Chapter 32 #2
“That’s when I’ll stop.”
“How sweet of you!” She forces out a laugh; it’s dry, bordering on malicious.
“I don’t understand why you’re here, talking to me, if everything I say annoys you,” I note. “You’re not sent by my mother, or at least I don’t think you are.”
“I am not, though if she asked, I might take her up on her offer.”
“Offer?” I frown.
She leans forward toward me. “To kill you.”
I gulp down uncomfortably. She merely laughs at my rigid stance. “But I won’t. For now. I like playing with you, especially as you are right now. Almost pure, but the mold is growing inside of you. I’ll have a bit more fun until the mold needs eradicating.”
“What…” I frown. “You first say you’re my friend, that you’re warning me, now you’re saying that you will eradicate me?”
She shrugs. “Depends on my mood. Good thing you can only remember what I want.”
The next time I blink, something’s missing.
“I’m your friend, Nykander, am I not?” The Scarlet Lady asks in an overly sweet voice. “I was the only person who visited you on your birthday, was I not?”
My brows furrow. Bits of forgotten memory flash in my mind.
Her, outside my door right before my three thousandth birthday. Her asking to come inside. Her… There’s something more, no? Something I’m forgetting.
“See, I’m always there for you.”
“But you still haven’t told me who you are or your purpose...”
“To watch and…”
Suddenly, she’s in front of me, her face inches away from mine though I can only see the opaque redness of her veil.
“Teach you. I’m here to give you a lesson,” she says in a slow, sensuous voice. Her hand comes to rest against my cheek, her thumb moving over my lips. “Many lessons.”
“What—” My body freezes. Her touch burns.
Though there’s a material barrier between her gloved hand and my skin, there’s a searing pain everywhere she touches.
I’m not sure if this is all in my mind or if it’s her intention to hurt me.
Adrenaline rushes through me as a feeling of imminent danger fills me.
All throughout our interaction, there’s been a strange dichotomy: comfort underlying a sense of danger. At times the former is all I can see, but in a split of a second it’s like I wake up and all I can feel is the latter.
I need to get out of here.
“I will help you. There’s so much you need to learn. Starting with this…” She moves closer; so close I can feel her breath on my lips even through her veil.
Before I can reply or push her off me, my arms are immobilized. Vines intertwine around my wrists, pulling my arms to the sides, perpendicular to my body.Next my legs, both tied tightly around the ankles. Levitating over the ground, I’m held captive by a mix of vines and branches.
“What the hell!” I call out.
The Scarlet Lady’s appearance has changed. Her veil is gone, replaced with a mask that obscures her eyes and nose but reveals her mouth and the twisted smile that pulls at her lips.
“I will help you, Nyk,” she repeats, this time using the nickname only Moe is allowed to.
“Stop this! What are you doing?”
She floats up to my level, sporting a smirk.
“Let’s see. What were you thinking when you were in that pool with Moe? You were afraid you were going to be an inadequate lover to her, weren’t you? That you wouldn’t even know how to kiss her.”
“W-what? How did you know that?” I ask, my eyes wide with shock.
“Secret.” She brings her finger to her lips and makes a shh sound. “But I will help you.”
“Lady, let me go! This is going too far.”
Her finger is suddenly on my lips, shushing me.
“I will help you,” she whispers. Before I can blink, her finger is replaced with her lips. I can’t move or stop her. I can only clamp my mouth shut as she attempts to pry my lips open.
What the hell is wrong with this lady?
Just as she pushes her tongue against the seam of my lips, I take advantage and bite it off.
Instead of repelling her, though, I make her laugh.
She. Laughs.
What a maniac!
“I’m just trying to help you, Nyk,” she adds in a sweet voice. “Or would you rather I do it like this?” She barely finishes her question as she brings her hand to her mask and wrenches it off her face.
My heart stills in my chest.
“What did you do?” I whisper, shock and terror enveloping me. “What did you do to her?”
“Her? Hmm… I just borrowed her face. Isn’t it pretty?” She winks at me. “Perhaps now you won’t feel so guilty doing it. Come on, handsome, open your mouth for me,” she coos at me.
Her mouth is once more on mine, her tongue plunging inside.
As much as I’d like nothing more than to bite her again, I find that I can’t.
My willpower is entirely stripped from me as I watch seemingly from outside of my body as my own tongue responds, caressing hers; my lips touching and sucking awkwardly on hers.
“You taste like a virgin, Nykander. So sweet and innocent.” She laughs as she draws back.
It’s her face. Moe. Down to every single mole and detail. It is her. But the words coming out of her mouth aren’t. My Moe would never be so crass and vulgar.
“Fuck you!” I spit out at her, my limbs moving wildly as I try to break free of my prison. “Fuck you, you hear me, you fucking deranged lady!”
She merely smiles. “We’ll get to that, too.” Another wink. “You need a thorough education, after all. We can’t have you go to your dear Moe without ever having seen a naked female body.”
The remaining veil disappears from her body, leaving her naked from head to toe. I immediately avert my gaze, biting my lips to keep my wits about me.
This isn’t happening.
“Come on, look your fill,” she calls out.
I shake my head.
An invisible force grabs onto my jaw and forces my face toward her, prying my eyes open.
“Look at what could be yours, Nyk.” Her voice is softer, more mellow, more like…Moe.
I gulp down uncomfortably.
“Ah, this pretty face really does it for you, doesn’t it?” She giggles as she lowers her hand to my groin, palming my unwanted erection.
“Fuck you!” I yell harder, shame and fear eroding at me.
“Soon,” she leans in to whisper. “Be a good boy and dream of me, Nyk. This is just one of the many lessons I’ll teach you in the future.”
The vines retreat. With no support, I fall to the ground. Pain radiates from my body.
In the distance I see her steps becoming one with the horizon, though the echo of her laughter continues to blare.
I blink repeatedly, my pulse increasing at an alarming rate.
That’s the last thing I see before my vision goes black.