Author's Note: This is a follow-up story to Serpentine Destiny. While the events are briefly recapped where necessary, to allow this story to stand alone, reading the first story should make this one even more vivid.
****
Aris finished tying his shoes and turned his eyes back to Tiassa. The Lamia Queen's huge, impossibly perky breasts were partially hidden beneath an out-of-fashion bikini top. Her serpentine lower half was concealed by the waves, and an illusion, giving the impression that she was a normal woman relaxing in the surf. Albeit, a stunningly beautiful woman with green hair.
After finishing his first year of college, he had returned to the hometown of his distant relatives. There he had spent two weeks with them, and his parents, who had come to Greece to visit him. Once his parents returned home, he had made his way to this thin strip of beach at the bottom of the cliff, and to Tiassa's lair.
After two days of frequent sex with Tiassa and her sister Alissa, he was loathe to leave.
The Lamia Queen smiled. "We are loathe to see you leave as well," she said, and then licked her lips.
Aris shuddered as blood rushed into his manhood for another of uncountable times in the past two days.
Tiassa shivered as well. "But, go. The longer you stay, the longer you will wish to stay. You must return to the world of man."
He wasn't returning empty-handed. A waterproof — likely magical — pouch next to him contained previously waterlogged and then dried bills — the equivalent of about four thousand dollars American. From Alissa's description of how she had found the cash, he suspected it was drug money tossed overboard by smugglers in danger of being caught.
While he wasn't enamored of profiting from misery, he couldn't deny how much the money would improve his life. He had a full ride to college thanks to his benefactor, but little for leisure and comfort. Though Gregory had hinted several times he would be willing to provide money for such, Aris had begged off.
"I'll come back next summer," Aris promised.
Tiassa moaned and said, "I will eagerly await your return." She then blew him a kiss — a gesture she had learned from his thoughts — and vanished beneath the sea.
Aris picked up his bag and negotiated the precarious path up the cliff, already anticipating his first use of the money.
****
The sun was dipping toward the horizon when Aris sank wearily into his new camp chair. The view from his camp in the Grecian mountains was spectacular, and he suspected that the sunset would make it even more so.
Not only was it a chance to indulge his love of camping, but also an opportunity to explore one of the many ancient sites Tiassa had revealed to him. Nearby, there was a shallow, hidden cave with wall paintings from the Bronze Age.
As eager as he was to see it, the hike into the mountains had been exhausting. He wasn't even looking forward to expending the energy to cook his dinner before slipping into his sleeping bag for the night.
With the sun creeping inevitably lower, he groaned and stood. Before he could reach his pack to pull out a pot and his freeze-dried meal, someone called from down the trail. There were two men about his age approaching. They were speaking Greek, but he didn't recognize one of the words, and only knew it was a greeting.
"Hello," he responded.
"Ah, English. American?" one of the men asked.
Aris nodded. "Yes, but I'm in college here. My name is Aris."
"Cade," the first man said.
The second said his name as well, "Tabor."
Cade said, "We saw your fire and thought we would be polite and say hello. Our camp is just down the trail. We're in computer science. How about you?"
"Archaeology."
The two looked at each other and chuckled. "You're in the right place for that," Tabor said.
"Wait," Cade said. "Aris? Are you the one who found that wreck that was in the news last year?"
Aris nodded. "Yes, that was me."
Cade said, "I thought I recognized you."
Tabor snapped his fingers and said, "Yes, I remember it now, too. Get any money out of that?"
"Not really," Aris answered. "Have someone footing my college bill, though."
"Hey, that works," Cade said.
"We should get back before it gets dark," Tabor suggested.
Aris said, "I should get cooking. I haven't had dinner yet."
Cade gave a wave of his hand and said, "We'll leave you to it."
They all exchanged waves, and then the two men returned to their camp. Aris cooked his dinner while watching the sunset, and then climbed into his sleeping bag. He was soon fast asleep.
****
Aris awakened in near pitch blackness. Confused at first by the unfamiliar surroundings, it took him a moment to get his bearings. It was then that he realized what had awakened him. The ring on his finger had grown warm, and was subtly vibrating.
He fumbled about in the darkness, located his phone, and tapped the screen to see it was after two a.m. As the screen dimmed, he heard something. The song was beautiful, but haunting, and coming from the direction of Cade and Tabor's camp. As he listened and wondered, a thought suddenly popped into his head, and he knew it had arisen from the magical ring.
Harpies.
The song was the song of a Harpy, and his ring was protecting him from its beckoning, charming call. It was also warning him without words not to approach. He was fearful for the two men in the other camp, but if any of the legends were true, there would be little he could do, should he choose to try to help them.
The song faded, and his stomach went sour. A dozen grisly possibilities of what could be happening down the trail flitted through his head. He slipped out of his confining sleeping bag, but remained in his tent. After a few minutes, an altogether different sound reached his ears. The moans, whimpers, grunts, and groans could have been something else, but Aris somehow knew they were the sounds of sex.
The sounds grew louder, more frequent, and then were punctuated by a series of screeches and primal growls. Afterward, there was silence for a time. Aris slowly and quietly unzipped his tent, and then peeked out in the direction of the other camp. He could see and hear nothing, though his ring remained warm and continued to signal a warning.
The heat and warning sensation both increased suddenly. The Harpies had noticed him, and they were approaching. Something told him that the creatures feared fire. He should build up his fire and remain near it. He scrambled from the tent, found his wood pile, and blew on the coals remaining in the fire pit. A sigh of relief escaped him when the fire began to crackle, catching the larger pieces of wood.
Not a second too soon.
He caught a flash of movement in his peripheral vision. It was little more than a brief vanishing of the stars in the sky above, but it was there. He heard the beating of huge wings, and saw another indistinct, shadowy figure swoop overhead.
Aris watched the sky, stirred the fire, and added more wood.
A whoosh of air passing over wings sounded — much closer — followed by the sound of something landing on the pine needles and twigs. Aris quickly turned toward the sound, and saw them.
The creatures had human female torsos and heads — their small, firm, teardrop shaped breasts bared. Their skin tone was a dark, almost nutty brown. Their lips and nipples were even darker, though with a tinge of red. Their golden eyes reflected the firelight, detracting somewhat from the undeniable beauty of their faces.
The one had a long mane of gray hair, though he had a sense it was not the gray of age. The other sported equally long tresses of mixed brown and white strands.
What looked like human arms ended at the elbow, replaced by wings. The gray-haired Harpy's wings were reddish brown on top, but gray and black spotted on the underside. The other had wings with brown tops, and undersides decorated with brown and white spots. Aris thought there had to be magic involved in their ability to fly, because their wings — though impressive — did not seem large enough to actually hold them aloft.
Both sported a fan-shaped tail, colored in similar patterns to their wings. Below their absent navels, feathers covered them. From the knees up, these feathers were small, and fluttered in the slight breeze as though downy. At the knee, the feathers grew larger, and stiffer, creating a fringe. At about mid-shin, the feathers vanished, replaced by the scaly, three-toed feet of a bird, with impressive black talons.
The Harpies kept their distance from the fire, their gaze penetrating. Aris watched them, his body tense and his heart leaping from every little movement the creatures made. At the same time, he felt his blood stir, and begin to rush into his manhood.
He knew why. After his first encounter with the Lamias, he found Tiassa's magic lingered for some time, making him ignore what was frightening and unappealing, while seeing that which was arousing. He had bedded two girls he would not normally have pursued, before the vestigial magic had faded a couple of weeks later. One had been chunky, but with a pretty face. The other had been plain-faced, but had a wonderful body.
Only a day after spending two days with the Lamias, the magic was still strong within him.
The gray-haired Harpy said something, the words unknown to him, but dripping with derogatory connotations.
Aris pulled a burning brand from the fire and held it up. "Stay back," he warned.
"It speaks this tongue," the other Harpy said.
"You are
snakeblood
," the first said, the word just as full of contempt as the previous utterance in the unknown language. "Why are you here? Do the snakes come to take what little we have left?"
Aris prickled at the obviously insulting
snake
and
snakeblood
, but retained his composure. "I'm just camping," he said, keeping the burning chunk of wood in hand.
The two Harpies conferred for a moment in the unknown language, which included some chirps and keening sounds. The gray-haired one then said, "That ring on your hand has magic. Snake magic. A Queen's magic."
