11. Janie
Chapter 11
Janie
M aybe Urien was correct.
This was a shitty idea. I only committed to this because I was hoping it would change those dreams. And also get Tana and Rick off my back. Two birds, one stone. I just needed to burn off some energy. Perhaps on some human dick. Not an imaginary dick or tentacles. In that moment, a rush of shame and heat flooded through me, making me instinctively bite my lip. I wasn’t into this date. I was into my dream . . . monster. Urien’s cryptic words echoed in my head. My eyes glanced back at Rick, who sat in front of me, gnawing on a piece of bread while we waited for our entrees. Everything he discussed turned me off. He’d been rude to our server. Another grave flaw. I just kept nodding my head as I listened to him. The thing is, had any dates I had been on worked out? Not really. Maybe I was the problem. Maybe I was too picky. I just need to keep an open mind. Yes, that’s it.
“What do you like?” Rick said, bursting my bubble.
I looked up into his eyes. “What? I am sorry. I didn’t hear you,” I said. Lies. I wasn’t listening .
He brought his head closer to mine as he leaned forward. “What do you like in bed?”
My cheeks flushed with a pleasant warmth. Tentacles. I bit my lips and toyed with the napkin on the table. “Oh, well. I’m not that experienced,” I said.
Rick laughed. “Obviously, your exes don't know how to actually pleasure a woman like I do,” he said, huskily. His hand reached over as he rubbed my thigh. I wanted to pull back from him, but that wouldn’t be keeping an open mind. I took a deep breath and flashed a smile at him. He leaned in closer to me. “I could do so many things to this body.” His fingers trailed up my inner thigh.
I swallowed. My heart raced, but it wasn’t from arousal. Was this disgust? Apprehension? Fear? The server brought our meals and his hand slipped off my thigh. He carved into his steak with fury. I couldn’t really concentrate on eating.
I looked up when I saw a flurry of movement. It was human-made, not shadows. A pair of women walked by our table. A third one rushed past them. “What the fuck is wrong with the shadows today?” one whispered as she batted at the wall. “One tried to grab me earlier!”
I gasped and strained to hear their conversation. Should I be eavesdropping? No. But I was gonna do it, anyway. “I saw on the group chat, they saw a shade near the coffee shop.”
One pulled out her phone and slid her finger around the screen, looking at the screen. “Ah, shit. That sucks. I guess I should unmute this convo, right? I am missing all the tea.”
“Read it, Alisha!”
The first one that had spoken, Alisha, looked away from her friends and stared right at me. Her ice-blue eyes narrowed as a crawling sensation started in the back of my skull. Underneath the glowing light above me, the chair I was sitting on scooted slowly into the dark corner. Fear filled me because I wasn’t moving the chair. It was moving on its own accord. I stood up really quick and jerked my chair back to my spot. There was resistance, like something had just had a grip on it. Nothing was touching it that I could see. My heart raced in my chest as I struggled to understand what had happened. The urge to break down was strong, but I had to keep my wits about it.
“Sorry, I have to go to the bathroom,” I said. I didn’t wait for a response. I grabbed my purse and walked to the bathroom at the back of the restaurant.
I ran into the bathroom and splashed water on my face. My chair didn’t move. No. I imagined this all. I pulled out my phone as I was drying my face with toilet paper. I knew I had ruined my makeup, but it’s not like it was good. There was a single text from Urien: You still alive, normie?
I unlocked my phone. Yeah, I am, I texted really quickly. The door swung open. It was Alisha, the woman from earlier that I had eavesdropped on.
“Did you hear us?” she hissed.
I tilted my head and tried to flash a confident smile. “I don’t know what you are talking about,” I said. My phone dinged again.
I glanced at the screen: Proof of life.
I slid my finger across the screen to unlock the phone and quickly tapped on the messaging app. With a quick tap, I switched the camera from selfie and captured the scene in front of me. I tried to position the phone to take a picture of the suspicious woman instead of me and snapped. I sent that pic to Urien instead of me with the subtitle Just a bathroom break .
“What was that for?” Alisha said. “I was trying to talk to you.”
I shrugged. “My friend needed evidence that I was okay. He doesn’t trust my date,” I said. “You know how it is. He might burn this place down if something happens to me.”
“Can you stop? I’m trying to talk to you.”
I shrugged. Something made me want to be evasive and maybe I shouldn’t trust these women. It was how she made me feel when we locked eyes inside the restaurant. I’d have to ask Urien later what happened between us.
She stepped closer. I stepped back into the shadows of the bathroom. Why weren’t things better lit in this town? “Did you hear my friends and I?”
“I told you no.”
Her eyes narrowed. “You heard us.”
“What’s your game plan here? Threaten to beat me up or something? It’s a public place and your friends were loud.”
My phone rang, but I ignored it. Maybe it was Urien. I’d have to check later. Maybe I should have called him. This wasn’t what I planned when I agreed to this date.
“You shouldn’t listen to conversations that aren’t yours to listen to,” she hissed.
I breezed past her, feigning confidence. “And you shouldn’t talk so loudly. Toodles.”
I don’t know where this confidence was coming from, but I kind of liked this better version of myself. The confident version of me. I went back to the table. Maybe I can do this. Maybe I can screw this guy. Rick was done eating, but by the time I came back, my food was already in a to-go box. I frowned. Did he even wait for me? He leaned in close to me. “Are we going to your place?” he said .
I smiled. Be a brave person. You can do this, Janie. “Yes.”
I picked up my box, my belly rolling with nerves as I followed him to his car. My stomach was tying itself in knots as we drove back to my apartment. I kept folding and rolling the edges of my skirt. My heart was racing, and I leaned toward the window. The breeze through the crack in the windows helped cool me off. At the stoplight, I felt a warm hand on my thigh. I suppressed the urge to jump.
“Nervous?”
“Yeah, of course I am,” I said.
A finger traced circles on my knee. “You’re in excellent hands with me.”
“Really?” I said hopefully. I didn’t feel like that. Should I text Urien about the woman? I never checked the phone call.
“Of course,” he said.
“Like I said, I am not very experienced,” I said as the car came to a stop on the side of my street.
As I walked toward the stairs, he grabbed a backpack out of his backseat. “Hey, you coming?” I said.
“Yeah, just getting some stuff,” he grumbled.
My heart thumped weirdly in my chest. What does a backpack have to do with sex? Maybe it was extra clothes. Maybe I wasn’t built for this. I walked up the stairs, his footsteps echoed behind me. Unlocking the door, I let out a sigh of relief, grateful that Urien was nowhere to be seen. I pointed to my small living area. “Living room.”
I stood at the doorway to the kitchen and the flowers were still sitting there. An icy chill went through my spine as I saw them. “Kitchen.”
“You have flowers in there,” he said. His eyes narrowed as he looked at me.
I shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe a misdelivery? Or a secret admirer? It’s a mystery to me,” I said. I walked toward the hallway and he followed me.
“This door is the bathroom, and this is my bedroom.” I opened the door and stepped into the bedroom. My heart was racing in my chest. How is this going to work? My heart raced as I walked closer to the bed. The pressure of his hands on my back, pushing me down onto the bed took my breath away. Despite my efforts to push myself up, his hands swiftly seized my arms, binding them tightly behind my back. With a forceful grip, he pressed my head firmly into the softness of the bed.
“Don’t scream yet,” he growled. Plastic looped around my wrists and tied them together behind me. Panic swelled through me. It was happening again. It was happening again. This time I had a voice. I tried to kick him to no avail.
“Hey! I didn’t want this!” I screamed.
“This isn’t about you!”
“This is rape!”
“You were going to have sex with me, anyway. You can’t withdraw consent,” he growled.
“Yes, I can,” I said. He grabbed a hunk of my hair and pulled my head back. A slap came from the side of my face. It hit more of my bone than the soft part of my cheek.
“You’re mine,” he said as he lifted my skirt.
Dammit, this was a bad idea. Tears brimmed in my eyes. “I’m not yours,” I whispered. “I’m going to report you. I’m going to?—”
A sick, sadistic laugh came from him. “You think they’ll believe you?” His fingers curled in my hair even more
An animal growl erupted through the room. The hands on my back lifted off. I scrambled up onto the bed and turned around. All the shadows in the room coalesced around Rick. Shadowy tentacles erupted from the black puddle and wrapped around him. He screamed as they pulled his body into the puddle. After a few moments, the shadows disappeared, and I was by myself. With my hands tied behind my back. I hopped off the bed and walked to the living room. I had thrown my purse onto the couch. Luckily, my phone was in the side pocket.
“Phone, call Urien,” I said. I dropped to my knees in front of my coach. Weakness filled my body as the adrenaline faded from my body. My phone rang and the phone clicked as he answered.
“Hello, human? Are you okay?” Urien asked.
“Urien, I need your help. I’m tied up and something happened. I need you to cut me out,” I said. Tears stung my eyes as I was trying to hold myself together. He almost raped me. I put myself in this situation. It was a mistake. A gigantic mistake. I felt a hand on my back and I stiffened.
“Belay that order, Urien. I have her,” that familiar voice said.
The voice from my dreams inside my home, touching me. I wasn’t sure if it was time to panic more or let the relief pour into me. Were they a savior or a foe?
A sharp claw trailed up my thigh. I panted as my pussy clenched. My body tried to fight over the appropriate response. My brain said I should get up and run. My traitorous pussy wanted a shadow deep into my pussy. The claw reached my hands. After a moment, the pressure of the zip ties released. I sighed as I twisted around and I pushed myself against the couch. My eyes were wide as I saw the monster for the first time. He was large and looming over me. He had to be over seven feet tall with a chest covered in muscles. He wore a pair of pants that covered the bulging muscles in his legs. His skin was pure black that shined when the light hit it. Long rivulets of coarse black hair tipped toward me as he was leaning down to me. His irises were red and inside the pupils looked like the shimmering night sky. On top of his head were small pointed horns. He kneeled down in front of me and his clawed hand touched the bottom of my chin. He tilted my head up toward him.
“Are you okay, Janie?” he whispered.
My lips parted as my eyes widened more. “What are you?” I whispered.
“I’m a part of the shadows.”
“Why are you here?”
“You’re my mate.”