“Crying?”

  “Denial of my heat is painful to me, both physically and emotionally.”

  “Siphon, I didn't come to cause you pain! I came to enlist your help in my project.”

  “I understand. I will help you in any way I can. That includes warning you of my liabilities.”

  He glanced at Nerine. “True?”

  “True,” the nereid agreed. “She will never lie to you.”

  “She will be in pain if I deny her?”

  “Yes. But you are not obliged to cater to her, either.”

  “But she is safe for me, now?”

  “Yes. She will even protect you as you sleep, making you safer than alone.”

  He pondered and decided. “Compromise: stay with me, seduce me as you must, but put me to sleep between-times so we can both get our rest.”

  “Thank you.” She joined him in the bed, and ardently fondled and kissed him, soon arousing him despite his recent performance. He quickly had sex with her, without any fanciness, just in and out.

  “Now the sleep kiss,” she murmured, and kissed him. He felt her gentle pacifying magic, and found that he liked it, now that he no longer feared it. And went to sleep.

  He woke an hour later. She was stroking him again. “You may tell me to stop,” she reminded him. “I will obey.”

  “Do what you need to, to ease your urge.”

  She put him on his back and lay on top of him, squeezing and kissing him. In a moment his penis was hard and driving into her, and in another moment ejaculating.

  “You are young and vigorous,” Siphon said. “That helps.” She kissed him the other way, and he was asleep again.

  Another hour or so later she was at it again. In fact he was already in her. “You had a nocturnal erection,” she said. “I took advantage of it.” She massaged his member within her until it spouted. Then she kissed him back to sleep.

  The fourth time she woke him he had a different idea. “This time kiss me but leave me awake.”

  “As you wish.” She evoked him, then lay beside him as he subsided, spent.

  “Can we talk?”

  “We will do whatever you wish, Neris. I am bound to you.”

  “Exactly what is it that binds you? I put a drug into you, but shouldn't that wear off in time?”

  “No. You put a magic concentration of love into me, and that will take years to wear off, if ever. I do what you wish because any wish of yours becomes my wish. This is artificial, yes, but nonetheless real.”

  “You can love?”

  “Sirens experience emotion, yes. But it is generally selfish. We lack souls, and therefore have no empathy, compassion, or conscience.”

  “Yet you know the terms.”

  “Yes. I understand them intellectually and know their power over mortals. But I do not feel them myself.”

  “Then why are you doing good works, helping poor people? There must be many other ways you can hide among mortals and seek men to bleed without attracting attention.”

  “There are. But most sirens lead long lives of unfulfillment. We see mortals, for all their weaknesses and faults, often achieving it on some level. We envy them that. An ancestor sought an answer from Chaos, asking how she could achieve fulfillment. The response was a kind of prophecy: only by doing good works for no reward could this be accomplished. That answer was not satisfactory to us, and was ignored. My ancestors remained unfulfilled. When it was my turn to exist, I decided to try it. I have been doing good works for twenty years, and thought I was about to be fulfilled via a perfect breeding and feeding when you arrived. Alas, that was not to be.” She paused. “But if I may ask, what is your plan for the refuge? You govern it now.”

  “Continue it as before. I will not interfere with its operation.” He smiled. “Maybe it will yet lead you to fulfillment.”

  “I shall, and possibly it will. And if I may ask again, what are your plans, after I help you make the bad dream? I ask because I will still be bound to you thereafter, and wish to assist you in any other way I can.”

  “We had a research laboratory that got bombed. We need to restore it, so as to try to nullify marine pollution. I am in the process of getting it set up for our chemist, Hedva.”

  “You have no laboratory at the moment?”

  “We are about to move into a new one.”

  “You are welcome to set it up here. I can proffer facilities with privacy and access to whatever sources you require.”

  “Here? But wouldn't that mess up your work?”

  “No, it would facilitate it, because then I could remain close to you without interfering with my work at the refuge. I do need to be close to you.”

  “Even after your heat passes?”

  “Yes. I will no longer be urgent for sex with you, but I will still love you, and separation from you will pain me.”

  “I don't want to hurt you.”

  “You have mortal compassion. I promise not to be a nuisance. You can ignore me; I will become invisible, in the manner of Nerine, if you prefer.”

  This was becoming convenient in another respect: the safe place for the new laboratory. “We'll do it. Now I will lie with you awake until you have to seduce me again.”

  “I am not yet in need. You may of course have at me at any time.”

  He smiled. “I'll wait.”

  “Then may I sleep?”

  “Of course.”

  And just like that she slept. He gazed at her in the half light, marveling. Apart from her wings in lieu of arms she was the perfect figure of a woman. Curious, he inspected her vulva. It was completely human, externally. Either she was a variant with that configuration, or she was able to maintain illusion in her sleep. Not that it really mattered.

  Then he remembered business. “Nerine.”

  She appeared. She had been present all along, of course. “Yes. It seems I was wrong about her anatomy; I was judging by other sirens. They do vary somewhat in detail.”

  He smiled. “This is not about that. Maybe you should tell Rosie and Hedva that we have a site for the new laboratory. I believe they will want to move into the castle.” Then another detail occurred. “And tell them that I won the contest with the siren.”

  “I will.” She faded out, smiling.

  And they now would have the siren's cooperation in making the new bad dream. He pondered its details, choreographing it. With luck, that would suffice, and the pollution would stop. But he was pretty sure that that kind of luck was not in the offing.

  After about half an hour Siphon stirred and woke. “The immediate urge is building, but overall it is fading,” she said. “I think one more after this will do it.”

  “Do it.”

  She embraced him with her wings and kissed him. When his member did not immediately stiffen, she sang a single note. Abruptly it was rigid. Then she took it in and milked it into performance.

  When he ebbed, she looked askance. “Sure, sleep,” he agreed.

  She kissed him that way, and he was unconscious.

  They both woke at dawn. “Last time,” she said, and evoked him once more. Then: “Neris, I do appreciate this. You could have let me suffer.”

  “Had it been feasible, I would have spared you this captivity.”

  “Ironically, I am glad you didn't. I did not want to lose our challenge, I did not expect to, but once I did I loved you, and now I am glad of that. Yes it is compelled love, and I know it, but I still am joyed by your nearness. I now exist to please you in any way I can.”

  “We'll make the dream. Then I'll let you be.”

  “As you wish.”

  They got up, and he showered. She fetched a towel and dried him off. “Siphon, you're not a servant!” he protested.

  “I am not a servant,” she agreed. “I am a slave.”

  He decided not to argue the case.

  Rosie and Hedva showed up with their baggage, and Siphon showed them to their rooms. They were impressed; the castle facilities were first rate.

  “Was it hard?” Rosie asked him, glancing at his groin. “I mean the fight.”

  “Yes, both ways.”

  “Now the siren is your sex slave.”

  He laughed. “You may still share my bed, Rosie. I like your company.”

  “Three's a crowd.”

  “Just the two of us.”

  She looked surprised, but let it be. She did join him in his bed that night, verifying it. “I just assumed—I mean, she's a winged sex bomb.”

  “We had a night of it, getting her past her heat. Now there is no further need.”

  “You did it just to ease her heat?”

  “Yes.”

  She shook her head, bemused. “Well, any time you want me out, just say so.”

  It took some time to install the new laboratory equipment, which was expensive and complicated, and Hedva was busy. Meanwhile they brought in their players, including three nereids this time, and made the dream. Siphon was amused by her role in it, but played it well. Soon it was ready.

  The exec looked up to see his secretary standing expectantly. She was new, a striking blonde. “Where is my regular?”

  “She is indisposed today. But I can handle it.”

  “I'm sure you can.” He patted her pert behind, and she did not move; she really could handle it. They were making substitutes more shapely these days.

  “Sir, there is a summons from a government regulatory agent. She wants to see you immediately.”

  That was not the kind of message he was accustomed to. All the top regulatory agents had long since been bought off, and knew their subservient places. Then he picked up on something. “She?”

  “A recent appointee,” she said. “I think she doesn’t yet know the ropes.”

  “Apparently not,” he agreed, stroking her firm bottom. “Tell her to make an appointment.”

  “We tried, sir. She refuses to wait.”

  The nerve! But he was curious. “Have my chauffeur bring my car around. I'll tend to this directly.” He gave her gluteus a final squeeze. Top grade.

  The chauffeur was also new: a pretty brunette. He rode in front with her and stroked her shapely leg as she drove. “Where is my regular?”

  “It's his day off, sir. But I can handle it.”

  “I'm sure you can.” His hand slid around to her inner thigh and she did not flinch.

  The address was a surprise: a medieval type castle replica on an island in a small lake, complete with a drawbridge. They walked across, admiring the swarming little fish. “What kind are they?” he asked.

  “Piranha,” she said. “Swimming here is discouraged.”

  He laughed. “I should think so! This must be a most unusual government agent.”

  “She is, sir.”

  The desk clerk was a shapely redhead. He did not manage to feel her, but did get an excellent peek down inside her loose blouse. She was top grade too. “Fifth floor, sir,” she said with a smile.

  They took the elevator to the fifth floor. The door opened on a spacious central chamber. In the center stood a regal woman in a thick black cloak. “You have come,” she said somberly.

  “What's this all about?” he demanded. “I'm not accustomed to--”

  She flounced her jet black hair. “Your industry is severely polluting the environment. This must stop immediately.”

  “Evidently you are not properly conversant with the protocols,” he said. “You do not simply issue commandments.”

  Her robe spread of its own accord, revealing the inner curves of splendid breasts. “We do now. You will commence the ameliorative modifications immediately, or...”

  “Or what?” he demanded. Her contours were impressive, but this was business.

  Her robe spread farther, exposing the mid curves of her bosom and belly. The sight was sexy as hell. “Or you will answer to me.”

  He laughed. “Sister, I will answer to you only in bed. Now if you are through wasting my time, I have business back at the office.”

  “I am not through.” She inhaled, causing her breasts to rise provocatively, then sang an evocative double note. It seemed to reach into his body and tug at his penis.

  This was weird. Also a bit alarming. He did not like things he did not understand, and this was somewhat beyond understanding. He turned to go.

  She sang another dual note. He turned back; it was involuntary. The notes were actually, in some manner, compelling him. “Now look here,” he said, ruffled. “You can't just--”

  “Take off your clothing.”

  “What?”

  She sang a third evocative note. Suddenly his hands were removing his clothing. His brunette driver girl was assisting. What was happening here?

  “You will take the necessary steps to abate the pollution,” she said. “Or you will embrace me.”

  He gazed at her phenomenal body, now framed by the cloak. “Do you call that a threat?”

  “I do.”

  “Ludicrous!”

  She sang again. This time, naked, he walked to her. He took her in his arms, pressing his chest against her breasts, his belly against hers, his hands on her buttocks. She was as tall as he was, even without high heels, and the fit was perfect. He kissed her, and it was like sipping the nectar of the gods. What a woman she was!

  After a divine moment she drew her face back. “Stop the pollution.”

  “Forget it! We have other business.” His penis was standing stiffly.

  “We do,” she agreed. Her body shifted against him.

  Then he was inside her. He thrust, and thrust again, and the semen practically leaped forth. Marvelous sex, and standing up!

  He subsided, and sought to withdraw. But now her vagina clamped around his member, holding it tightly. There was a momentary sting.

  “What--?” he asked, confused.

  “I am a siren,” she said. “I feed on the blood of men. Now I am feeding on you.”

  This was impossible! Yet he felt the suction on his member, and knew that the blood was coursing out of it much as the semen had, only in greater volume. It had become a spigot, letting out his blood. It was pumping into her, pulse after pulse, not filling up her vagina but flowing on into her body. She was going to drink him dry!

  “This will take a while,” she murmured, holding him close. “Just relax and enjoy it until you lose consciousness. It is an easy demise.”

  “But—but--” he started to protest.

  She cut him off with another kiss. Somehow this sapped any remaining ability to resist. He stood there, feeling his life ebbing.

  “You really should have agreed to limit the pollution,” she said. “Then I would have let you go. Now it is too late, at least for you.”

  His head was dizzy. Slowly he blacked out, helplessly horrified. His last fleeting thought was the wish that he had agreed to stop the pollution.

  He woke, shuddering. He was back in his office, at his desk. It had been a dream, a dreadful nightmare.

  But he knew with a horrible conviction that if he did not radically change course, the dream would recur. That it might even become real. That a vampire siren would bleed him dry. Others might scoff, but he knew.

  Maybe it was not too late to tackle the pollution after all. Meanwhile he suspected that it would be some time before he would want to put his vulnerable member into a woman, any woman. Sex was too apt to remind him of the hungry siren.

  There was nothing in the news, but next day the stock markets plunged. An unvoiced nervousness was gripping the fossil fuel industry, and spreading to others. Analysts were baffled. No one in the industry was talking, but they obviously feared something.

  “We'll send it out again in a week,” Neris said. “At least this one is having some effect.”

  “Meanwhile I will continue searching for nullification,” Hedva said, returning to her lab.

  “If I may ask...” Siphon murmured when they were alone except for Nerine.

  Neris glanced at her. She had behaved perfectly, making no waves. “Ask.”

  “It has been a month now since our encounter, and you have never sought me for sex. You surely know that I am yours in that respect, as I am in all others, and I am completely desirable. Is there a reason? I know you have not been having sex with any other woman, and I know you are not gay despite your association with a gay woman.”

  Neris shrugged. “I don't know.”

  “This is not normal for a virile young man, especially a half god. Gods are lusty creatures.”

  “I just haven't felt the inclination.”

  “There must be something else. I am concerned for your health. Your welfare is now my business. With your permission I can find out what the problem is.”

  Curious, he agreed. “Do it.”

  She laid her wing on his arm, and he felt the tingle of her power. “Ah. It is because you love another mortal. One you deem unavailable, but still you save yourself for her.”

  She was magically good! She had nailed him, as it were. “Maybe.”

  “I may be able to identify her.” Her power tingled again. Her eyes widened in surprise. “And that other is Hedva.”

  “Don't harm her!” he snapped.

  She jerked back her wing as if electrically jolted. “I won't.”

  “She won't,” Nerine agreed.

  Neris was embarrassed. “Don't make a big thing of this. I need to work with Hedva without complicating our relationship.”

  “Tell her. It might simplify things.”

  “No!”

  She sighed. “Your will is my command. In this case, your 'won't.' But I think you are being a fool.”

  “Your soulless kind would,” he retorted. “I'd like to free you, now that my purpose in enlisting you has been accomplished.”

  “Two things, Neris. You call me soulless, and I am; neither gods nor animals have souls, and I am the product of a goddess/animal crossbreeding. Had I conquered you, I would have taken your soul along with your blood for my daughter, so that she could be the perfect creature that I am not. That was not to be, but for you to condemn me for being soulless is ironic, considering how close you came to losing yours.”

  This was an insight. “That was thoughtless, and I apologize.”

  “The second thing is that if you free me, soulless as I am, I will kill you. You are half god, but you can be killed, just as I can be. We are half supernatural, not immortal like the full gods.”