Crossing Boundaries

This is a short work of erotic fiction containing furry, or anthropomorphic, characters, which are animals that either demonstrate human intelligence or walk on two legs, for the purposes of these tales. It is a thriving and growing fandom in which creators are prevalent in art and writing especially.

All work is fiction intended for fantasy only, regardless of content, and consent must always be acquired when engaging in any sex act with another adult.

Please note that all characters are clearly over eighteen and written as such in all stories.

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Siderva groaned, the serpent-woman hunkering down before the university accommodation, Kael's abode at the end of a long corridor where servants, once, had been housed. It was the largest room there with a solid, wooden door, though she could have called on more aggressive magic to make it splinter into nothing, if she had been less discreet. It had been too long since the anthro snake, however, had used magic, she doubted she would even have a grip on it anymore. It was in a part of her brain that the human had broken, so many years ago, though she knew, intrinsically, that it was still there, that it could be, in some small way, used, if she did push for it.

But she could not break down every wall that lay in her way, for fear of leaving herself a broken wreck in the wake of it. She feared losing everything she was, being back in that dark place, though the confused part of her mind still craved pleasure that would not come. Why did it not come?

Ducking her head, she panted, tongue flickering in and out of her mouth, scraping over her lips. Dry, too dry. He had left her, that was to be expected, but...it hurt. It still hurt, that lack of pleasure. She could do without the human, but being trained and indoctrinated to serve in that way, her mind broken time after time again, had to leave scars, some so gaping and twisted that they were never even intended to heal.

It didn't help that she was sober, for once, though she had known that she had to be, to carry out the mission that she had appointed herself. Not keeping any liquor around her did not help in the slightest, the craving always there, though she only just about stopped herself from stopping in the inns on the way to the magic university, the greatest centre of study in the land, to make a bit of coin and satisfy the twisted sexual desire.

Not that it could be satisfied, of course. It only took the edge off a little and dulled it more when she was drunk.

One thing that Siderva was pleased with, however, was that she had managed to bypass the minor security of the university rather easily. They relied on guards mostly, a few barriers around the outskirts of the grounds, though there were no solid exterior walls, not when there were no serious threats to them. Not that would have stopped a mage, to be fair, but she did not look back at that time and see magic as a resource that she could tap into for aggression, not anymore. The notion of sending a fireball into the door was a fleeting one, one that came with a flash of pain, and she shoved it down into a deep, dark pit of her mind where she no longer had to think about it, something that she did not have to consider when the notion brought a flash of pain to her body.

But maybe...just maybe...this human would be able to change things for her, to bring back the pleasure. Sneaking through the grounds, she had been able to pull on some earth-shaping magic to hide between mounds of earth, moving leaves to cloak her -- things that would not have been used in warfare. Or, at least, not things that humans had considered useful for warfare, for magic was far subtler than any of them had ever given it credit for. They did not know, they couldn't have known, for no one, apparently, besides that one human who had come to study there, had taken the time to delve into them, their history.

Maybe he'd even be able to tease out the pain in her that came when she ever tried to do any magic that was not deemed "seemly" but her previous master, the human who had enslaved her after the way. Siderva shuddered. No... No, that was too much to hope for. Just a hit of pleasure, yes, she had to lean into that, had to hope for whatever might be reasonable, what she had travelled so far for.

One thing Siderva had been able to do, however, had been to check on her daughter, the young mage looking strong and healthy, a red hue to her serpentine scales and black dots between her eyes. She had not seen her in so many years, but it had been the best choice, yes, to give her up, though she seemed to be doing as well for herself as the serpent-woman had hoped. To see her daughter living a long, healthy, happy life was all she'd wanted.

But that meant that her daughter could never know who she was and Siderva slipped away before anyone could raise any questions as to why an anthro serpent-woman with tattered robes and barely anything underneath was lurking around the university. She could not remain around the public places for long, lest she be caught exactly where she didn't want to be.

Besides, her daughter brought up too many painful memories for her. To keep her would have meant that she would have had to know, in one way or another, where she had come from. She couldn't do that to the little one, an innocent serpent who did not worry about the world, not in any way.

It wouldn't have been fair to the little one. And that was why she had to stay away.

Night wrapped around her, cloaking her softly, though she had seen the human, who seemed to go by Kael (a strange, human name) enter the abode some time ago -- long enough for him to be asleep. There was also a dog, one that looked like an anthro yet would not be considered the same as any anthro species, with him, a guard German Shepherd with a look in her eye that spoke of inner strength. That was, at least, something that Siderva could still recognise, a little of her old self intact, despite the years.

The canine might be trouble, she thought to herself, though she couldn't stop shifting her wait back and forth, crouching low as her tail curled back and forth behind her. She wanted to flick her tongue out repeatedly, but she held it in, the nervous tick, too many old memories and feelings swirling within her, twisting her resolve.

Click.

"Ah..."

That is better...

The click of the lock was almost horrifically loud, though Siderva could not have honestly said that she knew what she was going to do on entering. Pausing there, as the door swung open a crack, she waited, listening intently. Serpents felt more through vibrations than pure sound, her tongue sweeping out to taste the air, picking up the tiniest of flickers of life, tremors. There were two bodies in there, all as she'd expected, the heat of them slow and sultry, the pounding of their hearts oddly in time.

Hm.

Maybe that was something about dogs and their masters that she had overlooked before. She had not spent much time thinking about the dogs, shrugging off how closely in sync they seemed to be.

Slowly, patiently, still wondering what she hoped she glean, she told herself she would only get the lay of the land. She slipped inside, as quiet as the night itself, blinking as the room came into focus, though her night vision was better than most serpents, having both the traits of her natural species and what had been enhanced over generations.

She could mostly see in the dark, though colours were beyond her, always with weaker eyesight than, say, a wolf or a hawk anthro. Her tongue flickered out, sensing heat, gave her a better sense of what was around her, touch helping too, though she did not feel as if she was moving blind, not with the shapes of furniture around her, a living area of sorts opening up with a desk and a chair and a place to sit and read.

It was all... She shook her head, rocking back on her heels, a touch of the guard lifting from her shoulders. It was all so plain, so normal. Maybe that was because he was living in the abode of the university? That they had dressed it all for him?

She didn't know what she had expected, feeling rather foolish as her tongue brushed against her snout again, her senses as sharp as ever. Had she thought it would be as lavish as her master's and owner's before? He was a different kind of human, surely, but, truthfully, Siderva could not have known what to expect at all, because humans had not been present like Kael in the anthro lands at any time in history, not to learn, not to study.

He was unique. But she would have appreciated a little bit of excitement in there too, all so it did not look as plain as it was. Maybe that was for the best though.

She checked the room, sifting through papers, the window closed with the curtains drawn tightly across it. There was not even a sliver of moonlight in the crack, which raised her curiosity. There was nowhere that she had stayed during her travels, in the whore houses and the inns, that had curtains that closed like that, so threadbare, as if they were falling apart where she slept. His were rich, a subtle indicator of wealth where the finest things, even if she could not truly appreciate them, not in her station in life, came together for Kael, placed in his abode.

Her stomach twisted. She wondered if her daughter got the same treatment, but she doubted it, wondering if she was okay, where she slept. Maybe she should go check her again, make sure that there was nothing more she could do for the daughter that she had given up, though it was not as if she had any money to give her either. She had nothing. Which was why she'd given her up.

The snake's chest tightened. Oh, it was hard, so hard, her weight shifting, tail drawing in and coiling tightly around her thigh and down her leg, all so much so that it made it difficult to move. She didn't want to be back in her past, back in the realm of memories that didn't have any true place there, her chest tightening, her back arching.

If she didn't hold onto the present, she would be back in the past, she would be back as his slave. She craved the hit of pleasure, the thrill of it, anyway, but the training, the indoctrination, it was all lodged in her skull, a routine and repetition that she could never truly slither away from. Holding her breath, Siderva groaned, pain lancing behind her eyes, a headache pounding.

"No..." She whispered, unable to stop the hiss from escaping her lips. "No... Please... No..."

But she couldn't. Not as she rocked and not as she groaned, digging her fingers into her knees, hunched down. She had to fight it, though her breath came in short, sharp pants, the tightness in her chest increasing, heart fluttering, pounding, aching for something she could never have.

Maybe the human... She stumbled to her feet, eyes wide but not seeing. Maybe... Maybe him! Maybe he could help! The door to the bedroom, or further into the abode at least, lay before her, but, oddly it was already ajar.

Siderva blinked. And the next thing she knew was that there was a knife pressed to her throat, the dog that she had seen earlier behind her, holding her against her body.

"Who are you and what are you doing here?" Giselle hissed, the canine's voice low and dangerous, offering no compromise. "Speak quickly or I promise you will never have the chance to speak again!"

The dog growled lowly and she stiffened, the canine's naked body against her. It should have struck her as odd that the dog was nude, but she understood, in some way, that they were neither like anthros nor humans, even if they could have been like anthros. They, at least, walked and talked like anthros and the only difference that should have played into anything was the class difference: something that she was well enough familiar with after her time as a slave. Back then, Siderva had been treated as worse than a dog, though the dogs had all seemed quite happy with their stations in life. As if they had never been allowed to think about or consider anything else.

The knife pressed against her neck, drawing a trickle of blood through the scales. Siderva swallowed hard, reflexively, a lump moving down her throat.

"Speak!"

"I... I'm Siderva." As if her name would mean anything to them. "I came...to see...the human...Kael..."

Oh, she sounded foolish, though there was little she cared about, not as blood trickled down her neck. It was only a single droplet, but it was enough, a strange sense of calm washing over her, as if she had been doused by a softly pouring, cooling, bucket of water.

It was okay. Everything was okay. She couldn't reach for her magic, for she would be dead before she could even cast a spell to disable the dog -- and anything aggressive was out of reach anyway. There was nothing she could do in such a position with the dog poised to end her life, settling herself, accepting her fate.

Maybe it was the fate that she had expected from the beginning.

Giselle growled, the sound rumbling in the back of her throat. She didn't trust the snake, not just because she was a snake, but dogs, well, they didn't particularly like serpents either. They set her hackles up, a threat before her, even though the serpent-woman evidently did not seem to be one of the kinds that had venom in them.

"If you do anything..." She warned her. "I will end your life. In a moment."

Siderva nodded shortly eyes still closed. What more did she have to look for?

"Master! Master -- out here!"

Siderva stayed as still and as compliant as possible, not so much afraid, but wanting to comply. It didn't matter, really, that she could die there, for she had thought she would die so many times over in her life. It was a passing thought, almost something that she had wished for herself, though it had been a long, long time since she had gone down that dark road. If something happened to her, however, she wouldn't have minded, passively wishing for death even though the serpent had not made any moves to take her own life.

It would be a better death there, quicker and cleaner, in a way, than how she had imagined the end of her times would come, if she was entirely honest with herself. She'd always thought that the end of her days would come face down in a dirty, filthy alley strewn with waste and the stink of piss -- something suitably fitting for the life that even she had to admit that she had been forced into. Probably stabbed in the gut, taken against her will, maybe even after simply drinking something that finally ended her, too much for her at the wrong time.

But, it seemed, that death was not yet coming as the human with light, dirty blonde hair entered, a night robe in long, flowing fabric spilling down around his legs, the chest open in a V-shape. It had been tied at the waist but only loosely as he rubbed sleep from his eyes, stifling a yawn.

"Giselle, what..."

He trailed off, stopping in the middle of the room. For Kael, it was just as well that Giselle was the guard and he was the owner, in that sense, for he would have walked straight into Siderva, warm and sluggish with sleep, clumsy immediately after waking. The canine growled, though her tail lifted a little and wagged, showing her friendliness towards him, even though she did not relinquish her grip on the serpent. One of her hands was around the serpent woman's skinny wrist, twisting her arm back behind her body, the other hand holding the knife pressed to the intruder's throat.

Yet it didn't appear as if the serpent-woman had put up any kind of resistance at all, which did seem strange, at least to him. He frowned, rubbing the back of his head, a little more wakeful, though it would take a lot more than that (and most likely some strong coffee at that time of the night) to bring him back to full consciousness with a working mind. Even his psychic powers felt as if they were still waking up, usually so close to the forefront of his mind that he could use them whenever needed. With something that came innately to human beings, it was strange to feel as if they were clunky, grinding a moment back in his mind from where they should have been.

"Giselle... I think you should let her sit down."

The dog gave him a look.

"Master... She slithered in here under the cover of darkness, we have no idea what her intentions are with you," Giselle argued back, her instinct to protect overcoming her natural obedience. "We cannot simply free her."

Kael shrugged, smiling a little. Giselle wouldn't have talked back to him like that when he had first met her and, honestly, he rather liked the change in her. Some of the dogs were far too compliant, doing exactly as they were asked. That was how some assassinations of those higher in the government had come to pass, the dogs that guarded them obeying their masters and stepping aside when the men, of course, had no reason to suspect that nefarious deeds were afoot. Though the dogs had known, all they had been able to do was obey, not knowing anything else. Of course, more of that was on the men who had fallen than it ever would be on the dogs, though it was a flaw that could only be rectified, by bonding truly with the dogs.

Maybe that was something that he should take back to his father, just in case he was targeted at some point...

"Master, I'm not letting her go."

Giselle growled, showing her teeth again, the fluttering of her lips curling into a snarl, though she remained as steady as a rock against the test of time, her head held proudly high. She would defend her master, yes, to the last, though the snake hadn't made a move against her. That didn't mean that the serpent wouldn't, however, her guard up, watching, waiting, ensuring that she was not caught out.

"Okay, Giselle," Kael said with a sigh. "Bind her hands if you must, but I think if she was going to do anything she already would have done so. Where did you find her? Who are you?"

He directed the first question at Giselle and the second at the serpent-woman. The snake swallowed obviously and shook her head slowly from side to side, the knife lifted away only enough for her to complete the motion.

"Siderva," she rasped, tongue flickering out of her mouth as she spoke. "I'm Siderva. I mean no harm."

"She was here," Giselle said, tail stiff with concern. "She was crouched down and then she stood oddly, swaying, tipping. She didn't look right. That was when I moved."

Kael nodded.

"You've done well, Giselle, thank you. Stay close to her and do what you believe is needed."

The canine wagged her tail happily, pleased to be serving her master, to be doing his bidding, though it was good, from her viewpoint, that he trusted her too. There was no good in having a master who did not trust their guard or servant, after all, though she was glad that her master knew that she took his safety as a matter of the highest priority. Autonomy to allow her training and her instincts to blend allowed the dog to behave more naturally, not simply waiting for a command. All she wanted to do was to protect her master.

He watched, from a distance, as Giselle efficiently took care of binding the serpent woman's hands, her wrists placed together, though he was sure, with his knowledge of magic, that it would not be much of a deterrent. It would be enough, however, to allow Giselle to act -- and that was all that would be needed. Even he with his abilities would be able to step in, though he still had to keep his attention on her. After all, a strange anthro that he did not know in his rooms in the middle of the night was not something that he could allow to pass without questioning.

He sat Siderva down in an armchair with a straight back that dwarfed even her, a fire flickering beside them, though he asked Giselle not to stoke it too high, for concern that they would be questioned as to why they were awake so late in the accommodation. They always kept their lamps low after a certain time, flames flickering, though Kael liked to keep a magical one in there after learning how to do that it. How long it burned was a good gauge of how his studies were coming along in the practice of applicable magic, seeing how long he could keep the flames alight. There were finer ways to do it, of course, but he would only learn to do that over the full course of his studies, how to set magic into objects so that they could be used even by those that were not trained as mages. It was quite ingenious, truly...