Chapter 9 Darkness
My monster-self returns, bright, blinding light taking hold.
The need to claim, the need to breed are my only motivations.
I don’t stop. Even when she quiets, even when her body slackens, tiny slaps against the floor as I slip in and out of her, not until I’ve released every last drop of my seed and my knot expands fully.
I hold myself over her, catching my breath, waiting to deflate, and doing my best to still the spinning walls around me.
Finally, everything settles—really settles.
I don’t remember feeling so clear, so myself.
With the clarity comes self-loathing. I take in the small form underneath me, my insides squeezing around my bones.
I caress her face. My Marie. At first, I think I’ve killed her, lost myself and fucked the life out of her.
But as I catch the rise and fall of her chest, I sigh in pure relief.
She’s just unconscious. Not that this sight thrills me either, but it’s better than dead.
Anything is better than dead. I examine her to see if I've damaged my precious human. Dirt covers her skin, and even though her golden hair shines through the darkness, gorgeous and soft, I can tell it’s dirty and matted in certain places.
I want to caress the tangles out, but I’m afraid the light will burn.
My seed still drips from her red and raw entrance, but it doesn’t seem like I’ve caused damage.
She has minor scrapes and bruises across her delicate flesh, but the most unsettling injury is a cut slashed across her stomach.
It’s already scabbing, but I can tell it was created since she’s been in my possession; the skin is still red and irritated.
I kiss the wound, desperate to take away the pain I’m unsure if I inflicted.
She groans, shifting underneath me. I don’t stop kissing her, hoping that once she pushes me away, her body will be anew, free of pain. “What are you doing?” she asks, her voice groggy.
I don’t look up, just rest a horned side of my face against her abdomen. “Did I do this to you?”
“Do what?”
“This cut?” I sit up, glaring over her, steam leaving my nostrils. “Who did this to you?” I’ll kill whoever hurt my Marie, even if it was me.
She sits up on her forearms, her beautiful face scrunched.
Sadly, she’s still as dirty and beaten as when I began my kisses.
She wipes her mouth with the back of her hand, rubs her eyes, and takes in our surroundings before staring down at her stomach, running a hand over the wound.
“I got it from pulling myself out of the cage.” She chuckles. “Kind of forgot it was there.”
I lean over her, cupping her jaw. “So it was me. If I hadn’t put you in that cage, you wouldn’t be hurt.” I want to throw myself off a cliff.
She squints, a humorless smirk at the corner of her rosy lips. “Um, yeah. Also, if you didn’t kidnap me at all, I’d be cozy in my bed, vegging out to reality TV shows.”
I don’t understand half of what she says, but I comprehend the first part. I took her from her safe world and thrust her into my dangerous realm. “I don’t remember,” I mutter, my gaze downcast.
“Don’t remember what?”
“Anything.” But it’s not true. Nuggets of the past rise to the surface, a warm memory coming first. “Scully,” I say through a whisper.
“What?”
“That’s my name. I remember now. Scully.”
She sits up fully, crossing her legs and studying me curiously. “Scully? Hmm.”
I try to dust off the faded picture in my mind. “Yes, someone who cared for me gave it to me a long time ago.” I can’t make the person out, but it was someone soft and sweet, perhaps someone like my Marie.
Something flashes across her face that I don’t register. She shakes her head slightly. “Well, now that your memories are returning, do you remember what just happened?” Her eyebrow arches.
I pull her close to me, even as she keeps her arms crossed over her chest. “Yes, it was the most wonderful moment I’ve ever experienced.”
She scoffs. “You kind of didn’t give me a choice and made me pass out.”
My heart stops. “You didn’t want me, but you clung to me, begged for more?”
Her cheeks bloom a dark red, and she turns away from my stare. “Maybe, I didn’t hate it.”
I kiss her rosy cheek, working down her neck. “I can give you more.” I gently push her to the ground, and she yelps. I crawl over her, kissing her stomach until I’m at her cunt. “I’ll lick my seed out of you. I’ll make you feel so good you’ll heal from all your pain.”
Her body shivers, and she breathes heavily, but instead of spreading her legs and welcoming my cock, she pushes my horns away. She exhales, shaking her head. “No. We can’t do that right now. I need water, food, and clothes.”
I’m embarrassed, a feeling I don’t remember. “Of course. I’ll bring you back everything you need. You stay here. It’s too dangerous out there.” I don’t give her time to respond, crawling up the walls and out of the hole to quickly find my Marie’s necessities.
I didn’t want to travel all the way back to my cave.
Luckily, I’m able to find a fruit tree nearby.
For some unknown reason, I know the meat inside the hard shell is edible for humans.
A stream bubbles nearby, and I fill a broken fruit shell with the warm water.
I must climb a tall tree to retrieve a few of its long, flat leaves.
Perhaps Marie can use these to cover herself instead of the large piece of fabric she hides behind.
I don’t know why she insists on staying hidden, but it doesn’t come as too much of a shock to me.
I remember humans do not like to live bare.
I race back to the hole, hating to leave Marie for even a morsel of time. It’s like my blood rots when she’s not around. Not only that, but the creatures in these woods are dangerous. They are like me before my Marie screamed for me. They would do anything to have her to themselves.
My heart doesn’t settle until I’ve dropped back down and scooped Marie in my arms, running my hand over her back.
My paw grazes her hair, and I wince at first—anticipating pain—but it’s different now.
It doesn’t sting as harshly but almost soothes.
I want to rub my face in it. “My Marie,” I whisper.
I return to myself even more with her breath against my neck.
She pushes me back, and I can’t deny the hurt.
“You’re giving me whiplash.”
“Whiplash?”
She settles on the floor, the horrid brown fabric over her perfect body, crossing her legs in front of her. “Yeah. One second, you’re growling at me, jerking off, and unable to utter more than one word. The next, you’re crying over my cut and whispering my name. You’re like a little kitten now.”
“What is a kitten?” I can only hope it’s something with a big cock.
She sighs. “It’s a tiny, cute animal back in my world.”
“I am not tiny.”
Her eyes trail down my body, her pupils growing. “Nope, you’re definitely not.”
Her stare rattles my bones. I enjoy her attention, but she must eat and drink to regain her strength.
With her hot gaze on me, the urge to throw her to the ground again is overwhelming.
I shrug, ready to build words around our tension.
“Well, which version of me would you prefer?” I would do anything for her, even pretend to still be the monster that her cunt cried for moments ago.
Her gemstone eyes grow wide. She doesn’t answer, just shakes her beautiful head. “Did you bring me back something?” She must feel the same about the direction of our conversation.
“Yes.” I grab the shells from behind me, offering them to her. She accepts them warily, sniffing each before placing them in front of her. “These smell funny. What is it?”
“It’s fruit and water from the stream. I don’t know how, but I know you can eat and drink them.”
“Do you eat and drink this?”
I shake my head. “No. I survive on screams.”
“Ah, yes. That’s right.” She gives a forced laugh and takes a small sip of the water. “Eh, it’s warm.” Her scrunched lips reach her nose.
“You don’t like it. I can try to get more from a different section.
” I stand up, ready to make the trip again, but she stops me.
“No, no. It’s fine.” She downs the entire contents of the shell before moving onto the broken half of the fruit with the green meat inside.
She smells it and winces before digging a piece out and bringing it to her lips to eat. “Ugh. That’s so gross.”
“I can get you something else. I can snap the neck of a howler and feed you its eyeballs. Would you prefer that?”
“No! Don’t do that. That’s so much worse. Are you sure I can eat this, though?”
I shrug.
“I guess I don’t have much of a choice. She winces as she peels off more of the meat inside the fruit shell, gagging after every few bites, but eventually eating all of it. She lies on the ground once she’s finished. “I can’t eat that for the rest of my life.”
I crawl to her, holding myself up over her so I can look into her eyes. “We can find you something else.”
Her face is expressionless. “Scully, I need to go back home.”
I almost don’t register the words after my name—the sound of it on her delicate lips—almost. My black heart aches. “I’m your home now.”
“Scully,” she says my name so soft and sweet, but even my fresh intelligence can’t pretend she means anything I want. “I can’t live like this. I will resent you and wither away if you keep me here.”
I don’t want to scare her. I don’t want her to stay with me because I forced her, but I can’t help it. Steam leaves my nostrils, and my eyes burn. “You can’t go back.”
She doesn’t retreat at my anger, pressing forward. “Because it’s impossible or because you don’t want me to?”
“It’s impossible.” It’s a lie. I could take her back to the portal from which I had taken her. I’ve never done it before, but I don’t see why it wouldn’t work if she jumped back through. It always takes me to the same room, but I can’t let her know that. I can’t live without her.
A new feeling washes over me as I watch her brazen demeanor crumble.
She pulls her knees to her chest and lets her head fall.
For the first time since I’ve captured her, she cries.
I’ve heard humans cry a thousand times before.
It never affected me, but now it’s like a claw through the gut.
A small part of me wants to give her what she wants and bring her back to her world, but I shove it down.
Instead, I use this as a chance to comfort her.
I pull her into me, wrapping her in my arms and running my hand down her golden hair. We’ll need to go to the stream soon so she can wash up and we can collect more fruit before we start our journey home, but not until her tears have dried.
Each stroke of her golden locks feels better. I hum. “You feel so good.”
“What?” she asks through a whimper.
“Your hair. It used to burn me, just like the light beyond the dark woods, but now it feels good.”
She pops up, startling me. “What light beyond the woods?”
“It’s a few days' travel, but beyond the canopy of tall trees, light cages us in. If we touch it, we burn.”
“Is it sunlight?”
“It’s the color of your hair.”
She pops to her knees, grabbing my arms. “You have to take me.”
I shake my head. “It’s dangerous.”
“Scully.” She cups my jaw, barely because her hands are so tiny. “It’s my only hope. If there is sunlight, then maybe there’s civilization. Maybe the light keeps away the monsters, and all the humans live on the edge.”
“But I’m a monster. I can’t go into this sunlight.”
“You’re different now. You remember your name. You talk. You even said that my hair used to burn you, but now it doesn’t. Maybe the sunlight won’t burn you either.”
She has a good point, but still, the instinct to stay away from the light runs deep.
Besides, my home is all I know. I’m not sure if I want my life to be any different.
But that’s not true. I want Marie. Marie makes my life different in a good way, and if she needs this sunlight to make her happy, it’s the least I can do to bring her to it.
I nod. “Okay. I’ll bring you to the light.”
“You will?” She smiles, all her bright white teeth showing, and sparks in her eyes. It’s such a beautiful sight. I make it my mission to look at her happiness for the rest of my days.
“Yes.”
“Oh, thank you!” She wraps her arms around me in an embrace, her breasts pressing against my chest.
I can’t help it, my cock hardens from underneath, but I know it’s not the time to take her again. She needs to recover, but it won’t be long before I have her screaming for me again.
Perhaps I still won’t be able to enter the light. I just hope I can convince her that a life with me in the darkness, choking around my pleasure, is enough. We’ll take the long way to the light, just to be sure.