Chapter 10
Chapter
Ten
CELESTE
Celeste eyed the herd of deer grazing on the far side of the student parking lot. When she first arrived on this planet, she’d sampled many of the terrestrial life forms. They were more of a challenge to lure, and the taste wasn’t bad, per se.
Worrying her bottom lip, she half-listened to the conversation between her chosen prey of the evening and one of their friends. She’d settled on a human diet because humans were tasty. They were easy to catch and the meat to fat ratio was ideal.
That they displayed a higher level of intelligence hadn’t mattered—not in the beginning when their speech sounded like static to Celeste’s consciousness.
Until she started consuming their media with their lives.
She found her hunting became more biased after that, though maybe not very biased by human standards.
Sometimes her prey remained random, like tonight, but other times, she chose based on the time-honored technique of “Was this person an asshole today?”
Taste factor aside, was it wise to continue her usual dietary habits? Her physical activities with Daphne made her ravenous. They made her insatiable. A dangerous sensation when all she wanted was for the little sweetmeat to sit on her face.
“Hey, I need to get this paper done,” her dinner continued yammering. “I’ll see you later, okay?” They leaned in, framing the other person’s face in a sweet intimate gesture before peppering them with kisses.
Something twisted inside Celeste. Her appetite vanished. Maybe a four-legged carnivore diet wouldn’t be so bad. She did like steak.
Wondering if she should broach the subject with her bite-sized paramour, she headed back to her room.
A smile lit her face when she caught Daphne’s scent, but there was a sour tang to it that made her pause.
The room was lit by a bedside lava lamp, more than enough light for her to see a sleeping Daphne tangled in her blankets.
Padding across the room, she started to crawl on the bed when she noticed the tension that clung to Daphne’s frame, even in sleep.
Faint salt stains trailed down her cheeks.
Celeste reached to brush that tear stung cheek and froze. A ring of bruising circled Daphne’s arm, the discoloration stark on her skin. Someone hurt her Daphne. Someone. Hurt. Her. Daphne.
The illusion of her human form caved inward, her mass filling the space with violence. Pieces of furniture crashed into each other. The windows whined trying to contain her bulk. The lava lamp shattered against the wall.
Daphne startled from sleep. Celeste somehow had the mental faculties to curl a tentacle over her sweetling’s face before she saw this loss of control.
Other tentacles rapidly wrapped around her woman, maybe a smidge too tight but Celeste couldn’t hold back the urge to touch her.
Daphne yelped, a brief flash of fear before she recognized who had her.
She sighed, curling into Celeste’s hold.
The way the tension leaked out of her made Celeste’s form clench deep inside.
Her kind didn’t have a single heart, but a cluster of valves, and they all beat for this tiny human. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I don’t think I can be very human for you right now.”
“This voice always makes me think this must be what the stars would sound like if they could talk,” said Daphne. Her voice was hoarse, raspy, which gave her giggle a broken edge. “I’m okay.”
Worried, Celeste readjusted her coverage of Daphne’s eyes. “Please tell me what happened, sweet?”
She wanted to demand answers, to find the one who bruised her and slowly strip off pieces of their flesh to eat while they watched. That all-consuming anger scared Celeste, because she hadn’t realized how deeply her feelings for this human had burrowed inside…or how fragile Daphne really was.
She started to pull back, unfurling her grip from that lithe body when Daphne clutched a tentacle against her chest. “Please hold me,” she said.
Celeste couldn’t refuse her anything. Digging deep, she managed a partial shift, cradling Daphne against her human torso while her multitude of limbs wrapped around them in a cocoon.
This level of control was enough to contain the weight of her aura.
Daphne wrapped her legs around her waist with her face pressed into Celeste’s neck.
She felt the faint tremor in her sweetling’s arms, clutched tight across her back.
“Talk to me,” Celeste pleaded.
Daphne pressed a drugging kiss against her shoulder. “You can’t solve all my problems, darling.”
The pet name stroked along her nerves. Celeste whined, teasing a tentacle over the soft cotton covering Daphne’s ass.
Part of her wanted to punish her little human for keeping this secret from her, or maybe she could tease it out in a different way.
Her tentacle slid beneath the material, curling along the delectable curve of her ass to find Daphne’s pussy already wet for her.
She stuffed as much of herself inside those velvety textured walls as she could fit, while Daphne gasped and squirmed in her arms.
“Why can’t I?” Celeste hummed, kneading her fingers up Daphne’s back to remove her bra.
It would be easy to solve this one for her.
A second tentacle teased the puckered entrance of Daphne’s ass.
Her human bucked in her arms, pressing her now naked chest against her.
Celeste decided she liked this method of interrogation. “Tell me who did it.”
Daphne stiffened slightly. “No.”
“No?” Celeste tunneled a tentacle deep inside her ass, groaning at the clench of tight flesh around her as Daphne keened against her neck.
Her morsel bit at her flesh with blunt human teeth, the sensation incredible.
Celeste chuckled, stroking the inner flesh of both the spaces she’d invaded until her human started to come apart in her arms. She stopped stroking.
Daphne trembled against her. “What are you doing?” Her voice was strained, her body close to the edge, but Celeste held her there, enjoying the sensation of those inner muscles pulsing against her flesh.
“Tell me who hurt you.” Her human fingers traced Daphne’s jaw as it clenched up.
Her human wrapped her arms around Celeste’s neck and sighed against her shoulder. “I can’t believe you’re trying to fuck it out me.”
“Well, it’s clearly not working, but it is fun,” said Celeste, giving Daphne’s insides a tickle.
The woman squealed, nails digging into her back. “Not fair,” Daphne wheezed.
Celeste reached up to stroke her hair, feeling Daphne sag against her. “Why won’t you tell me?”
Daphne nipped her neck. “Because you will solve it. You will eat them, and I will watch until my mind snaps like an overstretched rubber band.”
A chill of alarm skated through Celeste’s system. More tentacles curled around Daphne, the need to hold her as strong as the need to keep her away from that brain melting aura Celeste couldn’t turn off. “No.” The word was a declaration and a plea.
Daphne smiled, rubbing her cheek against a seeking appendage. “That’s why I want to solve it myself.”
Curious, Celeste gathered Daphne against her human chest, cupping her face as she tangled her fingers in her long dark hair. “What do you have in mind, sweetling?” She twitched deep inside her girlfriend, enjoying the way Daphne bucked against her.
Daphne bit her bottom lip with a groan. “How do you feel about another dinner date?”