The Serpent and the Shoemaker

However, all that changed once word got around that he had been known to speak up for mamono in conversation, even if he was only trying to dispel myths about them. The same women now ignored him, looked at him in disgust, or even pity. He had subsequently received retractions on every invitation he had gotten before. He had to admit it angered him, but more than that it made him feel all the more lonely. He was unsure if he could even call anyone in the whole village a friend, be they male or female they seemed to interact with him only if they needed to. The isolation in some ways felt worse than being openly mistreated.

Sometimes he longed for his homeland, sure there had not been any good jobs available for him but at least people were more inclined to accept folks who didn't despise or needlessly fear mamono. That being said, returning to his native country was not an option, he simply didn't have the funds for the trip, especially with how poorly his shoe shop had been doing.

It was in the midst of this deep depression that she had begun appearing to him during the night as he slept. He supposed it was quite ironic that in a town so fearful of mamono he was likely being visited by one. Either that or he was having trouble recognizing when he was dreaming and had to seriously question his mental health. However, he had decided to go with the flow as much as he could, at least until he could get his visitor to agree to tell him what she was. Attempts to ask her were always diverted, ignored, or refused and he didn't want to question her too much for fear of scaring her away, but he had to admit he was getting more and more desperate to know just what was going on.

The dreams always started the same way, with a phantom touch and melodic voice he was only half aware of that grew to a slow caress and eventually covered his whole body. It was hard to describe the sensations, given he was in an altered state of consciousness. But try as he might he couldn't ever seem to wake himself up, every struggle to do so would only intensify the soothing caresses and reassuring coos and whispers that eventually left him prone and pliable for her.

She called herself Serafina, and rather than appearing there herself she seemed to only speak into the dream he was having. Or perhaps he dreamed as a response to her voice from outside, he wasn't sure. In the mindscape of his dreams he would imagine what she looked like, his brain trying to blend various features he found attractive in a woman, with the result being that she often changed looks over the course of the dream and sometimes was only a semi-defined feminine shape in his mind's eye.

But while he only imagined her appearance, her voice, touch and presence were far more real. She would speak with him at length sometimes, and he could feel his mouth move in his sleep as he replied. More often he would feel her lips upon his own before she would slowly move them and her hands down over his chest and belly, exposing him to the cool night air until she reached his manhood, which by then would have been engorged for some time from her constant caresses.

From there would come more phantom petting, gentle suckling sensations on his skin and tingling pleasures that would progress until they boiled over into truly wet dreams. She did these things, she claimed, simply because she liked him, liked fondling him and giving him pleasure, and offered no further explanation. Yet when he did awake he didn't usually find much evidence of the nocturnal emission aside from sweat. He didn't have to ask to know that she was responsible for that, albeit consuming semen didn't help him guess what she could be, as many mamono were known to have a taste for it even if their diet didn't need or normally include it. He found himself pondering yet again just what she could be.

A ghost? No. Visions from being possessed by one of them were not restricted to dreams, and the images would retain a consistent appearance matching that of the ghost herself. They would probably be more random and smuttier than what he had experienced, namely making out, petting, along with hand and blow jobs too.

A succubus? Unlikely. The orgasms she gave him were good but hardly supernatural. Indeed, he was pretty sure his visitor had never actually had sex with him, only used her hand and mouth, kissed and cuddled with him. From what he had heard succubi tended to ride their lovers all night, the sex being so good that they were not shy about revealing their true nature to the enraptured man in mid-coitus. Plus if a succubus came to like a man as much as he believed Serafina liked him, she would usually take him back home with her to love at her leisure.

A nightmare? Possibly, but while Serafina could certainly be dominating and was very seductive, she still didn't seem to fit what he had heard of nightmares. These mysterious relatives of centaurs were said to in some mystical way actually put themselves into the dreams of their prey/lovers, and usually maintained a chosen appearance. In contrast he always had the impression that Serafina was a completely outside presence, not a bit of her mind invading his dreams, only her voice and touch.

So confusing...

And suddenly, there she was. The presence in his bed, the sensations upon his body. He belatedly realized he had drifted off to sleep while thinking things over, and now hovered in that state of altered-consciousness she put him in, unable to wake up or open his eyes and yet more aware than he was in normal sleep. Frustrations built in him but were soothed into nothingness within seconds at the gentle hushing coos of her voice.

"Van..."

Her voice... it was so beautiful, so enchanting and sexy...

"Van?..."

It was without doubt the most lovely voice he had ever heard. More than that, it had a hold on his mind and body. He was quite certain that if she was using any enchantment or other magic on him it had to carried by her voice. But he didn't care, she only used it to soothe and tease him after all. And keep him asleep he supposed.

"Van, can you hear me?"

"Y-yes..." he stuttered unsteadily in his sleep. Though she had visited him for weeks something about her still often made him feel like a young teenager again, ever anxious about saying the wrong thing to a girl. He relaxed considerably when he heard her musical laugh.

"You should see the adorable face you just made, at least I know you're happy to have me in your bed again, but even so... you seem troubled by something."

He marveled at how she could read him so easily. "It was... kind of a tough day, worse than usual actually. I don't know how much longer I can stay in the village, and I'm not sure what to do about it."

"Then for now let me take your worries away..." Her voice felt like it was caressing him as much as her body was, and her tone had turned seductive and breathy. He knew what that meant.

He tried to speak, wanting to demand some answers for once, "Wai-t I have- ah! Questions! Se-sera- ah, ahhah!"

But her lips were already upon his skin, filling him with myriad sensations. "Shhh... hush now... I desire to touch your body Van... let me sate myself with you, and then we can talk."

He basked in the feelings. How could she caress and feel up so much of him at once? He was sure no human body could touch him the way she was now, but he couldn't identify it further, his senses seemed dulled in this state. Still, he clearly felt the pleasurable shudder that went through him when she began licking and nibbling at his earlobe and neck.

"Feel me Van... then feed me..."

He had no idea what she meant by feeding her. He wasn't quite near a climax yet and his body always seemed whole in the morning...

"So good Van... so good..."

Her voice sounded slightly muffled, with a hint of a pleasured moan. Again he had no idea what she was talking about, but if she was happy about it so was he. It certainly did feel good.

"Now, for the other Van..." came her teasing tone.

He knew what this meant as well and heard his own moan when she moved his pants and then his underwear down to assault his hardened cock with her mouth. It too seemed beyond human, her jaws were too flexible, her tongue too long and prehensile. He didn't care. In his mind's eye he imagined her, a gorgeous woman engulfing his member past her sumptuous lips and sucking hard while eying his response sometimes and at others simply shutting her eyes in concentration and pleasure.

The sensations on his cock slowly ceased save for that of her warm breath, and he heard her voice again as it continued to surround him, reaching clear through the fog of pleasure and echoing through his consciousness. "Would you answer a question of mine before I answer yours Van... please?"

He thought he heard some slight hesitation in her words, as if she were unsure of them. This question was unusual, as it implied she would actually answer his this time. It seemed though that she wasn't going to let his answer interfere with her fun, as the sensations returned to his privates and she began using her lips in earnest. He acknowledged her question in a trembling tone, it was so hard to concentrate on anything but the phantom presence sucking on his manhood.

"Y-yes."

He heard a muffled giggle and had her mouth not been otherwise occupied he knew she would be smirking at him, indeed in his mind's eye he could imagine it. He then felt her mouth detaching from his member, her hands now touching it in such a way as to raise his arousal without climaxing.

"If you did leave this place... Van... where would you want to go? Is there another place you long for?"

Again her mouth engulfed his length. How could she expect him to answer when she was doing that?!

"I- I- ah- ngh!"

He felt himself climax, and was a bit surprised when Serafina neither sucked on him to extend the orgasm, nor used her tongue to keep him hard for another round as she normally did. Still, it cleared his mind a bit and he spoke as quick as his panting breath would allow. More than his need for answers, he had to first say this while his courage held. "I can't answer that, because it's not about where I'm going, it's about who I'm with."

For a tense while all was silent, she seemed confused by his answer. "What do you mean Van?

He continued, his voice still breathy. "I admit, sometimes I've been homesick, but never when you're here. What I long for is to be with you Sera, to see and know every bit of you. I've only lasted this long here because of your support, where I end up going doesn't matter when I know I'll feel empty if you're not there. I'd like to go wherever you end up going, if it means you would let me love you."

He wondered about how silly he must have sounded, mumbling this confession in his sleep, but it was the first time he'd been able to put his feelings for her into words like that, and if he had remained silent he would never have forgiven himself. As good as what they had felt it also felt incomplete, emotionally and physically. He wanted to know who this goddess was, where she came from, why she had fallen for a lowly shoemaker like him.

Yet her voice seemed skeptical. "Could you really devote yourself to a future with someone you barely know?"

Her words stung, true there was a great deal he didn't know about her, but all the same he still knew her didn't he? He knew she had a cheerful, even silly, personality when she wasn't in a seductive mood. She enjoyed watching the stars at night, and sunbathing during the day. She was a very forward person when it came to showing her opinions as well as her affections, and while at first she gave the impression of being rather carefree it was easy to see she was in fact very intelligent. On another note, while she had not directly had sex with him the amount she seemed to pleasure herself (judging by sounds she tended to make) while pleasuring him indicated a very high libido, though that was common to most all mamono. Lastly, she had a surprisingly strong temper, if the fierce tone she often took in reaction to his treatment by the villagers was any indication. But where she came from, just who and what she was, that was all still a mystery.

He steeled his courage again. "I know enough. I know you're not human... and I don't care. I don't care what you are, to me you're the only one I've ever been able to share my heart with since my parents died. That's more than a lot of human couples have. I refuse to believe that all the things I feel for you are just lies and hormones. I want you, all of you. That's why I can't stand you hiding from me. I want to truly make love with you Serafina, I want us to be more than these dream trysts!"

The sensations now grew around his upper body and in turn his vision of her in the dream moved forward and embraced him, holding him for short while. He heard a relieved, pleasured sigh and felt the tingles from her breath on his ear.

"I was really hoping you would say something like that. I didn't want to force you to go further, but my patience was just about up. I want to be with you forever, I want to mate with you and sate myself in you again and again. I don't think I can hold myself back much longer," she said with lustful breaths.

Van was overjoyed, and more than a little turned-on, at Serafina's admission to wanting him so much. "Really? Then please, can you let me wake up? I'll- ahhn-gah!"

A sudden burst of arousal in his groin stifled his words with a frustrated groan. He imagined Serafina was wearing a thoroughly pleased grin as she fondled the genitals of his sleeping body. It made him desire all the more to awake and see her, but he found it hard to even think when she was touching him like that.

"Hush now my pet," she said, using one of the endearments she often brought out when seducing him. "Don't ask questions now, but answer mine. I love you. I want you. I want to make you mine and mine alone. But are you willing to let go of everything to have me, to accept whatever you find? Are you prepared if... if I turn out to not be what you hoped...?"

He could hear the worry, even fear in her tone, and the dream woman before him changed her face to match the expression he imagined the real her was now wearing.

"How you look doesn't matter to me!" He assured her fervently, trying to speak to the true presence he could feel around him rather than the dreamt illusion before him. "So long as you are truly the woman I have come to know you as, nothing else matters to me."

She did not sound convinced. "You say that now but..."

"I mean it! Please, understand I do not place you under some idle illusion of perfection! Your forceful nature, how stubborn you can be, they only make me love you more! If I can't be your husband, if whatever race you belong to does not practice that rite, I will accept that, so long as you let me be a part of your life! Please-" his voice cracked and he felt some shame for pleading like this, but his ego was far from a current priority. Rather the silence that ensued worried him, as he realized that referring to her as forceful and stubborn may not have been the best way of proposing to her.

Her laugh finally eased his tension. "Be careful darling, compliments like that could make me want to punish you in all sorts of ways," she accented with the wry, sexy tone she liked to use when teasing him, before her voice turned warmer, "I know I have been stubborn tonight with all these questions, but truly... my greatest desire from the start has been to have you say these things to me, and to make you all mine..."

He wasn't sure if she meant as a husband, lover, or sex toy, but he really didn't care either. So long as she loved him and stayed with him, it was enough.

"And I assure you..."

He felt a pleasant tingle as her voice seemed to get closer.

"While I am the woman you know, I am also much more, especially when it comes to making love. You see for women like me, marriage is taken more seriously than it is by most humans. The greatest of my passions are reserved for my husband, my mate, alone."

"For women... like you?" He repeated, the indication of how much she had been holding back during these trysts both exciting and intimidating him a bit.

"Come to me, and see for yourself. If you truly wish to know me, if you burn for me as I burn for you, come and I will reveal to you everything..."

Her sweet, beautiful voice now lulled his mind into a stupor, but her words still embedded themselves firmly into his memory.

"Leave the village by morning, and travel south along the main road and then into the forest until you reach the border of the Great Labyrinths. I will wait for you there. It's only about half a day's journey there but be sure to pack enough for staying the night."

Her instructions caused a sudden panic to pull him out of the mental daze she had placed him in. "B-but h-how will I find you? And why there? That area is huge, and it's a maze of canyons, streams and caverns. Plus there's the forest, how-"

He felt a finger on his lips and her sweet titter filled his ears. "Shh, just trust me, like a good little boy," she teased, then added with a hungered longing, "I will find you, I will answer your questions, and then we will be mated. Here there are too many people around us, I want to be assured that there are no interruptions. To do that I must make sure our rendezvous site is ready by warning away anyone who might cause either of us problems. Now return to your dreams my pet, you will need to be rested for what's to come."

She kissed him once more and with that she was gone. The mental image he had made of the beautiful woman remained, but no longer were the sensations of her body so intense, and no more did he feel her presence as he had when Serafina was voicing the vision.

She had left him once again, and he was stunned at the feelings of loss and loneliness that filled him. He had told her he loved her, maybe he hadn't worded it in the best of ways but still she had said she loved him too hadn't she?! So why did she have to leave? Why did they have to meet out in the wilderness?! And why did she refer to him as "little boy"?!

Sure it was sexy when she was seducing him, but he couldn't help but wonder why she chose that term at times. He may have been slightly shorter than most men in the area, and he considered his manhood fairly average, but he was far from what anyone could call "little." Wasn't he? When he asked she had told him it was because she was a few years older than him and that they were in fact about the same height standing, but the endearment still made him self-conscious at times. He preferred "darling" or even "pet" most of the time.

Confused and disillusioned, he soon fully awoke in his bed, sitting up immediately to scan his dark room for any sign of her. But as always there was none. For a minute he could swear he could feel his skin still tingling from her touch, and the small sheet he used as a blanket no longer covered him. Yet the sensations faded soon, and for all he knew he had pulled the sheet off in his sleep due to it being a warm night. His pants were on still, but then he thought he remembered the sensation of her pulling them back up before her visit had ended.

Regardless, the memory of her words remained clear in his mind and he remained convinced that it had not been a mere dream. He was also still hard, his erection straining in his underwear. Given what she had planned for him he guessed she wanted him to save up as much as he could, so he didn't bother to finish himself off and simply relaxed, thoughts of what the next day might bring filling him as he drifted back to sleep.