I screamed and screamed, but nobody could hear me. Cyn and Cilas were off probably torturing some poor souls in town or something, and Kaz was probably underwater, recuperating from being out of it for so long last night. Why else wouldn't he have responded to my screams? Unless his rescue was a one-off, a fluke to keep Chaos from hogging all of me for himself.
I fought against the hands, trying to bite at them, thrashing every which way, but it was no use. There were too many of them. My body was being pulled so hard against the wall that I was pretty sure that any second, I would disappear into it, to be forever trapped inside the walls of this cursed house. Still, I fought against them. The open, gaping mouths released noises that sounded like the moans of the undead. They groaned and wailed, their voices low and cracking, as if they weren’t really voices at all, but rather the wood, metal, plaster, and the very foundations of the house were yawning, stretching, and growing.
The pressure on my body hurt, to the point that I felt like my skin was being stretched, my hair yanked out of my scalp but twisting fingers. Nothing I did made any bit of difference.
Then the darkness descended—not the darkness of the hallway, nor the emptiness that stretched out before me at the top of the stairs. This darkness was full, heavy, and alive. It undulated like smoke and reached for me, tendrils of it wrapping around my wrists and pulling them out of the wall’s grasp. One by one, the hands released me, the darkness chasing away those screaming faces.
I still writhed, feeling like my skin was overrun with millions of tiny spiders as sensation slowly rushed back into my limbs. Already, I knew I was bruised and scratched, probably bleeding in some places.
A voice spoke in a language I’d never heard before. Actually, it was two voices speaking as one—Cyn and Cilas. I could hear them both distinctly, yet their words wrapped around one another. It reminded me of those old religious songs spoken in tongues. The words were guttural and made no sense, but the moment they were spoken, the wall began to smooth out again, returning to the way it was supposed to look—solid and faceless.
It took seconds for everything to return to normal. I fell forward off of the wall, but the shadows caught me. I was wrapped up in a pair of strong shadowy arms, and when I looked up, I met a pair of burning white eyes peering down at me from an impossibly terrifying, yet alluring face.
Cyn. I could see him better now, as his features were sharp and pronounced. He had a strong jaw, a straight nose, and high cheekbones. He was still made of shadow, but appeared corporeal now. His hands slid up my back beneath my shirt, nails scratching my sensitive skin.
“What have you gotten yourself into now?” he asked, a smile in his sinister voice. “You humans are too curious for your own good.”
I was still breathing hard, and I had no doubt that he could feel my heart thumping against him. “The walls, they…” I peered over my shoulder to find a smooth normal wall. “It was trying to fucking eat me…” I blinked at the flat wallpaper. There wasn’t a single trace of what had just happened, nothing torn or ripped or even slightly out of place, just regular floral paper over hard wooden paneling.
“The house was only curious, but I don’t blame it,” Cilas said, becoming somewhat solid next to his brother. It was as if he stepped out of his own shadows. “You’re practically begging to be played with.”
I frowned at him in confusion.The house was curious?“The house isn’t alive,” I said, my voice deadpan. I was born in this godforsaken place and knew for a fact that it was just a house. Terrible things had happened here, yes, but it was still just a house.
The brothers glanced at each other and both grinned wryly before Cilas said, “Don’t be too sure about that, sad one. When horrific things happen in a place, it leaves a mark, if you will.”
“A stain,” Cyn said with an eager nod. “Something that lingers, even when all else is abandoned. What happened here must have been beyond unimaginable horror, and in its wake is a living, breathing beast that wants to consume.”
He let me go, allowing me to take a step back. I rubbed my arms and peered around at my dark surroundings. “So that’s why you’re here then. You were drawn here, just like all the rest of these creatures?” They both nodded in tandem, fanning out as they began to slowly walk in circles around me. “Where were you before…” I paused as my voice trembled on the words.Before my family was slaughtered because of my mistake…
They moved as one, yet opposite. It was like everything they did was together, like they were two parts of just one entity. They weren’t so much brothers as twins. Their movements were smooth and graceful, floaty and wispy, and yet there was weight to them, as if the shadows could build and retract, making them solid one instant, and nothing more than smoke the next.
“Here and there, I suppose, Cilas said conversationally.
“There and here,” Cyn added immediately after, his voice songlike and teasing. “But that night, we felt a pull that couldn’t be ignored.” He inhaled deeply, his burning white eyes closing as if he was enjoying my confusion and residual terror immensely. “This place radiates pain. It’s so fucking delicious, I can’t help but lap it up.” His forked tongue swiped over his lips as he grinned, flashing me his teeth. “And you…”
Hands latched onto my upper arms from behind, and cold air washed over the shell of my ear. “You’re the most delicious of them all,” whispered Cilas. His hands skimmed down my arms slowly, snaking over the curves of my hips, making their way to the front of my abdomen. “Do you know how badly I want to eat you up?”
I swallowed thickly again, but this time, it wasn’t out of fear. I knew they wanted me to be afraid, but I couldn't conjure it up. Instead, I felt excitement flutter in my stomach at the prospect of those teeth and tongues near my skin. Cyn paused in front of me, probably sensing the shift in me, and I grinned wickedly.
I glanced down at his hold on my waist. “I thought you ate your fill of me yesterday? Don’t tell me you're too full to lick the bowl.” They could lick me anywhere they wanted, and I’d thank them for it.
Fingers sunk into my hair, gripping the back of my head tightly as Cyn yanked my head back. I was peering up into his eyes as he stared down at me. “Don’t tempt us too much now. The only thing keeping us from devouring your flesh and bone is the fact that fucking you amuses us. Sooner or later, it will stop amusing us, and we’ll take what we need.”
“We’ll bathe in the heat of your blood for days on end, sipping it from your arteries like a tap, while you writhe beneath our touch,” Cilas hissed as he closed the gap between us, trapping me between him and Cyn. Running a claw down the side of my face, he leaned in, placing a small kiss on my lips that was too soft for the teeth he hid just under his own. “The feel of your fragile human cunt on my cock will keep me sated for now, so enjoy it while it lasts.”
I shivered, nearly moaning. Yeah, there was something really fucking wrong with me. I wanted to spend the rest of my short life on this earth being ravaged by these shadows. I wanted to be consumed wholly, taken to a new plane of existence by way of tongues, tentacles, cocks, and teeth. I didn’t just want it, I needed it.
“I have yet to sample said cunt,” Cyn said, running a claw down my navel slowly. His two extra limbs were out again, and they held me in place as the top pair stroked me. “Tell me, brother, did it squeeze your cock? Did it drip for you as you filled her up?”
The memory of it overwhelmed me, so much so that I nearly forgot about the fact that my house just tried to eat me alive.
“Like fingers tightening around a throat,” Cilas answered him. “Ripe and juicy, like the peaches that grow in the orchard. I can still feel her pulsing as she begged me to fuck her. Brother, you must try it for yourself.”
They continued to circle me, bearing down on me as their fingers ran through my long hair or caressed the back of my neck. My breathing was ragged, though not out of fear, but anticipation.
“What is it that makes you rage?” Cilas asked as he came to a stop in front of me. Cyn remained at my back, closing me in against his twin and caging me with his four strong arms. Cilas ran a claw down the side of my face, and for a moment, I couldn’t help but lean into the touch. My eyes closed in bliss at the sting his touch left behind. “What makes you want to burn it all down, Iris? Tell us…”
I opened my eyes and met his fiery white stare, searching them for any shred of genuine kindness, but I couldn’t find any. I was staring into the eyes of pure evil, pure hunger, pure need.