Dead and Horny Ch. 07

Dana lay panting on the hood of the jeep, her bare nipples stiffening in the cool air. Her loud breaths went silent and she let out a sigh of relief, then rolled over and sat up, her legs spread wide on the hood. "Yeah, that's fair. I was trying not to laugh, so figured that was the best response. You have no idea how much better that feels, thank you."

"I would have to agree." Lily smirked as Dana slid off the hood and went on a hunt for her clothing. The riding crop vanished from her hands in a puff of smoke. "And this was way more fun than milking cows, by the way."

Dana chuckled, then knelt under the jeep to retrieve a sock and her panties.

"I'm surprised you didn't drag me out here last night. We could have counted the stars or some shit, maybe even read poetry to each other." Lily sat on a box, causing the side to split open. A faded box fell out, and she picked it up. It was an ancient box of crayons, each one of them worn down to nubs. She closed the flap and stuffed them back through the crack.

"Yeah, well, zombie brain had me obsessing over something. You might not remember, but when we were in the pit, I found a drawing of that necklace we were supposed to find. The Order is looking for it, too, and I had this stupid idea that maybe I could try and find it. They called it a Dragon Seed, so I was poking around the internet for details." Dana pulled her panties on and then found her bra in the passenger seat of the jeep.

"And what did you find?"

"Well, once I dug deep enough, I found exactly what you would expect to find on the internet. Porn, and lots of it." She put on her bra and then started sliding into her jeans. "But that's what I get for looking up a pearl necklace related to dragons."

"Yeah, even I could have told you that."

Dana nodded, then put on her shoes. "So, yeah. I had this stupid idea that maybe the reason the Order never found it was because we already had. However, we can't leave here anyway, so I guess it's going to have to remain a mystery."

Lily was about to say something when a large shape dropped down from above. Eulalie landed with hardly any sound at all, her cheeks bright red.

"I am so sorry," she told them, all of her legs squirming. She ran out the door of the barn and vanished into the woods.

"What was that about?" Lily looked at Dana.

"No idea." They left the barn behind and saw Eulalie emerging from the woods, a satisfied look on her face. When she saw them, her cheeks turned red again.

"Were you watching us?" asked Dana.

"Only sort of. Not really." Eulalie grimaced. "I couldn't sleep last night so snuck out to the barn and fell asleep in the loft. I woke up when I heard you two, but by the time I realized what you were doing, I couldn't leave without making it awkward." She let out a little laugh. "But I had to go to the bathroom, and couldn't wait any longer. I'm really sorry. I promise I'm not a creep."

"It's fine, don't worry about it." Dana looked at Lily. "Right?"

Lily rolled her eyes. Even if Eulalie had been watching, the succubus didn't care who had seen them. However, the prospect of tormenting the spider had been entertaining. "Yeah, fine, whatever."

"Thanks." Eulalie bowed her head and headed toward the cabin. Lily watched the Arachne go inside, then looked over at Dana.

"Be nice," Dana told her, then headed for the cabin herself.

Lily was left outside by herself, and it suddenly occurred to her that her only options were to go inside or maybe head out for a walk.

"This place is so boring," she muttered. Still, it was better than being trapped in the Dreamscape. She looked up in the sky and noticed that the clouds up above looked like giant balls of floating cotton. It had been some time since she had gone for a daytime flight, so why not take advantage of it?

She took off into the sky, flying in large circles as she ascended. Beneath her, the forest shrank away, and she could make out the azure glow of the magical barrier that shielded them. Wondering how high up it went, she flapped her wings until the clouds gobbled her up.

A cool breeze ran along the back of Dana's neck like a lover's hands, and the birds sang the whole way. The hike up the mountain was pleasant enough, and had been a wonderful suggestion. Behind her, she couldn't hear a sound, but could definitely smell the Arachne's presence. Velvet moved with an ethereal grace through the forest, and Dana couldn't help but wonder just how fast the Arachne could run.

"So you usually hunt alone?" Dana asked.

"I do," Velvet replied. "Well, if you don't count Emery. He usually comes with me just in case something happens, but with you here, it shouldn't be a problem."

"What could happen?"

"Well, standard stuff. Like, maybe I'm splitting wood and a tree falls on me, or something silly like that. Emery's job is to go find help just in case. It's my dad's idea, in case you were wondering."

Dana chuckled. "I think most dad's are the same like that."

"What was yours like?" Velvet asked. "For obvious reasons, mine is over protective."

Dana smiled, thinking back to the hundreds of hours spent underneath a car, or repairing something in the house. "Mine always encouraged me to pursue what I love. Had no problem with me putting myself in danger as long as I knew the risks."

"Yeah, we get a bit of that, too. Dad used to be a soldier, and he wanted us to know how to fend for ourselves. We learned a lot from him, but most of it comes from our mother. Well, and instincts. When I was five, I could have killed a grown man unarmed if I wanted to. That's not hyperbole or anything. Arachne are top-tier predators."

"So, should I be nervous around you?" Dana turned just enough so that Velvet would see that she was smiling.

"As a predator? No. My prey drive tells me I would get more nutrition out of a rock, no offense."

"None taken. Do I...smell to you?"

Velvet cleared her throat. "Um...yeah."

"Oh, don't worry, I'm not offended or anything." She stopped and turned around to face the Arachne. "Ever since I died, I have this crazy sense of smell that constantly fucks with me. Like, if I get remotely hungry, I can smell everyone nearby, and they all smell like the tastiest food you could ever eat."

Velvet nodded. "Yeah, it's not quite the same for me. Like, I smell things, but my body also tells me stuff like if the meat is any good, or even if someone may be carrying a weapon. It's hard to describe to a human, but..." She pointed at the extra sets of eyes above her own. "My human eyes are okay, but the spider part of me sees everything. A little bit of infravision, some ultraviolet, etc. So the stuff I smell is sometimes similar to that, like stuff outside of a human's senses."

"So, ultrasmell and infrasmell?"

Velvet laughed. "Yeah, that's a good way of putting it."

"I have another question." Dana turned to walk the path, and Velvet was now walking at her side. "I've seen some pictures of your mom, and she's a mirror image of your sister, but..."

"Ah, yes." Velvet waved her hand over her lower body. "Would you believe that it's just because I hate shaving my legs?"

"I mean, standards of beauty are different out here in the woods. But seriously, I'm curious, if you don't mind answering."

"I'm just fucking with you. We think it's the environment, but can't be sure. My arachnid morphology is vastly different than my sister's, and the assumption is that the environment we are born into taps into some sort of hereditary network. It took my parents a few years to conceive me, and for some reason, my biology dictated that this form was more suitable for hunting in the woods."

"Other than appearance, is there really much of a difference between you and your sister?"

"I can't spin a web worth a shit. Like, I can force it and bundle up my food, but I'm not the trap builder my sister is. I am much stronger, though, and my senses are sharper. She was built to lurk and wait, while I was built to pursue and fight."

"I guess that makes sense."

"Yeah, we—" Velvet held up a hand and looked over at a nearby tree. Dana watched her approach the tree and lean in close to look at a tiny spider with a bulbous butt. The little spider was waving its arms around frantically.

"She says that there's a bear up ahead." Velvet looked over her shoulder. "We're going to take a different path and avoid it."

"Worried it might hurt you?"

"Oh, I've killed more than a few bears. This one is just passing through, and I try to stick to animals like deer, to keep the predator-prey balance and all that." Velvet led Dana in a different direction, and they were now moving down into a valley. "Besides, that bear isn't hurting anything by just being there. As long as it doesn't start sniffing around the cabin, it can go about its life."

"So, what kinds of things do spiders talk about?" Dana asked. "I didn't even know they were smart enough to talk."

"Mostly simple things. Weather, terrain, what they've eaten. Spiders are remarkably kind for the most part. Jumping spiders are my favorite, they just love life. Imagine a little kid saying 'what's that?' over and over again, it's kind of their mentality. Hobo spiders are generally dicks, though. Like, not aggressive or anything, but they'll comment on everything you do like they know better."

Dana laughed. Spiders were just a natural occurrence no matter where you were in the world, and the idea that they could be silently judging people appealed to her.

They descended into the valley and took a circuitous route through a series of trees. She smelled sulfur, and briefly thought that Lily had followed them into the woods until they maneuvered around some rocks to reveal a clearing with a pair of large hot springs in the middle. The further of the two looked very deep, but the closer one was very wide, like a swimming pool.

"How pretty." Dana knelt at the water's edge. The inside of the springs were ringed in red and blue, and she held her hands over the water and watched vapor form on her fingertips.

"Yeah, there's a bunch of these scattered around the valley. We use them for baths or relaxing."

Dana heard the rustle of clothing and turned to see that Velvet was taking off her clothes.

"Um...I thought we were coming out here to hunt?"

"Change of plans. We've got plenty of food at home, and I am way overdue for a bath. Mainly got out just to get out. Days can get kind of long out here sometimes." Velvet was topless now except for her bra, and she reached behind her back and fidgeted with the clasp. She pulled the undergarment free, revealing a pair of wide spread breasts with dark nipples the size of silver dollars. "The water won't hurt you if you want to join me. It's like a hot tub."

She watched the Arachne step into the pool, the water overflowing onto the surrounding soil. Velvet had pulled her hair into a ponytail, and she let out a contented sigh as she spread out her arms and laid her head on a nearby rock. Her human frame was well muscled with streaks of white and brown fur running down her sides and belly.

"And how would you know how a hot tub feels?" Dana slid out of her pants and sat on the edge of the spring, her legs in the water.

Velvet grinned. "If you think my sister and I never snuck out and hijacked someone's vacation cabin, you would be sorely mistaken."

"What about your sister?" The voice came from above, and Dana looked up to see Eulalie jump out of a tree. She curled into a tight ball and cannonballed into the far spring, sending a geyser of water into the air that doused Velvet and Dana. When she surfaced, her wet hair clung to pale skin, and her legs spread wide as she floated on her back in the spring, looking very much like a sea urchin.

"I was wondering when you would get here." Velvet wiped water out of her face. "Eulalie comes here far more often than I do. She's a much better swimmer on account of not having all the extra fur on her legs. I sensed her following us a while back."

"One time I fucked up the landing and snapped one of my legs off." Eulalie lifted one of her long, spindly legs into the air and gave it a shake. "Not only did it hurt, but mom grounded me for coming to the spring by myself for the rest of the winter. She was super protective of both of us."

Velvet nodded. "You would have liked her, though. She was a lot of fun, and loved to read us stories. She used to run the game for us, but Uncle Foot took over after she passed."

Both Arachne went quiet, and the only sound that could be heard was the wind blowing through the trees and the burbling of the spring.

"So, what happens at the end of the week?" asked Velvet. "Are you two heading out of here?"

Dana nodded. "Bigfoot is going to help us get our stuff back and then get us back home I guess." It was an anticlimactic end to her adventure, and she let out a disgruntled sigh. They had retrieved only a couple of the magical objects she needed to dispel her curse, and she wasn't sure if she had technically gained anything from all the trouble they had gotten in.

"You don't sound happy about it." Eulalie had drifted around enough that she was on her back and facing toward Dana now.

"I didn't find everything I needed," she explained. "Quest failed, I guess."

"Does it have anything to do with what you were looking at on my computer?" asked Eulalie. "I saw that weird necklace picture you drew and thought it was that thing you were talking with Lily about."

Dana nodded. "The Dragon Seed? Yeah, it was. Ratu told me that that item was the big one, and super important."

"Ratu is the naga, right?" Velvet had now lowered herself into the spring far enough that her chin kissed the water.

"Mm-hmm. Mike mentioned that she can turn into a giant snake, but I haven't seen it."

"I would love to see that." Velvet grinned.

Dana opened her mouth to say 'maybe someday,' but remembered Darren's words. "Same," she replied.

"Huh." Eulalie sat up in the water and crawled out of the deep spring and joined them in the shallow one. She was also naked, and Dana couldn't help but notice that her torso seemed softer and more plump than her sister's. "I kind of thought so. I showed your picture to Uncle Foot, and he recognized it almost right away."

Dana sat up fast enough that she splashed herself in the face. "He's heard of it?"

Eulalie nodded. "Uncle Foot has been around. He asked me where I got the picture from and then groaned when I told him you gave it to me. I had to promise him that I wasn't going out to look for it."

"What does it do?"

"Vee, you'll love this." Eulalie flicked water at her sister's face. "Dragons are extremely rare, and they rarely breed or reproduce. Well, female dragon's lay eggs, which means that they probably have to fuck to fertilize them. Well, some mage got the bright idea of collecting dragon sperm and discovered that it crystallizes on contact with air."

"That's..." Par for the course, Dana thought to herself. Of course it was somehow related to sex. "Weird."

"Well, gets weirder. There have been a few Dragon Seeds through time. The story goes that a man who possesses the Dragon Seed will slowly gain the qualities of a dragon until he actually becomes one. It will use up the seed, but, you know...now you have a dragon man."

"Whoa! Like with wings and a breath weapon?" Velvet was bobbing up and down, her shimmering eyes fixed on her sister. "Maybe even some sexy fangs, or horns?"

Eulalie shrugged. "Uncle Foot didn't know the details. Wars and the like were fought over them, and one hasn't been seen for a long time as far as he knows."

"Dragon sperm. I was sent on a quest for dragon sperm." Dana pulled off the rest of her clothes and slid down beneath the water's surface with her eyes closed until the world was drowned out by heat and darkness.

Her scream of frustration was gobbled up by the water, and once she was done, she sat on the bottom of the spring. It was time to officially call it. The other items were impossible to find, but this last one was likely already in the hands of someone who knew its secret. If the Order was also looking for it, chances are that they had resources to track it that she did not.

She sat there moping for a few minutes until a hand grabbed her by the hair and dragged her to the surface.

"Hey, you okay?" Velvet's eyes were full of concern.

"Yeah. Don't need to breathe, remember?" Dana sank below the water when Velvet let go of her, then bobbed over to the side where she could sit once more. She wiped the hair out of her eyes and sighed. "Sorry, just super frustrated. The only good thing that's come out of this trip was getting to meet the two of you. It's been nice out here, not worrying about being chased by the Order, but I'm never going to be able to track down this necklace, and I definitely am not going to be able to take it from a dragon."

"Oh, the process takes years, so there's still time. As for tracking it down..." Eulalie broke into a grin. "What if I told you that I'm working on it?"

"How?"

Velvet laughed, and Eulalie's face glowed. "Well...my dad knows I do computer stuff, but not what kind I do. I took some online classes once we had internet, and it blossomed from there into something much bigger."

"She's a world class hacker," Velvet said. "Like, she's actually scored a few government contracts, that kind of thing."

"How? Don't they do background checks?"

"Background checks against what? Technically, we don't exist, so it wasn't like I had to wipe out any trace of who we were. Manufacturing fake identities is easy when you have nothing else to do with your time." Eulalie tossed her hair over her shoulder. "Most of what I do is test weaknesses in secure systems for government agencies. It's like someone paying you to try and break into their house. I don't do bad stuff, because the last thing I want to do is call attention to us."

"You can't say you never do anything bad," Velvet added.

Eulalie ignored her sister. "But because of the work I do, I have access to a lot of programs and computers that most people do not. Right now, I've got a network of computers that are compiling video and photo footage and scanning it for any objects that might match this necklace of yours."

"That's a thing you can do?"

"It's kind of like facial recognition." Eulalie shrugged. "I'm not saying it's perfect. Before I left the cabin, the computers had already collected thousands of positive matches, but we can filter those. It's mostly just looking through social media posts from the last year or so, and maybe traffic cameras, that kind of thing. It isn't like you sleep anyway, so it will give you something to do."

"Eulalie. Thank you."

"Don't thank me yet." Eulalie's cheeks glowed with pride. "Let's see what I turn up first."

"Hey, can I ask a question?" Velvet had raised her hand like a child in school. "That scar on your shoulder is wicked. How did you get that?"

"This?" Dana looked at her shoulder. The lines had faded a bit, but the mark was very noticeable. "Stupid bitch with a sword cut it right off in one swing. Lily had to learn surgery to reattach it."

"Wait, a woman with a sword?" Velvet moved closer and stared at the wound. "When was this?"

"Um...well, last week for me, a couple days from now, technically."

Eulalie giggled. "I love this time travel shit."

"Lala, can it. This woman, what did she look like?"

Dana described her attacker, the details always fresh in her mind. "She was using this really cool sword that unfolds, I guess it's standard issue."

Velvet pulled herself out of the spring, steam clinging to her body as she walked. She knelt over her clothes and pulled something out of its pocket. "You mean like this?"

With the flick of her wrist, the knife in her hand unfolded into a blade.