. The things they had endured,and the awfulness she had seen firsthand, would have sent almostanyone else into a cowering ball, and yet this girl, as young andinexperienced as she was, seemed to thrive under duress.

Even now, with her rain-soaked hair falling into her eyes andplastering what little remained of her clothing to her body, shewasn’t preparing to bolt for cover. She was watching Dana, waiting forher to make a decision. Jungle Babe felt sure that if she insistedthey press on, the young woman would agree without a singlecomplaint.

Young, strong, and brave to a fault, Dana observed quietly; whatmore could she ask for?

“We need to find shelter,” Jungle Babe remarked, “Wait out thestorm. With all these outcroppings, there ought to be someplacenearby.”

Anna nodded, and the two quickly made for the hilly rocks. Atfirst, Dana feared that she was mistaken, that they were still too farfrom the larger range to find anything suitable and that they would beforced to retreat back into the trees, but after a few harried, wetmoments, she heard Anna shout for her attention.

“Up there!” she said, gesturing up a hill close by. Jungle Babefollowed her motions and saw the dark opening in the crags. Theyswitched course, striding up the embankment towards the gap. The rainwas coming down even harder now, making the steep slope trecherouslyslick, but they managed it with only a few brief slips. By the timethey reached the summit and plunged into the opening, they were bothsoaked to the bone, and breathing hard.

The gap opened up into a small cave, maybe eight feet high and justa little over half that again at its widest point, but it was dry, andthat was the most important thing. Anna stumbled inside, dropping theheavy book as she collapsed to her hands and knees, totally out ofbreath.

Jungle Babe fell to a knee beside her, placing a steadying hand onher shoulder. “You ok?”

“Um, yeah,” Anna gasped, smiling wanly, “I’m—I’m just not in shapelike you are. God, that climb was a bitch.”

Dana found the girl’s spirit contagious. She chuckled, helping herto her knees. “You did great, and you were carrying that giganticbook. Lose the handicap and you might have beat me up here.” Shenodded at the fallen volume, “Is that thing ok? Did the rain get toit?”

Anna crawled over, and gingerly examined the ancient leathertext. After running her hands cautiously along the covers, spine, andunclasping the lock to flip through a few pages, she exhaled, clearlyrelieved. “It seems ok. A little damp, but it’s been preservedridiculously well, and the clasp held it together tight enough thatthe water doesn’t seem to have done much to the pages.” She nodded,setting it back on the ground, “I’d like to review it a bit before westart off again. I need to make sure I understand the incantationGrandfather told us about.”

“And you think you can do it?” Dana asked, hoping her measured tonedidn’t betray the uncertainty she felt. Anna didn’t answer right away;the girl’s face had become a silent mask.

“I...think so,” she said finally, her shoulders slumping. “I’vebeen taught this stuff all my life. I’ve even managed a few of thesimpler incantations. Nothing major, of course, but a few smallspells; for good luck, to help a sick child, that sort ofthing. I...um, I’ve never had to seal a demon away before...”

Seeing the self-doubt starting to worm its way into the poor girl’sresolve, Dana gently pulled her up by her shoulders, and looked hersquare in the eyes.

“You’re a hell of a lot stronger than you realize,” she saidsoftly, “If there’s a way to do it, I am certain you’ll figure itout. I believe in you, Anna.”

The naked praise left the young woman speechless. She blinked,blushing furiously, and had to look away. “T-thanks. I’ll do myb-best.”

The wind was picking up outside, and even though the cave waspartially protected from the gusts, the temperature was still droppingprecipitously. Anna was starting to shiver, and Jungle Babe herselffelt the cold starting to creep into her bones. She glanced around thecave; there was some underbrush that had been blown in over the years,but nothing substantial enough to build a fire with. Besides, it wouldbe too risky; a flame could be seen for miles, and the last thing shewanted to do was to telegraph their position to anyone, or anything,roaming the area. They’d just have to make do without one.

“Come on, let’s get away from the entrance,” she said, usheringAnna further into the cave, “That wind is biting.”

They sat with their backs against the cool stones, listening to thewind howl, hearing the rain splatter against the rocks outside. Anna’sshivering was only getting worse, and Dana herself was starting totremble. She rubbed her arm, but it didn’t help much. Her costume waslike a heat sink, leeching the warmth from her, and Anna was wearingsignificantly more by comparison.

She cleared her throat, “Um...we ought to get out of these wetclothes. They’re doing us more harm than good at this point.”

Anna’s head snapped up, her eyes going wide. “W-what? I mean, um,are you s-s-sure?”

“’Fraid so,” she sighed, standing up. Trying to maintain herdignity, she turned around, and unfastened her sodden bra beforeslipping out of the rest of her costume. She wrung them out beforelaying them flat against the rocks. All the while, she was mindful ofAnna’s gaze following her every movement, and felt again that spark ofwarmth she’d felt for the girl after their ordeal in theclearing. Knowing that Anna was watching her, that she was looking ather every curve, made her feel...excited, almost nervous.

God, get a hold of yourself, Dana, she frowned. Stay focused. Youhave a mission to worry about.

when she noticed Anna still hadn’t moved, Jungle Babe motioned forher to get up. “Come on, I’m not kidding. The last thing you want isfor hypothermia to set in. If it makes you feel any better, I’ll turnaround.” She did. “See?”

“I-I’m sorry,” Anna murmured sheepishly, slowly getting to herfeet. “I know it’s s-s-silly, I’m just not u-used to being n-nakedaround other people. Even—even after...you know...all that...”

Dana felt for her embarrassment, but could only nod quietly inacknowledgement. She kept herself facing the stone wall while Annadisrobed, listening as the woman removed her makeshift top, and theremaining tatters of her leggings, before wringing them out just asDana had done. She heard a brief shuffle of activity before Annacalled out, “Ok, you can turn around now.”

Dana did, and saw her huddled back against the wall, knees to herchest, hugged close in a tight embrace. Her auburn hair was a mess,and spilled around her face wildly. She was blushing even morefuriously than she had been a moment ago, if that was evenpossible. She seemed to be trying to focus on something—anything—otherthan the statuesque, blonde Amazon standing naked before her, but hereyes kept furtively darting back.

And if she was totally honest with herself, Dana felt a twinge ofpride at how the girl was reacting. And for her part, Dana foundherself appreciating Anna, too; the girl really was pretty cute.

Jungle Babe returned to her seat, sitting across the cave fromAnna. They tried to pass the time with small talk, but given recentevents, they soon both fell silent; wrestling with their own feelingsseemed to be distracting enough, and the silence was actually kind ofnice. Dana focused on her breathing, and concentrated on getting theblood flowing through her extremities. She’d learned a long time agohow she could best deal with a chill, and went about it in anabsent-minded, almost mechanical way.

Anna, however, had no such experience to draw on. Despite losingher wet clothing, the poor girl still couldn’t seem to shake theshivers. Even curled into a ball, she was trembling quiteterribly. She made an effort to keep her discomfort to herself, butpretty soon Dana couldn’t help but take notice. She looked at Annawith concern.

“Still can’t get warm?”

“It’s n-nothing,” she replied, trying to still the chatter in herteeth. “I just—I just can’t stop s-sh-shaking...”

Poor thing, the blonde heroine thought, she’s really trying to bestoic, but this is too hard for her. Well...maybe she could help.

“Come here a sec,” she said, rising to her feet and pulling aconfused Anna over to her. “Ssh, hey, just relax. You just need towarm up some, and you’ll be ok.”

She stretched them out on the ground, positioning Anna so that shewas between Dana and the cave wall, and pressing up lengthwise againstthe young woman’s back. She wrapped her arms around Anna’s torso,holding her arms to her chest, and felt the girl stiffen.

“Um...is this...are you sure this is ok...?”

“Just relax. I won’t bite,” she said, trying to reassure her. “Bodyheat is about the best I can do right now, since it isn’t safe tobuild a fire. Does...does this make you uncomfortable?”

“N-no!” Anna answered, just a little too hastily, “I-I mean, it’sfine, it’s...it’s kind of nice.”

That made Dana shiver, but not from the cold. She pulled Anna justa little closer. She closed her eyes a minute, just trying to breath,feeling the girl laying against her, smelling the light scent of herhair. She swallowed hard. God, why couldn’t they be someplace else?Anywhere but this wretched place?

They lay in silence like that for a while, just spooning in thedark. Presently Anna’s trembling began to subside, and she did startto relax, easing against Jungle Babe’s body and drawing from itsheat. After a while, during which Dana actually started to doze,Anna’s voice brought her back to attention.

“Does...does the cold not bother you?”

Dana had to smile. She patted Anna’s arm sympathetically. “Don’tfeel so bad. It’s something you learn to deal with, especially whenyou’re stuck in the jungle by yourself a lot.”

“I can’t imagine it gets very cold there,” Anna murmuredthoughtfully. Behind her, she felt Jungle Babe suddenly shift, andsensed something was amiss. “Dana? Did...did I say somethingwrong...?”

“No, nothing like that,” Dana sighed, hugging her reassuringly. “Ijust...you reminded me of something that happened a long timeago. Actually, it was the first time I met Bren—I mean, MissAmericana...”

“Oh...?” Anna asked, the quiet curiosity clearly evident in hertone. Jungle Babe sighed, weighing the issue in her mind...the storywasn’t particularly pleasant, and she didn’t want to scare the girlneedlessly. But they didn’t have much else to do, and the tellingwould help her stay awake.

“Well, it kind of happened like this,” she began, the memoriescoming easier than she thought they would, “A long time ago, maybe forthe first time ever...winter came to the jungle.”

I guess it’s important for you to know that this happenedearly in my career; I hadn’t been ‘Jungle Babe’ for very long, and Ihad a lot to learn about the business of being a ‘super hero’. Evennow, the terms just kind of sound odd to me; I am who I am, and I dowhat I do, not because I’m out to be a ‘hero’, but because I can’timagine not doing it. It’s a compulsion, almost; a state ofexistence. I once listened to a psychologist lecture about how allso-called super heroes actually suffer from serious personalitydisorders; I don’t know about that, but looking back at some of therisks I took, I have to admit that, at the very least, I wasunrealistically optimistic about things. But I was young, naive, andhad more spunk than skill. That’s part of what got me in such troublein the first place.

Much of my early years was spent exclusively in the South Americanjungles. It’s where I got my name; the local papers needed somethingcatchy to describe the wild woman who was breaking up narcotics ringsand shutting down whole companies for illegal environmental practices,and one of their more colorful columnists coined the name. JungleBabe. You can imagine, at first I was utterly aghast; it’s not exactlythe kind of thing that inspires fear in criminals, or that can rallythe oppressed. I learned quickly though that, in the old, fearful,misogynistic circles of the world, it was often better to becompletely underestimated than it was to be feared. Men who thought ofme as little more than a sex object were seldom prepared for theabsolute beating I delivered them, and I can’t say I didn’t take somesatisfaction from their stupefied looks as this ‘babe’ decimated wholegroups of armed, well-trained mercenaries.

I was on a roll. I had just finished linking a local politicianwith a massive underground trafficking ring, and I had enough evidencethat even his connections in the media were unable to shove it underthe rug. He was deposed, thrown in prison, and his entire operationshut down. I couldn’t conceive at the time that my victory would be soshort lived; the area is a cesspool of corruption, and as soon as Idecapitated one warlord, it was like two more sprang up in hisplace. Rivals would swoop in and carve up old territory, and prettysoon, the whole thing would start up again. It would take me years torealize that some fights are best won off the battlefield, but at thetime I was driven to hound these men to extinction.

I had contacts, friends who I could trust, who fed me informationabout the goings-on in the criminal underworld. It was through one ofthese people that I first heard about the Senator’s wife.

Senator McGuiness was something of a local hero around the EmpireCity area at the time; a local police captain who made his namefighting the mob well before costumed crusaders became the norm, hewas well-liked, respected, and more than anything, actually committedto making things better. He was particularly focused on the suddenrash of human trafficking that was cropping up around Empire City, andleveraged his position to secure money and support to bolster thelocal law enforcement. It was effective enough that he made some verypowerful enemies, not the least of which was a particularly dangerouscriminal that went by the moniker Sable Myst.

What?

You’ve heard of her?

Well, I can’t say I’m surprised. She has a spiteful streak a milewide, and seems to have some kind of weird personal grudge againstcostumed heroes in general. If I had known any of that at the time, Iprobably would’ve been a lot more cautious, but being as focused as Iwas on my immediate surroundings, I confess that I really had no ideawho I was dealing with.

That was going to change, very, very quickly.

Sable had suffered particularly costly losses at the hands of theSenator’s efforts, and several of her highest-ranking thugs had beencaught and locked up. Right or wrong, she seemed to take the Senator’sintrusion as a personal affront, despite being only one of severalprominent criminals to feel the pinch from his targeted taskforces.

What can I say, the woman is vindictive.

She wanted to hit the man in as painful and personal a way as shecould, and to that end, she staged a daring—some might saybrazen—intrusion into the Senator’s well-guarded estate, and escapedwith his young wife. The operation might have been utterly insanegiven how high-profile it was, but if Sable Myst is anything, she’s anabsolutely meticulous planner. She had an escape plan worked out tothe smallest detail, and before anyone could coordinate anythingresembling an effective response, she and the senator’s wife were longgone. They fled Empire City, burying their trail, making for morefriendly territory from which to issue her demands.

It just so happened that the bolt hole she chose was an oldhacienda nestled in a hotspot of criminal activity I’d been watchingfor months.

My informants tipped me off that something big was happening whenthe local port saw the freight ship arrive almost unannounced. Thiswasn’t that unusual; many of the narcotics rings used the ships toferry their goods along the river, but this one stood out for the highnumber of foreigners aboard. They were clearly out of their element,electing to ignore the local town as much as possible and making theirway immediately to the remote estate. I got word that someone had seenthem with a young white woman, seemingly detained against her will. Iwasn’t sure what was going on exactly, but my gut was telling mesomething was seriously amiss. With barely any other information, Itrekked through the jungle to the rumored safe house.

I had no way of knowing it, but I was about to walk right into awhole lot of trouble.

The outskirts of the hacienda were bordered by a small woodenfence, more to discourage stray wildlife than to act as any kind ofreal barrier. As surrounded as it was by the thick forest, a tallfence wouldn’t have made much of a difference; all an intruder wouldhave to do would be to locate a tree high enough to bound over it.

It was in just one such tree that Jungle Babe was perched. Sittingin the shadows of the dense folliage, the tree gave her a perfectvantage point to survey the property. A remnant of old colonial money,the house was sizeable, with a detached garage and a smaller series ofoutbuildings to house the servants and to store farming equipment. Alarge section of the land was set aside, ostensibly to support somekind of a personal garden, but it had gone to fallow over years ofdisuse. Whoever the new owner was, he was clearly disinterested inreviving the property’s plantation roots.

A winding dirt path led from the narrow road, up a light embankmentto the house proper. A ramshackle structure resembling a pillbox morethan anything else had been erected by the road, with a plank of woodset up as a hinged gate. The sun was setting swiftly, casting theentirety of the grounds in brilliant reds and oranges, while shadowschased longer and longer paths along the neglected grass.

In fifteen minutes dusk would pass, and in another fifteen it wouldbe night proper; the sun set so rapidly in this part of the world thatthe transition was sometimes startlingly fast. It had taken her longerto get here than she’d expected, and she only had so much daylightleft to surmise who exactly it was she was dealing with.

She’d spotted six men so far; two of them manned the front gate,and two were slowly walking at opposite points around the squareperimeter. Three jeeps, splattered with dried dirt from the journeyout of town, were parked in a neat row beside the servicegarage. Evidently the doors either no longer worked, or were simplytoo much trouble to deal with. The last two guards stood by the frontdoor of the main building, a beautiful adobe structure with protrudingrafters and covered in brilliant crimson roof tiles. It too had falleninto disrepair, and in many places the plaster was cracking badly. Itclearly had been a jewel in its day, and perhaps might be again, butfor now, the grime-flecked windows lent a gauzy, drugged appearance tothe light flickering from within.

So at least six sentries outside, and who knows how many morewithin. Jungle Babe smirked. This should be a cake walk.

The men were almost uniformly overdressed for the humidity; theywore heavy duty, tactical pants lined with pockets, and while a fewstill wore dark vests of similar make, the majority had stripped awaythe heavy jacket to wallow miserably in their plain shirts, soaked insweat. They clutched listlessly at the assault rifles dangling fromtheir shoulders, shuffling impatiently as they stoodwatch. Occasionally one would slap loudly at his arm or neck in apathetic attempt to ward off the massive mosquitoes that were eatingthem alive, a sharp curse carrying to her ears over the heavy, stillair.

They lacked the accents of the locals; in fact, although they weresuitably crude, their English was surprisingly smooth. They could havebeen plucked from any major city in the United States.

So the reports were right; these were clearly foreigners, but whowere they, and why were they here? The local drug cartel wasnotoriously ruthless, and would not tolerate any intrusion by a rivalgang. They would have come in screaming in cars and jeeps and onmotorcycles, shooting first and asking questions never. So clearlythis wasn’t drugs, but you didn’t arm yourself like this if you werejust interested in poaching. Dana thought back to the photo Escalbanhad showed her, of the pretty woman being muscled into a waitingcar. Was it a kidnapping? This seemed incredibly elaborate for justthat, but who could tell how the mind of a sociopath worked?

In a few minutes, it would all be over anyway.

The sun had dipped to a ragged, gleaming scar just over thehorizon, and already the night insects were starting up theirchorus. Moving as silently as a cat, Jungle Babe dropped from herperch and began circling around the compound, keeping mental track ofwhere the two perimeter sentries were by anticipating their walkingspeed. She cut back to the fence after covering a quarter or so of theproperty edge and dropped into a crouch, huffing quietly. She glancedto her right, searching in the gloom, hoping that her instincts wereright.

Sure enough, as soon as the darkness had gathered sufficiently, shesaw the shaft of a flashlight blink into illumination fifty yards orso away. The sentry had switched on his torch, letting it sweep backand forth in front of him. He was walking away from her, which meanthis twin would be just on the other side of the house. She had a fewminutes before he would be in view of the rear of the building. Takinga breath, she glanced once more to make sure the path was clear, thencharged across the open ground, heading straight for the house.

It took her barely three counts to cover the distance. She droppedto the ground beneath a darkened window, pressing her back against thewall. Gingerly, she raised herself up until she could peer over thesill into the room beyond. It was completely empty, and totallydark. Checking once more to make sure the guards were out of sight,she reached up and found the window catch, giving it an exploratorypull.

To her relief, she felt it give way. The house was old enough thatlocks on the windows were probably absent, and clearly the new ownercared next to nothing for upkeep. Once again, she quietlycongratulated herself on her accurate deduction, swinging the paneopen and slipping inside. The window barely squeaked, even when shereached to pull it back into place.

She dropped to the hardwood floor, falling totally still. Shelistened.

The door to the hallway was shut, and from beneath it a bar oflight illuminated the dusty floor. In the rooms beyond, she could hearmovement, people walking about, and distant, muffled male voices. Itwas also there, crouched in the darkness, that Jungle Babe got herfirst hint that not everything was as it seemed.

The house was surprisingly...cold. Outside the temperature wasthick and stifling, but here, it was pleasant, almost chilly. Theproperty was far too old to have a working A/C system, and the houseitself could not account for the difference. She frowned,puzzled. Maybe the boss person had a thing for personal comfort?Seemed odd, but ultimately not that important. She moved across theroom to the door, pausing for a moment to be sure she didn’t hearanyone on the other side.

When she felt certain enough to open the door, she very quietlyturned the handle, and peeked through the gap.

The room beyond was a large common living space, sparsely furnishedand laden with dust. The worn floorboards were crisscrossed infootprints left in the layers of fine white particles, and severalindustrial-looking lamps were hung from hooks around the chamber. Inthe corner she could see a small generator unit humming quietly,ostensibly providing the electricity for the lighting units, and maybefor whatever air conditioning system was maintaining thetemperature. These were all just incidental details though; JungleBabe’s attention drawn immediately to the small card table set up inthe center of the room, and the three men seated around it.

Dressed similarly to their compatriots outside, their utilitarianvests and dark clothing, along with the heavy rifles leaning next totheir chairs, immediately gave them away as hired mercenarytypes. Dana had dealt with their kind countless times before, and felther confidence swell; no matter how fast they were with their weapons,she was faster still. All three men were embroiled in a heated cardgame, their conversation punctuated by muffled swears of protest andcrude jibes as hands were played out and bluffs were called. None ofthem were paying the least amount of attention; she had the element ofsurprise on her side.

She crouched low, coiling the muscles in her legs and preparing toburst into the room, when she heard another door open and shut,followed by the sharp rap of booted steps on the wood floor. Shestopped, and listened.

“Did the boss get bored with you already, Matt?” one of the menquipped, sneering at the new arrival. Jungle Babe cracked the doorever so slightly, trying to get a better look. The man he addressed asMatt strode easily up to the table, his uniform distinct from theothers in its almost flawless arrangement. Closely cropped dark haircrowned his head, his face an exercise in quiet stoicism. If onelooked past the slightly flattened nose, clearly broken at some pointin the past, the man was not at all unattractive; in fact, the steelyeyes and firm jaw, and the lips set in an almost preternaturallyserene smirk, made him oddly compelling. Dana found herself watchinghim just a little closer than the others.

When Matt didn’t respond immediately, the muscle at the tablegrinned, “Maybe you ought to give someone else a turn? Let a real manhelp her work out some of that stress?” He gestured rudely at hiscrotch. The other two chuckled coarsely.

Dana blinked. Their boss was...a woman?

Matt, though, seemed utterly indifferent. He rounded the table,ambling towards the merc sneering at him through rows of crooked,broken teeth. “You know, Brock, that might not be a terrible idea,” hereplied, his voice easy and clear. “The boss usually can’t stand beingaround men, and we both know you don’t have any fucking balls.”

It took a second for the smooth delivery of the insult to registerthrough Brock’s thick brow, but all at once, his small, dark eyesglowered in fury, his face contorting into an ugly mask as he made toleap to his feet. In a flurry of movement so quick she barely was ableto follow, Matt’s hand lashed out, catching Brock’s throat in avicious pincer as he rose and twisting cruelly. The larger man barelymanaged to choke out a cry of alarm before he was spun and slammedback into the table, his hands flying up to claw uselessly at thegloved hand crushing his windpipe. The other two leapt away from thesudden flare of violence, looking at each other uneasily.

“H-hey Matt, he was just kidding,” one of them offered, his voicethin. The other nodded quickly.

“Yeah, Brock’s an idiot, and the boredom is getting to him,” hisblack companion grunted, holding out an upturned palm. “He didn’t meananything by it.”

On the table, Brock was sputtering, spittle flecking a face thatwas rapidly changing from red to a deep, ugly purple.

“I’m usually a patient man,” Matt sighed, coal-cold eyes peeringdown at the blubbering thug like he might regard a particularly fat,interesting bug, “But your rudeness is grating, and your usefulnessquestionable.” He tightened his fingers, and Brock began to spasm andgurgle, “I ought to just kill you to spare us all the annoyance, butwe’re short-handed, and I’m not sure the boss would appreciate themess...”

He released the man’s throat, spinning him off the table anddropping him to the floor. Brock coughed and spat, clutching at hisbruised neck as he rocked on his knees. Matt flexed his gloved hand,and peered at the other two.

“We’re leaving in three hours for the drop off. Make sureeverything is ready to go.” He stepped around the table, stoppingbriefly next to the goon on the floor. “Change your pants. You smelllike piss.”

Without another word, the lead mercenary vanished back through oneof the doors, leaving the men to exhale loudly at his departure. Brockwas still hacking sickly on the floor, but the other two had nosympathy. The black man muttered something under his breath and begangathering up the cards that had scattered across the floor, while theone with the thin voice growled at Brock.

“What the fuck did you think was going to happen? Christ, maybe youreally are as dumb as you look. Just be glad it was Rian and not theboss; I don’t think she would have let you live.”

He stormed off, shaking his head, vanishing down an adjacenthallway. Dana retreated into the dark of the room, ducking back as hepassed by her door. She ran through the scenarios in her head,thinking quickly. The drop-off they were talking about, it had to havesomething to do with that woman. So it was a kidnapping. She felt herblood starting to boil. She had to move quickly, and strike while shestill had some element of surprise.

There was no way to do this stealthily; the house was too small,and she was about to make a lot of noise. If she was lucky, she’d haveall of them disabled before their leader came running.

She glanced back through the crack in the door; Brock was stillkneeling, massaging his throat. The other man was now busy packing upseveral large duffel bags against the wall, his back to her. The thirdone still hadn’t returned from wherever it was he’d disappearedto.

Well, now was as good a time as any.

She took a breath, and let it out slowly, visualizing what she wasabout to do. Then, in an explosion of movement, she threw open thedoor and hurtled into the room beyond.

Brock snapped his head up in shock when the door swung wide,revealing a vision of blonde fury charging towards him at fullspeed. Beady eyes widened in utter bewilderment before Dana smashedher knee into the middle of his face. He gurgled somethingunintelligible as he was snapped backwards with a sickening crunch,the force of her blow strong enough to raise his considerable bulkseveral feet off the floor. His partner whirled, eyes flashing wide,and reached instinctively for a weapon that simply was not there; hisrifle lay on the floor, knocked aside in the earlier scuffle. Hebarely managed to utter a curse when Dana swung her leg, catching histemple with her heel and sending him spinning.

Two down, she thought to herself, just as a series of rapid stepsbegan to approach from the hall.

“Brock, Lucas, what the fuck is—” the third one started, joggingback into the room. His mouth fell open when he spotted Dana, a lookof total incredulity on his face. Still, despite his shock, histraining kicked in and he instinctively reached for his weapon. UnlikeLucas, this one had grabbed his rifle as he’d left, and now swung itup to aim at the vision of ferocity standing before him. She didn’tgive him time to fire. In a blur of motion she made a huge lunge tothe side, rebounding as soon as she landed to leap right towards theunprotected opening of his off-gun arm. She leveraged her forwardmomentum, driving her elbow hard into his ribcage. He doubled over,his face going stark white as the pain and force of drove all the windout of his lungs. Still Jungle Babe was not done; she followed throughwith the motion, turning like a top, and brought her heel straightdown in a wicked axe kick right onto the back of his head.

He collapsed to the ground in a heap, not moving. The whole thinghad taken maybe fifteen seconds, and all three mercenaries were outcold.

“Not bad. That was easier than I—” she started to mutter, rightbefore she heard the click of a hammer being pulled into place.

“Not another move, sweetheart,” came the steely order from behind,“So much as twitch and I’ll put a bullet in the back of yourhead.”

She recognized the voice; the one called Matt, clearly drawn to thesounds of the commotion, had returned, and was now brandishing aweapon at her back. She grit her teeth, cursing her oversight. Thebastard was faster than she’d expected.

“Hands up, if you please,” he said. Slowly, she moved to comply,holding her arms out and straightening up. She felt his eyes on herback, on her scandalously bare legs. She felt herself flush infrustration. “Turn around. Slowly.”

She did as he asked, clenching her jaw. He held the dark sidearmsteady as she turned to face him. It was only when she was fullyrevolved that the stony mask of his face broke into a sardonicsmirk.

“Well. I was told that the jungle was full of dangerous animals,but no one told me to expect anything like you.” He looked her up anddown, appraising the statuesque blonde in the leopard-print bikiniwith an eyebrow raised appreciatively. “Though I don’t think I wouldhave believed them even if they’d told me.”

He gestured with the barrel.

“You got a name, gorgeous?”

Her brow creased, red-painted lips curling in a frown, “How does‘fuck off’ grab you?”

He smiled, almost disarmingly, “Given what you’re wearing, I’llhappily call you whatever you want. But you’ve made a huge mess, andmy boss is going to want a word with you, so why don’t you do us botha favor, and—”

He never got to finish his sentence, because at that moment, thewindow nearest to him exploded inward in a spray of glass, wood, andfuriously flapping feathers.

Matt spun in alarm, training his gun on the sudden burst ofmovement, his mind struggling to make sense of the mass of whirlingcrows that just battered through the windowpane. He fired reflexivelyinto the cawing horde, but was instantly enveloped, raising his armsdefensively around his head as claws and beaks tore and jabbed at hisface.

Jungle Babe sent a mental word of thanks to the birds she’dsummoned, using the distraction to close the distance between her andthe besieged mercenary. He saw her movement, cursing loudly as hemoved to bring his gun back to bear, but in a heartbeat she wascrouched beneath him. She grabbed his wrist, twisting with preciseskill, forcing the gun out of his hands. He reached for a long combatknife strapped to his belt, but the buffet of wings in his face andthe relentless screeching in his ear made it impossible to react. Henever even saw the open-palmed strike that smashed into his jaw,making his teeth crack together and sending his ears ringing. Sheriddled his torso with a series of blows, hitting nerve clusters andareas unprotected by his flak vest. He staggered back, gasping inpain, but still would not go down.

A lot tougher than his friends, Jungle Babe observed, panting, butthat just meant she needed to hit harder.

He surprised her with a savage swing of his fist, but her blows hadleft him disoriented and it went wide. She ducked under the punch,letting it sail over her head, before she caught his wrist andwrenched it behind his back. He snarled in pain, but a second laterher leg swept his own out from under him, and he fell face-first ontothe hard wood floor. She landed lithely on top of him, a knee in thesmall of his back, another pinning his free arm. She twisted his armhard, pulling it between his shoulder blades until he winced. Thecrows fluttered about the room, cawing madly.

“Talk fast, pretty boy, I’m not in the mood for small talk,” shesnapped, “Your men were seen detaining a woman; where is she? Andwhere is your boss?”

Matt struggled to regain control of his agonized breathing, flyingthrough any means he could think of to dislodge her and coming uptotally short. The bitch was insanely fast, and surprisingly strong,and she had him completely at a disadvantage. When he didn’t answerher right away, she yanked on his arm hard enough to send painshooting through his shoulder. He winced, and made to answer, but justthen, he felt something shift in the room. Instantly, the temperaturestarted to plunge; he could feel the heat smoking off his body, hisharried breathing escaping in plumes of thick, heavy white. Sittingastride him, Jungle Babe looked about in surprise, feeling the coldsuddenly envelop every inch of her body. She glared down at Matt inconfusion, the crows cawing in alarm.

He smirked, “Why don’t you ask her yourself?”

Just then, there was a spray of crackling, glittering white thatlanced over her head. Jungle Babe ducked reflexively, feeling a surgeof cold so biting it stung the skin on the back of herneck. Instantly, the incessant cawing fell silent, followed a secondlater by a rain of heavy thumps as the flock of crows dropped to theground, frozen solid.

Dana spun to find the source of the attack, and saw a shapely,silver form standing in the open doorway. The woman wore a silver andblue bodysuit that rendered her every curve in skintight relief. Aslender hand was held up in a dismissive gesture, a flurry ofminiscule diamonds still swirling around her fingers from the blastthat had frozen the birds. Shoulder length silver hair framed a facethat was simultaneously beautiful and startlingly cruel. Dark eyesregarded Dana with a mix of amusement, annoyance, and surprise.

“I’m disappointed, Mr. Rian,” the woman sighed in a voice chiminglike crystal, “Getting beaten by a girl in leopard-skin lingeriedoesn’t exactly bolster my confidence in your abilities.”

“Apologies, ma’am,” he rasped in reply, “I got distracted.”

She eyed Jungle Babe’s starkly revealing outfit with a bemusedsmirk. “I can certainly see why.”

The casualness of their exchange was grating on Dana’s nerves; shepushed past the blaze of questions raging in her mind, and turned tofully face the strange woman standing in the doorway. “Who the hellare you? Where’s the woman?”

At this, the newcomer’s eyebrows peaked, “Woman? You meanMrs. McGuiness?” She laughed, shaking her head. “She’s...occupied, atthe moment, but I’d be more than happy to entertain you; though I mustask that you treat my toys with a little more respect.”

She surveyed the damage, the four downed mercenaries and theabsolute wreck of a room with unnerving calm, almost amusement. Itmade Dana’s skin crawl. This wasn’t the look of a person caughtoff-guard or unprepared; in fact, the way she was looking at her madeJungle Babe feel almost like a prized mare at auction. The womanflexed her hands expectantly, arrogantly striding into the room.

Sensing the blonde heroine’s confusion, the silver-haired womansaid, “I seem to have you at a disadvantage; you have no idea who Iam, do you, ‘Jungle Babe’?”

The way she sneered the name made Dana’s hackles rise, but inside,it felt like she’d been struck a blow. How did this woman know who shewas? What had she gotten herself into?

When Dana didn’t answer immediately, the woman continued, “Youcan’t expect that I’d waltz right into unknown territory without doingsome homework first? Oh, I’m well aware of your recent exploits; someof my favorite clients are incredibly upset with you. I have no doubtthat I could get several of them into a fantastic bidding war overyour lovely self.”

Jungle Babe growled, “I took out four of your guards withoutbreaking a sweat. What makes you think you’ll be any more of achallenge?”

At this the woman paused, pursing her lips in amusement. “Why,because I’m Sable Myst, and I eat little tramps like you forbreakfast.”

The woman lashed out her arm, an arc of blistering white followingbehind, and Dana’s eyes went wide as shards of razor sharp iceexploded towards her. She leapt out of the way, rolling to avoid asecond volley that tracked dangerously close behind, but Sable Mystgave her no quarter. No sooner would she land than another cascade ofglittering shards would be hurled her way, forcing her again tomove. Sable laughed.

“You’re fast! Faster than the reports, anyway! But you can’t dodgeforever!”

Jungle Babe dove into a slide, gauging the distance to the wall, tothe table, to the woman peppering the air with deadly, frozenglass. She counted, waiting for the next volley. She heard the hiss asthe crystals materialized in the air, and leapt to the wall, hard.

“I don’t intend to!” she shouted back, rebounding off the wood toland deftly on the table, before kicking off straight at hersilver-haired attacker. The sudden shift in momentum caught Sable offguard, and she backpedaled to avoid the lash of a kick that nearlytook her head off. Jungle Babe spun with the movement, using it todrive an open palmed strike aimed square at Sable Myst’s chest, butthe villainess was ready.

She gestured upwards with her open hand, and a column of iceerupted from the ground in front of her, absorbing Dana’s strike. Theblonde winced as pain lanced up her arm, the blow sending a spider webof cracks splintering through the ice block. Breathing through thepain, she smashed her knee into the block in the same spot, and itexploded back in chunks of ice and snow.

Sable cursed, throwing her arms up to deflect the debris, but herquarry was already moving, dashing into the swirling cloud. JungleBabe sidestepped a blast of ice so cold it singed. She grimaced at thepain, but she couldn’t back away now; if she let Sable control thedistance and tempo of the fight, she was as good as beaten. She had tokeep the fight in close quarters.

Her rapid movements seemed to be working; she was forcing thesilver-clad villainess back, slowly closing the distance. One goodblow was all she needed to land, and the fight would beover. Relentlessly she feigned and bobbed, anticipating each newflurry and moving away at the last possible second. She could tell heropponent was growing frantic, even panicky, by the way each shotseemed to become more and more haphazard, reactionary.

Time to put an end to this, Dana thought, and braced herself forthe final push.

When Sable launched her next attack, Dana exploded into motion,ducking under the barrage and closing the distance between them withfrightening speed. She heard Sable utter a curse, and saw her handsmove to fire again, but she was faster. Her leg shot out like a spear,catching her adversary’s hip and sending her spinning against thewall. Sable had twisted at the last second though, and the blow wasmore glancing than it should have been, but Dana smelled blood in thewater. She dashed in pursuit.

Sable crashed against the wall, her back to Dana, leaving herdangerously exposed, swaying from the force of her impact. If sheturned to face her, Dana would have any number of possible avenues ofattack, and if she didn’t, she left herself totally vulnerable to astrike from the rear.

The blonde heroine pulled back a fist. She’d won.

As she expected, Sable turned to face her incoming assailant, butright before Dana could deliver the final blow, she saw a flash ofsomething silver in Sable’s hand. She didn’t recognize the small,polished cylinder until she heard the hiss as a jet of swirling pinksmoke blasted her square in the face.

It caught her totally off-guard, and she reacted purely oninstinct, throwing up her hands in a useless attempt to deflect thegas, and gasping in shock—inhaling a lungful of the sweetly fragrantemission before she knew what was happening.

She fell to a knee, coughing furiously. Sable Myst’s crystallinelaughter pierced through her confusion, and at once she could see thelook of distress and panic she’d seen on the villainess’ face had beena ruse. She smirked down at Jungle Babe, idly twirling the pen-sizedcylinder in her slender fingers.

“Well I’ve got to hand it to you, you’re not quite the novice Iexpected you’d be. In a fair fight you might have even managed to beatme; you’re stronger, faster, and a lot more agile than I am.” Hersmile broadened into a wicked smile. “Of course, I don’t playfair.”

“You...bitch...” Dana coughed, struggling to her feet. “This fightisn’t over!”

She lunged at Sable, launching her fist, but something waswrong. Her movements were slowing, growing clumsy, and her punch wasso telegraphed that Sable actually caught her wrist well before theswing could connect. Dana stared in shock at the blue glove grippingher arm, confusion twisting her features, even as a strange, creepingheat began to spread through her body. The warmth felt like it wasradiating from her chest, running down her arms and legs in a cascadethat felt like she was being immersed in rich, warm oil. Despite thestill-frigid temperature of the room, and the clouds of panting vaporthat escaped her red lips, she began feeling flushed, almostfeverish. Her bright blue eyes widened in alarm, meeting Sable’spenetrating stare and sensing only the cold, predatory certaintylurking therein. She tried to pull her arm away, but Sable held herfast.

“T-that gas...” Jungle Babe gasped, suddenly feeling horriblywoozy, almost drunk, “What—what was...that gas...?”

Sable Myst released her arm and shoved her backwards. Shestaggered, the motion too much for her overwhelmed sense ofequilibrium, and she would have lost her footing entirely had she notcollided with something hard and unyielding. Fingers like iron clampedonto her upper arms, pinning them in place, as she was pulled hardagainst the uniformed torso of the man who had snuck up behindher.

“Easy there, gorgeous,” Matt’s voice rasped in her ear, “Don’t wantto fall now.”

“L-let me go!” Dana snapped, struggling in his grip, but it waslike she was two steps removed from what her body was doing; hermovements felt uncoordinated, sluggish, and she couldn’t summon thestrength to break his grip. Something was wrong; something wasterribly, terribly wrong.

Sable Myst slinked forward, assessing her new catch with a slow,roving stare. “Mr. Rian, be a gentleman and help our guest keep herfooting. She’s looking a little lightheaded.”

“Yes Ma’am,” came the curt reply. Sable’s dark eyes bored intoDana’s own.

“As to your question,” the woman breathed, stepping closer, “it’scalled Climax, a product of my own invention with several possiblevectors; ingestion, injection...or inhalation.” She held up theslender silver cylinder before Dana’s frightened eyes. “I find itincredibly useful in dealing with overconfident, costumed fools suchas you.”

“You’re a...c-coward...” Dana growled, still struggling uselessly,but as much as she hated to admit it, Sable was right; her head wasswimming, and her body felt so limp that without Matt’s gripsupporting her weight she was sure she’d be flat on her back. Sheneeded to think, to find a way out of this...but it was getting sohard to focus, to concentrate. The heat incubating in her body wasonly getting worse, and it seemed to be coalescing in her chest...herbreasts...between her thighs.

Oh god, what was happening to her?

“I prefer to think of it as being calculatingly cautious,” Sablecorrected her, “When you deal in my trade, you learn that there oftenaren’t any second chances; if you slip up, you wind up dead...orworse...”

Without warning, she slid the metallic cylinder between JungleBabe’s exposed cleavage, nestling the device between her pantingtits. Dana looked at her in shock. “H-hey! What do you thinkyou’re—”

“Normally, Climax is least effective in gas form,” Sable went on,ignoring her cry of protest. Her tone was casual, almostmatter-of-fact, like she could have been delivering a lecture, “And ittends to have a diminished initial effect on superhuman physiologies,such as yours. One dosage is usually enough just to immobilize. Ittakes supplementary exposure for the drug to really...sink in...”

Before Dana could say another word, Sable deftly twisted thecontrol valve of the apparatus, and once more Dana’s ears were filledwith a low, sinister hiss. Rather than the full on blast from earlier,the pink gas was leaking out of the silver cylinder in a slow, steadyplume. Like smoke from a freshly extinguished candle, the heady ribbonlicked along Jungle Babe’s neck, splashing against her chin andbreaking into countless strands of sinuous vapor. The distraughtheroine struggled uselessly in her captor’s grip, and did the onlything she could think of.

She held her breath.

This only seemed to amuse Sable Myst, whose eyes sparkledevilly. “Such a valiant effort, but ultimately futile. Just one morebreath is all it’s going to take. Climax does such wonderful things tothe female body. It heightens sensitivity, while at the same timeinhibiting your conscious control over your own actions. Let medemonstrate...”

While she spoke, Sable had quietly maneuvered her hand beneath theflap of Dana’s loincloth, and swiftly moved to cup her sex through thenarrow strip of her thong. Dana jolted in shock, mewling in protest,and struggled to control the air that threatened to burst from herlungs. She glared at Sable, but the villainess only smirkedback. Dana’s face reddened in mortification, utterly horrified at thepersonal violation, yet powerless to do anything about it. A momentlater though, an awful realization began to dawn on her; the creeping,irrepressible warmth that was moving through her body had left herpussy strangely tingling, and now, the insistent pressure of Sable’shand made it doubly worse. She could feel the blood rushing to her sexto swell in her nether lips, to throb in her dangerously sensitiveclit. To her utter disbelief, she could feel her wetness beginning toflow...and all the bitch had done was press her hand against herpussy!

Sable tittered cruelly, eyeing Dana’s distress with confidentglee. “Already your body is responding; this sweet little cunt ofyours is starting to melt, and I’ve barely even touched you. What doyou think is going to happen when I do...this?”

Dana groaned angrily as Sable’s fingers suddenly began to shiftinto motion. Slender digits rhythmically pushed against the swollenlips of her sex, rolling them apart so that the strap of her thongslipped between and pressed against her rigid clit. The smooth textureof Sable’s gloved hand as it traced and fondled the length of herpussy was positively wicked, and Dana had to clench her teeth tostifle the choked gasps that wanted to escape her throat.

Holding her breath was making things infinitely worse; though Sablehad only been touching her for a few moments, each second seemed tostretch into painful minutes as her lungs began to burn, and her headbegan to throb. Every sensation seemed to be magnified twice over; shecould feel every brush of Sable’s patient petting, every rollingcaress that sent her thong sawing between her sodden lips. It wasn’tlong before her angry glare faded into a look of growingdesperation. She was starting to see spots flicker across her eyes,and the periphery of her vision was growing hazy. Her throat ached,and her heart hammered as she tried to think of something, anything,to get out of this. But she couldn’t think, and her body felt soheavy, so limp...

Then Sable’s thumb found her clit, and slowly began to flick backand forth across it.

Pleasure sparked up her spine, and the cry was forced out of herlungs before she realized what had happened. She felt the chill airrace into her chest as she took a long, wrenching gasp—and only thendid her eyes widen in horrid realization.

Sable’s sultry smirk only widened. “I win.”

She couldn’t stop the shuddering, hungry pants her body demandedshe take after denying herself so much oxygen, and the sweet, fragrantmusk assaulted her senses. At once, a wave of wilting heat explodedinside her, driving the strength fully from her legs and making everyinch of her skin tingle in awful delight. Instantly she was acutelyaware of every sensation; of the rough scratch of Matt’s uniformagainst her bare legs and back; of the now painful confinement offeeling her aching nipples press into the cups of her bra; and worstof all, of the all-too knowing manipulation of her suddenly gushingsex.

“AH!” Dana cried, her face blushing crimson at the unmistakablyhot, lusty tone in her own voice, “S-stop, please, I can’t...I...I...”Then, Sable pulled the soaked strip of her thong to the side, fullyexposing her weeping sex, before easily sliding a long finger deepinside. Dana’s eyes rolled back, “NNn...ooooooohhhh...!”

That one finger was soon joined by a second, then a third, beforeSable began rocking her hand against Jungle Babe’s openly drippingpussy. Dana thrashed her head in wild denial, but soon all that wasleft of her angry protests were moans, and airy sighs, growing louderand louder as Sable’s fingers plunged relentlessly into her tighteningcunt. In spite of her resistance, Jungle Babe’s thighs began tospread, and her hips began to rock in time against the vilevillainess’ dominating strokes, driving her higher and higher towardsa precipice of subjugating pleasure.

All the while, with every gasping breath, she took in more of thedeadly aphrodisiac rising from the capsule tucked snugly between herbreasts, falling deeper and deeper into its sweet, intoxicatinggrip.

“Sstop it...s-stop...oh stop...oohhh...” Dana begged. Her mind wasalmost on auto-pilot, dazedly repeating the same hollow paeans ofresistance even as her body responded more and more readily to theseductive manipulation occurring between her spread thighs.

Despite her own inoculation against the effect of the drug, SableMyst could feel the constant exposure starting to affect her a littleas well. The contact high left her with a lingering, entirelynot-unpleasant buzzing in her head. She had to cut to the chase.

She moved in closer, so that her nose brushed against Dana’s own,and her lips hung mere centimeters away from the panting blonde’s openmouth. Her hand continued to fuck a toe-curling rhythm in and out ofJungle Babe’s all-too eager pussy, moving faster and faster. Dana’sbreathing grew ragged, her head swimming with the heady mixture ofboth the insidious aphrodisiac and mind-melting pleasure.

But just before the orgasm building inside her broke, Sable’s handabruptly stopped moving.

“W-what...?” Jungle Babe gasped, blinking in confusion, forced tostare into the sultry dark eyes hovering just inches away from herown.

“I stopped,” Sable explained in a whisper, “Just like you wanted meto, remember?”

Jungle Babe struggled to form a cohesive thought; her releasestymied, she writhed ineffectually in the mercenary’s steadygrip. Sable’s fingers were still deep inside her, holding stillagainst the clutching walls of her overheated sex. Normally, theimpending orgasm would have begun to recede; her body should have hada chance to cool down...but that wasn’t happening. Something waswrong. The pressure, the unforgiving need, continued to simmer.

It was the drug, Dana realized dimly; it was preventing her fromcoming down off the intense arousal she’d been forced to endure. Theneed for pleasure was somehow infinitely worse than the pleasureitself; it was like when she was holding her breath, except now itseemed like her entire body was caught in some awful asphyxiation ofbliss. Even as her thoughts raced, Sable’s words echoed heavily. She’dstopped. Dana had wanted her to stop...

...hadn’t she?

She felt the evil slaver’s lips brush tantalizingly against herown, and caught her breath. “You don’t have to stop though,” thesilver-haired temptress whispered, “You’re squeezing my fingers sotightly, you have to be close. So very, very close. It would feel sogood to cum. To explode. You want it, don’t you?”

Jungle Babe tried to find the words to deny her, but her head wasso foggy, and she was...she was so hot...

All she could manage was a halting, “N-no...I don’t...I don’t know,I shouldn’t—”

She moaned when she felt Sable’s slick thumb shift to pressinsistently against her erect clit, only to once more freeze stockstill. She was so wet, she could feel herself just dripping down thewoman’s gloved fingers. It felt good to have them inside her. It feltgood to feel the pressure against her clit. If only she’d move, itwould just take a second, a heartbeat, and she’d becumming. But...no...that’s not right...she didn’t want it...she wasbeing forced...but oh god, she was so turned on...!

Just then, she felt those fingers stir inside her again, felt hercit mash against the pad of Sable’s thumb, and gasped, almost inrelief—till she realized that Sable was still not moving, and that themotion was caused by her hips, her own hips, rocking into the woman’swaiting hand.

“That’s the way,” the smirking villainess goaded, “Your body knowswhat it wants. You can’t stop yourself, can you?” Her tone changed,becoming firm, commanding. “Faster slut. Fuck yourself faster on myfingers. You know you want to.”

Jungle Babe’s mind reeled as her very thoughts began to betrayher. Sable’s words were so calm, so confident, it was so hard toignore her commands. Her hips were moving on their own, rocking harderand harder against the intruding digits giving her so muchpleasure. Whatever tenuous influence she still had over them wasfading rapidly as the orgasm that had so recently eluded her began torush towards her once again.

Sable was right; she did want this. She wanted to cum so bad. Shewanted it...needed it...

“Yes...yess...!” Dana began to whine, rolling her hips so that herclit crushed against the unyielding force of Sable’s thumb. She workedher hand like it was a cock, buried deep inside her, plunging in andout...in and out...she was getting so close, so amazinglyclose...!

“Kiss me,” Sable whispered to the drugged heroine, “Kiss me, andI’ll let you cum.”

Jungle Babe was helpless before the vile imperative, her willsapped into utter impotence. With thoughts of only the pleasure, ofthe wonderful release, rioting in her mind, her consciousness finallygave way. With an obedient moan, she leaned forward, seeking out thevillainess’ waiting mouth and offering her own in a submissivekiss.

It was only when she felt the soothing cool of Sable’s lips did sherealize how feverish she really was, but it was merely a passingthought, because a second later she felt the orgasm she’d beendesperately chasing burst into full, delicious bloom. A final turn ofher hips, and she exploded onto Sable’s hand, crying her pleasure intothe woman’s open mouth. She shook, held on her feet only by theunfailing grip on her upper arms, as the orgasm gushed through her, asit drowned her.

When at last it ended, Jungle Babe lost the strength to keep herhead up. She broke the kiss, her head lolling forward. She waspanting, barely conscious. The events that followed were a blur; sheheard Sable say something to her second-in-command as she retrievedthe cylinder from between Jungle Babe’s tits, something about takingher to the ‘play room’, and to get someone to clean up the mess they’dmade. The last thing she remembered was being foisted into themercenary’s waiting arms, and carried off into the depths of thehacienda.

Sable’s voice chased after her, though her addled mind barelyrecognized the gravity of the threat, “I have a few calls to make. Iwant her properly prepared and fully conditioned before we deliver herto the winning bidder. Have the boys show her how sluts are supposedto behave.”

Then, there was only sweet, merciful darkness.

At that, Jungle Babe paused her retelling, and the cave fellinto almost total silence. She swallowed hard, her mind racing as itsought to recall the events, even as she struggled with newuncertainties. She hadn’t meant to go into such lurid detail when shebegan her story, but for some reason, she found it impossible to stoponce she’d started.

She felt Anna lying next to her, as still as a statue, and worriedthat she’d gone too far. It would have been sufficient to just glossover the humiliation of her capture, and cut right to the events thathappened in the hours that followed, and yet she had been unable,perhaps unwilling, to do so.

‘No, it’s important you leave it in, leave all the details bare;she needs to understand what you went through so that the depth ofyour debt can be seen in context,’ her mind seemed to rationalize,‘She’s no naive waif anymore; she’s seen, and experienced, horrors ofher own; better for her to see that there’s hope even in the midst ofsuch wickedness.’

It made sense, and maybe Dana could have even taken solace in thesoundness of her reasoning...and yet...

She shifted her legs together, and reddened slightly in the dark ofthe cave as she felt her suddenly sodden pussy mewl in response. Thenaked arousal retelling the events had sparked inside her made herfeel dirty, ashamed; she should be feeling anger, revulsion, andrighteous indignation at being made to suffer at the hands of thatwitch Sable Myst, yet she could not deny that she felt almost none ofthose things.

It just made her hot.

She couldn’t help but wonder...was Anna turned on too?

“Stop it,” she chided herself angrily, suddenly aghast at thethoughts swirling in her head, “What the hell is wrong with you?”

Yet try as she might, Dana couldn’t ignore the feeling of havingthe young woman’s back nestled against her, of how soft and smooth herbare skin felt. The scent of her hair filled her senses. The feelingsof attraction she felt towards her were strong and getting strongerstill, surprising Dana with their intensity.

No. Not here. The feelings were too raw, too confusing. She wouldbe taking advantage of a woman in terrible distress...she would onlyget hurt...

God, she was so wet.

Before she could hope to resolve her conflicting emotions, Anna’svoice cut through the silence, jarring her back to reality.

“Dana...?” she said, shifting slightly in her embrace. Dana’s heartskipped a beat, dread gnawing at her. The openness of her retellinghad left her feeling uncharacteristically vulnerable, and she wasafraid the words that followed would be an admonishment, arejection...

“What happened next?”

There was an unmistakably expectant tone in those words, abreathlessness that betrayed a kind of helpless excitement. Dana feltAnna shift again, and realized that the girl had quietly slipped herhand down, sneaking it between her own slender thighs. Every so oftenshe felt the subtle, self-conscious sway of Anna’s hips against herown; it didn’t take much to imagine what was going on, what the youngwoman was trying to quietly disguise.

It made part of her absolutely thrill.

‘She’s enjoying it. You’re turning her on. You’re telling her abouthow you were drugged, reduced to a mindless sex toy for a slaver andher vile underlings, and she’s touching herself,’ it exclaimed. Aweird sense of power, of control, accompanied those thoughts, even asher own excitement began to soar. ‘Go on. Give her what shewants. Tell her more.’

Yet part of her still gave pause. It was all happening sofast. This wasn’t just some naughty slumber party, they were close tothe heart of the monster’s domain. The danger they were in could notbe understated. Had Dana thought to get up, to look outside the cavethrough the steady beat of the rain, her concerns would have beenjustified.

Normally, their elevation would have provided a natural barrieragainst free-forming fog. It would have cascaded into the crooks andvalleys, finding the low ground and churning there, but there wasnothing natural about the twisted nightmare the landscape had beenturned into.

The rain had awakened the corrupted earth, which exhaled up thethick, vile miasma that had permeated the forest. As if sensing thepresence of the two warm, living bodies, it had wound and crept itsway up the slope of the hill, crawling with almost sentient intenttowards the mouth of the cave. Sinuous, whisper-thin tendrils hadswept across the ground, and were now lapping with clear, unnaturalhunger against Dana’s exposed flesh.

All the while she’d been telling her story, it had tasted her,caressing her even now. It crept along her back; it glanced across thefirm globes of her ass; it dipped into the space between her pressedthighs. The lightest of touches, the merest of ghostly attentions, yetalready the unsuspecting heroine was falling prey to theirinfluence.

She squirmed as phantom tongues slipped and sawed between herunguarded pussy lips, wholly unconscious of the peril she was in,aware only of her growing arousal, and Anna’s sweet, heady scentfilling every breath she took.

‘Tell her...everything...’ once more came the insidious whisper,and Jungle Babe, falling increasingly under its sway, couldn’tconceive of a reason to resist.