Monster Haven, Pt 1

The sun was beginning to set, and Kendra and her sister Dawn had been walking for hours. Thoughrally exhausted, they both decided it was high time to make camp. Their journey through the mountains had been treacherous; thankfully the small continent was not large enough to support gargantuan mountains. However Kendra knew that tomorrow they would need to cross the desert, which wouldn’t be too awful as it was a mere 6 miles across, but would still test their limits. They acted as merchants, ferrying goods between their home on the western shore of Logos, to the city of Amaad on the other side. The nation of Logos was not gigantic by any means, the distance only took about a week to traverse, but there was an enduring absence of reliable merchants to buy and sell between them. Rumors of young merchants disappearing were commonplace. The rumor going around was that these young men had been visited on their journeys by succubi, and were either maimed due to their guest’s insatisfaction or carried away if haven proven themselves a desirable specimen. The girls laughed at this, claiming that if this were the case, as women they were in no danger. The journey was arduous, but kept them toned, fit, and wealthy. As they set down their equipment and her sister began gathering tinder for a fire, Kendra inspected their products. Lately they had been making bundles off of ‘luxury goods’, predominantly make-up and fragrances, with trade how it was they were one of the few merchants providing them in the larger city of Amaad and women were paying oodles for jewelry and silk from the west.
Kendra made sure nothing was crushed or melted and then took a long swig of water from her canteen. She was the younger of the two, but barely. The two were scarcely a year apart, and since their parents had died several years ago they had become very close, as the only family they had left. Her hair was dark black, while Dawn’s was brown. She was a little shorter than her older sister, but her body had more curve and she secretly delighted in the fact that her breasts were slightly bigger. Both were young women in their early twenties, prime targets for young men, however their careers had kept them from getting too involved, both had had their flings but they had been nothing more.
As her sister returned with wood and started a fire, Kendra began preparing supper for them both. They had few choices, but she had saved some fruit off of a tree they passed earlier and was also lucky enough to have come across a wild mushroom patch. She began frying them over the fire as her sister collapsed onto her bedroll.
“Mmm what a day. How much longer are we planning on making these trips?” Dawn groaned.
Kendra spiced the cooking shrooms. “C’mon, you used to be way more into this than me.” She smiled, stirring the pan. “ Besides, what else do you want? To be tied down with some BOY?”
Dawn stretched and yawned. “Hmmm. Might be nice.”
Kendra snorted. “Yea right. You couldn’t be content with one guy, and you know it.”
Dawn sat up indignantly. “What does that mean? Just because I had those two different dates on the same weekend doesn’t mean I..”
Kendra put a finger to her sister’s lips and pulled the sizzling shrooms off the fire. “Eat up, I’m sure they’re safe.”
Dawn immediately grabbed one and plopped it in her mouth. “Ahhh! Hot, but good.”
–
As the girls ate, they were unaware of the lurking presence that watched them. In the growing darkness, several pairs of eyes watched them.
A forked tongue silently licked the air, tasting not only the oils from the cooking but the girls themselves, who had obviously been perspiring from the long journey. A hazel eye with a dark slit of a pupil focused intensely on the glowing heat signature of the warm bodies. This was Yanna, the lamia.
Her naked female torso was strikingly beautiful. Her breasts were shapely, her hair long and dark. She had several scars, one running down the center of her chest the other tracing her left forearm.