You humans are so goddamn weak! Always trying to play the hero or be the nice guy. Ha! How has that worked out for you, dear Crissa?
The pressure in my face began to build from being choked.
I can make him go away. I can make your fears and your pain all go away. I shall free you and satisfy my hunger all together. Just let go, Crissa. Let go.
I felt lightheaded.
Say my name, Crissa. Say it!
“Z—” I tried to shout. “Z–e—th.” His name dripped from my mouth with the last bit of my lingering breath.
Help…me...Zeth.
The man’s grip refused to let up and I felt my strength fade away with my consciousness. My body went limp and everything went dark. I felt nothing.
Finally.
ZETH
Crissa’s humane presence retreated into itself as mine stretched and filled her vessel. My power and strength coursed through her veins and charged her blood as the unsuspecting fool continued to force himself onto her. His tongue wriggled down my throat, and as my teeth grew and sharpened, I did what any demon would do in this situation. I bit down.
The man’s scream filled my mouth while his deliciously tasting blood coated my tongue. I bit down even harder, feeling the flesh of his wriggly worm-like tongue tear beneath my daggers, ripping and biting until I was able to peel it free from him.
“Ahhh!” I sighed loudly. The man released his grip along my throat and fell onto the pavement, blood pouring from his shell-shocked face and gaped mouth while I sat there, still chewing around his long tongue. He stared at me with wide, fearful eyes, watching as I leaned my head back and gobbled it up with a single bite. “Ohh,” I moaned at the sensation of his flesh falling down my throat. “My my…I can always taste the true nature and intentions of humans when consuming them.” My head fell forward and tilted. “Butyou, oh, you have such naughty intentions.” My tongue extended and licked the drops of his blood that had smeared down the front of my mouth and chin. The man cried out, mumbling, unable to speak or even form a single syllable. “Oh,” I mocked. “What’s wrong? I thought you wanted to play rough?” The corners of my lips raised and curled high.
The man tried to crawl away, frantically sobbing and making all sorts of odd and bubbling noises from his bloodied orifice.
“You humans are all the same.” My body rose and I cracked my neck. “Always running from your demons!” With the final word, I sprinted right towards the man. He glanced over his shoulder just as I gripped his ankle. He screamed and clawed at the pavement, leaving a trail of blood behind as I drug him back to the dark corner. “Oh, we’re just getting started!” I cackled. “And we’re going to have so much fun!”
The man’s body rolled and I pinned him down, hovering over him. Blood-stained strands of my green hair brushed along his horrified face. Tears and blood smothered his flesh, and the smell of his fear drove me mad. I closed my eyes and inhaled deeply. “Ahhhh,” I sighed. “Your intentions with my human might have been naughty, but your fear, oh, it’s absolutely mouthwatering!”
He tried to speak, but only bloody gurgles came out.
“Oh, what was that?” My head cocked. “I’m sorry, I can’t hear.” My eyes returned to his. “What’s wrong? Cat got your tongue?” I busted out into a mechanical laughter while he sobbed. “No!Ido! Inhere—” I reached into my mouth with my claws and pulled my jawbone and skull apart, ripping in opposite directions until they had fully separated, extending my mouth unnaturally wide. “Ahh! Do you see it?!” The man made all sorts of frightened noises, pinned between my legs. He reached out, grabbing an old glass bottle from the pavement,and hit me with it. The glass shattered against our bodies and I snapped my jawbone back into place. My smile fell as I spoke. “That wasn’t very nice.” A low, vibrating growl began to build in my chest, slowly making its way up my throat and through my clenched teeth.
With a single motion, I reached and took the man by the throat. My fingers curled and my hand squeezed harder and harder, watching the color in his pathetic face shift to a pale pink, then red, then blue. “So weak," I purred. The tendons in my forearm strained as I choked him. The man’s Adam’s apple bobbed while he tried to gasp for air, a petrified fear glazing over his eyes. “Oh, don’t go giving up yet! There is still so much fun to be had!” With a loud groan, I spun and threw the man against the cement wall, his head making the most satisfying crack from the impact.
My devilish cackle rippled through the night.
The man coughed and gasped for air, blood seeping from his cracked skull. I dallied over to him and gripped a handful of his dirty blonde hair, raising his face to mine. “I just had the most interesting idea. And you, human filth, will just have to endure my little experiment.” With my free hand, I reached into my mouth and extended my arm down deep into the pit of my stomach, gripping the man’s mangled tongue. He tried to wriggle free, horrified by my ability as I hooked the worm-like flesh and yanked it out. Blood and saliva dripped and strung from my mouth to the tongue. “Ahh, wonderful.” My grin returned, and with a tilted look, I forcefully shoved it back into his mouth. “Stop resisting and just take it like a good girl!”
The man gagged, unable to resist my power as his dead and partially digested tongue reattached itself. He inhaled loudly, horrified, and immediately pleaded. “Please!” His letters slurred together as he spoke. “The—the girl.” My brow raised. “S-she said…” He struggled to speak. “S-she said y-you’d be here.” He completely crumbled and began to sob like a baby. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry! Please—p-please don’t hurt me!”
My head tilted. “Let me guess, her name is Sybil?” I asked smoothly.
“T-that redhead…from the other night? Yeah. She paid me to do it! I swear! I-I don’t normally do shit like this! I-I just needed the money!” I crouched so we were both eye level.
“She is the reason you hurt this human before, correct?”
The man looked at me, perplexed.
I groaned, pinching between my eyes. “Thishuman—” I motioned to my body. “Is the red-haired woman the reason why you hurt her before?” He didn’t speak. “Stupid human, I gave your tongue back, now answer me!” My claws dug into the flesh that concealed his collarbones, making him scream in agony.
“Yes!” he shouted. “Yes!”
My claws retracted and he slumped forward, relieved by their absence. “So, she is the true target behind Crissa’s retribution, hmmm?” I tapped my chin. “S-s-s-s-Sybil.” My smile returned. “I must find a way to observe my prey.” My eyes fell to the man. “Thank you for this information, human.”Relief flooded the man’s face. He must have assumed by telling me, I was going to let him go.
My head flopped over to one side. “Ha, why do you seem so relaxed right now?” I flipped my skull over to the other side, eyeing him sideways. “Ohhh…I see.” A cackle rippled from my throat. “Dear human, you did not think I was simply going to let you go now, did you?” He didn’t answer. “My, how hilarious!” I leaned forward and stopped next to the man’s ear. The smell of his pungent body odor was amplified, mixing with his delicious fear, enticing all my senses. With a low, rippling moan, I opened my mouth and licked the blood from his flesh. “Mmm. No, no human. I’m not going to let you go. And I’m not going to kill you either.”
