Ch. 01 - Spots and Stripes

"My, my, you're a feisssty one." A slippery voice called out to Chloe from the trees and the jaguar-kin immediately averted her gaze, knowing better than to be caught in the hypnotic gaze of a fiend.

"You looked so sssleepy by the crystal pool."

Chloe was too busy planning her escape to focus on the words creeping though the trees. She couldn't run. She couldn't hide. She needed to attack the fiend.

Exhaustion began to seep its way back into Chloe's muscles, causing her to stagger. She quickly caught herself, planting her feet firmly into the ground, hoping it went unnoticed.

"Oh, you are sssleepy. Here...let me help you."

Chloe could feel cold, slippery skin creep around her waist and the jaguar-kin spun with a snarl, slashing instinctively and tearing through flesh. The fiend chuckled in amusement, shattering the jaguar-kin's pride.

Chloe was no more of a threat to this fiend than a jungle rat was to her.

If she wanted any chance of success, her attack needed to be vicious and precise. A scratch to the serpent's tail wouldn't be enough. Chloe needed to gouge out its eyes with her claws. Tear out its throat with her fangs. Kill it in one fell swoop.

That meant she needed to get close.

Chloe shuddered at the thought. Every instinct told her to stay as far away as possible. To claw wildly at any approach. To wear the creature down. But in her current state, Chloe knew her body would give out before the fiend's.

"How rude," the fiend cooed, "all I wanted to do was help."

Chloe's hearing was keen, enough to hear a leafmouse scurry across a bed of moss, but she was having trouble locating the source of the voice. It was as if it was coming from all around her. Enveloping her.

"Can I do that? Can I...help?"

A slippery coil slithered its way over Chloe's paw, causing her to leap backwards into another coil that draped heavily across her shoulders. Chloe shook it off anxiously as another wave of fear began to course through her tired body. The fiend was playing with her.

The exhausted jaguar-kin wanted so badly to pounce in the direction she felt most confident the voice was coming from and attack, but that wasn't good enough. She needed to be certain. She needed the fiend to be right in front of her. But Chloe knew it wouldn't risk closing the distance unless it was certain its prey no longer posed a threat.

Chloe was reminded of the hunter she and Daisy had met, pretending to be injured, begging for help. Chloe would have gladly left her to die, but Daisy refused, determined to help. Under the assumption that the hunter was too wounded to present any danger, Chloe allowed Daisy to do so, never considering for a second that it was all an act. Beasts and beast-kin, Chloe natural predators, weren't so cunning.

Maybe Chloe had to be cunning, too.

"Oh, sweetie, you're trembling."

The tail began to tease its way around Chloe's waist for a second time, more gently this time, caressing her through the thin fabric of her clothes. Chloe gritted her teeth and let the tail wrap gently around her. She could feel her legs trembling with exhaustion and her eyelids growing heavy. If she didn't act soon, it would be too late. The animal part of her brain was screaming as loudly as it could, desperate for Chloe to run away or fight. Instead, the jaguar-kin pretended to struggle, twisting tiredly from side to side in a feigned attempt to shake away the coil as it tightened around her. She made sure to keep her hands free, doing so as subtly as she could so it wouldn't appear as anything more than an accident.

"There, there," the fiend sinched her tail tight, ensuring that Chloe couldn't break free, "isn't that better?" A second coil began to wrap its way around Chloe's thighs, squeezing them together tightly. "You can relax, now."

Chloe felt the ground disappear beneath her feet and she filled with anticipation. This was it. It was working.

The tail continued to coil around Chloe until she was wrapped from her ankles to her breasts in a tight cocoon. It had been difficult to avoid getting her arms wrapped up in the coils that encircled her stomach and chest, but it was imperative that her hands stayed free. Afraid of the hypnotic eyes that lurked above, Chloe's eyes stayed glued to the ground as it slowly disappeared beneath her, replaced by the branches and leaves of gnome trees.

The higher she was taken, and the tighter the coils grew, the less certain Chloe became. She was willingly letting herself be captured. Trapped. She could feel her heart pound fearfully against her chest, hoping the fiend couldn't feel it too. It was too late to change her plan now. She had to carry it through to the end. With a deep breath, Chloe let herself relax into the coils, feeling an immediate and mind-numbing wave of relief as her body was granted the rest it had been searching for. The rest it so desperately needed. It spread like a flood throughout her body, seeping into every one of her muscles, making them feel warm and soft, as though she were melting. Her head and arms sagged, and her tail flopped lifelessly against the coils.

Despite their cold, slippery texture, the coils felt strangely cozy. Their tightness, comforting. Like a heavy blanket wrapping itself tightly around her. Embracing her. Letting her rest.

Rest.

Chloe wanted to rest so...so bad.

Just a little. Just for a moment. That's all she needed.

Chloe's eyes shot open, and the cold sensation of dread trickled down her spine. She had nearly fallen asleep. In the clutches of a fiend who wanted to kill her, Chloe had nearly fallen asleep. Instinctively, she began to squirm against the tight embrace, trying to break free, forgetting the role she was meant to be playing. She grappled frantically against the coils, trying to wedge her fingers between them and pry them free. Horrifyingly, Chloe found that she was barely strong enough to grasp the coils at all. Her body felt slow, as if she were drowning in a pool of honey. Exertion made her ache. Angrily, Chloe found herself longing for the moments when her muscles gave out, turning into useless, mushy puddles.

Her body had long since passed the point of complete exhaustion, running on nothing but the leftover fumes of adrenaline now.

"Shh, shh," the fiend comforted. "Calm down." The voice was louder now - closer - swimming around Chloe's head, making her dizzy. The jaguar-kin had been warned that certain fiends possessed hypnotic qualities beyond their just their eyes. Weakly, Chloe began to lift her hands up to cover her ears.

"Aww...you ssstill don't trussst me?"

The voice seemed to be moving away, calling out to its prey through the safety of the trees. Too far away for Chloe to strike. Reluctantly, she lowered her hands, desperate to maintain the illusion of her weakness, her entire body sagging tiredly as her arms dropped back down to her sides.

"That's a good kitty." The voice cooed. Faintly, the coils began to pulse, massaging Chloe's body up and down rhythmically, squeezing the strength from her muscles, wringing her out. It was unlike anything Chloe had ever experienced.

It felt amazing.

"What's your name, kitty?"

Chloe was too tired to do anything but respond honestly. "...Chloe..."

"Chloe. What a pretty name. My name is Sssyre, Chloe. It's ssso nice to meet you."

Chloe's eyelids were drifting closed, too weak to stay open on their own. She fought as hard as she could to keep them open, but they began to sting, begging desperately for relief. Her blinking grew tired and long as she chased the sweet pleasure it brought. Even when her eyes were open, it was only halfway, Chloe peering past her eyelids at the coils wrapped around her body.

"It's okay to close your eyesss." Syre's voice was closer than ever, sounding as though she was speaking to Chloe from just beyond arms reach.

She was almost there. Chloe just had to stay awake a little while longer and she could escape.

"It's okay to...sssleep." Syre's voice sounded so tempting, coiling around Chloe's brain and squeezing it, making Chloe forget everything but how good it felt to relax. To close her eyes. To sleep. With a soft exhale, Chloe let her eyelids drift closed all the way, smiling as pleasurable relief pulsed through her aching eyeballs.

"Good girl. Go to sssleep."

No.

Chloe had to stay awake. She had to keep her eyes open. With great effort and discomfort, Chloe opened her eyelids, confused to see a large, rippling pair staring back at her.

"Hi, kitten."

Chloe's entire body went limp, drooping helplessly in Syre's embrace as the entire world lit up in a deluge of soft, pastel colors. Chloe knew she should turn away, she knew that the eyes of a fiend meant certain death, but she was too weak to resist any longer. Weeks of nonstop hiking and sleepless nights had left her unable to fight. Her earlier escape attempt had left her unable to struggle. Syre's rhythmic squeezing had left her unable to move. And now, the pulsing, pastel eyes were drying Chloe out entirely, leaving her unable to even think.

The creature swaying back and forth before Chloe's face was beautiful. From the waist up, she resembled a woman, naked and buxom, with smooth, pale skin. Her face was full and sweet, framed by luxurious black hair. And her eyes...

Her eyes were large and inviting, like Daisy's, surrounded by thick black eyelashes. From the center of each eye, where her pupils should be, were pulsing colors. Pinks and purples and blues all radiated outwards, filling her eyes entirely. If Chloe could see her own face, she would see the pattern forming in her own eyes, too.

"It's been ssso long since I've seen a levinpher, let alone one as pretty as you." Syre stroked Chloe's cheek with the back of her cold hand. "You have such pretty ssspots," she caressed the jaguar ears above Chloe's head, giggling as they twitched reflexively. "Especially," the fiend reached behind Chloe's coiled body, "along this long, sssupple tail."

Chloe groaned happily. She, along with most other jaguar-kin, had a sensitive tail. Syre seemed to know this, stroking the base of her captive's tail tightly, causing a pleasant buzz to pulse throughout Chloe's core, spreading to her crotch.

"Oh my..." the fiend grinned mischievously, parting the coils that wrapped around Chloe's waist and thighs to reveal a growing bulge in her pants. "It looks like I caught myself a ssstallion." Syre slid her hand from Chloe's tail and placed it on her cock instead. "I much prefer stallions. You can't hide it when you feel good."

Syre began to squeeze Chloe's cock rhythmically, reveling in the satisfied smile that spread across the helpless girl's face.

"Aww...does kitty like that?"

Chloe nodded faintly.

"Does she want me to touch under her clothes?"

Another nod, this one more eager than the last.

"Say pleassse."

"...p- pl- pleeesh..." Chloe was to tired to swallow, the drool collecting in her mouth and dripping from her lips as she spoke.

With a satisfied smirk, the fiend undid Chloe's belt and tossed it to the ground below. The coils wrapping around Chloe's legs loosened as Syre undid the buttons of her pants and let them slip down and off the jaguar-kin's legs, her rigid cock springing free.

"And what a stallion you are," Syre remarked, stroking gently up and down Chloe's length.

The coils around her legs tightened once again, and Chloe felt, for the first time, the cold, slippery tail wrapping around her naked flesh. A shuddering breath escaped her parted mouth, exciting Syre, who began to stroke harder and tighter.

"...ooouuuggghhh..." Chloe let out a pleasurable groan, trying and failing to thrust her hips against Syre's cold hand.

"Oh?" the fiend egged her on. "Does kitty like that?"

"...uh...huh..."

"Does she want...more?"

"...uh huh!"

Syre's hand suddenly disappeared and the two coils that had earlier parted suddenly closed back up, sandwiching Chloe's cock between them, engulfing it entirely.

The pleasure on Chloe's face turned into confused desperation.

"Touch it yourself."

Despite a complete lack of energy, Chloe found her body moving, desperate to satisfy the burning need between her legs as though she were nothing more than a horny little marionette on strings. She pried desperately at Syre's coils, trying as hard as she could to access the cock within, whining at her inability to do so. Vaguely, Chloe could feel the coils around her chest, stomach, and hips loosening as cool air rushed against the thin fabric of her shirt. Frantically, Chloe lifted her arms and shoved them inside the coils, groaning happily as her hands wrapped around the base of her cock and began to squeeze tightly.

The coils constricted, pinning Chloe's arms to her chest, and suddenly she had lost her only means of escape. But the levinpher was too dumb to realize that, now. The two coils enveloping her cock parted once again, freeing Chloe's hands at the wrists, just enough to jack herself off with tiny, rapid strokes.

Syre reached up to Chloe's limp, sagging head and wrapped her hands around it, placing her thumbs gingerly atop Chloe's eyelids and blinking them for her, the jaguar-kin unable to break the fiend's hypnotic gaze on her own.

The coils began to pulse around Chloe's body again, turning her into limp, placid jelly. She had never felt this comfortable in her life. So warm and cozy and secure. Chloe never wanted to move ever again. It sounded so exhausting. She was content to stay floppy and helpless, held forever in the tight, comforting embrace of Syre's tail. The weight of the world, all her responsibilities and fears and anxieties, faded away into colorful nothingness. Chloe didn't even have to think for herself anymore.

It felt so good to finally do nothing. To let herself relax. To let herself...

"...sssleep..."

The corners of Chloe's mouth curled upwards in a brainless smile, and she began to purr. Like a helpless, needy cub, she purred. Distantly, she could feel Syre's hands replacing her own, stroking lovingly up and down the length of her cock, making Chloe feel even warmer.

Chloe wanted so badly to close her eyes and drift away into a warm, endless slumber, but she couldn't bear to look away from the fiend's beautiful eyes for even a second. Her captor was the only one who could close her eyes now.

Syre felt herself getting hot. She had been following Chloe and Daisy for the past two days, eager to get her hands on the levinpher from the moment she saw her. Predatory traalphia were a rare sight for Syre, an unfortunate reality given that they were her favorite toys to break. Dumb, needy creatures, like Dunphia, were fun, but there was nothing quite like watching a strong and ferocious animal succumb to pleasure and turn into a mindless, obedient pet. And levinphia were some of the most fun, their short-tempered, prideful natures making their eventual domestication that much more rewarding.

Syre's heart was pounding excitedly in her chest at the sight of Chloe so stupid and desperate. She had fallen remarkably fast, even considering her exhaustion, suggesting something beyond the fiend's hypnosis - something deeper - at work. Syre wanted to figure out what it was. Exploit it.

She wanted to push the levinpher was far as she could Turn her into a brainless, drooling mess without even popping her brain.

With a sadistic grin, Syre slithered towards Chloe's face until their foreheads touched, the fiend staring directly into the jaguar-kin's eyes, consuming her vision entirely. Chloe's eyes widened and a drunken grin spread across her face as the entire world became nothing but the pretty, rippling pattern of Syre's eyes. She could feel them infecting her brain, covering all her thoughts and reasoning with sticky, colorful goo.

"You like being helplessss, don't you? Weak and vulnerable."

Chloe nodded. In her current state, she would agree with just about anything Syre said, but widening eyes and an unmistakable twitching in her cock signaled to the fiend that her precious kitty cat was telling the truth, even if she didn't know it.

"I can feel how excited it makes you..." Syre gave Chloe's cock a long, hard squeeze, "...to become another beast's prey..."

Chloe's cock pulsed excitedly, and a sultry purr erupted from deep within her core. Her mind was little more than a puddle of colors at this point, incapable of stringing together a coherent thought, but something about Syre's voice, the words she chose - helpless, weak, prey - was satisfying an itch buried deep in Chloe's psyche she didn't know existed. Was this how her own prey felt the moment before she killed them? Completely at peace?

It felt so much...better...to be prey. So much easier and safer and warmer to not worry about a thing, to satisfy the hunger of a stronger, smarter beast like Syre.

To become food.

Chloe shuddered with excitement, a drop of precum oozing from the tip of her painfully erect cock and falling to the ground a hundred feet below as she imagined what it must feel like to be eaten. How tightly Syre's esophagus would squeeze her. How warm her stomach would be. There, Chloe could sleep forever.

"After I'm done with you," the fiend whispered, "I think I'll sssnatch your tasty little friend, too."

The burning sensation of fear tore through Chloe's delirium, waking her up.

Daisy.

Without hesitation, Chloe lunged for the fiend's neck with bared fangs and murderous intent. Syre, seeing the fire reignite in her prey's eyes, reacted instantly, withdrawing in an attempt to avoid the attack, but Chloe was quicker, managing to sink her teeth into the fiend's shoulder, tearing at it wildly, causing the coils to loosen around her as Syre hissed in agony.

Chloe was suddenly falling, the branches of trees whipping her violently as she broke through the foliage and landed with a hard thud on the ground.

Fueled by the fear of death, Chloe mustered the only energy she had left, pushing herself beyond her body's limits to stand up. She took a step forward only to fall flat on her face, her muscles too soft to support themselves. The sound of Syre snaking through the trees grew louder. With gritted teeth, Chloe stood back up and began to hobble towards the cliff's edge, planting her paws forcefully into the ground with each step. She wasn't sure if she had the strength to hold onto a tree, let alone climb it all the way down, but she had to try. In a choice between death and becoming a fiend's plaything for the rest of her life, Chloe would choose death every time.

As the edge of the cliff drew nearer, so too did the rustling of leaves and angered hissing above. Chloe was racing to the finish line against an opponent ten times faster than her. She wasn't going to make it. She didn't have the strength.

But as her legs crumpled beneath her, the image of Daisy's wide, pleading eyes flashed in her memory. Helpless, innocent, kind Daisy, who would certainly die if not for Chloe's protection. If not to the fiend, then to some other creature the next day. Chloe used the very last of her energy to push herself up one final time and leap over the cliffs edge.

She had done it. She had escaped. She had-

A coil caught Chloe by the ankle and pulled her violently upwards. Icy cold dread coursed through the jaguar-kin's body, making her tremble as she was lifted, upside down, back into the trees. She tried with all her might to reach up and claw at the coil crushing her ankle, but she couldn't. Her body had been pushed too far and had ceased functioning, leaving Chloe with nothing to do but hang there, completely and utterly helpless, waiting for her ultimate demise.

The tail began to coil its way up Chloe's body again, this time doing so by spinning her around and around and around, winding her up like a top. Chloe prayed that her arms, which were dangling limply above her head, would remain unbound. If she could last long enough, maybe she could gather enough strength to attack again. Unfortunately for her prey, Syre wasn't taking any chances this time. She coiled her tail up Chloe's arms, trapping them tightly above her head so they were sticking straight up. By the time she was done, Chloe had been reduced to nothing more than a long tube of coils with paws sticking out on one end, limp wristed hands sticking out on the other, and nothing but her face exposed in-between.