Haunted House

 

Candles flickered in the darkness of the old house. The floorboards creaked beneath the footfalls of a handful of humans, each moving about with a sense of fear and knowing, as though the answers were right before them if they could only just see them. They put up strings and bells, burned herbs, sprinkled salt and holy water, and swept the floors with old brooms. It was a stunning mixture of religious and spiritual practice.

I sat in an old chair, watching the fireplace crackle and spit at the damp wood they had found. The chair rocked softly, creaking faintly with each movement. A man sat beside me, hand on a blade, watching my face and shoulders for signs of rebellion. Upstairs a door creaked and he froze, slowly turning his eyes heavenward only to sigh in relief when his companion came down the stairs.

“Nothing upstairs,” he reported. 

“Circles are laid in two of the rooms. We’ll do another down here.”

“And what about her?” One man nodded towards me, irritation in his voice. 

The loot of them paused and turned to look at me in unison. “Tie her up.”

“That’s not necessary,” I replied. “And you’re doing that wrong.” My chin nodded at the circle the one had begun to lay down. “Nor do they work if you can’t use magic.”

The three looked at one another again. “What d’you know about it?”

“Enough.”

“Suppose you’re gonna say they’re not real.”

I shrugged and looked back at the fire. “Most things are real. Most methods of capturing them are just torture, or at worst, designed to kill them.”

“They’re just ghosts,” one replied. “They’re dead.”

“They’re different than your understanding of life. So you come here to what? Poke them? Then wonder why they poke back?”

Our eyes met and one man looked away, flushed and irritated. He stood, walking away from the group to continue his salt circle. 

“Who are you?”

“I help creatures survive people like you,” I said tersely. “So set your traps. I’m sure you’ll make them so happy by being here.”

“They were tormenting the family that lived here!” the one man snarled, gesturing angrily around the house.

“Yes. Perhaps. Did you ever stop to ask why?”

The angered man stood, waving a hand at me in dismissal. He moved to help his friend, lighting the fennel on fire to let the smoke waft into the air. It smelled of bitter greens and human ignorance. 

I turned my eyes towards the last man. “You need to find out why. Why are they trapped here? Tormented to live this same way every fucking day. You’d be angry too. You know it. Locked in a place where you can’t leave and others are coming and going, taking over where you are forced to exist-”

“You don’t know that,” he muttered.

“People trap spirits all the time, friend. Talismans, curses, magic scriptures, symbols,” I nodded towards the circle on the ground. “They get stuck here. You need to stop, let them go.”

“This will bind them. This will stop them,” he said, gesturing to the symbol in salt and ash on the ground. The man stood, grabbing soapstone to inscribe more symbols. 

I shook my head and leaned back in the chair. “You’re an idiot and you deserve what happens to you.”

His dark eyes stared at me. “Are you cursing me?”

“I don’t need to.”

Upstairs a bell dinged as a door creaked open. All three men paused and looked at each other. One plucked a lantern from the floor and strode up the stairs. I watched them from the ground, shivering as the air grew cold enough my breath showed with each exhale. The men strode into the darkness, disappearing from my view.

I stood, moving from the chair to the symbol on the ground and using my foot to disrupt the ritual. “Fucking humans,” I muttered under my breath, grabbing the broom to push the salt away. 

Beside me, a candle flickered and went out, leaving me cast in shadows. I turned my head, glancing into the darkness, seeing only the vague outline of something. Heavy breathing broke the silence, raspy and wet. It grew louder as I stared at the lurking figure, tall and imposing, the light from the other room barely showing me its outline.

The fire crackled and then sizzled, growing dimmer and dimmer, until the figure was barely visible in the low dark. I shivered as the cold air intensified, chilling me to the bone. 

“Why are you here?” I asked in a faint whisper.

The darkness didn’t answer. It stared back, glowing eyes suddenly visible. They were penetrating and blue. I felt the cold breath of its mouth on my neck, bringing my hair to stand on end as the panting breathing grew ever louder.

You’re all going to die…

From the railway, a body flew back, breaking the wood and landing with a sickening thud on the ground below. I turned, looking at the man who screamed in agony at the angle of his leg. Bone stuck out from the flesh, blood oozing from the new opening. His hands trembled as he grasped at the wound, unable to move. 

Fingers slid up my neck and into my hair, grasping at the shorter strands and pulling my head backward. One down…

I pulled away, stepping into the foyer with the screaming man, turning to look behind me. Nothing stared back and only emptiness remained. Pounding footsteps echoed on the stairs as the two men came running down, kneeling beside their fallen companion. 

Each had holy symbols in their hands, brandying them as though they would protect them. “You look like idiots,” I snapped.

“It was us dead.”

“I would too.” I knelt and grabbed the man’s leg, nodding to his friends. They blinked, staring at me in abject horror before holding him down. With a sickening jerk, I righted the leg and then grabbed wood from the banisters to lash to the leg. His scream was deafening before he passed out from the pain.

Fabric tore easily as I bound the leg. “Now take him and get out. You’re useless.”

Silence greeted me as they stared above where the stairs met the upper floor. I turned, looking up at the darkness that hung there, deep and unnatural. It stared at us, a new eerie silence blanketing the house. 

Doors slammed around us, locks clicking as it closed us within the walls. Books flew off of the shelf, slamming against walls and mirrors and furniture, knocking candles and lanterns over until the remaining light was sputtering. Paintings were pulled from the wall, nails clattering to the ground. 

I stood over the wounded man, covering him with my body, arm up to protect my head. A groan escaped me as the house attacked, books and ornaments crashing against me. The noise rose and grew to a crescendo.

“Enough!” one man yelled, hurling his religious item at the specter above us. Everything stopped and fell to the ground, thudding on the wooden floor. 

II turned, looking up to see that the figure had disappeared. There was nothing, just the strange darkness that lingered as a mold would. I rose, moving to the front door and trying to unlock it. It wouldn’t budge, keeping all of us locked within. 

One of the men grabbed a fire iron and smashed the window of the room. A rush of air came inward as the glass clattered to the ground. He turned, signaling us to bring the wounded man. A knife flew through the air, discarded upstairs, and slammed into his hand, driving hilt deep. 

He screamed, staring in disbelief at the blade sticking out of his flesh that secured him to the wall. His eyes widened, his mind running wild as he tried to comprehend what he was seeing while reckoning with the pain that flooded through him. 

“You brought knives?” I asked in disbelief.

The remaining uninjured man ran to his companion, trying to pull the blade free. They wrestled over it, the injured man screaming deliriously. 

“Just in case!” the final man shouted. 

“In case of what?! Brigands!?” I shook my head and walked towards them, grabbing the knife and pulling it from the wall and his hand with one motion. I turned to look at the stairs and started towards them, grabbing a flickering lantern from the floor. The knife was tossed to the floor, left amongst the refuse. 

“Where are you going?” He asked as he wound a rag around his friend’s hand. 

“To do what you can’t,” I sneered, stepping onto the first landing. 

He moved forward, pulling his leg-injured friend from the circle he had been originally drawing. The smears made him swear beneath his breath. “You stupid bitch,” he called after me. “I need-” he stopped, shaking his head when I didn’t listen.

The ash was pulled from his coat and spread, forming the patterns he had memorized. With the final symbol, the circle glowed. Words in a language he didn’t understand were uttered under his breath and then louder.

I hit the top of the stairs and felt the encroaching darkness begin to pull me in, the sensation of eyes watching and hands nearly touching sent a chill up my spine. Eyes stared back at me as I walked forward, one hand outstretched. 

“I will hear you. Show me what I need to see.”

The entity watched, studying before it shrieked in rage as the final words of a spell were cast. Claws sank into my back and thigh, ripping through the clothing I wore and through my skin. Teeth dug into my shoulder, crushing my collarbone and ripping the skin open. I grit my teeth, falling to my knees as the thing lashed out, cutting my chin and neck with thick claws.

Help us. Stop. Help us. Let us go.

I stumbled to the edge of the landing, looking down at the human as he finished his ancient spell. The being was pulled forward, grasping at me and the walls and the wood. “Stop it!” I called down to him, but he glared at me and uttered the final word.

The circle ignited in fire and within it, something dark and forbidden stirred. I groaned, feeling my wounds more than I had a moment ago. It swirled within its confines, shrieking and slamming on the barrier.

He stood back, smug. “See. Now it’s captured.”

“Sure is, idiot. Now, what are you going to do with it?” I stood up, grasping the banister. 

The man produced a book, flipping pages. “Banish it.”

Anger showed on my face. “You mean kill it.”

“Not at all, just send it back to where it’s from.”

“It’s from here!” 

The man chuckled and flipped another page, stabbing it with his finger in determination. I shook my head, and jumped from the second floor, following the way the broken-legged man had fallen, directly into the swirling darkness.

I crashed into the entity, never reaching the ground. It engulfed me, claws and teeth and fear and anguish. I cried out, barely hearing the man calling to me as pain ripped through my focus. It crashed around the tiny space, away from me and back again, bringing new wounds with each moment.

“Come into me,” I murmured. “I invite you inside.”

The air sucked out of the room as the entity barrelled into me, igniting every cell in my body with their presence. It was cold and hot at once, sending vibrations of awareness through me, unlike anything I had felt before. My breath was gone and yet felt wonderful when I breathed, a newness and memory in one action.

They slid within, filling my mind and body, exploring every crevice in an intimate invasion. I moaned and they moaned, feeling each other deeply. A thousand memories of their lives, of their stories, of their deaths, and every moment in between flashed in my mind. I felt it all, living their fantasies and desires, their fears and anxieties, and having them intensify the sense of identity I shared with them.

The entity dove into my own memories, witnessing my hundred lives and moments of pleasure, pain, joy, and defeat. It felt every loss and every win, every mouth and tongue, and length that had invaded me and pleasured me and stretched me. It pulled each moment through to my mind so that I felt each of the sensations one after another until my body throbbed.

Words that I had never heard before were instantly understandable as we melded, merging our souls so that everything became whole. I cried out as they did, voices becoming one, as I saw them, truly saw them, and they me. It was an infinite understanding that brought a cry of release from us both, to be so known and understood, and connected as through a force unknown.

Time and being passed between us. My body felt full, as did my heart, and it poured over into a sensation that filled me everywhere. I gasped and shuddered, as did they, as our bodies became one and I knew, truly, what it was to be loved. Moans and shivers passed between us as we made love with nothing more than trust and openness. There were no secrets, no lies, no mysteries besides endless truth and profound knowing.

We collapsed to the ground, slumping to our knees panting the breath of life that was both marvelous and familiar. Our head lifted, staring with glowing eyes at the man who stared back, utterly human and terrified. 

“Ar… are you?” he stammered.

We sighed and nodded. “It’s fine. I’ve got it contained. I know what needs to happen.”

“I have… I have a spell… for possession…”

We shook her head, impatient. “No. That won’t work. It’s not… like that.” A strange panic curled in our stomach, the fear of being separated from what was now home. 

Our lips pursed together as our foot touched the edge of the barrier, and stuck out of it. It didn’t work against the living, possessed or not. A small smile touched our lips before we turned back to him. 

He was oblivious to our revelation. “Just… sit for a moment,” he murmured and turned the page. We grabbed his book, threw it into the fire where it ignited to life, and caught the sacred text. His eyes widened in sudden understanding as we grabbed his coat, pulling him forward and lifting. 

“You are as despicable as any hunter. Go!” The door flew open at our whim, and he flew out of it as we desired. With a flick of our eyes, the door closed again, locking behind him, leaving him to scramble or try to save those he left behind.

We turned, sighing, and looked at our hands, knowing they were ours and more. A thousand creatures we had touched and loved and embraced. A thousand wounds we had gotten and healed and remembered. Multiple lifetimes lived in those hands as we closed them, feeling the preternatural strength of our grip.

The stairs groaned beneath our weight as we half walked, half glided, knowing that with these hands we could undo it all. Our steps carried us to the back room, a knife flying to the hand with but a thought. Our head turned, glancing behind at the familiar power and yet wonder at its ability.

With a quick and powerful movement, the knife was jammed into the floorboards. Moments passed as wood splintered and went flying, joining a vortex of power around our body. The thing beneath squirmed and howled as it became revealed, ancient magic wrought by modern humans unknowing what they summoned. 

Knife cast aside, we dug our hands into the sigil and ripped. It tore apart, screeching in agony as the magic was rendered and shattered. The house trembled, built on the sacred evil finalized in this hideous room. We shuddered, feeling the opening to a world beyond glow brilliantly in the crack we had made.

Love and trust blossomed within, gratefulness and understanding as two souls began to render, one slipping away into the light whilst the other stayed pinned in an earthly body. Tears slid down our face as it pulled us apart, leaving behind shared memories and knowing. 

I fell to my knees, gasping at the sudden grief that filled my heart and the hollowness of my body I was suddenly aware of. My hands opened and closed, entirely my own, and weaker than they had been. I gave a loud moaning sob, wrapping my arms around myself, exposed and yet more complete than I had ever been. I had not known I had been so empty, only when I had been so full. 

The light extinguished and I sat in the dark, alone.

Scarecrow

 

The corn swayed in the setting sun, golden and ready for harvest. Birds circled, flying close, yet never landed, choosing instead to sway away at the last minute. Feathers sat on the ground here and there from where a bird had come just a touch too close. Beyond the rows and rows of corn sat an orchard, filled with twisted apple trees.  

I fingered the forgotten pipe in my pocket, feeling the heavy magic that sat within it. Years had come and gone since I had found it in the fields a world away, miles from where it belonged. Even longer for me to track down the owner of it and find the story when none would dare speak of the thing that lurked in the corn.

The old dirt road wound through the cornfields, giving space to small houses here and there before closing in. A strange quiet was always settled over the crop, the only sound coming from the wind blowing between the long straight rows, making the corn sway and shiver. I stared up at the tall plants as I approached the border of the field, wondering if some supernatural force would pull me within to prevent damage to the crop.

As I stepped inside, nothing touched me but the soft leaves of the corn plants. I let my fingers brush against them as I began to move through the rows, carefully stepping between the plants to go to the next row and then the next. My hands bent the plants, pushing them gently so that I wouldn’t trip or break them.

Within the golden world of the corn, nothing could be seen but the plants themselves. Even the sky was slightly blotted out by tassels and leaves. Cobs hugged the plants, unpecked and perfect, the tips of them peeking out of the husks and growing beautiful yellow hair. A sickly sweet smell and the scent of dust hung in the air, clinging to my skin and hair with each step.

The smell thickened the further in I wandered, moving somewhat aimlessly towards the center of the field and closer to the apple orchard beyond. Above me a crow called, swooping low to dip near the corn. It made a choking startled noise as something strange and humanoid plucked dit from the sky with ease and gave the calming science back to the world.

My eyes looked through the field to where the dark shape had erupted, catching glimpses of some shadow moving swiftly. Feathers fell lazily to the ground yet no sound came from the creature. I paused, pushing aside a stalk to step closer.  

The creature paused, dropping the dead bird to the ground, and turned its head slowly to gaze back at the sound of my movement. I stood still, breathing pausing as we peered at each other through the gently blowing corn. It had no face I could see, but a straw hat that cast shadows over its being. 

A cloud rolled over the sun, casting us in darkness for a brief moment. I blinked, glancing upward at the fading light, then back down. The creature was gone, vanished without a trace or sound. 

I turned, glancing around to find wherever it had gone. Nothing but corn waited for me, seemingly closer and closing in than it was before. I stepped between the rows, moving to where the thing had been standing, and looked down at the bird, whose neck had been twisted to an unnatural angle.

The cloud rolled away, revealing the hint of sunlight that remained in the sky as it began to coast over the horizon and send us into darkness. On the ground were strange footprints, with hints of straw sticking into the tilled earth. I bent over, picking up some of the straw. It smelled of dust and dry plants, with hints of mold from being left in the rain.

Without waiting for more light, I followed them through the field. With increasing speed I moved down the rows until the creature had moved up one and then continued to run. It had never made a sound, nor broke a single stalk as it moved, leaving a neat trail of straw behind in its wake.

Rustling noises made me stop, happening a few rows over in the field. My eyes searched in the dark, looking for the thing I had seen earlier. Shadows were everywhere, seemingly causing the corn to shudder and rustle all around me. I sucked in a breath and turned, running back through the field towards where the creature had gone originally. 

The corn shook behind me as something followed me, making the stalks quiver as it approached. I didn’t dare turn to look behind me but kept moving forward, switching roots when I felt it come too close. 

My arms rose up in front of me,  shielding my face from the corn leaves that made small painful cuts against my face and neck with each step I took. The constant barrage of leaves made it impossible to know where I was going, or what was coming towards me. 

A shadow stepped out from the corn ahead of me, cutting off where I was running. We both stopped, staring at each other in the arriving night. Whatever was beyond it was what it didn’t want me to see. I raised a brow, a hint of a smirk on my lips, and pulled a knife from my pocket. 

The creature turned to fully face me, raggedy clothes now obvious. Bits of straw and twine peaked out from beneath the ratty fabric, holes and tears throughout. A sack was over its head beneath the hat, eye holes and a mouth cut out. Nothing but darkness rested beneath it, staging at me as though from a void.

I ran towards it, refusing to let the intimidation do more than stall me for a second. The creature steadied themselves, waiting for impact, arms reaching out as I neared them. My knife sliced through the corn stalks beside them, making them turn as I ran past. Hands grabbed to the corn stalks while my hand pulled on the back of their shirt.

“No, you’re done,” I said harshly, yanking them backward and slamming their straw body to the ground. 

They landed in a pile of dust and bits of straw. I looked over them, crouching behind them. The air made me wince to avoid coughing before I tugged him back and began to drag him through the corn towards the center. 

There stood a pole, empty, and I could hear the whispered truth of its purpose. The scarecrow struggled behind me, flailing on the ground as I approached. “Remember who you are,” I growled, heaving him upward t the pole.

He pawed at me, straw hands in gloves grabbed at my hair and chest as I lifted his body up on the pole. With a grunt I placed him on the nail, attaching his tattered shirt to the beam lodged in the ground.

I stepped back, looking up at him as he scrambled and flailed, arms moving wildly against me though he could not reach me. A simile touched my lips and we watched each other. Him in angry protest, me with knowing amusement. 

My head tilted. “This isn’t who you are. Murdering anyone or thing that comes near your fields. You know this.”

The sack face contorted into rage. “This is all I am good for. A thing. Unwanted. Forgotten here. Tasked with keeping the birds from the crops.”

I shook my head. “You have resigned yourself to tending crops. The villagers are grateful. But this has to stop.”

“What do you know, flesh?” he snarled at me. “You are nothing but another human, who thinks their world too precious for the likes of me.”

“You do love to hear yourself, don’t you?” I grumbled. I pulled a rope from my bag and moved, attaching each flailing scarecrow arm to each slide of the pole. “Perhaps if you were not so full in your loss you would see that more awaits you.”

“There is nothing for me. I am hideous.”

I grimaced, pausing as I bound one of his arms to touch his sack face. “That isn’t true. I’m sorry someone made you believe that.”

The scarecrow paused, head turned towards me in quiet consideration. 

As I tightened the final knot and plucked the whip from my bag, he waited, immobile, legs scrambling to find purchase on the wood. “You’re not getting out until you see who you are,” I said, letting the tail end of the whip drop from my hand.

“You’re weak,” he growled.

I flicked the whip up and then down against the pant leg of his worn clothing. The scarecrow groaned the tip of the whip cutting open the fabric. “You cannot hurt me.”

“No,” I replied, pulling the whip back and striking again. He howled though he felt no pain. “But I know you remember the feeling of it, of being used, of being loved for a body and not yourself.”

“How dare you!?” the creature cried, pulling against the restraints.

I flicked the whip against his chest, watching him arch up to meet it, crying out with false pain. “Because you had a life and you chose this.”

My hands dropped a few feathers, letting him see the sum of his work. “Is this it? Is this all there is for you?”

The creature lowered his head as the whip hit him again and again, each sharp sound drawing a gasp or whimper from his sack face. I paused as he cried out, begging me to stop the rhythm as his clothes lay in tatters and fell off of his straw frame.

“What is it you want, then?” I asked, brow raised. 

A long pause waited between us as he considered. “I made… choices.”

“You did. And now?”

The scarecrow stopped, blackened eye sockets staring at me in a blank expression. 

“I regret it.”

A look of sorrow touched my face, and then I nodded.

“Do you want to go back?”

I stood before him, gazing upward, eyes piercing the darkness. I knew his story and I knew that heartache was no way to define a life. 

That long silence stretched, expanding between us. Finally, the scarecrow sighed. “But what worth am I without her?”

“That’s a question only you can answer,” I murmured, flicking the whip again so it slashed across his face, ripping the sack into pieces. “But…” I paused, bringing the pipe out. “I brought this.”

He paused, staring at the pipe hard and looking from it to me within a few beats. “How?’ he asked, voice impossibly lost. 

“I heard the story,” I whispered, approaching him and snaking a hand up to his straw-filled thigh.

“And so I would be your new toy?” he scoffed.

I offered the pipe to his mouth, letting him make the decision. “No. You’d be whatever you wished.”

The scarecrow took one puff, body shuddering as he did so. No smoke emerged yet I felt the change beneath me. My hand slid under his worn pants, feeling the hardness within. “Do you feel this?” I asked, breath shallow.

He groaned, hips pumping forward at my hand’s invasion. “I do,” he moaned.

I smirked and kept stroking the straw filled flesh, before pulling the pants down and off his legs, leaving dust and debris behind. “Do you want me to show you that this isn’t her?”

The creature nodded and took one more puff on the pipe. My eyes beheld a mortal man yet my hands felt the creature beneath. The hardness of his length was punctuated by sharp pokes and prods from the straw beneath. I stroked, running my hand up and down his increasing length as he whispered in the twilight, beginning me.

“Yes, please. Thank you,” he groaned with each passing movement. 

I moaned softly, aroused by his need, mouth moving forward to flick a tongue over his erection. My mouth explored him, tasting the dust and straw as my mouth swallow the fake human shell over his length.

He cried out, hips bucking p against my hand and mouth, body shuddering with each caress and taste. I whimpered, moaning against his flesh that was real and unreal, swallowing him though I felt the straw in every suck and taste. It was real and unreal, a creature undecided in who he was.

The scarecrow trembled, crying out as his release should have flooded my throat, and yet nothing came. I looked up at him, mouth still closed around the swollen member. I moved my hand to the knife, cutting him down before releasing him from my need.

He groaned, vacant mouth finding mine as we fell into the cornfield, arms wrapped around each other in hungry wanton. I shuddered above him, straddling his hips while he moaned, gloved hands discovering gm body as I let him slide within me.

My hips met his, rising up and down as he slid inside, rising within to send chills of delight soaring through my body. I cried out, shuddering as he grabbed my breasts through the gardener’s gloves and cried out.

No release emerged within me as I bent down to capture his coarse fabric lips in my own. “Believe it,” I whimpered. “In me. Come in me.”

My hips moved faster, letting him slide in and out of me in rapid movement, his strength, pokey and dry as it was, poking inside of me time after time. I kept moving, feeling the strange sensation of straw and dirt burrowing within my opening, moans escaping my lips at the new and delightful sensations.

The scarecrow cried out, once bound hands grabbing my hips and encouraging me atop him. Our moans and cries grew together as humanoid eyes began to appear beneath the mask and finally, he tore it off, looking up at me from his true face. 

I bent down, our lips meeting as he began to pump into me, meeting my every stroke with delight and want. We moaned and carried, filling the cornfield with new sounds of relief. AA great pulsing pleasure moved through me, filling me with its release as I shuddered atop him and then whimpered, collapsing on his chest.

The scarecrow held me to his chest, whispering a thank in soft breathing and warm flesh. I shivered in the night, pulling myself up to look at the thing beneath me, inhuman and free. The creature within had fled, finally released from its confines. 

Dream Walker

 

Moonlight played over the leaves, casting them in a silver glow. A soft breeze blew through the forest, playing with the foliage and ferns. Night creatures moved about, their wings and calls gently invading the night air. The open windows welcomed it all, inviting every hoot and grunt, musical rustling of leaves, and the odd call of the lost souls wandering the streets late at night.

My eyes watched the moon from my bed, it’s waxing from beautiful and bright. A smile tugged at the corner of my lips, remembering countless nights I had watched the moon and felt the serenity its presence offered. Yet the smile faded as quickly as it came, the reality of what II was waiting for settled in.

The bed was cold and uncomfortable. I laid on it, clothing still on, bag resting at the foot. Not a day ago something unseen had ended a life without hurting the body at all. I had watched from the street as the corpse had been removed, carried away for burning. The village feared plague but something in me knew it was more.

Within the home, nothing had been amiss. The bed was disturbed, as he had been asleep when he passed. The sheets were a mess, thee sleeper haad thrashed about, under an invisible attack. Nothing else in the home had been disturbed. There were no mirrors, no invocation circles, not even a knocked over trinket or two.

I had spent the day in the home, quietly going through what was there. The man had no family, no books, and few friends. He was young, had only come to the village recently after his husband had died. It was a village for those running from the past, making them a silent, brooding lot. It felt like home.

As night rolled in, the house was abandoned. They left me with long looks of concern and a few candles. I moved through the small space, blowing the candles out, and sat in the long shadows cast by the moonlight. Nothing stirred in the house. 

I waited for hours. Waited for a shadow to stir, a thing to crawl from the darkness, to emerge from the fireplace, or to manifest from the night itself. I waited for the candles to reignite and a creature to be summoned by old magic. 

Nothing.

The night grew long and I sat in its darkness until it was clear that nothing lived in the house. In the dead of night, I had remade the bed, grimacing at the smell of sweat that was all over the sheets. An hour passed and still, nothing haunted me, even as I closed my eyes and dared the night to bite back.

As I laid there, I sighed and turned to the side, looking away from the branches swaying in the wind, deciding I would dare to will myself asleep. My breathing slowed, quieting with each passing moment. I cleared my mind, letting it fall blank. 

The darkness around me changed, shifting. I grew warm and settled into the uncomfortable bed, the sounds of night fading away into the sweet nothing of rest. 

Spice and perfume filled the air. The sound of a thousand voices laughing as music floated around, their bodies moving in rhythm with a celebration of life and death. It was a kingdom city II hadn’t been to in a hundred years, yet each detail was exactly as I remembered it. The large stone buildings with beautiful mosaics and bright colors brought a smile to my face.

I walked down an alley, fingers brushing against the ancient stone. Children ran by, dodging around me with deft swiftness, their shouts echoing between the buildings. I watched them, then turned back to the main street.

Across the street, he stood, half-covered in darkness. A wild grin on his lips that stretched just a little too far. Long, wicked claws grew from each finger, glimmering in the darkness with their steel lengths.

Our eyes met and his grin widened. I stood, half frozen, watching the thing that watched me. People walked between us, laughing and celebrating, but neither of us blinked. A cold free touched my gut as my instincts recognized a predator. 

The nails raked against the stone, a warning and an invitation. II felt a smirk tug at my lip and tilted my head, brow raising. 

His grin somehow grew. One hand moved to tilt his hat in quiet acknowledgment of my movement. The haunting eyes bore into mine before a man walked between us and the nightmare disappeared.

I turned into the street, moving through the people to get away, heart thudding in my chest. The mortals moved slow and drunkenly as I tried to move through them. Several women crowded around me, putting flowers around my neck as I tried to get away.

A man turned, looking at me, that wicked knowing gin on his lips. I stumbled back, the women telling me to be careful in a language I barely remembered. He strode forward, moving around the women with ease, even as I tried to extract myself from them. 

Finally, I shoved one away, pushing harder than I meant. She fell backward, curse words coming out of here. The people paused, turning towards me in unison. I looked at her, saying an apology in he language poorly, the words suddenly forgotten in my head.

The creature was nowhere to be seen. I turned, running away from the people as they began to chase after me. I walked up stone stairs, following them around the wall and to the top of a flat rustic building.

As I stepped out, the pale brown stone became dark grey, and the rain beat down on the castle. I turned, looking behind me to the tower door that loomed. It was another kingdom, another land I hadn’t seen in nearly a century. My brows furrowed, eyes blinking away what I knew must be an illusion.

The sound of nails scraping on stone brought my eyes back to the great wall I stood on. Amongst the gargoyles and shadows something walked, long metal claws dragging over the rock with each passing step, the creature itself shrouded in darkness. Yet each step brought the promise of pain closer.

I turned and ran, as any prey animal would, running to the tower’s door. It pushed open with ease and I move inside, slamming the door behind me and throwing the wooden plank over it to lock it. 

My feet carried me up the stone stairs, spiraling upward faster and faster. The floor above opened to an armory, with discarded armor and weapons on racks and on the floor. I grabbed a sword, its cold pommel strangely familiar in my hand. 

The door below slowly creaked open. I paused, looking around for a way to block the hole yet there was none. A simple ladder led upward to the top of the tower. The sword was tucked into a sheath and attached to my belt before I climbed, pushing a trap door open behind me.

Wind and rain whipped my face as I climbed outside. My heart thundered as loud as the storm around me as the man on the rampart turned, evil grin meeting my look of terror. 

“How-” I said, but no words came out. 

My hand fumbled with the sword, pulling it out and holding it between us. The man caressed the edge of the blade with his long, steel nails, sending shivers down the length to my bones. I shuddered and stepped back, flicking the sword so his nails had to move away or he would be cut.

Yet he didn’t pull away and the blade slid through his fingers, cutting them off. They fell to the floor and he laughed, a maniacal giggle coming from his wicked grin.

“Fuck,” I muttered, stepping to the side as he moved nearer, fingers wiggling before growing new steel weapons of pain.

“Where are you going?” he teased, raising his brows in eager anticipation.

I glanced around, realizing there was nowhere to go. My grip grew firmer n the blade and I thrust, pushing towards the creature.

He grabbed the blade, pulling on it to pull me closer. I let go, letting him stumble back against the rampart. His back hit the stone and he dropped the blade. It clattered to the ground as I followed him, giving one final push to throw his body over the edge.

The thunder roared as he screamed, body falling from the highest tower in the strange kingdom. I stood, watching him disappear into the darkness below. Rain lashed my face. I was soaked and yet didn’t notice. The door I had come through was gone. 

“No.” I knelt ddown, fingers feeling for the wood in the daark. “No, no, no, no, no…”

A long, clawed hand grabbed my hair, yanking my head back. 

“Nice try,” he grinned, pulling tighter. I whimpered at the pain that moved through my scalp. “You’ve got fire, kid.”

My hand patted the ground for the sword, finding nothing but cement and rainwater. 

“You put up a good fight. Quite the little heroine.”

Claws caressed my exposed throat, playing over the delicate skin, whispering of death. 

“But now, as in all fairy tales… there will be pain.”

He pulled hard, tossing me against the wall I had thrown him over. I hit the cement, the wind knocked out of my lungs, and gasping. 

The wicked claws slashed my back, cutting the fabric of my clothes to ribbons and slicing through the delicate skin. Blood mixed with rainwater as it leaked down my back, dripping onto the stone below.

His rough hands pulled at the fabric, ripping it wide open until it sat in a ragged mess, hanging from my stomach. “You look good in red,” he grinned, one long claw moving from my ankle to my groin and slicing calf to thigh in the motion. With ease, he sliced the pants away, leaving a bloody mess in his wake.

My cries were eaten by the wind and rain. He laughed, leaning against me from behind as I held to the stone, trying to keep my feet under me. “There, there. It’s not as though you could have defeated me.”

I whimpered as his lips teased the skin of my neck, whispering against the sensitive flesh. “But it wouldn’t be fun if you did. Would it? You want me to break you. I saw your grin in the market… like a whore.”

He yanked on my hair, pulling my head back again. “Beg me.”

“Please,” I whimpered, releasing a shuddering breath. 

“Please, what?”

A claw slid from my throat to my breast, cutting a fine line before lightly stabbing into the nipple. 

I cried out, trying to pull away but only leaning harder against him. The claw moved just a touch deeper. 

“Please. What.” His voice was husky and demanding.

I sucked in a shaky breath. “Break me.”

His hand released my hair and pushed me forward, leaning me over the cold wet stone. “Again,” he snarled.

“Please break me,” I cried out, screaming into the wind.

The fingers took my hair, winding it around his fingers before he held steady and pushed behind me. His thick, rough length was shoved inside, claiming my entrance for his own in one vicious thrust. 

Tears slid down my cheeks. Small whimpers escaped my lip. I dug my nails into the stone while his hips began to move, sliding himself in and out of me. Each stroke burned, cutting inside me. The creature only grinned when I cried out, pushing harder with each whimper I gave.

The lightning cracked, illuminating the nightmare creature while he began to pound into me. My cries of pain mingled with moans of pleasure and his grunting eagerness. The hand held tighter to my hair, pulling my head back and bringing my hips to meet his thrusts. We rocked together, the monster claiming my body as his own with each penetrating plunge. 

“Good girl,” he growled, losing himself in the motion of our joining. Blood slid down my back and mixed with the rain and my wetness, coating us both in its crimson glow. Nails slid against my skin, leaving thin cuts that oozed beads of blood, scratching me everywhere he touched.

I moaned, bucking back against me even as he pushed me down against the stone harder, using my body however he wished. His speed and power increased, seeming to expand within me and push deeper, leaving me a mess of pressure and pain and the ecstasy of being filled.

“Thank you,” I panted, the pressure boiling over inside of me and leaving as a cry of delight. I shuddered as he thrust inside me, holding himself there to feel me twitch while he rested in.

A knowing grin touched his lips as he watched me release, beginning to slide in and out again only when I caught my breath. He gave one decisive pull on my hair and dragged me to my knees before him.

His swollen length, covered in my juices and blood, was thrust into my mouth and into the back of my throat. I choked, tasting copper and musk before gagging on his size. The monster didn’t care, sliding in and out again with violent speed and hunger. 

I coughed and sputtered on his size, hands pushing against his thighs in panic as he slide inside, blocking my ability to breathe. The speed picked up as I gagged again, feeling my throat close and tighten around him.

He groaned in pleasure, holding me perfectly still by a painful grip on my hair. The nightmare pulled out, hand stroking himself for a few moments before hot liquid spilled across my lips and face, covering me in his release.

That same grin showed on his lips as he stared down at me, caressing my chin briefly. “Wake up.”

My brows furrowed. “What?”

The monster pulled me to my feet and to the edge of the tower. I looked over the edge to the darkness below. Wet, hungry lips kissed mine, licking his taste off of my flesh. “Wake. Up.”

And he pushed.

I tumbled over the side of the tower, plunging through the cold and wet air. A scream escaped my lips as the darkness grew nearer and nearer until I felt a hard thud from hitting the ground.

My eyes opened with a sudden start in the small home, staring into complete darkness. I was breathing fast and hard. My hands touched my body, feeling no cuts and my clothing still intact. The cloud moved off the moon, throwing light back into the room. I sighed, catching my breath, as the vivid dream stayed locked in my mind.