He ran through the forest as fast as his body would allow him. He knew that it was foolish of him to be on his own in the dark on night; wolves and bears would not show him a second act of mercy. But he needed to be alone. He needed to hunt.

Many years ago, he had studied the maps of the incubus territory and he remembered that there was a human village at the very edge of the map; a tiny little village that could so easily be whipped out by a passing troop of mercenaries.

Incubuses usually targeted larger villages during their hunts as that allowed them to have more choice. Every village that was within his tribe’s territory was shared by several incubuses. Every group of incubuses was assigned to a handful of villages as to avoid clashes during hunts. But this tiny village wasn’t assigned to anyone; as far as the incubuses were concerned, it was the back of beyond and located in no man’s land.

But now Raener thanked the heavens for letting him come across the maps. This tiny village at the edge of the forest would safe his life.

He focused his magic into his eyes and peered ahead. He dodged the trees and within an hour, he had arrived at the village. It consisted of only a handful of huts—a pitiful little village that might even invoke a sense of mercy in bandits.

“Hmmm,” he murmured. Judging by the size of the huts and the quality of the built material and considering the density of the huts and the number of livestock he sensed, there might be fifty to sixty residents in this village. Considering elderlies, men and children—there were probably only five to ten young women in this village.

That will have to do, he thought. He was starved and his body was weak; he wasn’t in the position to be picky.

He lingered at the edge of the forest and waited for dawn to break the horizon. It was in the first hour of the day that usually marked the best opportunity to strike. The women would wake up first and go to the well or river to fetch water while the men slept. And it was always the young women who had to perform this task; if she was unmarried and living with her family, then her mother would delegate this task to her. If she was married and living with her husband, then the norms of society would command her to do it.

Finally, the first rays of sunlight peeked above the horizon and Raener tensed. His heart beat fast, his blood grew hot. Little did he know that this was what Rosalie felt when she was on the hunt.

The doors of the huts opened and several young women stepped out. All of them were wearing a plain village dress with a brown veil covering the top of their heads. It was clothing that unmistakably marked their social position as peasants.

Most of the girls went to the well in the middle of the village, but one single young woman separated herself from the group and walked to the edge of the village, to the river that brought the ice-cold water that trickled down from the snowy mountain tops where the dwarves lived in their caves.

Raener could barely contain his grin—how fortunate! He was prepared to employ tricks to isolate the girl of his choosing—but to think that she isolated herself.

It made things suspiciously easy.

He snuck closer to the river and focused his magic to his eyes again to sharpen his vision. He smiled with satisfaction. She was a beauty. While she was unwashed and unkempt, her disheveled blonde hair was dirty, and yet it fell over her shoulders in a seductive way. Her lips were thick and lustrous and her loose dress neatly hid her ample bosom. Judging by her attire, she was unmarried—but how can such a beauty remain unmarried, Raener wondered.

But no matter. He licked his lips. She would do just fine. In fact, she was far more beautiful than most other village girls he had ravished before.

With his gaze, he searched her mind for the face of the man she was in love with. This was the standard procedure to seducing a human girl; find the man whom she fancies and with his magic, create the illusion that he was in fact him. Imitating his gait and voice based on her memories was child’s play—it was the most elementary lesson an incubus learns.

And yet, as he searched her mind, he could not find a man whom she felt even remotely attracted to.

How troublesome, Raener thought. Usually, he would welcome such a challenge, but right now, he was hungry and tired.

“Incubus, come out wherever you are.”

Raener froze. What did she just say?

The human girl stood up and her gaze searched the edge of the forest. Her eyes met Raener’s and with a hand gesture, commanded for him to come out.

Raener didn’t know what to say. No lesson ever taught him what to do if the human woman gained the initiative. Perhaps if he was in full form, then he could have thought things through more thoroughly, but so starved was he that he followed the command of her voice.

Her clear-blue eyes never broke eye contact and moments later, he found himself standing on the opposite side of the river, facing her.

He swallowed. This girl wasn’t human—or was she? She had a sparkle in her blue eyes that was unlike anything he had ever seen in a human woman. It was almost as though she had magic in her blood—but nothing else about her appearance suggested that she was anything but a normal village girl.

“Who are you?” Raener asked.

“I am Maria.”

Something didn’t feel right. Her name didn’t matter to him. Raener decided to ask something else.

“What are you?”

She smiled and the corners of her eyes crinkled. The sparks in her sky-blue eyes became bright gold like the rays of the sun that woke the forest.

“That, incubus, is the right question.”

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To all my readers and everyone on Lush, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

This is a little embarrassing as I had intended for Part 5 to be the first chapter with sex in it—and for Christmas too! But as I wrote it I felt that story wise it would be best to move it to Part 6. Part 6 will finally turn this story into a proper erotica, I promise ^^” Please just bear with me just a tiny bit longer.

If you want more stories from The Nymph’s Pleasure House universe, please check out Maura’s Pleasure House in the e-books section of my profile.