Chapter Three
Lilith
My heart is trying to pound its way out of my chest, and I’m doing everything I can to keep my composure.
Theron is still standing in front of me. He’s close enough that I can feel the heat radiating from his body, which makes it extremely hard to keep it together. His impossibly deep blue-black eyes hold mine with an intensity I’ve never experienced before.
“Come. Sit with me. You have questions,” he states in a low and commanding voice.
He’s right. I have so many questions that my brain can barely form them into coherent thoughts.
He gestures toward a corner booth tucked into shadow at the back of this place. It looks private. Intimate even.
My brain screams at me to run. To get out of this impossible place and go back to my safe, boring apartment where monsters don’t exist and the world makes sense and where I can hear Dale from 2B snore through the walls. Yeah, I should run, but once again, I don’t.
I follow him through the bar, hyper-aware of every creature we pass.
The blue-skinned woman glances at me with curiosity.
The horned man raises his glass in a silent toast. The massive, furred creature in the corner watches with glowing golden eyes but doesn’t move.
My shoulders relax as I walk past them. None of them seem threatening, just interested.
Theron slides into the booth with fluid grace, and after a short hesitation, I sit across from him. The leather is worn and comfortable, and the table between us is small enough that our knees almost touch. Almost.
The bartender appears at our table as if summoned.
“What can I get you?” he asks with a mysterious smile.
My mouth is dry. My hands are shaking. How can I possibly be thinking about a drink right now? But the bartender keeps looking at me, waiting for an answer.
“Just water. Please,” I mumble.
“I’ll have the same,” Theron says.
The bartender nods and disappears, leaving us alone in our shadowed corner.
I don’t know where to look. At him? At the table? At the rest of the bar, where seemingly impossible things are happening?
“You’re scared,” Theron states matter-of-factly.
“Wouldn’t you be?” My voice comes out sharper than I intended. “I just found out monsters are real. That this—” I gesture around the bar, “—all of this exists. That you exist.”
“Fair enough.” He leans back against the booth. “Ask me anything, Lilith. I’ll answer truthfully.”
The bartender returns with two glasses of water, sets them down silently, and vanishes again. I take a sip, buying myself time before answering.
“How is this possible?” I finally ask. “Monsters. Magic. This bar that shouldn’t exist on a street I’ve never seen before. How?”
“The world is larger than humans know. We’ve always existed alongside you, hidden in the spaces between. Most humans never see us because they don’t want to. They’ve convinced themselves we’re fantasy, fiction, nothing but imagination.”
“But I see you. I see all of this.”
“Because you wanted to.” His gaze intensifies. “Because your desire, your longing, has opened a door. You’ve spent years aching for proof that we’re real, Lilith. Tonight, that ache was strong enough to pull you through the veil.”
I swallow hard. “The veil?”
“The barrier between your world and ours. It’s always there, and some humans can cross it when they’re called.
When they’re ready. I’ve been here a long time, Lilith.
Long enough to learn how to hold a glass.
How to sit in a chair. How to speak in sentences a human woman wouldn’t run from.
You were called long before tonight. I just had to wait until you were ready to hear it. ”
“Called by what?”
His smile is slow and predatory. “By a creature on the other side who has been waiting for you.”
Heat floods my face and the soft spot between my legs.
I take another sip of water. “So you’re a monster. What kind?”
“Does it matter?”
“Yes. If I’m sitting here having a conversation with you, I want to know what you are.”
I wring my hands together. This is both exhilarating and terrifying.
“I’m old,” he starts. “Older than this city, this country. I come from the deep places of the ocean, where light doesn’t reach, and pressure would crush a human body instantly.
Your legends call creatures like me krakens, leviathans, sea monsters.
But I’m none of those things exactly. I’m just myself.
” He pauses, and for a moment, something moves behind his eyes.
I realize he’s not a human searching for words. He’s trying to sound like one.
“And you have tentacles?”
The word catches in my throat. Fuck, how I want him to have tentacles.
His smile sharpens. “Yes. Among other things.”
Oh god. OH GOD!
I can feel my panties getting wet, and I clench my thighs.
This is insane. I’m sitting in a bar talking to an ancient sea creature about his tentacles, like this is a normal Tuesday night.
Under the table, I pinch myself again, but like the first time, it hurts enough to know that this is real.
I’m not dreaming, even though this is a dream come true.
Never in a million years did I think I would meet a kraken, despite wanting it so badly that it hurt.
“Why me? You said I’ve been calling to you. That you felt me tonight. But why? There must be other humans who want this. Who fantasize about…” I trail off.
For some reason, I can’t bring myself to utter the words.
“There are. But none of them are you.”
“That’s not an answer.”
“Isn’t it?” He leans forward, elbows on the table, and suddenly the space between us feels much smaller.
“I’ve existed for centuries, Lilith. I’ve felt human desire before.
Lust, curiosity, fleeting fantasies. But you…
” He shakes his head and smiles. “You don’t just want monsters.
You ache for us. Every design you create, every toy you make, it’s not just business.
It’s longing. It’s a prayer sent out into the darkness, hoping something will answer. ”
My breath catches. How can he possibly know all that? And if he really knows about my private moments, does that mean that every moment I thought I was alone, pleasuring myself, he was watching me?
“Years ago, when you first started designing toys, I felt a pull I couldn’t ignore. And the more you created, the stronger it became. Tonight, when you used that kraken dildo”—his eyes darken—“I felt every moment. Your pleasure. Your desperation. Your loneliness.”
“You felt that?”
“Every second.” His voice is rough now, as if he’s biting back an unbearable hunger. “And it nearly drove me mad. I had to open the way. Had to bring you here. Because I can’t wait anymore, Lilith. I’ve been patient for so long, but tonight, that patience ran out,” he says, jaw tight.
I should be horrified. Violated, even. He felt me touching myself, using a toy designed in his image. But I’m not horrified. I’m wet.
“What do you want from me?” I whisper.
His gaze holds mine, fierce and unwavering. “Everything.”
“Everything?” I squeak.
He gives me a short nod. “I want to give you what you’ve been aching for.
I want to show you what those toys can never capture.
I want to touch you, taste you, fill you in ways no human ever could.
I want to hear you scream my name while my tentacles wrap around every inch of your body and fill your every opening.
I want you to be mine, Lilith, and mine only. ”
Oh, God.
I’m trembling. Every word out of his mouth is lighting me on fire and making me wetter.
“But I won’t take what isn’t freely given. You have to choose this, Lilith. Choose me. And I need you to be sure, because there will be no turning back,” he says.
“I—” My voice cracks. I clear my throat and try again. “I don’t know what I’m sure of right now. This is all so much. Too much.”
He reaches across the table slowly and covers my hand with his. The touch sends electricity racing up my arm. His skin is warm, slightly cooler than a human’s, and has a faint texture.
“Go home. Think. But know this. When you’re ready, when you come back to me, I won’t hold back. I’ll give you everything you’ve ever fantasized about and more. And there will be no turning back.”
Something moves beneath the table when he speaks those words.
I glance down and freeze. A dark, glistening tentacle has emerged from somewhere and is slowly winding its way up my calf.
The touch is feather-light, exploratory, and the suckers create a gentle pull-and-release sensation against my leggings. I let out a whimper.
Theron’s eyes never leave my face. “Just a taste. So you know what’s waiting for you.”
The tentacle slides higher, wrapping around my knee, then my thigh.
It’s warm and strong and impossibly real.
Another one appears, mirroring the first on my other leg.
They hold me gently but firmly, a promise of the restraint to come.
I can barely breathe. My pussy throbs, already begging for more.
Then, as suddenly as they appeared, the tentacles are gone. Theron withdraws his hand from mine and leans back in his chair. His expression is controlled, but I can see the hunger burning in his eyes.
“Wait,” I say.
“Not here. Not now. When I have you, Lilith, I want you to surrender completely. I want hours. Days. I want to take my time learning every sound you make, every place that makes you tremble,” he states.
Jesus Christ.
“Go home. Think about what you want. And when you’re ready, come back to me. We’re meant for each other, Lilith.”
I nod because I’m rendered speechless. He walks over to me and offers me his hand, and I let him help me out of the booth.
He walks me to the door of The Undertow with one hand resting lightly on the small of my back. The touch burns through my hoodie. At the entrance, he stops.
“Remember,” he murmurs, lifting a small tentacle to cup my face.
It brushes over my cheekbone. “You’re mine, Lilith.
You’ve been mine since the first toy you designed.
Since the first time you ached for something real.
And I’m yours. We recognized each other the moment you walked through that door. ”
“Mutual recognition,” I breathe.
“Yes. So take your time. But know that I’ll be waiting. I’ve waited for a long time. I can wait a little longer if I have to.” He steps back. “Go. Before I change my mind about letting you leave.”
I turn and walk into the night. The street looks normal. No Victorian buildings, no wrought-iron balconies. Just the familiar streets of Tidecross Falls, as quiet and ordinary as it gets.
But for me, nothing is ordinary about the world anymore. I know the truth now. I know what’s hidden behind the veil.
And I already know I’m going back.