Chapter 7 Darkness
Asoft sound wakes me, a noise seeping from dreams and bleeding into the painful consciousness around me.
I swear I’ve heard it before, a distant memory I can’t seem to grasp.
The humming pulls me out of my darkness increasingly until I can’t ignore the growing ache.
I cry out, pulling away from the source, trying to roll onto my back.
“Stop, you’ll hurt yourself!”
Her voice holds me in place, and I remain on my stomach, searching my surroundings without moving.
We’re in a small cave, barely enough room for me to stretch out completely.
There’s dull light glowing from brush yanked from the ground and positioned around the perimeter, tucked into nooks in the stone wall.
She touches my back again, and I hiss, sitting up and grabbing her hand.
I pull her over me, and our eyes meet. “I’m trying to cover your wounds,” she says angrily, pulling up the shredded small fabric that was previously around her body.
Is she bare? I look down, taking her in, but she’s buttoned the worn, large brown coat all the way down, hiding her perfect form.
I sit up more, pulling her so she’s seated on my lap and wincing as the pain intensifies, the edges of my scratches stretching. “I will heal on my own,” I say, resting my head against the wall behind me and closing my eyes, never letting her out of my grasp.
“How do you know?” she asks without even a moment of silence.
I open my eyes, studying her furrowed brow, the scrunch of her lips.
I’ve never had a prisoner speak to me in such a manner, at least not that I can remember.
Although I never remember any of my past victims, even now, as my true consciousness returns.
I might not know much, but I do know this. “My body always heals on its own. I just need some more time.”
She yanks away from my grasp. I don’t have the energy to fight her, but even free from my hold, she doesn’t move, her legs still straddling my upper thighs, my hidden cock so close to her cunt. Sadly, I’m too weak to grow hard. She crosses her arms. “Why can you talk now?”
Her question puzzles me, and I lean forward out of my slump to ponder it. “I don’t know. I think it’s your scream. Every time you scream, I regain a part of myself. I gain clarity.”
“Why?” She inches closer, her hands on my thigh as she studies me.
My pain vanishes. “I feast on human screams. That’s why I capture them.
Your screams are different, though.” I’m not too weak after all.
My cock hardens as her bare cunt grazes against my opening.
She shudders, pulling back, but I grab her wrists as I grow, letting my member pierce between her lips.
Her eyelashes flutter as her lids melt together, but as my attachers stir and seek out her heat, her eyes pop open and she stiffens. “Stop.”
I’ve heard the word a million times through screams, through tears, through cries.
It has never meant anything to me, but now it’s different.
I don’t want to follow her command, but it causes me to pause, and my members halt their search.
I won’t take from her what’s not freely given.
A hollow ache in my chest refuses my instincts to claim her.
She shakes away a glossiness in her eyes. “I need to know more. What’s your name?”
“Name?”
She sighs. “My name is Marie. That’s what people call me. What do people call you?”
Marie. The word covers me like a warm embrace. I want to roll it on my tongue, but she watches me, waiting for an answer. I shake my head. “No one calls me anything.” It’s the truth, but somehow it feels like a lie, like there used to be a word assigned to me, but I can’t remember it.
“Okay, well, where am I?”
The question puzzles me. “You’re here.”
“Where is here?”
“A hole.”
She groans, pushing herself away from me. I growl, low in my throat, but it doesn’t stop her. “You took me from my home and brought me to yours. Where is your home located?”
I shrug. “I find my prey through the portal and bring them back to my realm.”
“What is your realm? Is it only filled with creatures like you and those beasts that chased us?”
“Yes. There are no humans here. We bring them back through portals so we can feast on their screams. It’s how we survive.”
She shakes her head as if everything I say is ridiculous. It aggravates me and makes my cock hard at the same time—a confusing mix.
She’s still on my lap but straightens, crossing her arms. “Okay. Well, I need you to take me back.”
“No.”
“Haven’t you gotten your fill of my screams? What happens to the rest of your prey that you’ve captured?”
I don’t answer, and I can tell she comes to the conclusion on her own.
She arches away from me, her eyes grow wide, and the intoxicating smell she always radiates intensifies.
I sniff the air, my filaments moving wildly and my mind losing focus.
Surprisingly, I gather words instead of driving inside of her. “You can’t go back home.”
She nods with a large gulp. “Are you going to kill me?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Because your screams. They’re different.”
“What if I don’t scream for you anymore? You don’t scare me.” She’s lying, but I ignore it.
I shake my head, smirking. “Not screams of fear. The screams you make when you're clenching around air and wishing it were my cock.”
She gasps, her eyes wide. “I will never scream like that for you again.”
I reach forward, pushing my hand between her legs, the moisture seeping between my fur. “Are you sure about that?”
Her breath loses its pattern, and she rubs against me; she doesn’t move toward me, so I pick myself up, moving toward her. It’s a bad idea; the blood rushing to my cock can’t mask my pain. I pull back, groaning.
She leans forward, grabbing my shoulder. “Let me see.” Her words hold concern. She’s switched from anger to arousal to worry in a matter of mere moments. It makes my head spin. I may have my authentic self back, but it’s not enough to understand her.
I close my eyes as she climbs off me and examines my back. “It doesn’t look like it’s healing. You need to take it easy.”
“Why do you care?” I say through the pain.
I can’t help that her concern lifts a heavy stone in my gut, but I’ve never had anyone care about my well-being before.
Perhaps that’s not true—a shiny memory glints in the back of my mind.
She obviously wants me inside of her, filling her with my seed, but I don’t need to be without pain to do that.
She seems troubled by my discomfort and it rattles me.
“There are monsters everywhere in this place. If I have any chance of surviving, I at least need to be around the one who hasn’t killed me yet.”
“I promise. I won’t let anyone hurt you.” She’s my prize, and with every passing second in her presence, a tenderness grows.
She scoffs. “Yeah, so only you get to hurt me.”
I turn to her. “I will keep you safe, but you must stay here with me. I can’t take you back. If there were a way I could, I would.”
She’s frozen, watching me with water-colored eyes. Finally, she speaks. “Why not?”
“It’s impossible. You can’t go back through the portal, or you’ll die.
” It’s a lie. I don’t know why I come up with the string of words.
I’ve never tried to take a human back to their realm.
I use them until they're void of breath, but I need her to stay. I need her to scream for me. For the first time in my life, I’m not starved.
Maybe I could force the screams out of her, run my tongue through her seam, even if she resists.
It would work, but for how long? If she accepts me as her only form of refuge—grows comfortable with the idea—she’ll scream without me having to use her up until I’m left with nothing but an empty shell.
Tears cloud the sparkle in her eyes. Humans have cried in front of me more than they have not.
Usually, it does not affect me, but this time is different.
The sight pains me, almost more than the wounds on my back, but not as much, because the pain increases and my vision tunnels—my body demands to rest so I can heal.
I settle to the ground as she turns away from me, whimpering.
The world grows dark again, and I watch as my one real source of light fades out, her chest heaving with her cries.