“Her Lure and Jesses” in Beastly Tales

My first venture into the monster erotica subgenre, “Her Lure and Jesses” follows a passionate encounter between the witch Epona and her collared, winged lover.

The collar gleamed pale at his neck. A part of her was never entirely easy until she saw it. Now she relaxed, leaning back with one hand braced on the cool stone bench. She breathed in air scented with the perfume of night flowers, the tang of blood, and the bittersweet smell of himas he landed with a thunderclap before her. More bitter than smoke. More earthy than candlewax. Unearthly, though…with a warmth like human scent, but warmer, the aroma tinged in a way Epona thought of as less green than human and more purple …if she remembered human scent correctly.

“My lady.” Words so resonant they might have blown from a trumpet, so deep they might have climbed from under the mountain caves. Words in an ancient, alien tongue, one he had taught her the meaning of when all the wisdom of her books had failed.

Epona answered in the same. “My pet.”

He laughed like an earthquake. Her laughter in return was birdsong, light and soaring.

She picked up a morsel of the fresh meat and held it out in the cup of her palm. She managed to keep her wrist from trembling. Oh, it was a thrill, always.

“I’ve already hunted tonight, my lady.”

“So have I, as you can see.”

His nostrils flared. Elegant slits, and eloquent—she could tell by their pulsing what odors reached them: more than the meat she offered.