Vampire

 

The castle loomed against the night sky. Moonlight filtered through the clouds, illuminating its grey stone. Low light escaped through various windows, all heavily laden with rich brocade curtains. A great wooden door stood, waiting, as I approached. Rain began to splatter the ground and lightning flashed, silhouetting the palace against the brilliant sky. 

I could feel eyes on me yet saw no one lurking. The door creaked open before me, opening to a great hall with cascading stairs. Barely a torch was lit. Instead, it sat in faint darkness. A human’s eyes would’ve strained to see in the night, no doubt succumbing to fright against the backdrop of the haunted halls.

Perfect stillness hung in the air as I stepped inside. An eerie man stood by the door, pale as a ghost, eyes sunken and face gaunt. My eyes wandered over him, noting the faint disdain as he looked back at me, his thin frame moving slowly. I glanced at the brown eyes, wondering what they had looked like when he had felt alive.

“Madam,” he said softly, hand extended for the cloak that hung at my shoulders. 

I pursed my lips, struggling to decide if I left any part of me with him before I unfastened the cloak and handed it to him. He took it then held out his hand again.

My brows rose in silent question.

“Your bag, madam.” 

“I’m actually just here looking for someone.” I turned my head at the feeling of something watching me. Yet the stairs were empty, as was the hall that led to grander rooms. 

“Yes, I am aware of the… rumors you may have heard.”

I turned my eyes back to the man. “Then you’ll know I’m looking for a man, Remy, from Storm’s Edge.”

His eyes studied me, his hand still waiting for my bag. The thin lips pursed with a hint of impatience. A small eternity stretched between us as I waited for his hand to drop in vain. Finally, I smiled then took the bag off and handed it to him. His lips finally parted to speak. “Yes. The rumors are always wild from that place.”

“So then he’s not here?”

The man turned, neatly resting my cloak and bag on a series of hooks. Along them, multiple cloaks sat, some seeming aged and from another time. I pulled my eyes away from them as he began to walk down the long hall. “This way, madam.”

I sighed and followed. The hall was filled with great portraits, each human in them dangerous and beautiful. Scenes of horror and sacrifice filled others with familiar faces populating the monsters within. A chill ran down my spine as lightning flashed, making the eyes in the paintings nearly glow. 

We wandered through halls, twisting and turning throughout the palace. I noted where we went, but by the time we reached the ornate door I was nearly lost. The man opened the door and gestured for me to walk in. “You will bathe and clothe yourself in what awaits on the bed. The lady will call on you shortly.” 

My eyes finally turned to his, a hidden monstrosity lurking there. His eyes widened briefly yet he didn’t move but instead drifted his eyes downward. “I will have the lady call on you shortly, madam. In the meantime,” he gestured inward.

“Very well,” I murmured and walked inside the room. As beautifully decorated as it was, it belied hidden truths. The four-poster bed had scars in its wood from where chains had been cast about its pillars. The ceiling had metal rings here and there for anchoring. Decorative daggers hung on the wall, still faintly smelling of blood. 

I smirked and shook my head before I looked at the claw-footed tub, hot water steaming in it. A fire crackled merrily in the hearth as the scent of rose drifted gently from blood-red flowers that sat on the mantle. Wine waited in a glass with a decanter beside it. Sprawled across the bed was an elegant dress, white and gold, with delicate lace trim. I fingered the satin, wondering why she chose white of all colors. 

“The red shows better,” a rich voice whispered in the room. 

I turned, eyes resting on a beautiful young man, his rich umber skin stricken with a ghostly pallor. Enchanting eyes caught me off guard, peering into my own with unflinching authority. The hint of a smile pulled at the corner of his plush lips and I found myself swallowing, nervousness peeking through my innate curiosity.

“Red?” I asked, raising a brow. 

His hand rested on the doorknob, thumb casually caressing it before lifting as he sauntered into the room. He grinned, wicked and striking. It was infectious. I bit my lip to keep from smiling in return. “I heard you were looking for me.”

I glanced at the door before back to him. Instinct whispered to watch him, to never look away. The way a deer stares at the wolf before bolting. “Word travels fast.”

“Indeed.” Long fingers plucked the wine glass from its resting place and offered it to me as he neared. “You must be parched.”

The eyes pierced my own and I felt the tug of his will. Refined and smooth. It would be as easy as breathing to obey. “No, thank you, sir…?”

Curiosity flashed in his eyes before he smirked again and brought the glass to his lips. I watched, wanting to taste those lips with my own. “Ephraim,” he replied sweetly with a nod of his head.

“Remy,” I said evenly. “You don’t seem very…”

“Abducted?” He stepped closer, closing the distance between the two of us in a heartbeat. Cold fingers touched my cheek, sweeping back strands of wayward hair. 

“I was going to say alive.” I stepped back only to feel the pillar of the bed meet my back. 

He grinned, a glint of fangs showing as he chuckled. “She said you wouldn’t be afraid.”

“There’s a difference between cautious and frightened, Remy,” I murmured, barely whispering as his fingers trailed down my cheek over my neck, fingers playing with the collar of my shirt. 

“Now, what on earth could you be implying?” His lips moved against my earlobe. “You should bathe, put the dress on…” I lost his voice with the touch of his will. The hair on the back of my neck stood on end and I shivered. 

My warm hands touched his chest and I gently pushed back. He leaned back, enough that I could look into his wondrous gold-flecked eyes. “I will never do what you compel me to. But I will do it if you ask me, not command me.”

Confusion flickered over his face. Brows knit together as he examined my face, fingers pulling my chin upwards softly, as though to kiss me, just so he could see me better. “Wh-”

“A guardian.” Her tone was sharper than his but filled with unspeakable knowledge. I didn’t dare turn to look at her, yet I felt her walk into the room, her heels making noise purely because she allowed it. “She’s immune,” the woman said coolly as she came into view.

Raven hair hung around her shoulders, framing her face perfectly. Dark eyes and bronzed skin captivated my mind. I wanted to smile at the intensity of her presence but chose silence as she stared at me. “What brings you to my door?”

“They say you’ve stolen this man from his home, killed him. You’re such a monster.” 

Her laughter was joyous and filled the room with delight. I shivered as goosebumps rose on my arm. She stood beside him, head back, eyes sparkling, fangs white against red lips. “As they say. Aren’t we all? Offering a world where temptation is simply hungers given flesh? Where they are attainable?”

“What’s life without shame?” I asked, not daring to move as she gazed at me and he watched her. 

Slowly his head turned to look back at me. “And what is it you crave then? What is your shame?”

The smirk on my lips faltered and I shook my head. “I have no shame in my wants.”

“That’s not true, though, is it, Guardian?” Her fingers touched my cheek, as cold as his, before playing with a piece of my hair. “I know your kind. You come, you seek us monstrosities out, you comfort us. I am not in need of comfort.”

“No,” I said softly. “But you are in need of sustenance. And someone to give it willingly without your hunter’s skills.”

Her eyes grew wide for a moment. “Is that what you came for? To scold me for hunting? Will you stay then? Here? Give yourself freely to me daily? Swear to never run from me, call me your death? Turn the humans against me?” 

Fear touched her voice and she stopped, then shook her head. I stepped forward, touching her shoulder softly. She froze, looking at me with an unreadable expression. “If that’s what you need, then yes. For a time, at least.”

A hand touched the back of my neck as Remy stood behind me, body pressed up against mine. He was cold as night’s frost yet hunger stirred inside me. She watched me, dark eyes staring into mine. 

“Prove it. Prove that I need not command you as I would another. Remove your clothes.” No touch of power tried to penetrate my mind. I saw her test for what it was. My fingers moved deftly, pulling the layers from my body. Remy’s cool hands helped as soon as I began, peeling dirty wool and repaired fabric until I stood naked before them both. His eyes wandered over me as though I were flesh to be consumed. She appraised me, curiosity mixed with amusement.

“I’m surprised,” she confessed, a moment of hesitation in her eyes. “Bathe.” Her head nodded to the water. I swallowed and then stepped away from both of them. As I slipped into the bath they appeared before me, as though they had always been there, watching. 

The water was hot, almost painfully so, as I slid down into the tub. The sweet perfumes of violet and rose touched my skin as I began to scrub the dirt off of myself. She was the first to move, kneeling behind me on the stone floor, fingers trailing up my back, nails playing with the skin. 

“Who are you?” I asked her as I leaned back against her touch. 

She tilted her head. “Elizabeth.” 

“It’s lovely to meet you both.”

“Is it?” Remy tilted his head, leaning languidly against the fireplace as he watched the water move over my skin. “Is that because you crave the dangerous, Guardian? Is that what you get out of your choices?”

I paused, considering. “Guardians are monsters, too. At least partially so. Everyone gets stuck inside themselves sometimes. Often because they’re forced to. I just… open a window so they can see outside.”

Elizabeth’s hands pulled me into the water, fingers working my hair. “Yes but why?” she asked, her voice temptation personified. “What do you get out of it?”

Water ran down my back as she rinsed the hair. I shivered and dropped the rag which Remy plucked from the depths before rubbing it against my knee and moving up along my thigh. “What we all do from others. I get what I try to give. Connection, hope, release, sometimes love.”

The rag slid against my skin until he pressed his fingers between my legs, sliding along the sensitive skin. I sucked in a breath, eyes watching his fill with hunger as I shifted, rolling my hips to push against the fabric that separated our skin.

Her lips brushed my ear as she whispered. “Do you want him inside of you?” Cold fingers pulled my hair from my neck as her tongue tasted the water droplets on my shoulder. A hand slid around my stomach and roamed upwards, cupping a breast before firmly pinching a nipple. 

 I whimpered and leaned back into her mouth. “I want you both. All of you.”

Elizabeth’s husky laugh was low as she leaned her face against my neck. She smelled of orchids and dust, of time distilled. “How depraved, Guardian. To want so much at one time.”

The rag slipped out of Remy’s grasp as his long artistic fingers slid inside of me. I moaned, leaning my head back against Elizabeth’s shoulder. “Then I’m depraved,” I replied, a gasp following my words. “Is that what you want to hear? That I’m as craven as you.”

Remy grinned. “Yes. To see you embrace what others hide.”

His fingers curled inside of me, flicking upwards to hit my inner depths. I cried out, hips bucking against him. “Please,” I whimpered. 

They both stood, lifting me with them with frightening ease. Their grip was strong as stone, cold as death. We moved to the bed in an instant, the speed making much stomach lurch. My body was laid bare on the white sheets, wetness seeping through. 

Elizabeth smirked down at me as she knelt beside me, elegant dress shed so that her undead skin and flawless body were exposed. Remy stood at the end of the bed, cool hands on my knees, just as naked as his partner. His head lowered to kiss my knee then the other before his lips began to drift downward, leaving a cold trail of soft touches in his wake.

“You could stay with us,” she whispered to me. “Forever.” Her lips laid soft kisses along my neck and shoulder, tongue tasting my skin between the pecks. 

I shivered against her and raised a hand to cheek before touching her hair. “I will stay without you keeping me here through blood,” I replied and turned my head to kiss her. 

She stiffened for but a moment before she leaned into the embrace, tangling her tongue with mine. Despite her deathly touch, there was enough heat between us to warm her. I pressed into her, swallowing her kiss, wanting to taste her. The vampire moaned, fangs catching my lip and the taste of copper touched my tongue.

Her hand grasped my shoulders, holding me still as she deepened the kiss. Her mouth sucked on my lip, pulling what blood she could from it as a cold mouth touched my inner thigh. Remy’s tongue playfully lapped against the sensitive nub of flesh above my opening before he closed his mouth around it and pulled me into him, tongue swirling. I cried out into the kiss, moaning and shuddering beneath his skilled mouth.

Elizabeth held me, not letting me thrash too much as Remy drove me wild. I whimpered, pressure building within me as his fingers slid inside me once more, stroking my inner folds in tandem with his lapping tongue. 

Our kiss broke as Elizabeth trailed her mouth over my jaw and down my throat. “Say you love me,” she whispered. A gentle, loving kiss was placed against my neck before her mouth opened and pain mixed with intense pleasure as her fangs slid into my throat.

I knew I gasped though I didn’t hear it. A rush of euphoria ripped through me, making me cry out and shuddered against her bite. My fingers gripped her hair, pulling her against my skin as though she needed encouragement. My other hand moved over Remy’s head, holding him to my thigh as his fingers slowed. 

His head turned, chin covered in my own wetness, before he licked the sensitive skin of my inner thigh. My fingers tightened on his head, pushing his face down in encouragement. I felt his smile rather than saw it. 

Teeth sunk into my skin as he gripped my hips with strong cold fingers, pushing into my flesh to hold me still as I writhed beneath the two of them. A thousand sensations of pleasure and ecstasy moved through me, pushing me over the edge and into an abyss I hadn’t known existed. 

Time stretched eternal as I lay, body seemingly weightless, caught between them. My eyes slid closed as I felt the soft embrace of death on the horizon, yet barely noticed it over the waves of ecstasy I rode. My grip on them lessened and I felt a tremble move through me as the points of pain on my flesh faded away.

The smell of violets and copper touched my nose as Elizabeth held out a bloody wrist to my lips. Weakly I grabbed her arm and pulled it down to my chest, shaking my head against her. A soft kiss was pressed against my hair. “Was it all you wanted?” she murmured.

“You are,” I replied. I opened my eyes to glance up at her. “I love you,” I said softly, finally obeying her command.

The vampire made a soft noise of amusement. “Thank you for your gift,” she whispered. They were both warm against me as I lay between them, head on her chest, body pressed against him. As dawn crept into the sky, we slept.

Creatures of the Mist

 

The houses stood empty. Around each, a strange webbing had attached itself, sticky and glistening, yet thicker and more viscous than any spiderweb I had seen. An eerie mist hung in the air, hiding the street and other homes from view as I stepped into the otherworldly part of the city that humans had abandoned.

From nearby I felt their eyes on me, a quiet hope that I could stop whatever was encroaching into their homes. Yet not a soul had vanished from the city. Save those who wandered into the mist, letting curiosity betray their sense of preservation. Those poor idiots were never heard from again.

The swirling mist was unnaturally thick. It coiled about my hand, almost playfully, as I touched it. The cool texture brushed my skin and then faded back into its enormous body. Not a sound could be heard as I wandered deeper into the thickening haze, the webbing growing denser, covering entire homes as I walked.

Wood groaned beneath my weight as I mounted a set of stairs to go into the home of one family. Beside my feet, the strange vine-like webbing grew up the stairs, had burst through the door, and pushed into the home proper. I followed its warpath, noting the way the door was stretched and splintered. 

In the shadows of the home, things skittered and hid. I glanced about, stepping over a fallen writing desk to move to where a meal had been abandoned. Maggots the size of my thumb moved in and out of a week-old roast, its meat stripped away to reveal the bones beneath. Yet the maggots feasted, beginning to wear away the bone itself, unlike any other of its kind I had seen.

I gasped as something brushed my leg. Nothing was around me as I scanned the floor for signs of life. Strange fluff that blossomed from tiny stocks in the webbing haad floated to the ground, creating a layer of dust-like haze on the floor. Long, light strokes were made in the dust beside my boot prints, trailing off towards the parlor.

The soft sound of maggots eating and moving touched the air, suddenly noticeable as I strained to hear what lurked in the darkness. I took a step towards the parlor, carefully edging the door open. It squeaked, making me wince. Yet nothing in the room stirred.

Webbing had encased the room, swallowing whole pieces of furniture and erupting out of the window. Small, centipede like bugs the length of my hand walked amongst the woven threads, maintaining the webbing. I narrowed my eyes, trying to see them more clearly as I walked forward. 

The centipedes paid me no mind as I watched them spin their fibrous silk and lay down new webbing, repairing anything that had been damaged. It almost seemed as though a fire had happened from the scorch marks on the floor by the desk. a broken oil lamp charred sat nearby. The creatures worked together, spinning their webs, egg sacs nestled inside. I grimaced, knowing their presence meant an infestation.

An itching tingle touched my shoulder. I turned, seeing nothing behind me. Yet I felt the strange soft movement again. My hand went behind me, closing on a great chitinous body of an insect. I pulled it forward, its long body curling around my arm and gripping with dozens of things, pointed legs. 

Even as I tried to shake it off, it clung, holding to my arm despite me waving it around like a scared child. I kept moving backward, somehow thinking I could move away from it. Its head rose, black eyes glistening in the low light, its head the size of a fist. I shuddered and banged against the wall, webbing catching me.

Hundreds of tiny legs touched my skin as the centipedes climbed atop my body, bringing their webbing with them. I grunted as I pulled them off, using my other hand to free my cloak. It fell to the ground, covered in the crawling creatures. 

I pushed my bug-covered hand against the wall and used a discarded piece of broken door to pry the creature off. It shuddered, but grabbed to the wood and released my hand. I stumbled out of the door, pulling off my shirt to get to the bugs beneath. My fingers slowly grabbed each of them, pulling some from my skin and hair, then tossing them to the ground. 

In the street, I stumbled over a broken wagon, its wood shattered and consumed by the webbing. The bugs climbed over it, slowly tearing it apart as they moved it through their network of fiber that led deeper into the mist. 

My eyes squinted as dark shapes formed in the air. I itched and tingled from the remnant feeling of hundreds of legs crawling over me. Slowly I stood, looking up at the slowly descending shapes. A buzzing sound filled the air as they got closer, their giant waspish bodies drifting lower as great wings pushed them toward me.

Despite my training to stand tall, I turned, running back towards where I had come from. Long legs grabbed my head and hair, clasping me in a strangely vice like grip. I whimpered, looking up at the giant insect as I felt a painful pinch on my back where its stinger inserted. 

My world swam. It let go of me as I lurched, staggering the side as a cold numbness spread through my body. Darkness encroached my vision. I stumbled to the side, gripping something, perhaps a tree, rough and sticky under my hands as the sound of buzzing swarmed around me. 

I didn’t notice that I had fallen to the ground until I touched the earth and felt the cool mud beneath my fingers. The wasps landed, skittering towards me and jumping back when I swung my arms to keep them away. Nausea rolled through me as I shivered from a sudden chill, a stiffness moving through my body until I couldn’t move. The world went dark with the sound of buzzing following me into the pitch black.

My eyes slowly slid open. Darkness was all around me, with weak light filtering in from somewhere above. The smell of musk and earth surrounded me. I tried to turn my head only to feel pain in my neck and no movement. None of my body could move, the paralytic agent still flowing through my veins. 

Hundreds of legs crawled over me, their tiny movements felt over my entire skin. I shivered yet couldn’t move, eyes moving wildly to try to see where I was. Great lurching creatures moved about, insectoid in nature. Giant mandibles, dozens of legs, and great dark eyes aligned them in similarity. Yet some had wings and stingers. Others had strange spinners. Some still with tentacles and great abdomens. 

Over my body, hundreds of bugs swarmed, all different and brightly colored, all strange. I made a muffled sound of panic as I saw them all. They paused, then panicked and slid off of me, running away as my body began to move, just rock slightly, as I felt a tingling move through my body.

One of the wasps, the size of a pony, turned and wandered over. Its legs pulled at me, gathering my body against its own as I murmured uselessly. It was hard and warm against my skin as it held me to its abdomen and lifted me into the air. 

We moved over the colony, a great underground hive where they had made a home. It went down lower and lower, the wasp carrying me down until we landed and I was pulled through tunnels, the webbing becoming ever thicker and deeper, filled with thousands of their people. 

At last, the insect took me to a pulsing pool in the heart of the nest. I was dropped unceremoniously, my body finally starting to work as I pulled myself up to a half-seated position. The pool hummed as bugs moved in and out of it, spilling their unnatural bodies into our world. 

I watched as a giant centipede of pale bone color and several of the wasps seemed to stand, watching me and each other before looking at the blue light. As they supposedly conferred, I pulled up on a remnant stone from an old cave and stood, biting my lip as I did so from the ache in my joints.

A great wasp above me grabbed hold of my head, its long legs holding me still as I cried out in surprise. Its abdomen pressed against my mouth, stringer replaced by a strange growth that pushed against my lips, trying to slip within. I looked up at the creature and opened my mouth, inviting it inward, then moved to my knees for balance. 

It paused, surprised before it drove its abdomen forward and slid its appendage into my mouth. Burning venom touched my lips and mouth, sending a sensation of pain and electrifying bite through my body. It pushed forward, moving deeper, thrusting back and forth as it tried to get further inside. 

Down my throat it went, filling my moaning body as it kept doing. Choking sounds escaped me as the creature thrust further in. My hands held to its spindly legs as it trembled, balancing atop me despite the size difference. 

Another set of legs crawled up my back as another of the strange bugs landed atop me. I whimpered, trying to turn my head to see but was held fast by the wasp insect. I felt heat between my thighs as the same peculiar venomous liquid was squirted upon me, covering my legs and between them in its messy ejaculation.

A piercing pang stung my body as its abdomen pushed against me, a long searching probe wiggling out of it that played along my thigh, searching through the liquid to find its way within. I shuddered as the insect slid inside of me, its appendage furrowing deeper. Moans vibrated against the creature in my throat as its companion filled me, pushing itself as far as it could.

Swelling pressure and pain built within me as the insect pushed harder, forcing open my inner wall to move directly into my womb. I cried out, bucking against it wildly as it invaded. A bite on the back of the neck sent chills through me before the pain eased and a euphoria settled over me. 

My hips moved to meet the insect as it began to thrust, stretching me so it could deposit precious cargo. Tiny bugs began to climb over us, legs sending a thousand sensations at once over mee. I quivered, whimpering as fluid began to be pumped into my stomach, a strange flavor of earth and blood filling my senses.

A thousand memories of lives, generations of their kind, filled my head. I moaned as the wasp in my throat pushed deeper and harder, granting me the generational knowledge of their people as it fed me. My arms released it and I hung, caught between it and its companion that burrowed its ovipositor inside of me. 

Something large and nearly painful passed through the insect into mee, sending rapturous delight through my body. I whimpered, tears sliding down my cheeks as they moved into me from both ends, one filling me with seed and life as the other laid their eggs deep within me.

Moment after moment an egg was pushed into me, nestled deep in my womb beside its siblings. It seemed hours passed as the eggs were deposited, each driving me deeper into the euphoria from the bite. I whimpered and moaned, bucking back against the wasp as it implanted its future in me.

The one in my throat pulled back, finally releasing me as its story ended. The memories swirled, teaching me of their dying home, of the hole that was opened by ancient magic or luck, and their need to return but with no understanding of how. It landed beside me, my hips in the air still as the last egg was inserted. 

I coughed up some of the strange fluid, rising to look at the strange creatures before the many-legged insectoid approached my worn body. The visions I had been given were clear, and with a strange calmness, I laid back, giving my body to the centipede’s needs. 

It climbed atop me, encircling me within its legs that dug into my skin, piercing along my side and arms to hold me perfectly still. Its jaws closed around my throat, compressing my air when I moved, and sending the feeling of elation higher. I shivered against it, whimpering with want as its abdomen dabbed along my sticky thighs, covering me with new liquid.

The creature secreted fluid all along me, covering me in the scent of ichor and earth. Finally its appendage slipped inside of me, bigger and wider than the last, stretching  me even further. I cried out, gasping in pain as it pushed up and within, fast and hard. Burning pain blossomed as I stretched around it, my body adjusting to its girth. 

I trembled as my body hit its limit, swallowing back a cry of pain as it thrust again. The centipede filled me, pinchers breaking my skin to let the numbing fluid move into me as it thrust home, driving deeper with each movement and using my body for its will. 

Each strange memory flooded my mind as it thrust, intermingling the pain and pleasure with the moments of their genetic heritage that would pass to the creatures incubating within me. I shuddered again and then cried out as the creature hit its depth, its abdomen twitching as it exploded its seed within me, filling my belly and coating the eggs within.

It stayed nestled atop me, holding itself within as a plug to give its life-giving seed time to take root. Finally, it twitched and slid off of me, leaving me fat-bellied on the ground, my hands resting my newly engorged stomach, ripe with offspring. 

Chittering sounds filled the air along with thousands of wings as the creatures descended, moving into the blue light. They climbed around me, never daring to touch me as their parents summoned them forth. The three companions waited until the last of their children entered the light before they looked at me, wordless communication filling the space between us, an alien language they had given me.

I slowly stood, shaky and used, and walked to the pool before collapsing to my knees. “Go,” I finally said, nodding to it. The centipede and one wasp crawled inside, vanishing as soon as it was through the pool’s surface. The last lingered, resting their mandibles gently against my shoulder. 

My hands softly caressed its face. “I will keep them safe,” I murmured, my hand touching the precious package entrusted to my care. Already I could feel the strange fluid I had been given digesting, moving through my cells to the eggs within, as a memory slipping forgotten from the mind.

It gently nibbled at my hair in quiet gratitude before it slipped through the pool and vanished. My fingers fumbled with the old carved runes and I grabbed a sharp rock. Its edge was enough to pry up the sacred stone that had been placed in the ancient rune. With a flash of light, the pool blinked from existence, leaving behind nothing but ancient runes and my distended belly as proof of its existence.

Dimensional Shambler

 

Blue light flickered from the eerie fires that burned around the altar. A soft whimper came from the corner of the chamber where the strange creature huddled, body bound in cruel magic. Their eyes were wild as they watched the man at the altar, his broad back turned from me as I stepped into the ancient cavern, avoiding the eldritch symbol on the floor. 

His voice echoed around the stone room, bouncing off the walls with their power as I moved in the darkness, slipping in shadows to kneel beside the creature. Unseeing eyes looked at me through the creature’s mind as I pulled the sacrificial dagger from my pocket and slid it across my hand. Long claws scratched on the stone floor as the monster stirred, unfathomable visage half-hidden in the dark. Yet I knew a hundred eyes blinked as one when its gaze turned towards me. 

The blood splattered on the ground. I turned, glancing back at the man as he read aloud from an ancient book not meant for mortals. Yet he was no mortal and so believed embracing the chaos would grant him further power. Each word he spoke was a name, a symbol of something old and powerful. I recognized that he was summoning as the symbol ignited, illuminating the ancient thing beside me and the entire room. 

Magic threw me back, hitting my body with a jolt of power that left me sprawled on the floor gasping. The chanting had stopped. I lifted my head to see the boots moving closer. It took me moments to rise and push away from the ground, rolling back from the man as he approached, power radiating from his skin. 

“How dare you?” 

My eyes looked up at him as I pulled myself up into squatting before I stood, stepping backward. The wall met my back as he stopped, arrogant smirk on his hardened features. “What was your plan, girl? Control the beast for yourself?”

He turned, looking at the ghastly creature, elongated arms dragging on the cold floor. Yellow eyes opened and it snarled at the man, dozens of pointed teeth erupting from the overwide mouth. Yet the man didn’t flinch, even as a cold shiver wound up my spine. His eyes narrowed and a haunted voice slipped from his lips, speaking the language of things long forgotten.

The creature screeched as the seal around it began to return, my blood on the ground sizzling as the circle began to complete. Its long limbs pounded against the invisible cage, panic palpable in the air.

I slammed into the man, my body knocking against his form. He fell back, hip hitting the stone altar and snarled at me. “You stupid little bitch.” 

My brows raised as I held the dagger, blood on the blade. His hand instantly moved to his side where the black robes hid the blood that had begun to seep from him. “Now who’s stupid.” I tilted my head and stepped back. “Let it go.”

He chuckled. Fury rose inside me yet I stayed back, away from him. A sneer rose in place as he stood, pulling a wicked blade from the altar. Its sharp edge glittered in the low darkness, blue light reflecting off its well made surface. “Then you’ll bleed too, woman.”

I shifted, stepping back towards the creature as he followed. “What do you want with it?”

“They’re weak creatures. Easy to control.”

“Nothing should be under the control of another. Not unwillingly.” I shifted, my heel touching the line of the sigil that held the creature. It whimpered behind me, sounding of pain and estranged anger. 

The man gave a low laugh again. His voice was rich. Under any other circumstances, he would have been handsome and charming. I knew his kind too well. “How did I fail to recognize you, Guardian?” he mused, sword tilting to taunt me. 

“Funny. I’ve been following your messy trail since Bael.” I took a small sidestep. He followed, moving with the grace of every hunter I had known. “You’re going to capture it? Keep it as a pet?”

“Or kill it.” 

I tilted my head. “You can’t, Hunter. They’re incorporeal.” 

He blinked at me and turned, thrusting the blade. I sidestepped, shifting as he moved closer. My blade slashed, pushing him back towards the invisible forcefield holding the shambler hostage. In an instant, he grabbed my wrist and pulled me against him. The sword pressed at my back, keeping me there, blade gently resting against the base of my skull.

“Now,” he said softly. “Since you’re more than happy to bleed to free the creature, you ought to be willing to bleed for its domination.” His fingers tightened, twisting my wrist until I dropped the blade. 

I stared up at him, inhuman eyes looking into his own. It took strength, speed, and resilience to lie with monsters. It took even more to murder them. 

My eyes searched his own. “What happened to lead you here, Marius?” I touched his neck where the Hunter’s Mark was inked, the last stain from Voracious before he had been banished. 

Silence hung between us. The Hunter watched me, emotions flickering rapidly across his features. “You shouldn’t have come here,” he murmured. Fingers released my wrist before he touched my cheek. “Just go.”

“You know I can’t,” I replied softly. “Please. Just let them go. You can’t truly think this… this is right?” I turned my head and looked at the creature that writhed in its magical prison. 

Marius turned his head to look upward. “They are monsters. They hurt people. Drag them into an abyss.” 

“Have you been there?” My eyes found his again. “Why not trust? Let me-”

He grabbed my hand from touching his face, steely eyes hardening. “You should know why. Don’t you dare use those tricks on me.” 

I flinched as he grabbed my hair, holding my face near his own. I reached behind me, grabbing the sword with my hands. The sharp blade cut through flesh easily. A hiss of pain escaped me as blood splattered the ground.

The hunter gasped, stumbling backward as the hulking creature moved forward, long clawed arms reaching out around me as though to grab me. Yet it didn’t touch me. Inside of my mind, something took hold, stopping me from moving. I felt it quiet my mind, forcing the body to stop listening to the panicked movements I wanted to be making.

It gurgled behind me as the blue fire Marius had lit rose, illuminating the room even as it began to fade. I saw him, eyes wide in terror, as he leaned against the wall, watching as my body disappeared.

Acrid air filled my lungs as  I fell through an abyss. Darkness was everywhere. The sky, filled with great clouds of smoke, illuminated now and then from the flashes of lightning that filled the air. Something swooped by me smelling of sulfur and ash as I tumbled through the sky.

Thick viscous liquid met me, bouncing me off of its surface. Lightning filled the sky, showing me the wet ooze filled landscape that surrounded where I stood. Yellow eyes watched me in the dark, turning towards me as I tried to stand. 

There were hundreds of the strange shamblers, large and lumbering yet moving with strange ease through the liquid. Dragons swooped in the sky, bodies strange and deformed. Their hazy smoke filled the air, making it difficult to breathe. 

I turned, looking behind me to where the shambler stood, its body hunched over as it stared at me with its deep set eyes. Teeth glistened in the flashes of light. We stared at each other as it waited, mind gently pressing against my own, searching for the weakness in my armor.

My body began to sink, slowly moving into the ooze. I looked away from the shambler, down to my feet, and then around for anything solid to hold to. When my eyes rose, the shambler was nearly atop me, standing stoic and solid. 

I shifted, trying to pull my feet up but fell forward instead. My hands caught the over-long arm of the shambler, its once incorporeal form now real in its homeworld. As my fingers touched its flesh its mind shivered and pushed into my own. A soft gasp escaped my lips as my eyes closed, leaving behind the landscape of grey to retreat inward.

Within it was dark and quiet. The shambler stood in my mind, watching me as I watched it in return. Sensations of cool tickled my skin as it played with me, never touching me yet I could feel its presence in my mind push my thoughts and sensations to where it wanted. 

They said that shamblers ate minds and souls. I waited for the pain to begin. Memories of my past played around us, moans of delight and cries of pain intermingled. Dozens of those moments played, coming in fast succession, as the shambler sampled each of them, taking small pieces for itself, emitting low sounds of pleasure with each taste.

I felt myself grow wet, my skin became sensitive as the shambler dug deeper, finding memories I had thought long since gone. Sensations of biting teeth, binding rope, and sharp claws teased my flesh, causing a low moan to roll out of mine. 

The feeling of pressure built within the memories of being touched and filled flew through us both. The shambler was closer, its presence gently raking nails over my skin, imitating sensations in my mind without ever moving. I shuddered, haunting need filling my being as its eyes locked with mine.

Something and yet nothing slid inside of me. My body responded, rocking to match the thrusts of nothing. I whimpered at the realization that I was empty and yet I felt full. My skin prickled as whipping pain was thrashed against my back, my hips, and my breasts, sending sharp pleasure through my muscles.

My hips kept rocking, kept pushing back against something that wasn’t there. Louder moans spilled out of my mouth as the shambler stood, watching me writhe in pleasurable agony. It felt me mount the minotaur, be flayed by a deep devil. Its own mind knew every movement of the werewolf’s primal need and the drifting pleasure of mist. 

It made a gurgling noise of orgasm as it tasted the moment the Kraken filled me everywhere it could, my body covered in sliding lengths. I cried out, remembering and feeling at once, the pressure inside me building to untenable degrees. My eyes locked with the shambler as it trembled and called forth another memory.

Lips were pressed together, bodies moving as one in the dark, whispered promises of love. Despite moans filled the air, a stolen moment. My lover whispered my name, fingers entangled as climax overtook us. 

I finally felt the pressure erupt, rocking through my body as a dozen explosions of pleasure. I sagged forward, panting though nothing had been happening. My body trembled and shivered, lying within my mind as sweet release took it. 

The shambler’s long claw caressed my face. I opened my eyes, looking through the darkness to its strange form inside the grey ooze. My body had sunk downward until up and down seemed lost and nothing but the endless fluid was in every direction. 

Its eyes were barely visible within the slime. I tried to move but found myself locked in place by the thick fluid. The claw caressed, attached to its long arm before it reached forward and touched the crown of my head.

The cold dark cave floor caught me as I fell through the air again, landing on its rough surface. I was covered in strange gelatin, the fluid of the shambler’s home. It oozed out of me slowly, sending chills through my body as I looked around.  

Blue fire still danced at the hunter’s altar. He stood, patching the wound I had gave him as I manifested in his summoning circle. The shambler was nowhere to be seen as I sat up, shivering in the cave’s dampness. 

“So you freed it, then,” he said coolly. 

I stood, grabbing my knife from the ground as I did.

“I had thought it would have kept you there. Feasted on you. I can only imagine what secrets your mind holds.” He shifted, finishing the stitches on his abdomen. Scars lined his body, wounds from the murders of dozens of monsters. 

Our eyes met, lingering on each other in unspoken judgment. “Get in my way again, and I will kill you, Guardian,” he finally said as he stood, pulling a shirt over his chest. 

“Stop your hunt and we will never meet again.” I pushed the knife back into my sleeve and moved to his altar. My hand closed around his blue flame, holding it though its coolness nearly burned. 

“And here you are, doing magic now.”

“No,” I turned my head and looked at him. The fire turned red in my hand and I touched it to the ancient book he had been using to summon the shamblers. It erupted into flames, pages curling into ash as I stepped back. “I’m the child of a dragon.”

He screamed in rage and tried to put the dragon fire out. I turned, walking from the cave and into the cool night of Summer, followed by the sound of a monster.

Askafroa

 

The sound of coughing and wheezing filled the village air, breaking the eerie silence. Not a person stirred. Smoke rose from each home as I wandered down the street, glancing between building to building in an attempt to see what was happening. Hollowed faces peered at me from cloth covered windows, corners pulled back. Hands clasped over mouths as they broke into wet hacking fits.

I winced and pulled the shawl about my neck higher, covering my nose and mouth. Mortal diseases rarely affected me, thanks to the inhuman parentage I bore, yet acting immune would make the humans fear me and so I protected myself. The smell of ash and smoke in the air still clung to m nose as I breathed through the wool, feet navigating the muddy trails. 

The homes were new, made of ash and other woods from the nearby forest. Despite its remote location, the village sat on the river and attracted enough boats in her port that it had expanded rapidly. Yet the dock was still. Even the barrack that sat upon its muddy banks was empty, no fire in its hearth. 

Not a soul stirred in the market. Dogs roamed, barking at my presence before scampering after something I could not see. Every stall had blankets roughly thrown over the top. Flies buzzed around, landing on the blankets and climbing under to whatever rotted below. 

At the edge of the town, a fire burned, stoked continuously. I approached the woodsman who was adding logs, my eyes wandering his face for any signs of illness. He paused, wiping sweat from his brow with the back of a gloved hand. He gently rested his ax on his shoulder and stared at me from above the scarf about his face.

An awkward silence passed between us as I looked to his blazing eyes to the fire behind him, where bodies laid in various states of burning. Fingertips smoldered, shining bright red as a wind blew through. I grimaced and sighed. “Plague?”

His eyes narrowed then turned sorrowful as he gestured in futility. “Perhaps.”

“From the boats?”

He was tall, a hulking form of a man. The kind that came from people who worked the land. I tilted my head as he hesitated, eyes looking away from me towards the half cut down forest. A field of stumps sat at its feet that lead into the deep trees, where an eerie silence waited. 

“No.”

I was glad he couldn’t see the look of irritation my mouth would have betrayed. “How long has it been?”

“First got sick two months ago.”

“And how long have you been sick?”

He became still and his eyes narrowed as I looked at the off-tone of his skin, a blue-green hint to it. The pallor had only just started.

“What happens?” I asked when he turned, putting his ax into a stump with a strength I enjoyed. “Coughing? Blood?”

“No. Black stuff… like… rot. Dry, dusty.” 

My brows furrowed. “Like what plants get? In a field when they rot?”

Understanding touched his eyes and he nodded his head as he leaned down to pick a body wrapped in a sheet. Where blood would’ve been, a wet blackness stained the sheets. The faint scent of mold emanated from the bodies as he placed them in the fire. 

“When did you start clearing the forest?”

The man turned and jabbed a finger towards the trees. “It was them, wasn’t it? That witch.” He spat the word.

“You’ve a witch?” I turned to look at the trees. Most of them were ash with a sprinkling of coniferous. Dead leaves lined the ground from the clearcutting. 

“Voices in the woods. Woman’s voice. Telling us to keep out. Figured it was some old hag trick.”

“And when you cut them down?”

“First it was a minor cough. Then the black shit. Then people died, mouths open, breathing out that crap. The clear cutting stopped. No one else got sick.” He turned and looked hard at me. “Why?”

“Just curious. I’ll be on my way.” My eyes wandered over the village. Every home was made of ash. Piles of the lumber sat around, with the unused bits in piles for fire. I sucked in a breath.

“What’re you gonna do?” He stood closer but still distant. I turned my head to look at his face, gaunt beneath the mask.

“Try to make sure you live but it’ll mean no more of this.” I gestured at all the wood. “Earth’s not made for your taking. Do you understand that?”

“They’re just trees,” he said, as though I were delusional. 

“Fine. They’re just trees. And you’ve just got the plague.” I shook my head and started towards the forest, ignoring his shouts that carried after me. A few swear words escaped my lips in an angry whisper. Moving further away meant I heard the coughing again, the wheezing and hacking that came out of the homes. 

Outside a home, I stopped to grab a water pail. A woman watched me from the door, hard features cold. Our eyes met and she tilted her head, catching the strange colors in them and the inhuman pupils. Yet she didn’t flinch. Her eyes looked to the woods then back to me before she gave a simple nod. 

“Burn it,” she hissed. 

“The river that went to the lake near here. What happened?”

“Dammed it up. Lumber mill.”

“Of course.” I shoved the pail into her rain barrel. “You’re old enough to know better.”

Surprise showed on her face. 

“You must remember Stonehearth. Blocked a river. Killed the forest.”

“They burned it.”

I shook my head. “They burned. Themselves included. Too sick, couldn’t risk spreading it. And then what happened?”

Her eyes narrowed. “You can’t possibly know.”

“A new town was built. By people who cared for the forest there. And?”

“They didn’t get sick.” 

“So why here? Now? Why didn’t you stop them?”

“I thought…” Her hardness fell away to the fearful child beneath. “I thought it was a bad dream. A story.”

I sighed and stepped towards the wood, bucket dripping. “Stories are there to keep you from dying.”

The mud clung to my boots as I walked away from her. I heard her rise and go into the home, words coming quickly to her as she spoke to her sick family. They were so far gone, I wasn’t sure I could save them. Another story that would end in flames.

The woods were quiet as I entered, hostile energy holding its breath as I stepped within. A hint of sorrow hung in the air. Fresh stumps were everywhere, adding the smell of sawdust to the bouquet of decay. Mushrooms hid in the dead leaves and grew on trunks.

My eyes wandered the living trees, moving deeper and deeper with each passing moment. They were young trees, by forest standards. Replanted on soil eager for life. Yet already being cut. The further in I went, the older they got until I found their mother.

She was large, with great roots spreading out into the forest floor. Green leaves still clung to her branches. Moss grew from each of the wandering roots, giving the tree the appearance of a dress. I smiled at her beauty and stopped, setting the bucket on the ground.

“I come to offer a sacrifice,” I said to the tree. “Of myself, for a time, and of water. You must be parched.” 

Great brown eyes opened in the tree as they peered down at me. Her wooden face turned, pulling out of the old ash. Branches wove together to form her limbs and hair, with great roots moving her along as a tentacled sea creature would. They dug deep into the earth and moved her forward to stand above me.

“Nothing you can do will repay what I am owed.” The voice was harmonious and echoed around the forest in delicate notes. It was the sound of leaves moving, birds chirping, and bugs singing. I shivered to hear it.

“I am sorry for your loss, Mother.” 

She tilted her head. “Thank you for your compassion.”

My fingers gripped the rope on the bucket. “May I?”

“You offered two gifts.”

I paused. “What would you have of me, Mother?” 

She neared, one long smooth branch moving out to stroke my cheek as I gazed up at her. “You wish to answer for these people.” Roots climbed up my ankle and wound around my calf, lifting me upwards to her level.

“Do you know what it is like? To be so deeply connected to your family? To have them snuffed out?”

I grimaced and pulled off the scarf I had been keeping over my lips. “No. I have felt loss but not as you do.”

The roots moved higher, securing my waist and slipping beneath my clothing, leaving trails of dirt on my skin. Tendrrilss slid higher, wrapping around my chest, over my breasts and shoulders. In her tangled grasp I rested, feeling her complete control of my body.

Her small branches slipped upwards, sliding down my arms and up my neck until they pressed against my mouth. “You said I could have you. May I take part of you? I am too weak to heal this place.” The tip of a root caressed my lip.

“Yes.” 

I gasped as small cuts were made along my body and her roots slipped inside. Her expression lightened as she moved into my body, gently probing deeper and moving inward. Pain moved through my body, mixed with strange sensations of pressure and wiggling. I whimpered against the invasion, swallowing by a cry as she filed me with her being.

The roots crept into my nose and mouth and moved deeper. I felt the tiny tendrils moving into my mind, creeping along my brain. “Yes. There,” she whispered although I could barely see her as I breathed through the pain.

Suddenly the world around me exploded with song. Hundreds of pulsing whispers flowed in the air, dancing along the moss on every tree. Roots entangled, sending messages to mushrooms and fungi that relayed them to the other plants. Life flowed from one plant to another, an organism working together.

Their minds flowed into mine, sharing generations of knowledge. Of forest fires and new growth, human saws, monstrous creatures breaking them like twigs, and of floods. I gasped as their energy moved into me, filling me with the sensation of life. I heard my whimper from her ears.

Sunlight spilled from the sky and I cried out in joy as it hit my skin, sending jolts of electricity along my flesh. My body quivered, shuddering with the ecstasy as the Mother moaned softly at our shared joy. 

The light played off of our bodies, humming a new song of delight that warmed my skin. Flowers blossomed on her branches and I moaned as I felt them brush against my skin where they grew around my body. Tiny petals caressed me as the roots held me firm.

Small flowers grew from my skin, matching the Mother’s as I cried out when the roots moved, teasing the skin of my own inner folds and filling it with flowering life. My breath came in small gasps as the flowers shifted, changed, and began to turn to seeds. I felt their life within me, orgasmic release whispering within as the final cycle began to pulse within me.

“There,” the Mother whispered. Tiny seeds formed where the flowers had been and began to drift off. The keys floated downward, landing on the forest floor. In a heartbeat they dug into the earth, piercing its flesh and growing seed. The Mother’s root moved deeper, filling me and pulsing with each new seed that sprouted.

I whimpered and felt the tears of need slide down my cheeks. My skin hummed with the need to release, to feel them grow and flourish, and fulfill the hunger she had for life. “Now,” she murmured, wooden lips touching my cheeks, “They are your children too.” 

She pulled me inside of her, roots sliding deep and pushing her ecstatic energy into me as the sun caressed her skin. I finally cried out, whimpering and shaking against the roots that held me outside and inside. The climax ripped through me, an influx of sensation from each new life and the Mother’s insatiable caress that drove me wild.

My skin tingled as she held me inside her, the roots slowly pulling out, their energy healing as they went. I shivered as she set me to the ground and collapsed to the ground,  panting and whimpering. 

“To be alive is joy, Guardian. Thank you for your gift of you. Long may our forest grow.” I knew she was smiling, I felt it in my bones and it sent another wave of delight through me. 

Slowly I knelt, looking up at her. “Now may I?”

She smiled and nodded. 

I stood, finding the bucket, and poured it slowly over her roots and the seeds we had created. Her eyes lit up as her skin moistened, growing lush and full of life.

“Thank you,” I whispered softly. 

She nodded and stepped into her tree, the sunlight world around me suddenly seeming dimmer.

I turned, readying to bring the bucket back to the town that refused to give life instead of taking it. The elder stood there, eyes wide in both horror and amazement as she stared at me. I approached her and held out the bucket.

“What-”

“I can’t explain, child. Care for her. For her children. Our children.”

Our eyes met and silence stood between us. Finally, I turned, walking away from the woman and her village. Her curious voice followed me as she tried to speak to the Mother, only to be met with silence.