Page 53 of Grotesque
I grabbed hold of his forearms, lifting my legs over his shoulders, pressing my upper back hard against his wings and fuck– my eyes really did roll to the back of my head then. The spot the head of his cock stroked was so gloriously delicious I could not hold on to a single rational thought. There was only him. There was onlyfeeling. Winding, needy feeling that I chased and chased, angling my hips a little more until the pleasure was blinding.
“Just like that,” he purred. Corban’s wings tightened around me, hauling me up so I was snug against him. Not a breath of space existed between us.
I stopped caring to count how many times he made me orgasm. They all started to blend together, one after another. Corban fucked me for hours, well into the night, well beyond the threshold of pain and pleasure, and yet I clung to him as if it would kill me to stop. He might have said he didn’t plan to kill me, but something told me I was well on my way.
As the dawn sky bled pink around the edges of the heavy curtains, we finally, mercifully, fell down to sleep.
As I slipped into the waiting darkness I knew I was done for. Corban was a monster, a terrifying creature of nightmare, and yet I was undeniably, completely, in his thrall.
Something about being curled around Sorcha appeased the sickness inside of me, the song in my blood that longed to return to Under. To the winged beasts of the sky and scaled serpents writhing below. To the sounds of endless war and sweeping views of extravagantly built castles. I missed my kingdom. I missed magik,realmagik. Not the puddle I was left with to dip my fingers into.
It boiled my blood knowing that Phelim had likely dethroned our father and taken the crown for himself. The crown that rightfully belonged to me. If it were true, I’d rip his head from his neck the moment I saw him.
Not much longer now.
It had been decades, centuries, now, since I had been trapped in this absolute hell of a place, surrounded by desperate women and their boring, pretentious husbands. Years bound to the mostgodsforsaken hovel. Its lack of grandeur only made my need for vengeance burn hotter.
I shut my eyes, mind conjuring the image of the middle-aged man that had stepped into the glowing orange ring like it was yesterday. That snake, with his cursed bargain. Humans aren’t usually particularly clever with their deals, but this one had been. “Look into the mirror and speak your greatest desire, to have it granted,” he had said.
I had been naive then. I’d thought I was invincible to human treachery, that I was owed everything.
“I wish to be desired above all things.”
And that is exactly what he had given me, that nameless man. I never even felt it when the spell struck. One moment I was speaking the words into the gilded mirror, and the next I was encased in stone, frozen in the back of his wagon amongst other stone-carved creatures, helpless in my rage as he carted us from town to town. One by one he sold us off, promising we would protect the homes and churches of those who bought us. Even in slavery gargoyles were loyal to a fault, and so they remained at their posts with their mouths gaping in silent screams. I possessed no such honorable streak. That man had fucked with the wrong monster, and so I would curse every soul that came into contact with me until the day that I broke free.
The salesman had laughed as he’d raised me to my post above the door of the manor that was to become my home. His arms straining at the ropes.
“Desired above all things, old chap? Let’s see how you go turning desire into devotion when you’re made of stone.”
He’d gone on and on, relishing in the trick he’d pulled. My freedom, apparently, would only be gained if another soul willingly traded places with me. If they gave up their body, heart, and soul so that I could regain mine.
I liked to think the stranger could feel my rage when he turned me over to the young couple of Glamis. To sweet unsuspecting Rosaline.
As I watched the sun sink that first night from my perch above the verandah, I felt the stone melt away as life returned to my body. I was chained still by old magik, but free to move and stretch and eat under darkness. I was starved enough that I nearly killed Rosaline on our first night. But I’d had a long while to think of how I would escape my prison, so I stilled my fangs and claws and spoke with her instead. She would be the first of many failures, until–
Sorcha stirred beside me, drawing me away from the nightmare I was forced to relive every time the sun rose.
She stretched, sliding her hand over my bare waist. Her body stiffened and before she could move I had her pinned beneath me.
“Good morning,” I purred against her neck. The bruising of my bites that lined it did wonders for her complexion. They were like a choker of violets, blooming in pretty shades of purple and blue.
She looked up at me with wide eyes. “You’re here.” It wasn’t quite a question.
I kissed her. “Thanks to you.”
“How?” She kissed me back, hesitantly at first and then more forcefully. I liked that she couldn’t help herself. Even while her brain struggled to process what it meant that I had her pinned down in daylight, she gave in to me, flicking her tongue out to meet mine.
Her taste was still sweet beneath the staleness of her breath. She had so many smells and flavors that stirred my hunger.
“You make me whole.” Gods, it sounded even more droll when I said it out loud.
She slapped my chest but there was no force in it. “You’re so full of it.” Her breath was short, laced with amusement and driven by the building lust I could smell between her thighs as I ran my hand up her side.
I didn’t know what real love was. I knew that I was infatuated with Sorcha. It felt as if she were made for me. That could very well be the spell at work, as it unraveled itself from me and wound around her. I’d made it this far with only a couple of others in the past, but something felt different with Sorcha. This time, the spell was loosening its hold on me – leaving me free to roam in sunlight and soon, back to Under – but it also seemed to be chaining me tighter to my prey. And I was loving it.
“What if it’s true?” I held her green-eyed gaze. Those beautiful eyes that so reminded me of the soft moss that lined my castle walls. Her long lashes fluttered as she fought for an answer.
She opened her perfect mouth to respond, and then her eyes went wide as her gaze shifted past me. I rolled my shoulder back, splaying one of my wings across us as I stretched.
