Merielle cut through the water like a bullet, racing along beneath the waves as quickly as she could for the sheer joy of it. She swam through the blue with delight, darting left and right and making swirling turns just because she could, her body moving with a grace and speed no human would match… but then, that was only right. Merielle was a seal, after all.
Wearing her skin again was a nearly unbelievable pleasure, made all the more so for the months that she had lived with the certainty she would never again be able to do so. She danced through the water like a ballerina, not bothering to hunt or do anything else to distract from the all-too-brief majesty of being back in her true form, thrilling in the experience as she played.
Merielle wasn’t sure how long she stayed out for, surfacing every few minutes for air before the pain became overwhelming… perhaps an hour, which was longer than last time. She let herself float to the surface, just staying still as she rode the waves, relaxing … the pain didn’t get any less, but it didn’t grow any greater either, at least not quickly. It gave her a few more minutes in her skin. Then, reluctantly, she began to strip out of it.
A long, slender leg came out of the seal, followed by her right arm. She grabbed her left side, pulling, squirming as she slid herself out of her skin, Her head came out last, and the pain around her neck faded to nothing immediately. Merielle hissed in frustration, her hand gripping at the hated iron collar around her throat, cursing it as she treaded water… the foul thing was something right out of her nightmares. The first thing that had been done to her all those months ago was still keeping her enslaved in the present. Using any faerie magic, even something as natural and passive as merely wearing her skin, was agonizing with the iron on her skin – and while the pain built slowly, it never receded until she stopped using any part of her fae heritage. It just built and built and built until she couldn’t stand it anymore.
Merielle slapped the surface of the water, aggravated. The way Yuki had explained it to her, these collars had been made using drops of Mordred’s blood – it was lethal to remove one without another drop of his blood. Something that she didn’t have. Something she would never have.
She was still a slave – She just had a longer leash, and a less hateful master.
Gathering her skin beneath her arm, Merielle began to swim to shore.
Finding Mistress Yuki was never hard – the dark fox stood out wherever she went, regardless of whether or not she kept her features hidden. Today she wore just a bikini as she sprawled luxuriously on a towel, enjoying the sun on Shirahama beach while she waited for Merielle to finish. The redhead was naked, of course, but the stares she got from those on the crowded beach were only brief. That was Yuki’s doing – as she approached her mistress, she noticed her hand glowing with the faint flames of her foxfire. She rarely bothered to hide her tails anymore – she just kept weaving the same illusion she used now, making her and her pet seem completely unremarkable. If anyone saw them, they forgot about her just a few seconds later.
Yuki held out one hand expectantly, not even bothering to open her eyes. Grimacing, Meriele dropped her skin into her waiting hand, making a smile crease the nogitsune’s face. She always insisted, even though she wasn’t shy about letting the selkie use it whenever she wanted – in the fox’s mind, the skin belonged to her, not to Merielle. Without a word, Merielle dropped down to her knees, crawling between Yuki’s legs and peeling off her slim bottom. She knew what was expected of her without being told at this point.
Her mistress growled with pleasure as Merielle’s tongue played over her slit before slipping inside. This was her life now… probably forever. Until Yuki managed to get her a drop of Mordred’s blood, she was trapped every bit as fully as she had been in the Mists of Avalon, and Merielle had nothing but the nogitsune’s word that she was ever even going to try. Still, at least Mordred wasn’t here… at least Yuki didn’t hurt her.
Much.
“You really are quite talented at that,” Yuki groaned out, spreading her legs further and pushing her hips out to thrust against Merielle’s face, nose bumping against her mistresse’ clit. “But you know what would really make me cum? If we got one of these nice men around her to fuck your ass for me. You always cry such pretty tears with a cock in your ass.”
Merielle shuddered with fear… mostly. “Please mistress,” she whimpered, not daring to move her lips more than a scant inch from the cunt she was worshiping. “Please don’t make me.”
She felt Yuki’s hand in her hair, slowly pulling, tilting her head up. In the brothel, any refusal had led almost immediately to pain. This time, however, the nogitsune wasn’t angry… she was smiling impishly. “But I want to cum, little selkie,” she breathed out lustily past the teeth her smile showed. “And watching you get fucked always does it for me. You do the best job when you’re eager to make me cum before someone pumps your guts full.” One of her tails was softly stroking the small of Merielle’s back while she spoke. “And you want me to make me happy, don’t you?”
“Please…” Merielle begged once more. “I’ll cry for you… you don’t have to.” Was she going to make her. Did she…
“You are a woman of many gifts, Merielle,” Yuki said with amusement. “But crying on demand isn’t one of them. We both know that.” She lifted her eyes from the selkie, scanning the area and trying to pick out a man she liked. Merielle saw her eyes flash with the reflected light of her fire for an instant. “Still, I suppose if you really don’t want to, you can go. Just get back in the water and play for a while, and I’ll get myself off instead. I recommend keeping yourself underwater, though, or else everyone will get an eyeful of your sexy body.”
She could leave… Mistress was letting her leave. She didn’t need to leave her skin behind, she could just… go… for a while. Walk away. Pass the time in the ocean for a while.
Why wasn’t she leaving?
Merielle felt the footsteps behind her through the sand, even as two of her mistress’ tails began to wind around her arms and wrists… binding her together. “I guess you’re staying then,” Yuki whispered huskily. “Cry pretty for me, slave…”
She felt hands on her ass and jumped as she saw a man crouching behind her. His eyes shimmered with the blue of one of the dark fox’s enchantments as he pulled down his pants, his cock sliding into her ass even as Yuki reached forward to grab her hair and hold her in place.
Merielle looked up with pleading eyes… and Yuki just smiled. As Merielle cried out, being shoved forward by the dick impaling her ass, the tears that her mistress wanted began to fill her eyes. And then she resumed licking.
Yuki walked through the streets nearly naked and completely uncaring. She had no idea what had happened to her top… she didn’t remember taking it off, but in fairness she had been rather distracted at the time. Her bikini bottom, on the other hand… she knew exactly what had happened to that. She’d been a bit too enthusiastic taking it off, ripping the elastic. Some boy on the beach was going to find it and get a thrill out of it, she thought with a snicker. The only thing she “wore” now was a towel, and even that was draped over her shoulder rather than wrapped around her.
Even so, no one looked at her. She was unremarkable to everyone as she walked through the streets of Tokyo, almost as invisible as ever. Yuki supposed it was convenient – in most parts of the world, a naked woman carrying another, equally naked woman in her arms would have drawn attention. The sleeping Merielle clutched at her sealskin almost like a stuffed animal, cradling it against her breasts, and it made the nogitsune smile to look at her. She was pretty sure that she had never loved anything as much as that woman loved her skin… even getting her witchfire back had been more about regaining her freedom than it was about mourning what was lost.
Merielle gave a soft whimper… not a pained one, but one of exhaustion. It was a cute noise, and it made Yuki smile again. She really had worn the poor thing out. Maybe that bit at the end had been too much for today… making Merielle eat her out underwater had been quite exciting, but a strain on the girl. Every time she had come up for air, Yuki’s orgasm had slipped away, so if Merielle wanted to finish she had needed to hold her breath… and hold it a long time. Turned out, even in their human form, selkies had one hell of a set of lungs… she’d made it nearly eight minutes. She’d been most of the way drowned by the time Yuki finished shuddering her way through cumming and brought her up for air, but she had done it. Such a good girl.
Yuki moved through the streets like a ghost, the same way she had moved through most of her life… unseen by anyone. She was used to it – it was easier to live when no one expected anything from you, when no one knew you to expect something at all. Still, as she looked down at the adorable redhead in her arms, she had to admit that a little company was nice.
She… she was actually going to miss her.
The elevator door up to her apartment had barely opened when she caught the scent. Her nose wrinkled, and she pulled back her lips halfway to a snarl before she stopped herself. She had been expecting this, after all. The reaction was long learned, and the memories tied to it tried to boil up, but she stopped it with ruthless discipline. She had been expecting this. She could be calm… And she wasn’t going to get into a fight with Merielle helpless in her arms. Instead, she calmed herself and walked out into the hallway.
Besides, as much as it stung her pride, she knew she couldn’t win.
Three men lounged in a couch by the elevator. They stared at the two naked women and the fox tails for about half a second before their faces went placid and stupid and confused, like most men usually did looking at her. Another half second later and they had already forgotten her. She walked past a pair of lovers kissing in the doorway, past a white haired woman in a light blue dress, and past an old couple arguing over something familiar before she reached her apartment. Finding the keys was a bit of a struggle with Merielle taking up most of her hands, but she managed, stepping inside and leaving the doorway open.
Yuki paused in the entryway. “Come on in, Akari. I won’t bite.”
By the time she had put Merielle into a bed, tucked her covers over her, and come back into the room, the white haired girl from the hallway was in her apartment, leaning against the wall. Akari was gorgeous as ever… her hair whiter than Yuki’s namesake, her eyes a shimmering bright blue that matched her own vivid gaze most of the time but occasionally slipping closer to violet, or towards green. To the nogitsune’s perceptive eyes, the blue of her dress seemed to slowly shift in color in tune with her eyes… a mortal wouldn’t have noticed, but she did.
The nogitsune woman didn’t say anything… she walked into the kitchen, pulled out a container, and pushed it into the microwave before turning to look at her sister. “Honestly didn’t know if you’d come,” Yuki admitted. She grabbed a bottle of sake off the shelf and slapped it down on the counter.
“I almost didn’t,” Akari answered. Her voice was smoother than Yuki’s, warmer. Yuki got out a pair of glasses while she spoke. “I thought you were dead.”
“No such luck.” Yuki leaned against the counter, looking over Akari. The last time she had seen the woman had been… what? A little over seven hundred years ago? Something like that.
“Why are you naked?” Akari asked with a raised eyebrow.
The nogitsune shrugged. “Why not? It’s not like anyone sees me anyway. I don’t even have to hide these,” she said, splaying out of her tails behind her for a second.
“Still, Yuki… there are just some things you don’t do, sister… it’s the principle of the matter.”
“Never was good with principle.” The microwave dinged, and Yuki turned and took out the container, putting it on the counter. A dozen steaming cubes of agedashi tofu greeted her eyes, and she plucked one happily with her fingers before popping it into her mouth. “Want one?”
Akari raised an eyebrow. “From the microwave? Really?”
“The selkie does the cooking,” Yuki offered by way of explanation. “And I’m not going to wake her up to make you food. Trust me, this is better than what I would cook for you. Want it or not?” She tossed a second cube into her mouth, relishing the taste.
Akari walked up cautiously, eyes looking around for a set of chopsticks. Not finding one, she sighed and picked up one of the hot cubes, putting it in her mouth. She made a face. “Yuki, this is disgusting.”
“You try surviving off table scraps and whatever you can suck out of a monster’s cock for half a millennium,” Yuki said before popping a third cube into her mouth, remaining silent when she chewed. She opened the bottle of sake and poured herself and Akari a glass. “Then see if you care. It’s not like anyone is bringing me much in the way of offerings for a while. Except this sake, I guess.”
“That wasn’t an offering, Yuki,” Akari hissed. “You stole it from in front of your neighbor’s door!”
“If he didn’t want to offer it, he shouldn’t have left it out,” Yuki said, greedily munching on a fourth cube. After all this time, it really was one of the best things she had ever tasted, even if was objectively foul reheated like this. After all… Merielle had made it, for her. It really was the closest thing to an offering she’d gotten in centuries and centuries. “What, has your new mom been telling on me again? Letting everyone know what the black fox of the family has been doing?”
“Inari hasn’t spoken of you… but you already knew that. You’ve broken her heart enough.” Akari stood a little straighter as she spoke. “She doesn’t know I’m here, Yuki. I’ve been watching you for two weeks, trying to decide if I was going to come.”
Yuki wasnt sure if she was disappointed or not… so she shrugged to hide the feeling, either way. “So why did you? Doesn’t seem like you want to help me.”
“I still haven’t decided,” Akari admitted. “I want to know why you want me to do it.”
Yuki tilted her head. “What do you mean? The fact that he kept me as a slave for hundreds of years isn’t enough? You don’t think revenge is a sufficient motivation for a Youma?”
Akari flinched at the word. “I know that it is,” she whispered. “But if it were about revenge, you would do it yourself. You would rather die trying to do it alone than ask for help… but you didn’t. You asked for me. Why?”
“Maybe I hoped someone would care what he did to me,” Yuki suggested, drinking the entire glass of sake down in a single pull before pouring herself another. “Maybe I hoped someone would want to stop it from happening to someone else.”
“And you did nothing to bring this on yourself, sister?” Akari asked. “You didn’t attack him?”
Yuki narrowed her eyes. “I attacked a monster, so I deserved to be raped? I turned my back on your precious goddess, so I deserved to spend five hundred years as a fleshlight? And I thought I was the one who had been locked away from the world for a while. Is that how my sister sees things now?” The nogitsune snorted. “And you call me a monster.”
She glared at Akari, and it was her sister who averted her eyes first. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I didn’t mean that.”
“Of course not,” Yuki said back calmly. She knew she should let it go, she should just stop – she needed Akari’s help – but she couldn’t stop herself. “You’re zenko. You never mean anything wrong.”
The two of them were quiet for a long time. Long enough for Yuki to eat two more cubes and drink another glass. Akari still hadn’t touched hers, so Yuki slid it back over to her side. “You need his blood for the girl. That’s it, isn’t it?” Akari asked at last. “You’re doing it for her.”
“No, I’m doing it for me,” Yuki sneered, popping another cube of tofu into her mouth and chewing. “Because I’m the one wearing a magical cold iron collar. Of course it’s for the girl.” She slapped her hands down against the counter, and not all of her frustration was with her sister. The collar had been an unexpected complication. Yuki hadn’t known how it was going to interact with their skin… that the restraining magic wouldn’t go away simply because the selkie shifted forms, that it would make their skins almost unusable. It had been a rather large roadblock to her plans. “Listen, are you going to do it, or am I going to do it myself? Because I’m not getting down on my knees for you, Akari. Not for you, not for Inari… not for anyone ever again.”
Akari was silent for a minute. Then as Yuki reached for the last cube, Akari reached out a took it. “I accept your offering,” she said. “I’ll get you the vampire’s blood.”
Yuki tried not to show her relief. “Merielle thanks you,” she said.
Akari reached into her gown and pulled out a white and red mask from somewhere within it. “I’m not doing it for her, sister,” she said. Then she pulled down the mask over her face and she vanished. For a split second, Yuki caught sight of the shadow of a nine-tailed fox on the wall. Then it, and her sister, was gone.
Merielle had gotten used to her new life. Three months in the Mists of Avalon had left her a broken wreck. Three months as Yuki’s slave had done a great deal to bring her back.
It was astounding how different the same acts could be. Yuki didn’t do much significantly different to her than some of the patrons at the Mists had done to her… she fucked her senseless most days, and many of the things the nogitsune woman did to her hurt. Most nights she cried for her mistress… Yuki preferred it that way… and she frequently found herself being fucked by whatever man the fox had roped into her games that day. Furthermore, while she didn’t know all the details, she suspected that the woman was… feeding… on her somehow.
She really wasn’t all that different from Mordred, looked at objectively… but it felt different. That was enough for her.
Her gasps for breath interrupted Merielle’s thoughts… Yuki had a pair of tails wrapping around the selkie’s throat, squeezing down just enough to make her struggle for her breath. For a change, Yuki’s tongue was in her rather than the other way around… in fact, most of the night have been her mistress making her cum one way or the other. She had barely been able to do anything to please her directly… of course, she was tied up. Merielle couldn’t do a thing that Yuki didn’t let her.
Yuki had already been fingering her, but as her tongue caressed against her clit she slid a third finger into the Merielle’s tight little cunt. Even after everything, she was still painfully tight, her fae body staying perfect and desirable… she couldn’t be stretched out enough that this wouldn’t hurt, but Yuki managed to make it feel intense enough each time that it was hard to be sure it was agony or not. The nogitsune twisted her hand in a gentle circle, trying to work her fingers deeper into her slave’s tight, tortured sex, and if Merielle had breath she might have screamed… that was why she was gagged, after all. Instead, she began to whimper.
Yuki didn’t move quickly… she didn’t need to. She just tightened her tails to silence her and continued to lick and push, moving slowly, methodically, as she tried to wedge a fourth finger into Merielle, fucking her back and forth as she did. Occasionally she nipped at her thigh or her sex, her canines scraping against her soft skin as she worked slowly to force her thumb in Merielle. She felt like she was going to break, to split in two… but she didn’t. Instead the nogitsune broke through with a jerk, and in an instant her wrist disappeared deep in the selkie’s belly.
Merielle couldn’t help herself. She lifted her head to look down, catching sight of her tight body with the entirety of her mistresses upper arm protruding out of her tight cunt. She whimpered again, but her pussy was gushing.
“That’s a good girl, Merielle… yes it is…” Yuki assured her, letting her gasp in a single breath before tightening her chokehold again. The nogitsune knew how long she could hold her breath and liked to take full advantage. “What a good girl…” she purred. She traced the nails of her free hand up her body, twisting one of her nipples, making the selkie squeal as Yuki began twisting her hand practically in Merielle’s womb. The redhead’s hips thumped against the mattress as her mistress started thrusting with her impaled arm, her fingers pinching, prodding, and exploring deep in the selkie’s body as she pounded into her.
It hurt it hurt it felt good it hurt… she started crying. Her muscles strained against her bonds, but she couldn’t get herself free. Her rocking, thrashing struggles soon found a time with Yuki’s thrusts into her, and she wasn’t sure if it was intentional or not. “Owowowow, oh gods,” she whispered, nearly breathlessly.
Yuki tightened her tails further. “If you can still talk,” she said playfully, “I’m going too easy on you still.” Her hand came loose from Merielle’s breasts to play with her clit, joining her tongue. Yuki’s fist drove deep into Merielle over and over… and then she started cumming, and she didn’t stop. “I love it when you cry for me,” Yuki muttered against her soaking wet cunt. Merielle screamed breathlessly as she shook with orgasms that seemed to roll from one to the next.
She felt her vision starting to go dark. Usually this is where Yuki stopped, letting her breathe and stopping her from cumming herself unconscious so she could use her slave to get off… but this time she didn’t. She just kept fucking her with her fist and playing with her body until Merielle felt herself slipping. “Lleeettt meeee…” she softly begged, asking to be able to make her mistress cum… but she couldn’t find the words. The world disappeared for her with one last, shattering orgasm, and then she fell, insensate, into the darkness of exhaustion and pleasure.
Yuki unwrapped her tails from around the slumbering Merielle, slowly pulling her hand out of the tight, slick hole. She smiled down at the beautiful redhead, but it was a sad smile. Idly she ran her tongue over her forearm, licking Merielle off her one lap at a time. Gently she untied the beautiful woman, running her hands over her soft form.
Then she pulled the duffel bag out from beneath the bed.
Merielle didn’t own much in the way of clothing… she had barely worn five outfits in the last few months, and she had owned nothing at all before that. None of the clothing Yuki had had her slave wear was fit for being out in public, so she had bought her some real clothing. There was some money in the pockets… not much, but then Merielle didn’t need much. She only needed the plane ticket tucked away in the pocked, a flight back to Ireland in case she wanted to try to return there. Yuki took the clothing out of the bag, one item at a time, stacking them up on the table by the bedside, revealing the item beneath them… a seal skin.
Yuki held it in her hands for a second, arms shaking a little. She could smell it… it didn’t smell like an animal skin at all. It smelled gently like… spice. Maybe pepper and sage. It smelled like Merielle. Before she could stop herself, she tucked it into Merielle’s arms, smirking as she saw the woman embrace it instinctively, even after having dropped into an exhausted sleep. She really was adorable.
The bag had one item left… the small vial that had been in the fridge earlier this week. A tiny glass bottle, filled with dark crimson fluid.
Akari had come through, it seemed. It might have taken her three months, but Yuki couldn’t help but wish it had taken her sister longer. Even the image of Mordred hobbling with a hamstrung leg or a hand bitten halfway off didn’t do much to make her feel better. The fact was that Akari had done her part. Now it was time for Yuki to do hers.
For a mad second, she considered pretending she hadn’t gotten it. Throwing it out… or maybe just tossing it into the back of the fridge and forgetting about it. It wasn’t like Merielle knew about Akari, or the plan… she hadn’t seen the blood. She didn’t know. Yuki could keep the woman here, at least a few more months. It was tempting…
It was wrong.
She snapped open the top of the vial, tipped one long-nailed fingertip in, and struck it against Merielle’s collar before she could second guess herself. There was no visible sign, but Yuki could sense it as the magic died away. She reached out and undid the clasp on the collar, tossing the hateful thing onto the floor.
Yuki bent down to kiss Merielle’s forehead. “Thanks for everything, lover. Thanks for the good times… and for getting me out of that place.” She sighed, then kissed Merielle’s soft lips. “Goodbye, Merielle,” she whispered, voice trembling. She was a monster. It was for the best. “Swim fast and far… and good luck out there.”
Then she turned and left the room, curled up in her own bed, and started to cry.
Free. She was free.
Merielle’s hand rested on her throat, unable to believe it. The vial of blood stood out clearly to her, right next to the discarded collar lying on the floor. Yuki…
She had done it! She’s kept her promise! Just like she had said. Merielle had her skin, she had her freedom… she could… she could go home!
When she had woken up, Merielle hadn’t been sure what was different, but she had immediately felt something was… only when had realized that for the first time in six months her throat didn’t hurt did she notice that the cold iron was gone. The money, the ticket… she noted it all but barely paid attention. She pulled the clothing on as quickly as she could, grabbing her skin and heading for the door. She opened it…
And stopped.
Yuki woke slowly, stirring oddly in bed… uncomfortable. She hadn’t slept this heavily in a long time… after she had finished crying, she had starting drinking instead, going through a whole bottle of sake… one that she had bought, for a change. It was very, very, very hard to get drunk as a kitsune, their inherent healing working against the process but she had done her level best anyway. She felt strange, awkward, like she had slept funny, and someone was between her legs, and…
Her eyes snapped open.
For one single, horrible second, she was back in Mists. She had lost track of how many times over the last centuries she had woken up like this, with Mordred already between her legs, and for the space between one heartbeat and the next, that was where she was… still a slave, still a fucking worthless toy to that bastard. Then she remembered where she was, and her eyes narrowed.
One of her tails was wound around her mouth, gagging her and tied off around her head. Her ankles and thighs were tied together the same way, and Merielle was between her legs, licking at her pussy. How… how dare she? Yuki growled in anger. Tie her up? That little slut… how dare she? She tried to reach for the woman but found her arms bound behind her… at first she thought it was with another of her tails, but slowly she realized that she couldn’t feel it. She could, however, smell it… pepper, and sage. It was Merielle’s skin, she realized… she had bound her hands with her seal skin, using it like a rope tie her up.
“Good morning mistress,” Merielle whispered before diving back into the nogitsune’s cunt. “You didn’t let me repay you last night, so I had to make sure you wouldn’t stop me again.”
Merielle really did know exactly how to touch her… Yuki’s growl quickly became a moan despite herself. “Mmmm!” she protested. “Llleee muuh guh ooo liiidddeeel biich.”
Merielle looked up, green eyes glittering. “No, she said. Then she continued burying her tongue in the nogitsune’s snatch. Minutes passed before she pulled out, licking her lips. “Get yourself free if you want it so bad,” the selkie teased. “You get loose from that, and I guess… you can keep it afterward.”
Yuki went rigid in surprise. Then she started to weep again.
She was… she was staying?
No one had… ever… chose her. No one stayed, not with her. She was the invisible one, the one who moved through the world like a shadow, always cold, always alone, and no one ever stayed with her. And Merielle… wanted to stay.
“You know what?” Merielle whispered. “You’re right. It is kind of hot when someone cries for you.”
Yuki glared at her, sniffling despite herself. Then she started working her fingers and free tails both against the bonds on her wrists. Oh, she was going to get free. And then she was going to show that sexy, clever, foolish, wonderful slut exactly what happened to playthings who dared to tie her up like this…
END
Merielle and Yuki’s story continues in Black Fur, Black Heart
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