A Secret Amid The Trees

Gail moaned long and loud as they came together. Her roasting sex clung desperately to Neil's rod as it spilled its heavy load within her depths. Her entire body was electrified with exhausting pleasure. Her arms gave way and she collapsed onto the bed.

She rode out countless waves of ecstasy and when it was over, she was left feeling wonderfully serene. Everything seemed so much simpler now. She realized that she no longer needed to bother with tiresome matters like thoughts or decisions. All she needed to concern herself with was pleasing Neil. And for the first time, she truly appreciated her own sexy body, knowing that through it, she could satisfy his every desire.

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Will raced through the streets at hazardous speeds. He had already lost too much time taking Melissa Brochey back to the hospital to be quarantined overnight. But it was imperative that he prevent her having sex with any other men. It was a good thing that the on-call doctor owed him a favor, as technically there were no medical grounds on which to hold her.

Now, he had to track down the man who had already been exposed to her, Neil Shaffer. He'd phoned his colleagues and they'd told him that Gail was going to give him a lift to the 'Hillside Motel'. That's where he was heading post haste.

Will still had no idea what the hell he was going to do when he actually found Neil. He didn't even know if there was anything hecould do. Right now, he could only pray that the legend wasn't true.

When Will was growing up, his father had taken him many times to meet the elders of their tribe. Several times a year, he and other young members of the tribe would gather to bask in the elders' wisdom and learn of their heritage.

But at the moment, he was only concerned with one particular lesson he received in his late teenage years. It was an important story, but because of its nature, it was only ever told t mature students.

The words of the elder echoed through Will's mind tonight as clearly as the day he'd heard them.

"Many generations before the white man came to our land, our people lived in what we now call 'The Valley Of The Moon Maidens,'" the venerable elder began. "One night in the summer months, three of the tribe's young maidens disappeared. The next morning, three strange maidens, from a tribe beyond the horizon wandered into the camp, lost and confused.

"These strange things had happened because a dark shaman from distant lands had come to the valley.

"The shaman had once been in love with the beautiful daughter of a tribal chief. But she died shortly after they were married and his grief was great.

"Though it was forbidden, the shaman performed a ritual to restore his beloved bride to life. It is said that he drank of her blood and cast powerful spells upon her body.

"His attempt to lure her spirit back to this world did not succeed, but it also did not entirely fail.

"The bride's spirit was shattered by the ritual and only three parts of it remained with the shaman. They could not return to the bride's dead body. But the shaman knew that each spirit fragment could enter the body of any living woman and reshape it in their own image.

"These possessed women became known as the 'Moon Maidens', because the spirits could only take their bodies for one cycle of the moon. On the night of the new moon, the spirits' control over the bodies would weaken and the shaman would have to chose three new maidens to take the appearance of his bride, for a month.

"The moon maidens were living women of broken spirit. This means that they had no path and no will of their own. They thought only of serving the shaman. They could not feel emotions like happiness and love. But the shaman saw only that their features were like those of the one he loved and was blind to their inner emptiness.

"Because he had broken the sacred laws of his people by performing forbidden magic, the shaman had to flee his homeland. Along his journey he took many maidens from many tribes to give bodies to his moon maidens.

"When the dark shaman stole three maidens from our own tribe, the chief sent his finest warriors and trackers to find the dark shaman and free the maidens from his magic.

"They found him one night, performing a ritual, while his moon maidens watched. The warriors attacked quickly and silently, ending the dark shaman's life. The spirits of the moon maidens were torn from the bodies of the tribal maidens and they returned to their natural state.

"But even as the shaman's spirit left this world, the spell of the moon maiden remained. By the following spring, a grove of strange trees had grown in the place where the dark shaman's blood had been spilled."

Will and the other teens watched as the elder picked up an ancient leather pouch from the table beside him. He tipped the contents into his gentle, weathered hand. It appeared to be the open shell of some kind of plant pod.

"Upon the trees were many of these pods," the elder continued. "Some people of the tribe ate the fruit of these pods. What followed was a time of great trouble. New moon maidens appeared and bought with them jealousy and conflict between their masters and the husbands of the women whose bodies they had taken. There were many deaths and our tribe was almost destroyed.

The elder leaned over and handed the pod to a young man sitting at his feet, to be passed around the room.

"This pod is empty," the elder said. "But a fresh one contains many bad berries that harbor the spell of the moon maidens."

Will was the second pupil to hold the empty pod. Even today, he still remembered every little detail of it. About as tall as an apple, but not as plump, the pod'flowered' out into three equal segments, joined at the stem. Its shell was dark brown, very hard and bumpy. The innards were a very dull yellow-ish color. Inside each segment was what looked to be a sinewy honeycomb of empty spherical compartments that were each about half an inch in size. The inner framework was thin, but looked very tough.

"It is said that if a man eats the bad berries, the spell will not affect him, because the spell has not been given a woman to mimic," the elder continued. "But if awoman eats the bad berries, she becomes a source of moon maidens.

"Until the next dawn, an endless river of spiritual energy will be drawn to her. Eventually, she will be filled with more spirit than she can control. When that happens, she becomes like the deer in heat and will have a powerful urge to mate."

At this, a few of the young men began to snicker, but were quickly silenced by the elder's dissuading glare.

"This is the time of greatest danger," the elder told them, "for once the fluid of her genitals covers her lover's genitals, she sheds three layers of her excessive spirit, like the snake sheds its skin. These three layers of spirit become moon maiden spirits and they will follow the woman's lover for the rest of his life.

"For a moon maiden to take a body, the man must choose a woman and mate with her. The moon maiden spirits were shed upon the man's genitals and this is how they enter a woman's body. The man will find it easy to seduce almost any woman for this purpose. Though it is really the spirit of the moon maiden seducing the woman, for it wants her body.

"Once the spirit has entered a body, she takes the appearance of the woman who shed her spirit upon the man. She has no will of her own and is like an empty slave to the man. She thinks only of pleasing him.

"On the night of a new moon, when a moon maiden spirit is at its weakest, the moon maidens lose their bodies and the man chooses three new bodies for them.

"The women who harbored the moon maiden spirits return to their natural state. They keep no memories of their time as vessels of the moon maidens.

"This is the story of the moon maidens, passed down through our tribe for generations. This is why The Valley Of The Moon Maidens is now a forbidden place. And most importantly, this is why no one must ever eat from the pods of the shaman's trees," the elder concluded.

As Will pulled over in front of the 'Hillside Motel', he noticed Gail's car parked beside the office. That was a relief! At least he knew that Neil Shaffer was here, somewhere. The problem was, he had no idea what room he would be in.

Will raced over to the well-lit office and tried the door. It opened. He stepped inside the empty office and immediately went to the front desk.

"HELLOOOO? SERVICE PLEASE! IT'S VERY IMPORTANT!" Will called, urgently tapping the service bell. He paced around anxiously for a few seconds before trying again. "HELLO? ANYONE THERE?"

He leaned over the front desk to see if there was any visible clue to Neil's room number. Unfortunately there wasn't. He was about to hop the counter and start rifling through the drawers when he noticed a door with a frosted glass window at the back of the office. There was a figure moving behind it.

"HELLO?" he called again, in a somewhat quieter voice.

The door opened and a woman stepped out...

It was Melissa! But that was impossible! How could she have escaped from quarantine at the hospitaland beaten Will here?

She had put on new clothes, too. She was wearing a long grey skirt and a light blue blouse that she was in the process of buttoning up. The blouse seemed much too petite for her voluptuous chest and for some reason, there was a name tag upon its breast:'Brenda'?

Her behaviour was odd. Despite Will's loud cries just a moment ago, Melissa barely seemed to notice him. Also, she had a dreamy smile of satisfaction upon her face; almost as if she just been...

No.

It couldn't be true! Could it?

A moment later, someone else came through the door and Will's worst fears were realized. It wasanother Melissa! His heart sunk when he noticed she was wearing Gail's park ranger uniform.

Right behind her was a deceptively ordinary-looking young man, who was brushing her along by the small of her back. Neil Shaffer, no doubt. His grin was twice as broad as the first Melissa's.

It was all true! Will didn't want to believe it, but it was true! Neither one of these women were the real Melissa! They were both moon maidens in Melissa's image!

"Sorry, pal," Neil remarked, acknowledging Will for the first time. "I just had a look back there and nobody's around. I guess the staff have all gone home for the night," he smiled.

Will watched incredulously as Neil and his two companions walked around the front desk and out the front door. Neil's hands were lightly squeezing the ladies' asses.

"Come, master. Let us find our sister," the Brenda-Melissa suggested once they were outside. "She will surely please you, also."

"Excellent idea, ladies," Neil declared. "We should see if we can find a bar that's still open. We might find her there."

Neil completely understood his new powers. He had no idea why he suddenly had them, but he understood them.

For the rest of his life, he would have his own little harem of submissive Melissas. He dreamed of long nights of decadent foursomes, being warmed by that luscious body on three separate fronts all at once. And when he became to tired to participate himself, he would have his beautiful moon maidens bring each other to screaming orgasms, while he watched.

He looked forward to holding Melissa's naked body in his arms as he drifted off to sleep at night and waking up every morning to the sight of her angelic feminine features.

So many nights, Neil had gone to bed masturbating to erotic fantasies of Melissa. He had spent so many collective hours staring across the fence to the house next door, hoping for just a glimpse of heaven through a window. Now, after all these years the girl he had secretly longed for since puberty was finally his; three times over.

It bought a smile to Neil's face. He was glad he'd gone on that camping trip. Even taking into account all the misadventure, he felt that week amongst the trees had been the most rewarding experience of his life.

The End