Valerie had always been interested in intricate metalwork. Her house was filled with iron ornaments and she even had a workshop in which she restored and produced jewellery. However, it was the dark metals: bronze, copper and iron, rather than silver or gold that attracted her. Successful property deals in the previous decade had meant that at the turn of her thirties she had no need for full-time work. Nowadays she simply had to keep her eye open for houses that came on to the market that she could snap up and send in a team to renovate, or even just tidy up sufficiently, for another quick sale. The British property market never seemed to slow down. This left Valerie the time and the money for her collecting and her own metalwork.

The piece she had spotted at a small auction in London was her current focus. It was a cylinder with a domed head and three ornate feet; its height was the same as the length of her forearm. It appeared to be pure iron, resembling Italian work of the sixteenth century but seemingly inscribed in Arabic. Valerie wondered whether it came from Malta or maybe had been made for an Arab client living in one of the North Italian cities. She had no idea as to its purpose, but it was a well-made object that she found attractive. Valerie would have loved to have seen the cruciform key that opened it but she knew that it could have been lost centuries ago. This presented Valerie with a challenge she relished. With wire and wax she had been able get the pattern of the lock and had spent the past fortnight cutting a key to fit it. The key was now complete and Valerie was excited to try it.

Valerie inserted the key into the small lock on the side of the cylinder. At first she thought that it might be too old and jammed to open, but to her surprise it turned easily and then suddenly began rotating of its own accord. Valerie stepped back, letting go of the key and watched, startled as it turned through ninety degrees as if moved by clockwork and the side of the cylinder opened. It seemed to reveal nothing, but then a small cloud of black gas began issuing from inside. Valerie felt panicked, but she found that her body seemed paralysed and she could only stand watching as the gas continued flowing. It seemed impossible that the cylinder could have held so much unless under immense pressure.

Rather than dispersing throughout the room the gas coalesced and Valerie was startled as it seemed to increasingly making something that was clearly humanoid in shape, somewhere over six feet in height. Valerie blinked her eyes, one of the only movements permitted her, but still the illusion continued. She guessed that little more than a minute had passed since she had inserted the key, but already, impossibly, a creature was gaining substance in front of her. She knew that somehow she had triggered some magical process and her mind ran with the possibilities of what she had released. This was some genie story come true.

Soon the creature was becoming more substantial and Valerie began to believe it was some kind of demon. It had large black wings that were barely accommodated by her room. Its body was strong though sleek and Valerie could quickly tell it was female, having large firm breasts with prominent nipples. Like those, its sex was naked too and seemed similar to a human’s, though its clitoris was far more than the nub Valerie had been given. The whole of the creature was glossy black as if coated every inch in glistening rubber. Even the nails of its slender, sharp hands were like ebony. Its eyes were pure black orbs with no distinction in them. Suddenly a tail snaked out from behind this creature. The tail hesitated in front of Valerie as if it were sentient in itself and was cautious about proceeding, but then it darted forward and wrapped around Valerie’s ankle. Its touch was warm through the material of her trousers. Valerie heard herself gasp and then stumbled forward, clearly released from the paralysis. She stopped herself from falling and the tail slithered away from her.

<Human, my thanks.>

A strong female voice boomed, stunning Valerie a little. Then she realised she had not heard it, rather, it had emerged inside her head. Her mind was scrabbling to cope with the reality of what she was witnessing. There were too many tangible features for this to be any dream. Yet, to have a demon appear in her home was just fantastical. Valerie wanted to scream, but there was something stopping her and she felt unsurprised at the thought that a creature like this could suppress her voice or at least her urge to panic.

Valerie coughed and found she had regained speech. “Ah, ah, er, erm, yes, you’re free. Go, go and enjoy your freedom.” Valerie improvised, trying to sound confident.

The demon stretched her wings as if waking from a long sleep.

<How long have I been in there, it feels like millennia? How much time has passed? This place looks very different from Cosimo’s Florence.>

Despite Valerie’s encouragement the creature seemed in no hurry to get home. Valerie imagined the safest tactics were to answer its questions and hoped it tired of her.

“Erm, yes, I guess it’s been five hundred years.”

Valerie struggled to remember what she had learnt about the Medicis.

“This is London.” Valerie added.

The demon stood, listening carefully and Valerie certainly felt pleased that it had not simply rent her apart. She guessed being imprisoned for centuries bred patience in a person, in a creature. She recognised she had to play up the role of being this creature’s liberator; at least it might spare her from any rampage.

<So, my jailers are long dead. You humans are so ephemeral. Does Florence still stand?>

“Yes, it’s still there. Do you want to return?”

Valerie felt guilty at possibly simply diverting the wrath of this creature from Britain to Italy and especially to a city as beautiful as Florence.

<No, no. I have had enough of this planet for now. I find humans enjoyable playthings, but I need to return to my own world. There vengeance has a meaning and I know my rivals will still be around, even if equivalent to many thousands of your human years have passed since I was trapped here.>

“Well, er, don’t you think you ought to be getting off there?” Valerie suggested hoping it was something the demon could easily achieve.

<Why do you make those sounds with your throat, your tongue?>

“Sorry? I don’t understand.” Valerie was slightly frustrated that the subject had changed.

<I know what you will sound at me before you make the noise, you prepare it in your mind. I cannot comprehend the strange sounds you make, but your ideas come across clearly. Is it an affectation on your part or have humans really not learnt yet to speak with their minds? It can’t have taken five hundred years to get that far, surely.>

“No, I’m not aware of anyone talking with their mind, erm telepathy, I guess you’d call it.”

<Well, you have a Greek name for it. Are the Greeks so strong again?>

“Well, a bit, I suppose. There’s other, stronger countries.”

<Countries? Interesting concept, you mean kingdoms, empires: the Holy Roman Empire? Has Byzantium regained its strength?>

Valerie tried to remain calm. She wondered how long she would have to stand here discussing the last few centuries with this demon. She guessed if one lived for millennia then there was never a hurry to get through a conversation, but Valerie knew she was more ‘ephemeral’ and her rumbling tummy suggested she needed to ‘sustain’ herself with food rather than talk.

Valerie attempted a new approach. “I’m Valerie Foster. What are you called?”

<No, you’re not trying. Do it again. Keep your mouth closed and think those thoughts, you’ll save yourself time and energy.>

A little exasperated, but keen to do anything which would get this creature to leave, Valerie concentrated on the words.

<I’m Valerie Foster. What is your name?>

<Far better.>

Valerie jumped back, it was if suddenly the creature’s thought had buffeted her like a wave against a cliff.

<I am Kendra.>

<Nice name.> Valerie found she responded that way without thinking, or in fact through thinking.

<I sense you are impatient. That is to be expected. Anyone who frees a demon expects their reward. I am glad it was a female human who did it. Our sex is the most imaginative whatever our species. I have no time for males, a woman’s body is so much richer; in turns soft and hard. We have many more points for pleasurable contact than the males do. Maybe that is why I like humans, they look like incomplete versions of us, lacking their wings and tails, but otherwise similar. Do you enjoy many female lovers?>

Valerie flushed. Though she had picked up a few rotten men in her time, it had never encouraged her to go over to the other side. <Erm, no, I’m a craftswoman, I don’t really have time.>

<Oh, you don’t know what you are missing. After the time in that prison, I’m certainly looking forward to having a few compliant and a few fiery ladies lapping at my sex, most certainly.>

<Yes, yes, I am sure you would.>

Valerie marvelled at the conversation she was having. Who in the whole world would believe she had been discussing sexuality with a lesbian demon lustful on her release from prison?

<Join me, come. I am sure my estate will be intact, I am still a Voivodess after all. I guess that’s what you’d call my position. I am sure I have reliable guardians even after all this time. I like you Valerie, you are more knowledgeable than so many humans I know. There’s an affinity, I feel you are lonely too, preoccupied with business, little time to enjoy what you have accomplished. I am right, am I not?>

Valerie did not know how to respond. She did pride herself on her knowledge. She wondered how Kendra would have felt talking with the bulk of the people in London these days, having little idea of the history of Britain in the past fifty years let alone Italy and the wider world since the early sixteenth century.

<Come to my court, someone like you would find it of interest. I could reward you fully. You could have a bevy of slaves to serve you, men if you insist.>

Valerie hesitated. Her mind was swimming with all that she had seen in the last few minutes. Now she was being invited to go into a different world, one of demons and slaves. The adventurous side of Valerie, the part of her that sought out properties to develop and haggled for the best price, the part of her that searched for intriguing pieces of metalwork and laboured to restore them, that part of her was eager to accept the offer. Yet, rationally, she was concerned. Was this some trick and anyway how would she cope in such an alien place? However, her rational mind also told her if Kendra had wanted to consume her, to ravage London, then she would have been doing it by now; Valerie would be a pile of ash, nothing else. As for adapting, even in the last few minutes she had learnt how to communicate telepathically easier than she had learnt French.

Kendra’s movements brought Valerie’s attention back to the room. She seemed to be moving as if practicing tai-chi. Then between her hands emerged something glistening and black. Impossibly it hovered in the air between Kendra and Valerie. Kendra smiled, sharp jet teeth behind midnight black lips.

<I’ve not lost my skills. I know you’ll say yes, but I imagine it would be difficult for you to survive in my world. We have evolved there and we are tough. So this is my gift. Take it.>

Valerie gazed at the rippling patch of black in the air before her. She guessed Kendra was right. Valerie imagined that the air, the food, the water, wherever this demon was from would be poisonous to humans. This seemed a compromise. Valerie would receive a unique gift and Kendra would be satisfied.

<Take it.> Kendra repeated.

Valerie stretched out her hands to cup the blackness. Then it felt like a liquid trickling onto her palms and she wondered what it was that Kendra had given her. Quickly it seemed to be running down her wrists, covering her skin in something that looked like oil, all black and shiny. It had a cool feel and yet it sent tingles wherever it touched. Valerie turned her hands over and saw they were coated in the glossy black. Her mind began to panic.

<What’s happening?>

<You’re being prepared.>

Suddenly the liquid reached Valerie’s breasts and she gasped as if they were being toyed and teased over every inch of their skin. She tugged at her clothes to see what was occurring beneath them; her blouse shredded as her slender hands, now tipped with long black nails, tore into the cloth. Valerie shuddered as the gloss continued flowing over her body, heading towards her neck and down towards her midriff. Every bit of her that it coated began tingling and Valerie felt assaulted by pleasurable sensations that quickly suppressed any concerns she was feeling. She heard her trousers tearing and glanced down to see her rounded hips and the hard black orbs of her bum emerging. Then from the small of her back, there was a sudden jolt. Valerie twisted and to look and was startled to see something like a serpent emerging from her back; quickly growing longer and broader. Valerie realised she was acquiring a tail.

The cloth of the trousers seemed to crumble to dust, Valerie’s socks with them and she could see her legs were now slick and black. Their muscles were taking on a strong but sleek form. Her feet were soon transforming into slender clawed paws like those of a lioness. Valerie found it difficult to believe what she was witnessing was real, the sights, the sensations all had to be delusions caused by Kendra. Yet, if Valerie accepted Kendra existed, then, surely, she could be able to bring about such a transformation. Valerie could feel the black running over her head and her face and she was now curious as to how they would appear. She imagined that she would now look something like Kendra; and then realised that she had been tricked or possibly had misunderstood. Kendra had still meant for Valerie to go to her world and her gift was simply to alter her so she could survive there. Valerie wondered why she did not feel panic or fear or anger and she considered whether subtly Kendra had altered her mind too, or if her thoughts were simply accepting the reality of the body that now housed them.

<Wonderful, come see.> Kendra said enthusiastically.

Valerie realised that the process must be complete and she had been fully shaped the way Kendra had intended. She was certain that a creature with such powers could easily render her back to what she had been without difficulty. However, there was now a curiosity in Valerie to see herself fully as a demoness if only for one occasion. Tentatively Valerie stepped forward, but with each movement she realised the liked the way her body felt.

Now Valerie looked at herself in the full-length iron-framed mirror. Herself? Surely the alien she saw standing there could not be her. It was only the way that the mirror reflected her every movement that kept telling her she was this. Even then she wondered if Kendra was not just causing her to hallucinate. However, the demon came to stand behind Valerie and she somehow knew it was for real.

Like her mentor, Valerie’s skin was now a glossy black, her eyes featureless spheres. She could recognise the features of Valerie Foster’s face but altered to become something alien yet so beautiful. Her face was more angular, long and narrow now, accentuated by her pointed ears and the hard black horns that rose from her forehead. Her hair was slick dreadlocks that looked like cords of rubber as they ran down her back almost to her waist.

As Valerie looked to where her hair stopped just above her bum, she saw her tail sweep in anticipation. Now she believed the change was for real. The tail was a shiny tapering cable reaching to the floor. As she concentrated she realised she could move it. It was a strange sensation, but one she enjoyed.

<The wings will come when we reach Nemarash. They can be awkward for the inexperienced here on Earth.> Kendra explained.

Valerie twisted her head to see the two small bumps on her shoulder blades. Having seen the changes Kendra had wrought on her, Valerie took her words as the truth.

<A tail, though, one needs a tail, they have so many uses.> Kendra giggled in Valerie’s mind.

Valerie watched as Kendra’s tail, so like her own, curved around her body as if it were a serpent giving obeisance to its mistress. Then it plunged into Kendra’s pussy and the demoness threw back her head in obvious pleasure. She grunted for a few moments, then, a little breathless, regained her composure.

<There’ll be time enough for that later. You human females, sorry, those human females, don’t know what they’re missing.>

<Yes.> Valerie agreed, though a little uncertain about getting to grips with the capabilities of her new body.

<I am so glad you have taken to your demon form so well, for some humans it’s more difficult. Maybe you had a little demon blood back in your history.>

Valerie had thought Kendra’s powers were strong enough to convert anyone, but the thought that some how she might be more amenable to becoming like this startled Valerie; how well did she know herself? That thought quickly changed to pleasure: as she turned and walked back and forth in front of the mirror. She realised that she was enjoying this dark, sleek body and was happy that she had had a chance to change so completely.

<This is no time for play. We must dress. Our time here is limited and I am enjoying this so much I think we should spend what we have remaining securing you all the accoutrements necessary for a courtier at a Voivodess’s court.>

Valerie laughed to herself. She was coming to think of Kendra as a kind of fairy godmother. This was a peculiar Cinderella story, but maybe one more suited to a grown-up woman like herself. Who wanted white frilly dresses when glossy black was so much sexier?

<Certainly. What does a demoness wear for such a shopping trip?>

Kendra laughed. <That’s the spirit. It’ll be more taking than buying, enslaving in fact. As to clothes, let us see.>

Kendra looked down at herself and again began moving her hands as if blending energies with her fingers. A rippling band appeared at her feet and then began rising up her body. Valerie could see long, dark purple leather boots emerging with high, sharp heels. They stopped at Kendra’s thighs. Then a small thong appeared over her pussy. Kendra’s midriff remained bare but within moments her breasts were being pulled together and raised up by a bustiere. It too was dark purple leather with a row of matt black buckles beneath her breasts that seemed to be in the form of a hand grasping a naked human woman. Long leather gloves appeared on each arm, they were fingerless so Kendra’s talon-like nails were still visible. Then she touched her ears and two long silver chains ending in amethysts appeared in each. After that the rippling band faded.

<I’ll show you how to do that later. The manipulation of matter is so easy on this world. For now, though, I’ll select some items for you.>

<Okay.>

Valerie wondered how Kendra would kit her out. Her own clothes resembled those some tart would wear as she walked the street looking for clients, yet they seemed so suitable for her demon body. Valerie had little time to ponder this as she saw the band of light rippling around her own strange feet. In moments they were clothed in bronze leather and she felt herself rising on the sharp heels. The light rose and Valerie realised she was being given the longest pair of boots she had ever worn. They were finally complete far up her thigh, opening wide like Renaissance riding boots. Kendra had judged her tastes well: the bronze shade delighted Valerie. In moments her bum felt more constrained and she saw a miniskirt wrapping across her thighs. It was a bronze shade with a scaly texture. Valerie looked up at Kendra, rather concerned.

<You think I’m reading your mind?>

<Well, are you?>

Kendra laughed. <No, but one cannot communicate mentally with someone and not pick up on what they like and dislike. Anyway, you are a metalworker, I can see that from your hovel here. I imagine that once we reach Nemarash you’ll be covering yourself in the finest armour. For the moment, we are seeking fun, so I am providing you with garments that, whilst appealing to your tastes, still permit that. I don’t want you putting yourself into an etched steel carapace just yet.>

<These fashions, though, how do you know them?>

<You think humans invented such things? Ha! Do you think only humans see long boots as flattering to a female’s legs? Only humans know that a short skirt allows easy access to her sex? That tightly fitting bodices show her breasts to their best? Many of these clothes have been worn for centuries. Take me back to Aegyptus; they knew how to dress. Maybe I have been fortunate to have missed some of the more tedious times in human history that your attitudes suggest.>

<But…>

<No further interruptions, just be patient and enjoy what I am providing.>

Valerie fell silent. She did not want to anger the demoness and anyway as she moved slightly the feelings of her legs in the long boots and the skin of her bum sliding beneath the skirt were so delicious that she realised in fact that she had no complaints. Maybe Kendra was right and she was fussing over things of no concern: clothes that felt this good could not be wrong.

Soon Valerie’s upper body was encased in scaled bronze leather too: a corset pulled tight which delivered up her lovely ebony breasts. Shorter fingerless gloves appeared on her hands with actual plain bronze bracers beyond them, a concession, Valerie felt, to her love of metal. She thought of the sexy chainmail outfits she had seen when surfing online for metal resources and how she had liked them but felt they would not suit her; now that would change. Kendra was clearly picking up on Valerie’s thoughts and in moments a gleaming torc sat at her neck and soon discs of bronze hung from each ear. Finally, jewellery that she could never have worn as a human emerged on each of her horns. In the mirror she admired the filigree bronze, chased with what she recognised as platinum.

Kendra stood behind Valerie as she looked into the mirror turning this way and then that so the light glinted off her clothes. Even more now than when she had been first transformed, Valerie felt she had become an exotic creature, something not of this world, something far more alert to its desires and pleasures.

<Excellent. Now we are ready. First we need to find you a maid.> Kendra said in a matter of the fact way.

<Let’s go.> Valerie said light heartedly, curious as to how they were going to leave the building without their appearances attracting unwanted attention. However, she had a growing faith that Kendra knew what she was doing.

Kendra spread her arms wide and between them the air seemed to ripple then divide. Through the growing gap Valerie could see into another room in a house she did not recognise. Given what Kendra had already done Valerie had no surprise that she could open up portals between different locations, probably between different worlds too. The cleft in the air had grown to the size of a door when Kendra let her arms drop to her sides.

<A suitable location, I am sure you will agree. Come on, let’s go. We have things to do.>

<Yes.> Valerie agreed eagerly.

Valerie realised she was enjoying this telepathy. She stuck out her tongue at her reflection and wondered if she needed one with such ability as it snaked out long, pointed, moist and glistening. Of course, she acknowledged, Kendra would not give her a body like this without a precise tool for sexually pleasuring females.

Kendra was already through the split and Valerie strode after her, becoming familiar with walking on the high heels of her lovely boots. The split looked back to her own room, but as she cleared it, it began to shrink to nothing and in less than a minute was gone. The pair of them were standing in the hallway of an expensive house. The furnishings were wealthy but not over-the-top. Valerie wondered how Kendra had selected this house to find the next person, woman she guessed, to alter. She glanced out the window but the garden and the road could have been in any city in the UK and Valerie was uncertain whether they were still in London.

<Come.>

Valerie followed her into what appeared to be a lounge. A woman was sat watching television. However, within moments she had clearly seen the two ebony creatures. First she blinked as if checking she was dreaming and then she leapt up, screaming. Valerie realised it all felt rather distant to her. She knew that in her human form she would have been panicked by a woman howling at her, and she wondered if continuing to be in this body was changing how she perceived the behaviour of humans.

The woman lunged for the telephone. As she did, almost casually, Kendra unwrapped something from around her waist that Valerie had not noticed before. At first Valerie thought it was a belt but then as Kendra cracked it and it snaked out to catch the woman around the ankle, she realised it was a long rubber whip, the kind she had seen police forces in dictatorships using on protestors. Kendra had used it, however, not to lash the woman, more to restrain her. It seemed that some kind of force flowed along it and rippled up the woman from her captured ankle. As Valerie watched the woman stopped screaming and her whole body seemed to relax and she turned to stand facing the pair, her expression suggesting she was somehow mildly sedated.

Valerie did not recognise the woman and wondered if Kendra had simply picked her at random. She was curious as to what was going to happen to this woman to make her Valerie’s maid. She pondered how accurate Kendra’s comment about enslavement was going to be. Valerie realised her perspective on what was normal had shifted a great deal and she imagined that in the form of a demoness she would think like one. Kendra’s attitude to humans was one of curiosity and a kind of dominant attitude, not really meaning them harm, more seeing them as needing direction. Valerie now realised that she felt an unaccustomed eagerness to see what would happen next. So far, everything she had done with Kendra had been thrilling in entirely new ways. She recognised that she was becoming increasingly keen to see Nemarash, certainly if it ran on the same rules that Kendra lived by.

<This one will be most suitable, with a little adjustment of course.>

<Yes, I am sure. How will you shape her?>

Kendra smiled broadly. <How would you like? We have many slave races in Nemarash, maybe as one of those?>

<For my first, erm, slave, I think she should match my own colouring.>

Valerie was a little startled with the words that came out. She guessed it was harder to pretend when it was your thoughts rather than your voice which communicated. Maybe the vocabulary of the demons of Nemarash was different. She tried to think of words for servant, but always she came back to the concept of a slave.

<You are thinking like an Owner already. Yes, variety will come with time. Look at her, I think you will like her, but I want you to be certain. We have time to select another if you wish.>

As Valerie stepped closer to the standing woman she felt a familiarity about her. She scrabbled to find the woman in her memories. The woman shifted a little and Valerie saw the bracelet of metal discs around her wrist and knew who this was: Angela Telford. How she had cursed this woman. Angela had been Valerie’s boss at her first job after college. She was probably a dozen or so years older than Valerie and had lorded it over her as she did the other staff. However, she had particularly taken against Valerie and seemed to derive great pleasure in putting her into humiliating positions and making an example of her in front of her colleagues.

The final blow had come when Valerie had found that bracelet at a market stall one lunchtime. It was an eighteenth century replica of Roman jewellery, heavily under priced by the stall holder who had seen little value in the dull metal piece. Valerie had been unable to stop looking at it and Angela had seen Valerie doing so and then claimed she had stolen it from her. Valerie had no defence against her boss, her word counted for far more. She had been paraded before the office as a thief and instantly dismissed with the threat of criminal charges hanging over her. Whilst the incident had helped prompt Valerie to establish her own business, the memories of that time remained painful and had dented Valerie’s willingness to trust so many people, right up until this day.

<You know who she is?> Valerie asked, still suspicious that Kendra could read her mind.

<No, but when you speak there are undertones in your thoughts. You have been thinking a lot about control and dominance while I have been helping you change and in the words you said I sensed this human. You seek dominance over her as she had it once over you, no?>

<Yes, you are right. I doubt she’ll make a good slave though.>

<Ah, making a slave good is part of the fun of owning them.> Kendra noted cheerfully. <We are decided, let us begin.>

Kendra sent a wave coursing down her whip and now Angela looked like she had been frozen or at least freeze framed. In moments her clothing seemed to suddenly age and was soon crumbling away from her body. In less than a minute Valerie was standing facing her former oppressor naked. The woman was fit but still showed the signs of her age. However, as Valerie watched changes began to creep over her. Initially the most noticeable change was the lengthening of her hair, but then Valerie could see features of her face altering too. Her skin seemed to be becoming more taut and the marks of her approaching middle age around her eyes and mouth soon disappeared. Her hands too seemed less bony, though still slender. Then Valerie noticed her breasts becoming firmer and soon seemed to need no bra. Overall it appeared that Kendra was rewarding Angela for some purpose of her own. Then it stopped and Valerie realised what the idea had been. The Angela Telford now standing there could be no more than eighteen, the age Valerie had been when she had become her employee. Now she understood Kendra’s plan and it made her smile. It would be good to have a nubile maid around to serve her.

<Do you want this slave for your maid?>

Valerie had thought Angela to be entirely naked, but now she noticed the bracelet that had reminded her who this woman was.

<Very much.>

<Take back what is yours and she will become suitable.>

Valerie reached forward and unclipped the bracelet. As she stood back and began fastening it to her own wrist Angela seemed released from whatever had held her. She blinked at the two demonesses and looked apprehensive.

“What? What? Who?” Angela stuttered clearly trying to take in what she saw.

<Too many questions for a slave.> Kendra snapped.

“Erm, yes, er, er, mistress.”

<Good answer.> Kendra smiled. <You do want to be a good maid for Valerie don’t you?>

“Erm, er, yes.”

Angela looked over at Valerie somehow knowing that whilst Kendra might be in charge for the moment, this other demoness would be the one she served.

<Receive our gifts.>

Angela jerked back as if hit by a wave. Then she seemed to twist and squirm in a pleasured way. Valerie wondered how Kendra would change her. Immediately she saw Angela’s face altering, her eyes seemed to be enlarging, her ears becoming pointed and her mouth shrinking to a small circle. Her skin was soon a violet shade accentuated by her hair which had become a midnight blue and her full lips that were now a dark cherry shade. Soon Angela seemed to resemble a character from an anime cartoon, though Valerie pondered whether such characters had indeed been influenced by races from Nematash. As the changes halted, Angela’s manner changed again and she looked increasingly demure. She grasped her hands together before her and walked delicately over to Valerie with her eyes lowered. Kendra’s whip was still curled round her ankle but she seemed oblivious to it.

<Mistresses, this slave thanks you for her gifts. Please tell me how i can serve you, my Mistress.>

<You will be my maid, erm, …> Valerie sought a suitable name. <Angel.> It seemed sufficiently juvenile a name to call her, added to the fact that an angel serving a demoness had a delicious wickedness about it.

<Yes, Mistress.>

<What uniform do you favour?> Kendra asked.

<Something traditional for a maid, but again with keeping with where we are going. I imagine cotton is not going to last long in Nematash.>

Kendra laughed. In moments a band of light like that which had circled the two of them when they had been dressing, began rising up Angel. Her naked legs were soon in long black leather boots stretching from pointed toes to high up her thigh. Flame patterns in crimson were picked out on them. Beneath she wore fence net stockings, visible only in the short gap between the top of her boots and her micro-skirt. It was black leather edged with a frilly pattern pierced through it. That detail reminded her of the leather trousers she had seen once on a Spanish woman and she approved of its use here. Next Angel was gifted with a tight fitting leather dress and a small apron, both edged with pierced leather and the latter outlined in white. Her long hair was soon caught up in a ponytail and moments later the change was complete, she stood in front of her mistress like the perfect alien maid.

<One other item, but this is for you to do.>

Kendra handed Valerie a shiny leather collar with a metal ring fixed to its front. Valerie knew what to do with it. As Angel stood before her, head bowed, she closed it around her neck. The lock seemed to seal shut and Valerie knew it could not be removed. Her own hands had enslaved Angel forever.

<A maid should not need leashing, but it is always of use if you take her out on the street. The collar indicates she is your slave.>

<Yes.>

Valerie realised she knew this and for an instant was torn between feeling pleased that her knowledge of Nematash’s ways was increasing and the way they had changed her basic assumptions. More than at the time of her own transformation, Valerie now felt she was taking irreversible steps. With a swish Kendra curled the whip back into her hands. Angel staggered forward a little, then seemed to find her balance in the boots. The flash of curiosity or alarm that Valerie noticed in her eyes seemed to be submerged quickly and Valerie felt content that her slave would not be a troublesome one.

Kendra seemed to be sniffing the air. <Yes, we have enough time, if we do not dally. I am keen that we collect more slaves for you. You will start with a small entourage, but to have none would be a grave embarrassment.>

<Yes, I agree.> Valerie responded with a little mocking of Kendra’s apparent seriousness in this matter. <Where to next?>

<Every courtier needs a pet, a companion. What do you think?>

<That sounds good, I’m more of a cat person, than a fan of dogs.>

<But of course. I can sense who you need.> Kendra smiled.

In moments she had torn a rent in the air and Valerie could look into yet another location, a bedroom which she felt was familiar, but for the moment she could not place. Maybe that was because she was now seeing it through demon eyes.

<Angel, follow.> Kendra commanded.

Valerie looked back, a little embarrassed that she had already forgotten her first slave.

<I think you’ll need a leash. Create one.> Kendra suggested.

<How?>

<Try.>

Valerie thought back to what she had seen Kendra do. She focused on thinking about a leash, something long and shiny like the collar Angel wore. Then she forming her hands into narrow circles she stretched them out as she might do with pastry. She continued envisaging what she was seeking to create and soon as faint dark strip began appearing. Pleased, Valerie found strength in her thoughts and within a minute a leash had appeared. She looked at it, rather surprised as it sat in her hands. She then realised this simple strip of shiny black leather was insufficient and she grasped one end in her hand. More quickly this time a clip appeared in the end, it was stainless steel and matched the ring on Angel’s collar. She did not have to be instructed what to do. She clipped it to the collar and her slave was leashed.

<Excellent.> Kendra applauded. <You look like a proper Owner. I can see you now strutting down Asperanis Street with your clutch of slaves, following perfectly behind.>

<Thank you.> Valerie said, feeling surprisingly pleased by the comment.

Now Valerie wondered if Kendra had not at least been partially correct. She had no idea whether there was any demon blood inside her, but maybe she had not ever noticed the dominatrix lurking in her personality which Kendra’s changes was now allowing, in fact, encouraging, to come to the fore. Kendra turned and walked through the gap, Valerie followed with Angel led behind her.

<We’ll collect your new pet from here.>

Even looking through alien eyes Valerie could see that they were now in the house of her friend Jean. Jean always appeared to be busy and so they did not meet up as often as they might have liked. In addition to her interior design business, Jean constantly seemed to be in and out of complex relationships, often with married men. However, as Valerie took in the room around her, she saw Jean lying curled up on her designer sofa, asleep. For the moment, Jean seemed like a contented cat and Valerie found herself walking over to her and running her hands along Jean’s right arm, intending to wake her gently. As Valerie did this, she saw the cloth of Jean’s blouse crumble beneath the touch of her fingers. Then the skin revealed took on a black shine and Valerie realised that was probably going to be the effect that she had on any human from now on. Quickly she lifted her hands clear of Jean but it seemed to alter nothing, instead the process she had initiated continued. Soon the whole of Jean’s sleeve had dissolved.

<What, what’s happening?> Valerie looked at Kendra urgently.

<Well, if you want to bring her with us she has to change too.>

<Okay.>

Valerie remained a little hesitant. She could certainly see it would be of benefit to have her best friend along to help her adapt to Kendra’s world and to give her some contact back to Earth. Valerie also recognised that Jean would not survive unless her body became at least a little like hers and Kendra’s. However, witnessing such a change happening to a woman she knew so well was unnerving Valerie. It reminded her of something that had been pointed out to her: people who could be quite happy dealing with their own false teeth, their own medicines, even injections, would squirm and turn away when they saw someone else using such things.

Jean’s arm was now glossy black and the colour seemed to be spreading along her shoulder and to her chest. Then she awoke. Valerie stepped back a little, worried how Jean would react when she saw two demons and their slave in her bedroom. For the moment Jean simply stretched and Valerie guessed they had some moments before she was fully awake. That might help blunt the shock a little; Jean might think she was dreaming. However, as Jean stretched, Valerie was alarmed to see the changes accelerating and beginning to affect her in new ways. With a typical gesture she had bunched her hands as she had stretched her arms, but Valerie could see that somehow doing that had fused her fingers together. Both her left and right hands had turned shiny black even though the blackness running over had yet to reach her left arm. Jean blinked her eyes open and Valerie sensed her alarm, clearly she had noticed something unusual had happened. However, before she could look at her hands she saw Kendra, Valerie and Angel standing around her. She blinked more and Valerie could see her eyes were changing: the irises shifting so they now had an oval pupils like those of a cat. She opened her mouth to shriek, but as she did her face seemed to be swept by a black wave altering her head entirely and the sound emerged as a garbled yelp. Valerie watched in fascination as her friend’s face seemed to stretch, her nose becoming one with the snub snout emerging. Her ears appeared to stretch backwards until they lay along side her head.

<What is she becoming? Not a demon, a panther?>

<Well, Nematash’s version of that, a pryrmatra . We keep them as domestic pets; they guard our houses. It was what you wanted for her; it was you who started that process.>

Valerie was alarmed at the changes she had wrought. She had anticipated Jean becoming a humanoid demon like herself, but now before her was emerging this big cat. Of course, being suited for Nematash, slick black skin replaced fur. The semi-pryrmatra growled curiously revealing its sharp teeth and long tongue. For the moment, what had been Jean resembled some fantastical character as the glossy blackness of her feline head had met the shiny black that now covered her shoulders and what had become her front legs and paws. Then the irrepressible black began flowing over the hybrid’s back and Valerie knew there was nothing that could reverse her friend’s metamorphosis. Continuing to behave as a liquid it poured down her sides too and soon her breasts were covered, shrinking to resemble a cat’s teats and joined by other pairs. Then a bump erupted at the base of Jean’s spine where the black had already coated and was flowing over her bum and down to her legs to render the final changes. The bump grew quickly and in moments was clearly becoming a tail.

As the black stopped flowing and the transformation was complete, Valerie now found it difficult to believe that this creature had ever been a human. In place of Jean was a sleek panther-like creature which seemed to be curious about its body. It padded around on the bed where it stood and swept its tail from side-to-side. Its glistening skin caught the light. Valerie felt increasingly excited by this creature, it seemed just the thing that a strong demoness should own. As she thought this and began admiring her new pet she found she was moving her hands in a particular way and in moments a stainless steel collar was appearing in her grasp. A leather leash extended out from it, similar to the one that went to Angel. Valerie recognised that to be led on a leash was to be in the control of one’s owner, showing that you did not move around on your own volition, only at the will of the person who possessed you. Valerie locked the collar to the creature’s neck and pulled it off the bed by its leash. It jumped down with a growl but no other resistance. The feline creature stroked its smooth skin around Valerie’s legs, and despite its size looked up at Valerie with the expectance of a kitten.

Valerie thought it was funny but now Jean seemed more content that she had ever been as a human. She determined that she would acquire a mate for her pet, a male pryrmatra that would be loyal to its female and service her sexually on demand. The thought of watching her friend being mounted by another of its kind brought a pleasurable sensation to Valerie. She guessed it was what Jean had deserved all these years and she was glad to have brought it about.

<What will you call her?>

<Jinx.> Valerie responded quickly, it seemed right. <I’ll find her a mate when we reach Nematash.>

Valerie read pleasant surprise in Kendra’s reaction. <Certainly, that would be a good idea; a matched pair will look excellent when you exercise them.>

<Do we go to Nematash now?> Valerie realised she was impatient to move from this world which seemed increasingly dull to her, to the shiny excitement of the land of demons.

<Not just yet. We have a little more time and there is one more thing I think you need to complete the set; something very appropriate for a demoness of leisure like yourself. Come.>

As before, Kendra began to carve into the air making a rift to another location. Looking through Valerie could only see darkness and could scent a rather dank smell.

<Why don’t you finish it off?>

<Okay, I’ll try.>

Valerie wrapped the two leashes around her wrist to free her hands. She stepped up to the small tear and began moving her hands as she had seen Kendra do. The air felt heavy as if she was trying to pull apart very thick curtains. Valerie saw that the hole was shrinking and she concentrated harder, not wanting to be seen by Kendra to fail. Suddenly it seemed to give way and a gap of blackness stretched about the length of Valerie’s demon body. She tugged at the sides of it, making it into a door shape and then stood back, rather proud in what she had achieved.

Kendra applauded. <Excellent. With a little practice we’ll soon have you strutting between dimensions like a demon millennia older than you.>

Kendra did not hesitate but stepped through into the darkness beyond. Valerie wondered where they were heading and whether this was in fact to Nematash or somewhere else on Earth, perhaps in a different time zone. She tugged on her leashes and sure that her two living possessions were following she stepped through. As the rift closed behind them, Valerie looked around where they had arrived. It was now night time, but she guessed that while she had to obey certain rules, with Kendra’s powers moving through time, at least here on Earth, was not a challenge. In contrast to their other two visits they were now outside, in a narrow dark alley. Angel stood demurely awaiting an order but Jinx sniffed the air, her feline senses apparently aroused by something. For a moment Valerie wondered what it would appear like if someone looked this way to see a bizarre assortment of creatures from another world, planning for the next human they would snatch. Whilst she knew she had been able to see Kendra in her true form, or what she assumed was her true form, and Angela and even Jean had done too, Valerie imagined that she and Kendra had the ability to weave any illusory appearance around them they chose so as not to alarm too many people.

Becoming more aware of her surroundings, Valerie could now make out the dim thud of music coming from close by. She guessed they were outside a nightclub, an impression reinforced when a clutch of giggling young women clad in skimpy shiny dresses passed the end of the alley. Their voices told her they were still in Britain; from their accents, London.

<Who are we here for?>

Kendra smiled. <Even I’m not certain of that yet, your words just give me guidance where I should head next. I imagine a woman you know will soon step into this alleyway, someone suitable to become a toy for you.>

<A toy?>

<Well, you have a maid, a pet, the other basic requirement for any courtier is to have some living entertainment.>

<Living entertainment?> As a human that phrase would have provoked unease in Valerie, but as a demoness the words had an intriguing, delicious flavour about them.

<Ah, now, I don’t think you’re going to have to wait much longer to see what I mean.>

Valerie followed the line of Kendra’s gaze and saw two people walking rather unsteadily into the alleyway. She wondered if her demon vision allowed her to be able to see more clearly in the dark as she did not find it difficult to make them out. The man was probably in his late forties, but dressed in a teeshirt and trousers of a male half his age. He was not unfit and probably would be sexy in the right context, a quiet restaurant, something like that, Valerie told herself. That was quickly replaced by the thought dismissing the consideration that a man could be truly sexy anyway, no matter what his age. Maybe they were fine for some of the physical urges but nothing really matched a woman when it came to authentic sex appeal. The woman with him was a case in point. She was in her twenties, but, like her partner, dressed younger. For her that meant hair slides taming unruly short blonde hair. Her black coat had a faux fur collar and beneath were a tight top of shiny blue and a miniskirt of a similar foil material, but black. Strappy high heels completed her look. Valerie recognised this woman could be a temptress but was clearly subjugating her true sexuality beneath pleasing the man’s age-skewed desires.

Those thoughts sent ripples through Valerie’s memory as if she had thought them before. She would not be surprised if Kendra had brought her to catch up with someone else from her past, but for the moment she could place neither the man or the woman. For a moment she was tempted to turn to Kendra for explanation, but realised that she herself was more likely to be in a position to supply the answers. For a moment Valerie wondered how Kendra would change one of these people, but then found herself hoping it was the woman. Her mind spiralled off into thinking how good it would be to see her head to foot in that shiny black, her skin becoming just like that foil skirt. Could this woman become her toy? The thought made Valerie tingle and she began to look at the scene unfolding with avaricious eyes.

“Here, babe, here’s fine.”

“Sure thing.” The woman said.

The couple kissed for a few moments, the man with his back to the wall. That suggested they meant something to each other, this was not simply a prostitute and her client. However, the man grasped the woman’s upper arms and half lowered, half pushed her to the floor. The woman did not struggle. Valerie wondered how her naked knees must feel pressed on the hard ground and thought how much better it would be for her to have long boots to protect them when in that subservient position. Then she saw that the man intended to do what she would have done with this woman herself. He unzipped his fly allowing his hard cock to emerge.

The woman needed no direction and had clearly been trained to the demands of this man. She grasped the base of his cock and pulled it to her lips. She ran around the head with her tongue before resting it gently at the entrance to her mouth. Valerie shivered with excitement as she envisaged how good it would feel to have this woman’s tongue stroking at her pussy. Then the woman shifted a little, momentarily releasing the cock, and the way she flicked her hair chimed with one of Valerie’s memories.

Now she realised that this was Lucy Kendrick, a woman she had employed a couple of years ago to manage some rental property she had at the time. Lucy had been very good at the job and Valerie had suggested that they develop that side of the business together. Valerie had been dismayed when Lucy had rejected the offer as she was giving up work to marry a man twenty years her senior, Ronald Jacobs; a man who did not want his wife to work. Valerie had met the man, the man against the wall, once and even if she had not known about his attitudes, she would have taken an instant dislike to him. His whole behaviour was from the Victorian era, expecting women to be ornaments and servants to his lusts. He was a snob, arrogant, conceited and vain. Valerie guessed she was not surprised to find him using his wife the way one would a whore. Now, maybe, for the first time, Valerie had the power to show Lucy how much better her life could have been if she had stuck with her rather than giving up her life for this bastard.

Valerie stepped forward. It was Ronald who saw her first and she could see the bewilderment followed by fear filling his eyes. He jerked back from Lucy who tumbled towards him, jarring her chin on his knees. Recognising something was wrong she looked first out on to the street then down the alley. As she saw Valerie she began to shriek.

Valerie knew that the scream would attract others and she could not have that. From somewhere she understood her powers and raised her glossy black hand and snuffed out the sound.

“What, what are you? If you’ll let me go, I’ll give you money. Take, take her.” Ronald stuttered pushing Lucy at Valerie like an offering.

<I will; but because I want her, not because it will save you.>

Valerie smiled as Ronald looked stunned as her thoughts forced their way into his brain. She was loving the effect her appearance and her powers were having on these two. Now she realised why she was here and what Lucy would soon become. She closed on Ronald and clamped her claws around his upper arm. In seconds he seemed to be crumbling like so much dust to be blown away by the wind. Moments later he was gone. Valerie recognised that she had not destroyed Ronald, simply removed him entirely from Lucy’s story. Now she gazed down at the woman on the floor, who was fearfully trying to scream. As Valerie focused on her, Lucy stopped and looked up as if trying to read what this demoness was going to do with her. Valerie smiled and that seemed to reassure Lucy.

<Ah, Lucy, I am so glad I’ve found you again. You’re going to enjoy working for me.>

Lucy tried to reply, but though sounds did not come, the force of her thoughts communicated to Valerie. <What? What? How are you speaking to me?>

<Excellent, keep that up, you’re mouth is for sex, that’s clear, not for talking.> Valerie encouraged.

<This isn’t possible. This is a dream. I must have been slipped something.>

<Good, that’s good. No, it’s real. I’m going to change you, you’ll believe that as it begins to happen. First I’ll make you more comfortable to be down there.>

Valerie gestured and Lucy looked back to see a band of light glowing near the heels of her shoes. Then it was if their shiny black straps were expanding, flowing together. Lucy gawped at what was happening, and as she did she saw her feet clad now in shiny ankle boots. Their black glossiness did not stop there but flowed quickly up her legs, making calf-high, knee-high, thigh-high boots. Valerie was pleased with her handiwork. Now at least Lucy could kneel on the hardest floors with her legs sheathed in the glossiness. Valerie had not known how to change Lucy next, so simply let the gloss flow higher, running under the skirt and top.

<What are you doing to me?>

<Making you truly what you seem happy to be.>

<What is that?>

<You know, you chose this life, I’m only letting you realise it in its truest form. You are nothing but a living sex toy.>

<What, what?>

<It’s getting a little repetitive my toy. Just enjoy.>

Lucy jerked back with a thought gasp. Valerie understood she must have just bestowed an orgasm on this woman and delighted at her power. It would make the change easier. She was not a malicious Owner, she wanted her toys and pets to be pleasured. At her feet the gloss continued flowing up Lucy unabated. Valerie thought it was wrong to leave this woman dressed and in moments saw the skirt and then the top crumbling away. It was apparent she had worn no panties or bra and it seemed appropriate that now her engorged pussy was on view, of course with its features now in slippery black.

Lucy reached for her breasts as the gloss began running over them. She looked up at Valerie with an expression of concern, but the demoness obliterated that with another burst of ecstasy turning Lucy’s probing with her fingers into a pleasurable action as her breasts were coated in the glossy black and grew, their nipples protruding prominently. One hand fell to her pussy as if she had just noticed it had changed and Valerie smiled as she saw Lucy slip her fingers, themselves soon being overrun by the wonderful slick blackness, deep inside, pleased that she was at last concentrating on some satisfaction for herself rather than that bastard Ronald.

The spread of the black now slowed. Where previously had knelt the silly woman now rested someone from a demoness’s entourage, or almost. Her head with its unruly blonde hair stood out against the blackness that covered her from neck to toe like a tailor-made wetsuit. Valerie wanted Lucy to see the changes that her mistress had brought, but realised that the process had gone too far and there was little left in her consciousness beside the pleasure her altered body was providing.

<The final stage.> Valerie said excitedly, knowing this would enslave Lucy to her and make her unable to do anything except what Valerie commanded.

Then Lucy’s features disappeared beneath the bubbling black. In moments it was as if she wore a latex mask. Her head was now smooth, with no hint of the stylishly messy hair that had been there moments before. Now it was sleek and functional, appropriate for the living, latex covered toy she was becoming. Her face disappeared beneath the blackness so that she became a domino, indistinguishable, no doubt, from a thousand like her. Her eyelids fluttered indicating Lucy’s pleasure and Valerie knew that that stemmed from both the sensation of being given such a body and the realisation of her true role, to be Valerie’s slave. Lucy’s mouth was closed, and Valerie now realised why she had willed that as a bump appeared over her lips sealing them together and in moments it was growing. Valerie had seen a dildo mask once, and had been rather stunned by it, but now it seemed so right. For an instant she was tempted to give Lucy a replica of Ronald’s cock, but she knew she had no interest in being reminded of him. Instead a lovely slippery rod emerged growing seven inches and fat from Lucy’s face. Then the changes were complete. Valerie saw the purpose of telepathy. When your pet was a panther and your toy was a woman with a dildo growing where her mouth would have been, it was useful to be able to think them to obey. She ran her eyes over the toy. To an observer it would appear like a woman wearing a skin-tight black rubber catsuit and a mask, but in fact this was the toy’s skin and the mind inside now matched what her physical state made her.

<Excellent. Just excellent.>

Kendra stepped up from behind Valerie.

<I couldn’t have done better myself. I think this more than proves your suitability for being one of my courtiers.>

<Thank you. I guess it becomes easier with practice.> Valerie glowed with genuine pride. <This one will be my Jem.>

Valerie turned to the toy. <Jem.>

<Yes, erm, Mistress. Yes, Mistress.> Jem replied, clearly getting to grips with her new form.

<Well, use her.> Kendra commanded.

<No, not just yet. I would rather test her in some other way.>

Valerie smiled and then made a quick gesture with her hands. In moments a long rubber whip like the one Kendra had wielded earlier appeared in her grasp. She glanced to the end of the alleyway. A cluster of young women went by, then moments later, another, fiddling with her mobile phone followed behind. However, Valerie’s whip shot out and caught her naked ankle. She turned, not indignant at being so snared, more drawn by Valerie’s power. Apparently forgetting her friends she walked into the alleyway, sexily swaying her body as she yielded to what Valerie wanted from her.

<Jem, bring her an orgasm.>

Jem made no response, but simply moved her slick body to obey. The young woman was clad in a red faux fur coat and a shiny red dress. Still captured by Valerie’s whip, she manoeuvred herself back against the wall as if ready to be kissed and groped by some man who had picked her up inside. Instead the short dress was pushed back by the nuzzling of Jem’s slippery head. The young woman’s pussy was beginning to drip, its juice trickling over the head of the living dildo; her eyes showed that her mind had been taken to a dream state and was simply allowing whatever pleasurable assaults were going to be inflicted on her. She gasped and giggled as Jen’s fat dildo slipped inside her. Thrusts pushed her further until moans issued from her mouth. Valerie looked on pleased with her handiwork, delighted that Jem had got to give a proper oral service in this alleyway, so much better than kneeling in her human flesh to suck off that human male. The young clubber was soon shrieking with the sensation of the strangest, but strongest sexual stimulation she would ever receive. As she slumped against the wall Valerie felt satisfied. Jem had certainly proven herself obedient. Valerie knew she had centuries ahead to enjoy her new sex toy, and it had been so good to put it to use on a human female.

<Come Jem.>

<Yes, Mistress.>

Jem stood and came to her mistress’s side. Valerie cracked back the whip from the young woman leaving her free but dazed as she experienced the last fragments of her waking dream.

<Ready.>

Valerie said as she turned to Kendra and felt it to be entirely true. She knew that she would return to this Earth to add to her collection, but for now she was eager to take home what she had gathered so far.

Kendra smiled. <Let’s go.>

The two demonesses reached out together and a large rift opened in an instant. In the dark alley it would have been difficult to make out what lay beyond, but it was an alien world, that of Nematash, where spirit and magic ruled in the place of engineering and technology. Kendra strode through, but Valerie hesitated a little as she shepherded her three new possessions on ahead of her. For a moment she glanced around this strange place before stepping through to where she belonged. As she did she felt a strange sensation at the top of her shoulder blades. In less than a minute the rift was gone and the alleyway’s only occupant was a young woman named Diane wondering what someone had slipped her in the bar to make her feel this good.