Chapter 1 - Story

I walked into the night.

Rain danced on the canopy, thunder rolled, lightning flickered. Black trees stretched into the dark sky, they reached for the twinkling lights above. The oaks creaked, and groaned, saddened when they couldn't grasp the stars, rejected by all that was holy.

The forest wasn't always damned, it was changed, like me.

Their flesh tainted, their minds warped into mindless eating machines, wanting and wanting more. I desire the light too, I crave the warmth, but not because I'm cold, because I want to see it become like me.

I want it to fade and go numb.

A lamp moves through the woods, and I sense the life in the man carrying it.

I stalked as he went down a trail, and noticed he didn't have any weapons. The path he followed ends, but he shoves his way through the untamed wild. He enters my domain, my kingdom, serving himself up as a sacrifice.

He steps into my traps. Thorns claw at him, but he's protected by thick leather garb, my pets are unable to poison him, and he rips free of the brush. The tug sends him off balance, he drops his lamp, the flame wavers . . . flickers . . . dies.

I stepped through mud, closer.

He tries to reach for the lamp, but my servants take it first. The roots of a tree wrap around the frame, and devour it, the glass crunches underneath layers of earth and bark. He still searched, not realizing it was gone.

I can feel his heat from here, like the full moon's glow on my skin. I want to bask in that fire, I want to smother it.

The rain slowed, my forest went quiet, only the droplets from leaf to wet earth. The air scented of fresh bark, petals, and the ash that permanently stained these woods.

My step breaks a twig, and I see him jolt to his feet.

“A witch," he said. His eyes flicking through the darkness, trying to find me.

I circle around to his back, perhaps too close. "You sound confused. What were you expecting?"

"A demon maybe. I heard souls could live forever in these woods."

I stood before him, staring into his eyes, they moved about, distant, like they still didn't see me right in front of him. His expression was concerned, but not panicked. He didn't realize he should be scared, many have come looking for immortality, they just didn't know the price.

A flash of lightning illuminated the forest . . . his eyes met mine.

I took a hold of his throat. He gasped, and snatched my arm—strange, he shouldn't be able to touch me. Still, I feel the heat start to radiate away from his body, fleeing, repelled like a disease. A shudder rattles his body, and he lets out the sound of death.

I love this part. I lean in.

But his mitt grabs my wrist.

An elbow came down into my arm, and he spun my body; breaking the connection. Vines surged to my aid, whipping out to grab his arms, but they're too late, he's got me tangled in his. My neck was in a glove's clutch, and my back held to his chest.

Thunder struck in the distance, causing the sky to growl.

Roots started to crawl up his body, squeezing him. He grumbled a little and pulled my throat, moving his mouth beside my ear when he said, "You're different than I thought."

"What does that mean?" I hissed.

"The villagers call you the devil's wife, say you made a pact when you were alive," He paused to shove away a briar trying to take his wrist. "A pact that made you as powerful as you are ugly."

"I am as powerful as the anguish I endured, when they burned me alive."

His grip was loosening, too many saplings were coiling around him. I shove my way out of his arms. He tries to pursue, but a branch slams him into the trunk of another. He scowled as my kingdom enveloped him, binding him against the wooden pillar.

"I am no demon, nor devil's wife," I said, and crept my fingers underneath his leather. "But I am powerful, and you will be too, so long as you aid me in the vengeance I seek."

My fingernails scratched his skin, injecting poison into his veins. His eyes nearly rolled back, and he let out a shaky sigh. I could feel his light dying, but it was more than I was used to, there was something odd about his soul, it was morphing, whimpering, and . . .

It's mauling me, like thousands of desperate hands.

I hesitated to move, whispering, "What are you?"

When I looked up, his eyes were locked on mine, steady, like a predator waiting for it's prey to move. Goosebumps tickled my arms and neck. I held my breath.

His grin got wide, wider than it should've been, when he said, "They call me by many names, I'm not sure which you'd know."

"Werewolf?"

"No."

I ripped my hand away from him, and muttered, "Demon?"

He laughed. "Oh my, no. Demon's trade to keep souls, I just eat them."

I froze, heart pounding out of rhythm. So that's what I felt, the grasping of spirits, others he'd consumed that were craving for escape. He was a body, but he had no soul, and I was a soul that had no body.

The vines encasing him started to whine and shrink, they dried out and droop off him like they had been burnt by the sun. He took in a deep breath, then his body started to extend, limbs got longer, torso and maw stretched . . . he was some kind of monster I'd never seen before.

I backed away.

He stepped closer, chuckling, the faintest shimmer of the moon flecked in his black eyes. His smile curled up his cheeks, then he slowly raised a long arm towards me.

The trees lashed out to bat him away, but he tore through their branches like paper. I retreated slowly, eyes wide. For a moment all I could hear was my breath, no rain, no movement, just those pupils fixed on me, waiting . . .

I flinched, unable to hold eye contact, and for the second my eyes turned away, he leapt.

A willow trunk snapped out of the ground and came down to block him. I bolted in the opposite direction. I knew these woods better than anyone, I grew up here, I died here, I rule this forest. I dashed through the misty blanket of night, passing black bushels, whipping against leaf and brush.

I could hear the creaking of elms, and the moan of earth trying to slow him, they wanted to protect me, it's all they knew. But I couldn't look back, I couldn't risk even a moment. I fled through a collection of bramble, and then ran behind one of the larger timbers of the forest, it's roots had created a little bowl in the earth. I ducked down beside them.

The monster came barrelling through the trees, smacking branches out of his way, panting and growling like an animal was in his chest. He stopped, then took a few steps forward, breathing heavily from his maw. He sniffed the air, and hummed a sound like he tasted something savoury.

"Little girl." His steps thumped. "I've stalked creatures more quick, and clever . . ."

The timber beside me started to whine like it was dying.

I looked up at it.

The beast landed in front of me, and the tree split in-half, dead, crashing into the floor. "Than you," He added.

"Please just let me—" He snatches for my neck, and I barely dodge in time. His claws caught in my hair, but I tore my head away, letting him take strands. He swipes at me again, as another servant wails to intercept.

"I could give you power," I shout as I escape.

The kingdom behind me was being torn and ripped from its roots. I could feel their agony, and hear the whining as they stretched beyond their means, the sound crept under my skin like ice. Black muck and bark fluttered through the air, their leaves rustling against the wind, howling as they smashed into the woodland floor.

"Your entire forest can barely fight me, child." The beast roared. "What power could you possibly give me?"

As I raced by trees and bush, they caved in around me like a barrier. My heart was drumming in my ears, and I shouted, "Money then!"

A raspy chuckle echoed in reply.

"Plea—" I shriek, slipping on mud and smacking into the earth.

My vision was blurry, and my hearing stunned, but I had to keep moving. I slipped in the mud trying to get to my feet, but before I could, his paw seized my waist and pulled me to my feet. He opened his mouth . . .

"Fame! Spells. I know so much!"

But he didn't stop, I could feel my energy drawn into him, pulled to the center of his throat. I screeched at the top of my lungs, it hurt to feel that gravity, I didn't know I could feel pain anymore.

His core was cold, like a siren, and I could hear the souls inside him pleading and weeping. Horrible sounds. They reached for me as he drew me in, trying to use me like a ladder to claw their way out.

A trunk bashed into the beast's head and he lost grip of me, we toppled to the forest floor. I gasped and darted off the ground, running towards my cabin.

If I got to my book I could—

He slammed the door shut as I went to open it. His snout exhaling overhead. I stepped to the side, but he spun me, and smacked me backwards into the door. A trail of blood ran down his face, giving his lowered brow all the more sinister a look.

"Please," Tears breached my eyes. "Don't do this. I'll do anything, just tell me something you want. Anything."

He huffed, warm breath washed over me . . . Then he said, "Anything?"

"Yes. Please."

His claws idly strummed at the lace of my corset, and I felt the wires loosen.

I lowered my gaze. My body was weak but tense, I didn't know how I was still standing. He jerked down my blouse, and I stammered, "Wh-what are you doing?"

He grumbled through fangs, "I thought you said anything."

"Yes."

He tugged on my chin, and his tongue shot out to breech my lips, filling my throat. I squirmed backwards, gagging, but I was stopped by the door.

The moon shimmered just behind him, and for the first time I could see his figure clearly. His legs weren't human, the joints were backwards, his torso was covered in fur and spiny tendrils. He had a tail, but it was slick like a reptile, and his face was long and skeletal.

I pushed my palms into his chest, trying to shove him off, my lungs convulsing, I couldn't breathe. He tore his tongue out of my mouth and I gasped, coughing wet sounds.

Claws took a hold of my waist, prickling my flesh. "Not so certain about giving me anything, are you?" He said.

I adjusted against the door, but there was nowhere to go, I was trapped between him and it.

"I . . ." Words escaped me, I didn't want this, but I didn't want to die either.

As I struggled to find the right thing to say, his tongue slipped out of his muzzle and traced it's way up my chest. He licked just under my rib-cage, over a breast . . . nipple, then flicked his tongue back into his mouth. His saliva felt like a trail of ice, so cold it was searing, and the tingles made me shiver. I could barely think.

"If you're unsure—" he said, then opening his jaw just a little. I felt the chill of his core again as the gravity of his body drew me in.

I gasped, my heart fluttered, and a rush flowed through me. I . . . I grabbed his face and pressed my lips to his muzzle, biting for his tongue, trying to grab it with my fingers and pull it back into my mouth. He seemed to realize what I was doing, because he stopped trying to devour me, and instead, jammed his tongue even deeper into my throat this time, causing me to vocally wince.

His body started bearing down against me, squishing me into the wooden door, locking me in place. I'm normally numb, and yet, dizzy sensations that I hadn't felt in decades were flooding my nerves—I didn't know I still had nerves.

Every creature that had come to this forest couldn't touch me, we didn't exist on the same plane, my forest could pull them into mine, but they weren't able to cross on their own. And yet, here he was, toying with my body, tracing the ether like I was real, making my body feel alive.

He leaned a paw into the door and I could feel one of the hinges pop, causing us to stumble against a now unstable surface. He removed his tongue from my throat, I half-choked, half-moaned, my eyelids parted weakly.

"I'm not very patient," he said, growling in his chest. Claws travelled down my body, slicing off strips of fabric as they roamed, exposing flesh. "Choose."

"Didn't we already?"

He smirked. "I've decided to take you, yes, but I'm letting you choose, whether I make you mine by eating you, or by fucking you."

He was willing to spare me. Why? I wanted him, but—

"Won't you just eat me, after you . . . ?"

"Fuck you?" He mused for a moment, a sound lingering in his throat. Then he said, "Depends how much I enjoy you."

My stomach knotted—another sensation I hadn't felt in ages—it mixed into the swollen aching between my legs. "What do you enjoy?" I asked, feeling like I couldn't breathe again.

He smacked the door. I let out a scream as me and the wood clattered onto the cabin floor; the last hinge had popped.

The beast lowered himself, crawling onto all fours over me, nuzzling the side of my neck. "Hearing you scream," he said, claws carefully spreading my legs. "I brought you to tears earlier." He took in a deep, satisfying breath. "I enjoyed that."

"I can't cry on command."

"No, and it wouldn't be fun if you could," he said as his waist came down to nestle between my thighs. Tendrils wrapped over my legs, coiling a few times, tugging me—I tested their strength, but it was like fighting against muscle. He was trapping me, I tried to relax.

I gasped sharp, something hot and slick started rubbing against my slit, but it was too dark to see what it was. "I don't know, if I can make you enjoy it, then." I said reluctantly. Admitting that felt like a death sentence.

He sighed, saying, "You're probably right. You'll make a better meal."

"No. Wait—"

His muzzle opened right over me, and I could feel him sucking me in again, along with the steady white noise of souls crying out in anguish. I could feel them this time, thousands of cold arms erupting from his throat, grabbing at me, scratching, ripping, tearing. I screeched and tried push them away, but it was endless.

"Please, wait! LET ME TRY!"

The souls wailing got so loud I couldn't tell if he heard me, so I had to fight, it was my only option. I swung my arms, trying to shove away the ones that had grabbed me, but for each I cast off, three more took its place. They tugged and pulled, taking me into his core, but my legs were still held in place, I was being torn in two.

I screamed, the pain was unbearable, and the thought of being stuck inside there, was the worst fate I could imagine. Tears flooded down my face, and a jagged sound left my lips, the last strength I had in me was gone, and I couldn't fight anymore, they were too strong. The thought of becoming one of them was horrifying, but I gave up.

Just as my body accepted the pull, I felt a heat drill it's way inside me, flaring out, spreading me open. The beast's jaw shut and my body snapped back together like rubber, the world twirling around me. Sensation was dull, but I could hear our hips smacking together, and feel the ripples of his body thrusting into mine.

"Ugh . . ." The beast grunted, then whimpered like a begging dog. "You sound good."

His words trembled alongside breath, and touch—the entire world was shaking, my senses destroyed. Whatever body I had was shattered, torn into sections, it was agony, and I couldn't stop sobbing.

"Please," I whispered, "Hurt me if you have to, do whatever, just don't put me in there, with them. Please."

"Beg me to hurt you," he said, "Otherwise I might."

I choked on tears, I didn't know how to beg, I was always the one in control. I reached for his chest, trying to stroke him, trying to think. "I'd rather you claw me, straight to my heart, than—"

"No." He stuffed himself all the way inside me, and paused. Panting heavy, he seemed in pain, or maybe frustrated. "Don't tell me what you'd rather. Beg me. To hurt you."

I was shaking now, certain I'd end up in the hell that was his vessel.

"B-bite me," I faintly whispered. "Make me bleed? Please."

"More."

"Please," I whined pathetically.

What could I possibly say to convince him?

"I need the pain," I said, lips quivering, "I crave it. I haven't felt anything like this in so long, I just . . . want to feel something."

He stared at me a moment, then his snout came down to my shoulder, it dragged along until it found a supple spot to—

"Ahhng!" I screamed when his fangs pierced my flesh. His jaw clamped down, harder, and harder, sinking until I could feel his bone clinking against mine, his tongue lathering the trapped skin, taking in my blood.

His eyes closed gently and he slid his length out of me, only enough to cram it back in. I could feel more now, how warm his girth was, my womb constricting around him like sucking lips, and the pressure of him parting my walls. I moaned in a daze, and raised my arms around to the back of his neck. He drove into me, again . . . and again, distending my hole like his own personal sleeve, stretching it to fit his limb.

Moans flowed from my lips, drawn-out breaths fell from his, and I dug my fingernails into his back, tugging on him. I was enjoying it too much, my tears were drying up, I panicked.

"More. I can handle it, make me cry again?"

He removed himself from me entirely.

Did I say something wrong?

I could see strings of fluid between us, beads of goo were steadily seeping out of his twitching limb, and my entrance was swollen with need for more. He took my waist with a paw, and lifted me up, his tendrils falling away as he shoved me against a cabin wall. He hauled himself up behind me, and before I could speak, he jerked my hips back, penetrating me again with his ribbed limb.

I squealed in surprise, and he groaned darkly. His free hand gripped onto the wall, the wood creaking to his weight as he steadily pumped his cock in and out.

He sliced into my flesh like silk, and hot streams of blood trickled down my body, causing me to whine. I tried to summon tears, to give him what he needed, but it didn't hurt enough. I didn't know that anything could hurt enough to make me cry now that he was pulsating inside me.

His grip got even harder, and I wheezed in pain. He slammed into my ass quicker, the floorboards bouncing with every thrust, he was using me to coat his length; a snug, soft fleshy cavern to engulf him.

The sounds and grinding were getting too intense, my body was heating up. He started pressing into me like a desperate animal, scratching to get in, deeper, further, pushing . . . ripping my walls apart savagely. My eyes glaze, I could barely feel the pain of the contortion anymore, just him filling me with tingles.

I cried out and sunk further into the wall, my legs were too weak to stand, my muscles throbbing. The beast was nearly howling, seeming to have gone mad, he braced my hips with his paws, the rhythm of his onslaught so fast it made me woozy.

My vocals became almost catatonic, and just then he gritted his teeth. Several strong smacks of his hips into mine, and I felt it . . . heat jetting into my womb, burning through my body, spreading like wildfire. I exhaled gently, cooing, trying to breathe.

His forehead smacked into the wall above me, and he pushed into my hips until they flatten against the wood. His growling sighs vibrated through me, tickling my spine, I inhaled deep, limp against the wall. Fluids ran down my thighs, and his hips churned against mine, grinding, creating a slick slurping sound.

He took two hefty breaths and moved backwards. I was pulled off the wall, but he was torn out of me, and then a shot of seed flowed from my puffy used hole.

I turned to see him resting on a knee, arced forward, barely upright.

Now was my chance to run.

He was too weak to chase, and I was certain my kingdom could take him like this. I just had to say the word and they'd come smashing in, surround him in vines and roots, strangle him, choke all the souls out of his core, free them.

Would he die?

I took heaving breaths, sweating, my legs trembled. I leaned against the wall with an arm, half-facing him, and holding my aching stomach. His fluids were still streaming down my thighs, and my body was exhausted.

"When I heard about this place," He said, between panting. "I was expecting to devour you, and stay in your forest for weeks, eating."

I watched his expression, he lifted his head to spy me with one eye.

"But . . ." He lazily snatched my wrist, and pulled me to the floor.

I gasped tiredly, but didn't resist. He lowered himself onto the wood, curling around me, his head came down to the side of my face. His tongue flicked over my cheek, and one of his arms laid across my chest, locking me to the floor gently this time.

"As long as you keep these woods populated," He said, "I'll spare you."

He wanted me to capture souls for him?

My heart fluttered wildly.

"I could just have you killed, right now," I said.

He chuckled deep from his chest, from this close it almost sounded like purring.

His muzzle nestled into my neck. "Then you'd never feel this again. And we both know you want more. You crave it, you said."

I pulled my legs in towards my chest.

"If you're really good," He added, "I'll give you more than you can handle. I'll remind you what it's like to be alive every night, until you're so satisfied and full of sensation, you'll wish you were numb."

Outside, rain started to fall from the sky again, clashing into trees and earth. A chilly breeze swept into the cabin, brushing past the hot breaths the beast exhaled over my skin. He panted, and grumbled happily, coiling around me as the trees creaked.

"Well?" He asked.

I slowly twisted my body, and curled against his torso, burying my face into his tendrils and fur.

"Not good enough." His claws traced down my back. "Say you'll be good for me."

"I . . . will."

"You can do better than that."

I squeezed my eyes shut. "I'll be good. You can have my forest, and I'll get you more, just please, don't eat me."

"And?"

"And . . . I want you to make me feel, anything, everything, until I beg you to stop."

He released a subtle smiling breath. "Good girl."

The trees outside groaned and stretched, saddened when they couldn't drag the beast away from me and crush him beneath layers of earth and root. I could feel them mourning, not just rejected by all that was holy, but now by me, their keeper.

Their tainted minds see him as a threat, he's changing me, tempering me with his heat, making me crave life. I always sought the light, I thought I needed to snuff it all out.

But since the moment he touched me, I want to be alive again, even if only in his arms.



