“There. Are you happy now?” Audrey huffed.

Ammie grinned and let out a whistle, her blue eyes growing wide at the sight of her fellow harpy’s body. “I am very happy, girl. How do they make you feel?”

Audrey shrugged, running a hand through her messy brown hair. “I dunno, mostly just cold? I am naked, after all.”

“You’re not naked. You’re wearing jewelry! That’s clothes!”

“Jewelry is an accessory, Ammie. And one I don’t usually care for.” Audrey fluttered her wings and shook out her wrists, trying to adjust to the gold bands placed around them. They felt heavy and unfamiliar, as did the small golden studs pierced through her earlobes. At least the necklace was nice.

“Well, I think you look beautiful,” Ammie smiled, stretching out as she lounged on her bed. “Like some ancient Pagan goddess or something.”

“Yeah, you’d know a lot about that, wouldn’t you, ‘angel?’” Audrey rolled her eyes.

“I do! And as someone who pretends to be descended from heaven every day, let me tell you, I’d much rather be serving you than some old guy with a beard.”

“Knock it off, Ammie,” Audrey frowned. “I mean it. I’m glad you got me these… gifts, but I don’t really feel like a goddess right now. I just feel clocky and weird.”

Ammie clapped her hands together and held them up in prayer. “Oh, Audrey, goddess of the pickpocket! Pray thee grant me a healthy harvest as I prepare to separate the capital of the sinful into mine deserving hands!”

“I said,” Audrey growled, flapping her wings hard and blasting a gust of wind towards her fellow harpy. “Knock. It. Off.”

Ammie just smiled. “Make me.”

“Is that an offer?” Audrey crawled onto the bed, got up in Ammie’s face, so close they could feel each other’s breath. “Because you know I could.”

“Yeah, I know. Those shadow powers of yours are no joke. I’ve seen what you can do to people. Felt it too.” Ammie chuckled. “But maybe you should remind me. Sometimes a girl could use a reminder.”

“Really?” Audrey’s lips curled into a grin. “Well then. Let me refresh your memory.”

She placed her hand on the side of Ammie’s head and closed her eyes. She reached inside, feeling around inside the harpy’s mind, looking for the right thing to tug on and twist around.

Ammie could already feel her at work. She squirmed, letting out a quiet whimper and fluttering her eyes. “Oh, y-yeah, now it’s coming back to meeeee–!”

Jackpot. Audrey wrapped her invisible hand around a chunk of Ammie’s thoughts and pulled hard, ripping them clean out of her skull and crushing them into dust. “What’s coming back to you, dear?” she smirked, watching her friend sputter and gasp.

“I-I, uh… fffuck…”

“Oh? I thought angels weren’t supposed to use foul language. I’ll have to fix that too.”

“A-Actually,” Ammie protested, “it’s t-technically just taking the Lord’s name in vain, there’s nothing about–”

“Be quiet,” Audrey hissed, tearing away at another part of the so-called angel’s psyche. Nothing she did was permanent, of course. No matter what she did to Ammie’s mind, her soul would always repair the damage and put her back right as rain.

But that would still take some time. Which meant for now, when Audrey pulled and tore and pried at Ammie’s mind, those parts of it were effectively gone. Like, for example, the concept of swearing.

“Oh, fudge,” Ammie groaned. “Holy snot. Fiddlesticks.”

“That’s better,” Audrey giggled. “Now you sound a little more like an angel.”

Ammie huffed and puffed out her cheeks. “B-Bit… meanie.”

“Oh, clever! You were trying to find a loophole, weren’t you?” Audrey ruffled Ammie’s golden hair.

“Yeah,” Ammie sighed. “Because, like, it doesn’t have to be a swear. It can be a female dog.”

“But it still didn’t work. Because my magic was just too strong.”

“You don’t have to rub it in…”

But Audrey felt herself growing bolder. “It didn’t work,” she continued, crawling on top of Ammie’s body, straddling her hips, “because I was too strong. Stronger than you. So strong you couldn’t resist me.”

Ammie’s cheeks went flushed. “I-If you wanna, um, put it that way.”

“Oh, I think you like it when I put it that way.” Audrey grabbed Ammie’s wrists, pinning her arms in place.

“Waiuuuhhhh…” Ammie groaned, feeling her friend’s shadow groping around inside her skull again.

Audrey grinned. “I knew it. Little angel wants her mind ripped to pieces by her roomie, hm? Or maybe you wanna think of it as being ‘cleansed’ by your goddess?”

“Hhhhhheck.” The blonde harpy pouted and bit her lip. “Golly. I mean, um, I-I meant it as a joke, but… now that you mention it…”

“Naughty little thing,” Audrey purred, leaning forward and whispering in her roommate’s ear. “Greedy little thing. Harboring such sinful thoughts about your goddess.”

“You’re really getting into it, huh?” Ammie chuckled.

“What was that?” Audrey growled, summoning a shadowy hand and pulling hard on Ammie’s hair.

“Agh! I-I mean, um, yes goddess! I’m such a sinner! I’ve done like sooooo many sins!”

“That’s better.” Audrey pulled back, letting her shadows keep her friend pinned down while she took a breath and collected her thoughts. She had to admit, she was just as turned on as Ammie was. Something about this role was speaking to her.

She fluttered her wings, feeling the gold bangles shake about, and reached into Ammie’s mind again. “I think my disciple owes me a tithe.”

“T-Technically, a tithe is supposed to be ten percent of my income–”

“Shut the fuck up, Ammie.” Audrey ripped something out, plugged up the hole with something new, and grinned. “Do you know what I just did, cutie?”

“Uhhh…” Ammie’s eyelids fluttered. “Something in my head?”

“Mhm. And that something is connected to something else.” Audrey reached down between her roommate’s legs and gave her clit a long, firm press.

Instantly, Ammie gasped and shuddered, suddenly on the brink of orgasm from a single touch. “Oh, freaking heck!”

“I just turned you into a quickshot, dummy. You owe me tribute, and it’d be such a waste to make me work for it, wouldn’t it? Doesn’t your goddess deserve better than that?”

“That’s… you can do that…?” Ammie looked up at her roommate with awe. “Wow. Those powers are something else.”

“You really did need that reminder, huh?” Audrey giggled.

“No, I-I knew what it felt like, I just didn’t know you could like… change how my body works.”

“Well, your brain controls your body doesn’t it?” Audrey shifted her weight, not-so-innocently rubbing against Ammie’s crotch and smiling as she squirmed. “It’s all just electrical impulses and chemicals. And if I can control those neural pathways, I can do almost anything I want.”

Ammie narrowed her eyes. “You’ve done a lot of research on this, haven’t you?”

“If you get to be a pedant about what a ‘tithe’ is, I get to flex my neurology research.”

“I guess that’s faAIR-!” Ammie yelped as Audrey slid two of her fingers into her drooling cunt, bringing her right back to the edge. “Oh, gosh! Goodness gracious! W-Warn me next time, you jerk!”

“And what makes you think you can talk to me like that?” Audrey growled, her shadowy hands clutching her prey’s wrists tighter. “A lowly worshiper, back-talking a goddess? Blasphemy. You owe me double now.”

“I-I’m sorry!” Ammie squeaked.

“I’ll make you sorry!”

Audrey mercilessly fucked her follower’s cunt with her fingers, each thrust enough to send Ammie screaming and moaning in bliss. After just a minute, the blonde angel was left in a heap on her bed, deliriously mumbling to herself with a vacant look in her eyes.

And still, Audrey wanted more. It didn’t sit right with her. Something was off. She enjoyed making Ammie squirm, yes, but she rarely ever went this far with it. And yet she still felt a drive to go further, harder, to crush this girl’s mind inside her shadow’s claw and leave nothing but a crumpled mess behind.

It would’ve been hot. But it wasn’t like her at all.

So Audrey held herself back, digging through Ammie’s mind more carefully and methodically. The golden-haired harpy often tried to play tricks on her and get under her skin. Perhaps there was something more going on than Audrey had realized.

She sifted through the memories of her partner until she finally stumbled upon something interesting. Through Ammie’s eyes she saw a priest nervously unlock a wooden chest in a dark room.

“Th-These are the items,” he stammered, averting Ammie’s gaze. He had obviously bought into the harpy’s angel disguise.

Ammie peeked inside and frowned. “Jewelry?”

“Yes. P-Possessed by some evil, it entices the wearer into sin.”

“What kind of sin?”

“Eh?”

“Like, is it murder, is it foul language…?”

“Ah, w-well…” The priest’s cheeks went flushed. He looked down at the floor and muttered under his breath.

“Speak up, my child,” Ammie smiled.

“Th-They, um… they entice people into…” He swallowed. “Intercourse.”

“Really?” Ammie’s grin grew wider.

“But n-not merely intercourse. They compel the wearer into a state of f-frenzied, aggressive, just… just unholy lust.” The priest braced himself against a stone wall, as though merely recounting this would knock him over. “Please! You must cleanse these relics!”

“Hm.” Ammie tapped her chin. “I think this may be too big a job for me. I may need to take them with me, to someone higher up the chain.”

“The… chain?”

“You know.” She pointed towards the sky.

“Ah, of course!” The priest smiled, handing her the chest full of jewelry. “And you will return them soon?”

“Sure!” Ammie lied.

Audrey pulled back, reeling. She looked down at her hands, and the gold bangles around them. The same ones that were inside the chest. The same ones that allegedly put the wearer into a state of intense, predatory lust.

Like the kind she had been feeling ever since she put them on.

“You little sneak,” Audrey sneered, looking down at the drooling girl below her. “I can’t believe you tried to pull that kind of trick on me. It’s just so…”

Her lips curled into a grin. “Clever.”

She grabbed Ammie by the hair and yanked her up, pulling her into a sloppy, aggressive kiss. “This is what you had in mind, isn’t it? Making me into a cruel goddess for you to worship?”

“Yuh-huuuh,” Ammie giggled.

“Well, mission accomplished.” Audrey flapped her wings and guided her follower to the floor, standing proudly above her. “Kneel, my child.”

Ammie nodded loosely, getting up on her knees.

Audrey grinned and stepped closer. Her cock stood proudly an inch away from Ammie’s lips. “Now. Show me your devotion.”

The angel smiled and looked up at her with pure, obsessive love in her eyes. “Yes, Goddess…”

It was early the next morning when the third inhabitant of the apartment awoke. Samantha yawned and stretched out her back, scratching herself. She slipped the noise-canceling earbuds out of her ears, grateful that Ammie had kept her in the loop about her little scheme. She was glad to let those harpies have some fun, but the walls were thin and they were rarely quiet.

But she wasn’t expecting them to still be making noise at this hour. She checked the clock on her nightstand and frowned. “Twelve straight hours? God damn.”

Samantha sighed and rolled out of bed. Her feet had been touching the floor all night, as they did every night. It was next to impossible to find a bed big enough to fit someone who was more than seven-and-a-half feet tall, and actually impossible to afford one. Even though she was only human, she felt like even more of a freak than the birds.

She opened her door and approached Ammie’s room, but as she got closer, she started to second-guess herself. Even on the outside it was clear the room stank, a mixture of molting feathers, stale sweat, and plenty of other fluids, and whoever was still awake inside was howling like some rabid beast. Her hand hovered over the doorknob, nervous, until she took a deep breath and flung it wide open.

Samantha’s suspicion was correct. The room reeked. Fallen feathers were scattered all over the floor, along with deep gashes in the hardwood from scraping claws and blankets and sheets that had been torn to shreds. Ammie was lying on the bed, covered in sweat and probably a lot of other fluids.

And so was Audrey. The normally-reserved woman was grunting and panting like an animal, thrusting into the half-conscious Ammie with single-minded determination. The cursed jewelry was still on her body, glints of gold reflecting in the early morning sun.

Clearly, that priest hadn’t been lying about how powerful the artifacts were. Samantha wished Ammie had let her take a look at them before she pulled this little stunt. She knew it was probably a bad idea, but the faux-angel was instant that she could handle it. Looking at her now, exhausted and delirious from hours of fucking, Samantha doubted she could handle tying her own shoes.

She stepped closer, and the floor beneath her creaked. Audrey’s head snapped up and looked towards Samantha, her eyes bloodshoot, drool spilling from her chin. There was an intensity in her gaze that Samantha had never seen from her before. She looked hungry.

And it seemed that Samantha would make a great feast.

The harpy screeched and lunged at her, eager for a new toy to mate with. She toppled the witch to the ground, her cock engorged and dripping with precum, ready to penetrate her prey.

Then Samantha delivered a sharp, crisp slap to the side of Audrey’s face. And in an instant, all of her feral lust evaporated. She blinked rapidly, her mind rebooting after being under the artifacts’ spell. “What… the fuck…?” she panted, her voice strained.

“Anti-magic field,” Samantha explained calmly. “It’s only temporary, though. We should get those bangles off of you before it wears off.”

“Did you really have to slap me to cast the spell?”

“No. I just wanted to.”

Audrey sighed and plopped down on her butt. “At least you’re honest,” she muttered, starting to take off the jewelry. “Our little ‘angel’ didn’t even tell me what these things did before I put them on.”

“Sounds about right,” Samantha chuckled. She helped Audrey remove the other artifacts and put them back in their chest. “Need a shower?”

“Later,” Audrey replied. “I feel like I’m gonna pass out or something.”

“I don’t blame you. I’d be exhausted too after a night like that. Let’s get you back to–”

And then Audrey was on the floor, passed out.

Samantha stared at her for a moment. “I’m not dragging that,” she said to herself, before heading to the kitchen for a cup of coffee.

It wasn’t until later that afternoon that the harpies were awake again. Ammie slowly wandered into the living room, her legs shaky and her eyes tired. She noticed Audrey still on the floor and gently roused her.

Audrey groaned and lifted her head up, bleary-eyed. “Hey.”

“H-Hey.” Ammie swallowed. Her cheeks were flushed. “So, um… about last night…”

“Are you okay?” Audrey asked, rolling onto her back and rubbing her temple.

Ammie blinked. “Um. Yeah? I think so.”

“Good.” Audrey gave a weary smile. “Was worried I might’ve hurt you while I was feral.”

“No, y-you’re good.” Ammie cleared her throat. “What I mean is, I’m sorry. I should’ve told you what that jewelry did, and…” She trailed off, squinting her eyes. “Wait, where are they now?”

“Locked up and safely returned,” Samantha sighed, entering the room with an empty mug and an air of exhaustion. “Warped into that church you took them from, put them back with an apology note.”

“Aw, man,” Ammie groaned. “That guy was one of the easiest marks I ever had, I could’ve milked him for months.”

“You also could’ve died, you know,” Samantha replied sharply. “Honestly, it’s a miracle you can still stand up. I’ve known witches who exhausted themselves into a hospital bed doing a lot less than what you got up to.”

“Think I got the worst of it,” Audrey muttered. “It’s gonna take ages for these wings to grow back…”

“Well, I think we’ve all learned a valuable lesson,” Ammie said confidently. “Don’t mess around with mysterious magical artifacts.”

“What do you mean ‘we?’ You’re the one who tricked me into putting them on! If anything, the lesson is to never trust when you’ve got some weird idea for the bedroom!”

“Let’s agree to disagree.”

“Speaking of agreements,” Samantha interjected. “The landlord says he’s gonna jack up our rent to cover the damage to the floor in your room. That’s gonna be an extra $300 next month.”

“What?” Ammie scoffed. “That’s totally unfair!”

“You should be grateful we’re not getting kicked out, between that and all the noise complaints we got.” Samantha started walking over to her room, slipping in her earbuds. “You’re on the hook, Ammie. Good luck.”

“Hey! Why am I on the hook? Audrey’s the one who tore up the place!”

“Can’t hear you, bye!” Samantha chuckled, closing the door to her room.

Ammie pouted and stamped her foot. “That witch! How could she make me pay for all this?”

“Girl, come on,” Audrey sighed. “You fucked up. Just take the L and move on.”

“Hmph.” Ammie stroked her chin. “How am I gonna come up with $300 by the end of the month…” Her lips curled into a smile. “Aha! I just have to pull a couple more scams!”

“But Ammie,” Audrey protested, “pulling scams is what got us into this–”

“It’s the perfect plan!” Ammie grinned. “Don’t worry, Audrey. I know exactly what I’m doing!”

As the harpy went for the bathroom to shower, Audrey laid on the floor and stared up at the ceiling. “...Dammit, I kinda want to try those artifacts again...”