Page 34 of Claimed By the Mothman
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The loud, insistent knock came twenty minutes later like a summoning spell performed with the heel of a boot.
Nell didn’t answer. She just made a weak noise that sounded like the love child of a moan and a dying bagpipe.
The door swung open hard enough to rattle the hinges. Goldie burst in, a gust of wind and energy wrapped in a velvet shawl and chaos.
“You beautiful whore,” she breathed, striding in with eyes alight and a grin like she’d just won the lottery. “You glorious bitch. You got cryptid fucked. Were there claws? Did he transform into another shape? Was it—I bet it was—Nell?”
The grin slipped from her face like a dropped plate.
“...You’re crying.”
Nell chuckled weakly. “Yup.”
Goldie softened like someone had let the air out of her. The bags dropped from her arms, clinking to the floor, and she flurried over the couch, her arms wrapping around Nell and pressing her to her shoulder.
“Okay,” she murmured, her voice gentling. “Okay. I’m sorry. I’m here.”
Nell drew a shuddering breath. Tears started to roll down her cheeks and she wrapped her arms around her friend and squeezed her tightly. Goldie squeaked once, only lightly, and then pressed a kiss to Nell’s temple.
“Tell me everything,” she said gently. “Did you get spiritually reorganized through orgasm? Can you smell the color blue now? What’s the situation? Talk to me, sweetie.”
Nell let out a garbled sob. Or a laugh. Alaugh-sob. Haltingly, she told Goldie about the red doors. The Lustrum. The moment the world peeled open. The way it started rewriting her. Waking up in Sig Samora’s bed. About what happened when she touched him. The way the world blazed into a fury of heat and lust and need. The bite. The claspers. The way the world shattered and shattered again.
Goldie didn’t interrupt. Just nodded. Listened. Held her tighter when she trembled. Reached into one of her pockets and pulled out peanut butter pretzels and a chocolate bar without comment.
“I didn’t evenknowwhat I was doing,” Nell whispered. “My body justreacted,like my lizard brain took over and I was just along for the ride. Iwantedit. But I didn’t. But Idid.Does that make sense?.”
Goldie kissed the top of her head. “Oh, honey,” she whispered. “It makes all the sense.”
“It was like… being possessed. Like my body stopped being mine. And now it’s wrecked and humming and there’s this fuckingmarkbetween my legs…”
Goldie touched the third finger of Nell’s left hand where the opal ring now glowed with a quiet, pulsing light. It shimmered faintly, like it was breathing.
Goldie pulled back and stared at her for a long moment. “Okay,” she said. “That’shot.”
Nell let out a strangled snort. “Gods, Goldie…”
The knot in her chest finally loosened and Nell dissolved into tearful laughter, breath hiccuping between grief and joy and everything in between.
“Like, triple-x-rated hot,” Goldie said helpfully, a teasing note right behind her voice that said,it’s okay, girl. We’ll get through this.“I mean, seriously, Nell. Almost dying and then primal monster sex? Why do you have all the fun?”
“You’re… not helping…” Nell gasped, wiping her streaming eyes.
Goldie smiled and placed her hands on either side of Nell’s cheeks. “I’m staying over. I have wine, snacks, and a ritual hexing spell. We’ll build a fort, drink too much, and then watchSteel Magnoliasso you can see that things could definitely be worse.”
Nell nodded. Her voice was thick, her eyes swollen. “Thank you.”
Goldie wrapped both arms around her, fingers threading gently through Nell’s hair.They sat like that for a while, wrapped in fleece and witchcraft and the scent of chocolate and peanut butter.
Then, softly, Goldie whispered into her ear.“And then, when you’re up to it… youhaveto tell me about his cock. I need details.”
Nell groaned, buried her face in Goldie’s shoulder, and dissolved into helpless, hiccuping giggles.
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Sig stayed where she’d left him, legs folded awkwardly, still half-naked, the wreckage of his body cooling into shame.
