Down to the Woods Ch. 01

Caitlin awoke to the sound of music, a beautiful haunting melody on the violin...

She was a slight young woman, lovely even dressed, as she was, in an everyday black t-shirt and jeans. The simple clothing showed off soft, full breasts that narrowed into a slender waist and gently rounded hips. Her clear, pale skin was a beautiful contrast to the ebony of her hair that fell softly to her shoulders, and when her eyelids slowly fluttered open, they revealed deep, brown eyes, as expressive as her sweet smile.

Sitting up slowly, she realised that it was growing dark, and got to her feet, brushing fallen leaves from her trousers, picking one out of her hair.

...home...he'll be worried... she thought vaguely, and set off in the direction of the path. After a while, she realised that she was on the wrong track, but now she could hear a voice, singing softly, yearningly over the achingly beautiful notes of the violin.

"...I must go walk the wood so wild,

And wander here and there..."

It couldn't hurt to find out who that singer was. And maybe he can tell me a quicker path back to the road, she told herself.

"...In dred and deadly fere,

For where I trusted, I am begheld..."

As she made her way through the trees, they slowly became more sparse until she came out onto the grassy bank of a stream.

"...And all for love of one..."

On a small island in the middle of the stream sat a young man, slender fingers gracefully playing a beautiful violin.

His hair was so blonde it was almost white, and the fine strands blew around his face in the slight breeze like thistledown in the wind. That same breeze caught the full sleeves of his slate-blue silken shirt, making them billow, and ruffled the swift-flowing waters around him on each side.

"...Thus am I banished from my bliss,

By craft and false pretence

As one from joy were fledde

As from my lief day by day I flee..."

As she approached, he continued to play, continued to sing, and she felt herself get swept away in the music. She didn't dare speak for fear that he would stop, that the wonderful melody would be cut short, so she stopped, and sat down on the bank. The stream tugged at her toes, but that didn't seem to matter.

"...And all for love of one..."

His handsome face was turned to his violin, as if singing for the pleasure of his instrument, but now it turned, slowly, to face her. His smile was dazzling, and his lovely eyes were the colour of the sky after rain. He stood, graceful as a bird, never ceasing his song, and she felt compelled to stand with him, not heeding that she was now calf-deep in the swift-running stream.

"...My bed shall be the greenwood tree
The running stremes my drinke

And acorns be my food
When of your beauty I do think..."

The sound was all around her, and as he walked towards her, sure-footed, leaving barely a ripple on the surface of the water, she walked to meet him. That song was so very, very beautiful... and she felt her thoughts growing misty.

Then the stream-bed dropped sharply under her, and the strong currents dragged her down under the surface.

"...And all for love of one..."

The last thing Caitlin saw was his beautiful face looking down at her through a rippling curtain of water, bubbles erupting upwards, and then everything went black, and there was nothing but the song, clear and haunting even under water, as though he were right next to her...

~ * ~

Then it was cut off, abruptly, and she tried to breathe, but there was nothing but water all around her. She kicked wildly, trying to struggle back to the surface, but the water was dark, and she had no idea what was up and what was down, and her head was pounding and it felt like an iron band was crushing her lungs...

...then she felt cold lips on hers, and oxygen flooded her lungs. She opened her eyes to see large, luminous eyes in a pale, greenish face gazing back at her. The creature tilted its head, making masses of dark hair billow around it like a squid's ink. It raised a long-fingered hand to stroke her cheek, and she saw that its fingers were webbed.

It pulled back from her in one swift motion, letting her see that it was female- the creature wore no clothes, and her skin shimmered like mother-of-pearl in the shafts of light that now filtered down from the surface. She opened her mouth, revealing sharp little teeth, and let out a keening cry that somehow travelled through the water, then, with a flick of her limbs she was beside Caitlin once more, tugging curiously at the girl's black shirt and jeans. Her shoes had already been kicked off, and the creature drew one cold finger up the bare sole of Caitlin's foot, making her gasp involuntarily, drawing in a mouthful of water.

She began to choke, and kicked frantically, trying to reach the surface, but the nixie caught her wrist in one strong, long-fingered hand and pulled her down again. Placing one hand on either side of the girl's head, she placed her lips on Caitlin's once more, and ...breathed in the water that was choking her. Then she breathed oxygen into the girl's lungs once more, holding her upright.

Dimly, Caitlin registered other slender shapes swimming towards them in the underwater dusk. She concentrated on making her one breath last for as long as she could, but realised they had now been joined by four other nixies, two females, two males, all with the same shimmering skin and clouds of dark hair, all eerily beautiful. They crowded round her now, ducking and weaving round her in curiosity, tugging at her clothes. One drew a finger down the length of her arm and she winced in pain- their nails were razor sharp. She felt another burning scratch along her thigh and looked down in alarm- one of the females had sliced right through the denim. She began to struggle in earnest now, but the graceful creatures laughingly evaded her feeble kicks, and the first nixie shook her head reproachfully at the girl, holding her shoulders tightly.

They were playing with her now, circling her, darting in to slice at her clothes or her arms, and every so often the nixie holding her would give her another breath to hold onto for dear life.

Her clothes were in tatters, and a half-hearted swipe from one of the females tore her shirt away as another cut through the waistband of her jeans, leaving her in her underwear. Her struggles were getting weaker, she was running out of energy with the small amount of oxygen her captor was allowing her. Then her underwear was mercilessly ripped away, leaving her exposed, her nipples pebbled from the cold of the water.

Now that her clothes no longer hid her form, the creatures writhed around her, pulling her even lower and smearing the blood seeping from the small, stinging cuts all over her body. Then one bit her thigh, and as she cried out in pain and panic, the nixie holding her locked their mouths together in a vicious kiss, her sharp teeth scoring the girl's lips and tongue. She felt sharp teeth nipping at her calves, her ribs, and then one of the males was behind her, and the first nixie bent over Caitlin's shoulder to kiss him with the girl's blood still on her lips.

She could feel the evidence of his arousal pressing hard and long against her back, and shuddered as he slid his hands up her sides to grasp her full breasts, digging in those sharp nails so that skeins of blood billowed from ten tiny, vicious wounds. Out of the corner of her eye she could see his lovely face pressed against her cheek, pale eyes closed as he licked at her skin.

The nixies pulled her down even further, the light from the surface dwindling until Caitlin could see that they glowed with an eerie luminescence, and then they were on the bed of the lake... it must be a lake, no woodland stream ran this deep...and she was being pressed down, forced onto all fours.

She was shaking in fear now, and began to struggle with all her might, but two of the other females

grasped hold of her legs, effectively imprisoning her as he began to probe at her opening. Then he gave a satisfied grunt...and thrust.

Caitlin screamed, bubbles erupting from her mouth as her body arched against the creatures holding her. Agony ripped through the centre of her being as the beautiful, merciless being pounded into her, his fingers digging cruelly into her tender breasts while her limbs were restrained by his unyielding kin. The one who had found her gave her another breath, then pulled away.

Again and again he wracked her body with pain, the five creatures around them laughing at her terror, and then she felt her head being forced up, and looked up into the eyes of the second male, who knelt in front of her, long fingers wrapped around his own strong shaft. She shook her head desperately, but he forced her lips down onto it, causing bubbles of precious air to billow out of her mouth and bruising the back of her throat. She heard him hiss with pleasure as he began to thrust into her mouth, matching the pace and force of the other male.

The pounding pain rose with a throbbing ache, and she began to feel the loss of air even more keenly. Just before she passed out, the male kneeling before her withdrew and kissed her deeply, breathing life back into her lungs. But that lightheaded feeling stayed with her, and somehow that tearing pain was dulling into a kind of twisted pleasure, and when the second male thrust into her mouth again, she could still feel the sensation of his lips on hers...

Out of the corner of her eye, she could see her nixie (...why do I think of her as mine?) begin to kiss the female that was not holding her down, evidently bored of waiting for her turn. The other female responded fervently, kissing her back with wanton passion. She saw the nixie press the other female down into the silt of the lake bed, kissing her way down the other's neck to nip and suckle at her shimmering breast, making the nixie writhe beneath her. She slid a long-fingered hand down the female's side, tracing swirling spirals over that pearlescent skin until it found the hairless juncture of her thighs, urging them open to delve between them. The other female cried out, an eerie, inhuman sound that echoed through the water.

...and then the male behind Caitlin was pounding into her with a greater force than she had ever thought possible. She felt him pulsing inside her as he climaxed with a keening cry that mingled with the female's moans.

The other male withdrew from her mouth and Caitlin collapsed to the lake bed, shaking,and raised her mouth gratefully to his as he bent to breathe more air into her lungs. She curled into a ball, miserable, stinging and aching from countless cuts and bruises, and stiffened when she felt the male move behind her to fit his body to hers. She tried to push herself away but he held her tightly, trapping her arms beneath his, and when he moved his hips, the tip of his questing shaft was directed not to her now ragged and painful slit, but the small, puckered opening behind it. It caught, and he thrust, and Caitlin screamed...

...it felt like she was being ripped in two. Even as one of the females came forward with another mouthful of air, she was fighting to get away, to rid her wracked and painful body of this agonising intruder, but he rolled over and pinned her to the lake bed. Again, she heard him hiss with pleasure as he ground into her, filling her with burning, excruciating pain, rocking her back and forth as his manhood tore at the tender opening that was never meant to withstand this torture, but it continued. She felt that iron band of pressure begin to close around her chest once more, and her thoughts began to cloud, and that hideous pain began to...change. The small part of herself that could still form thoughts fought against this shameful realisation.

...I can't be ...enjoying this...no, please no...

...but she was, and as her head began to throb, she slumped to the silt floor of the lake, letting the creature pounding so cruelly into her have his way...until he jerked, letting out a jagged cry, his nails raking painful scrapes in her sides as he arched his back and his seed pumped into her. His softening shaft slipped out of her mistreated body, and she lay there, shivering, and the edges of her vision began to fade to black...

Then Caitlin felt herself being flipped onto her back. One of the females that had been pinioning her before rose up above her, flashed the girl a dazzling, sharp-toothed smile, and kissed her hungrily, breathing air into her lungs as she did so.

She felt a spark of desire flare up as those cool, passionate lips closed over hers, and found herself kissing the creature back, even as she dragged in that precious breath. The nixie ran webbed fingers over the girl's pebbled nipples, sending a jolt of pleasure through her, and Caitlin raised her own hands to the shimmering breasts of the creature above her.

...maybe...if I keep them happy...they won't leave me to drown...she thought, trying to ignore the fact that she now wanted this so very, very badly...and as the nixie brought a thigh up between her legs, she shivered for an entirely different reason. Then she saw a flash of movement out of the corner of her eye, and saw that the first nixie and her...friend had become curious once more. They darted around her, and settled one on each side, and began to stroke her tender breasts as the nixie atop her continued to kiss her, licking at her tongue. She was vaguely conscious that their sharp nails were drawing blood once more, but the pain no longer seemed so...wrong, and as they each lowered their mouths to lick at her nipples, she ceased to think entirely as wave after wave of conflicting and mixing sensations washed over her.

Somehow Caitlin's questing fingers slipped from the ardent nixie's breast to slide between her thighs, and she felt an immense satisfaction when the shimmering being writhed above her. Then she yelped as cruel fingers thrust between her own raw and tortured folds. They flicked and pinched and scraped at her tender, sensitive flesh, but through the pain, the girl felt something rising, yearning, and it hurt like nothing she had ever wanted so much...

Then that wave of sensation crested, and broke, and a thousand ripples of glorious, painful pleasure washed through her, leaving her shaking and numb. Suddenly the nixies were gone, and she was alone, floating in dark water.

It slowly sank in that she wasn't going to get another breath, that they wanted her to drown like this, bloody, bruised and violated...

Caitlin held her breath until she could take it no longer, her vision began to cloud and her lungs expanded of their own accord, trying to drag in air that they believed she was withholding from them...and dragging in water.

Everything went dark, and there was nothing but the pain, before that, too, faded into nothingness...