by CoraLee June
Well, that escalated quickly.
A screeching sound made me drop to my knees, its high pitched shriek making pain lance through my system like thick knives. My webs immediately receded as my head sliced with pain.
“Enough, Cheryl. Thank you for your assistance,” a bored voice called at my back as the sound was cut off. I turned my body with excruciating steadiness as I faced the source of my pain. Cheryl was standing with blushing cheeks and downcast eyes, and one of the scientists stood there beside her, removing noise-blocking headphones.
“Tomb, it’s as if you want to be locked up,” he said with a roll of his eyes while walking up.
His black shoes clicked on the ruined marble tile, stepping over webs and pieces of plaster as he approached. I looked up at him with tear-stained eyes when he stopped in front of me.
“Oh, Miss Coven. I see you were involved in this little hissy fit too,” he said, tsking under his breath at all the webs the guards were still tearing away from their bodies. “You and Mr. Tomb here seem to have a problem with cooperating, so you both can spend a few days without food in the tank.”
“But...you and I both know what happens…” my voice trailed off as I glanced at the guards and the stone man at the end of the hall. “When I get hungry.”
The scientist smiled even more broadly, showing me that he didn’t give two fucks about my ravenous spider and her needs. “I’ve seen firsthand what happens when you’re hungry, Miss Coven. I always enjoy the show.”
I felt wave after wave of disgust hit me like a punch to the gut.
This entire experience was so incredibly violating. I could try to convince myself that it was just feeding, that it was just a necessary transaction where others paid with their life so I could live. But there was something sinister and foul in the scientist’s hungry gaze that made me feel sick to my stomach. It was me on full display, and they were getting off on it. And now, they were willing to risk another hybrid like me to study me even more. To punish us for defending ourselves.
Guards swarmed in on me, but I didn’t put up a fight. If I was going to have a chance at not feeding off the strange stone man’s life essence, I needed to preserve all the energy I had left.
Chapter 6
The tank was named appropriately. It was probably a bit larger than my cell room, but it felt even more isolating. The shape of a capsule, it was buried deep under the winding halls of Spector, and took thirty minutes to get to. The human side of me hated it.
But my spider? She felt right at home, enjoying the seclusion and the company.
Tomb was brooding in the corner, looking at me like I was a rock in his boot. I couldn’t help but stare, though. He was completely naked, nothing but chiseled stone muscles for as far as the eye could see.
And a cock, of course. I know I should’ve been mostly concerned about the protruding, hard, scary-big cock staring me in the face, but I was trying to be mature in this weird situation and not put all of my attention on his rather impressive appendage. I found myself way too curious about it. Like...did he jack off while he was in his solid stone form? Could he jack off? Did his cum come out like sand?
See? Way too curious.
“You might as well sit and get comfortable,” he said in a gruff voice. I hadn’t even realized I was pacing the floors until he’d said that.
“How long do they usually keep people in here?” I asked before placing my back against the wall and slinking down it until I was a pile of frustrations on the floor.
He shrugged a shoulder, the harsh light glinting off his body. “However long they like.”
I studied him, wondering why the hell my spider had this urge for me to slide closer. “So you’ve been put in here before? They must really like you,” I said sarcastically.
Tomb grinned, which was a somewhat odd look coming from a walking, talking statue. “They’re gonna really like you too now. You probably shouldn’t have shot webs at them. Best you choose more carefully next time before fighting alongside me.”
“I don’t care who it is. If they’re fighting against Spector, I’ll fight with them,” I said vehemently. “Besides, my spider kind of acted for me. I wasn’t in total control.”
My admission made him twist his head in contemplation. “The webs kind of gave you away for being a spider hybrid, but I’m curious. What kind of spider are you?”
I hesitated, not knowing what I should tell him. I should probably warn the guy who he was trapped in a room with, but I also didn’t want to have him hate me. It was nice having someone to talk to. So unlike my lonely time at the academy.
Besides, he really did look like a chiseled statue of masculine perfection. Every line of him was purposeful and handsome, all hard angles and smooth features. I wanted to enjoy his company for a little while at least, without him looking at me like the monster I was.
“What kind of demon did they put in you?” I asked, turning the subject around on him.
For a moment, I thought he wasn’t going to answer me, but then he shrugged. “I was an earth elemental. The gargoyle demon latched onto me right away. I suppose it was a congenial attachment, since we both have power over soil and stones.”
My eyes swept over his body. “A gargoyle, huh? That makes sense. So can you turn back, or are you always…” I trailed off, not knowing if that sounded rude.
“Am I always solid stone?” he asked with a smirk.
I nodded my head, and then his body rippled with change. His once solid onyx mass changed to smooth, dark skin. His cock was still hard, heavy and full against his hip, and I had to snap my eyes away from him before I humiliated myself.
“Neat trick,” I said.
“Hmm. It has its perks.”
I ignored the obvious one jumping against his leg. “You mean like smashing out of your cell and tossing around the guards like they’re rag dolls?”
“Yes. But I’m sure they’ll make me pay for it during training,” he said with obvious disgust.
“What sort of training?” I asked.
“They like to see how impenetrable my skin is. It started with knives. Needles. Poison. Then guns. Rockets.”
My mouth dropped open in shock. “Does it hurt?” I asked.
“What do you think?” he gruffly replied. “Just because my skin is stone, doesn’t mean I don’t feel.”
They were torturing him. Fucking torturing him.
“I’m so sorry.”
“Why? Is it you doing all those things to me?”
I looked at him, horrified. “No, of course not.”
“Then you have nothing to apologize for, beautiful.”
I blinked in surprise at him calling me beautiful. No one had ever called me that before, and I was almost pissed that it was wasted on such a dour moment. I was in a white hospital gown stained with bloody broth from the cafeteria, my hair was knotted, and I had chapped lips and webs stuck all over me. I did not, in any way, look beautiful.
But still. It was nice to hear.
“We have to get out of here,” I mumbled, but there was no power in my words. Our situation felt dismal at best, and I didn’t think there was a way out of it.
“Yeah, that’s not going to happen,” he said, echoing my thoughts. “The best you can hope for is a few days in the tank. At least down here, they won’t bother us. Try to think of it as a vacation from their tests and trainings.”
I looked around the concrete cylinder we were in. Nope. My imagination was not good enough to pretend that this was any form of vacation.
“How’d you end up with Spector anyway? You didn’t go to Thibault.” I didn’t recognize him from any of the students, and he also looked slightly older than me.
“Is that where you new lot came from?” he asked, scrubbing a hand over his jaw. “I wondered. So what are you, eighteen?”
“Nineteen. Just graduated the night before Spector came, actually.”
He made a disgusted grunt. “Those fuckers are taking students now?”
“I guess. I don’t know how long it’s been going on. I’d never even heard of Spector before I got an invitation to join their secretive internship.”
He chuckled humorlessly. “Gods, they’re getting arrogant and bold.”
“So how did they get you?”
“I worked as a janitor at the elemental city’s headquarters. There was an opportunity presented to us, probably similar to what they invited you to. A new program, they called it,” Tomb said, his glossy lips turning downward. “I thought I was signing up for a security position. It would’ve been a hell of a promotion from scrubbing toilets. But they did the ritual on me. Apparently, I fit their credentials. No family, no prominent position in society. Someone no one would really miss.”
I had someone that would miss me though, someone that relied heavily on me. Aunt Marie was probably worried sick, but I had no way of communicating with her.
“That doesn’t fit the narrative of Thibault students, though,” I replied thoughtfully. “All of them are high-society supes with powerful families.”
“All of them?” he questioned.
“Yeah, them. I’m just a bastard scholarship student. But I still have family. My Aunt Marie is probably freaking out, not knowing where I am.”
“Hmm, then that just shows how arrogant and bold they really are getting. They must be done with testing it out on low-class nobody supes like me. They’re going for the young and powerful so they can mold their new little army.”
I stiffened. “Is that what they’re doing? Building an army?”
Tomb shrugged. “What else could they want from a small force of supes with unmatchable powers?”
I shook my head, his words swarming my mind. “That’s insane. If the public knew about this, there would be a war.”
“Which is why it’s a secret still. They need to make more of us.”
A frown drew my brows together. My father was involved in all of this. Stiles was involved in this. It made me sick.
“I feel like I don’t even know what happened to me. I don’t understand how they’re even doing it.”
He looked steadily back at me. “There was a lot of trial and error. When they did it to me a couple of years ago, I was one of the only ones who survived. Their survival rate is higher now, but it’s still not very high.”
“But how are they doing it?” I asked again, needing to understand.
“I don’t know where they learned how to do it, but the ritual rips demons from the underworld. It happens against their will, as much as it was against yours. Most of the demons that come out are lesser demons. They’re always creatures of some sort, and they’d never survive topside on their own. Spector somehow found a way to call them up and force supes to be possessed by them. It enables them to survive up here, while making us stronger.”
The memory of the spider sinking into my body left me feeling cold. The idea of Spector having control over so many of us made the whole thing feel hopeless.
“So, now that I told you all of that, are you going to tell me what kind of spider you are?” he asked while giving me an assessing look, like he was trying to figure me out. “I’ve been here long enough to learn a few things. Maybe I can help with whatever struggles you have with your demon.”
I knew I couldn’t help my nature—that I didn’t decide this life for myself, but I was still embarrassed. I cleared my throat awkwardly. “I’m a black widow.”
His eyes widened in shock, but he quickly schooled his expression. “Interesting.”
“What is?”
Tomb looked me up and down, as if trying to figure out the right words to say. “Possessions are forced, yes, but you only join with the demon most compatible with you. Think of it as merging with a similar kin already there.”
My frown deepened. “That’s not true. I’m not a fucking psychotic sex cannibal who likes to steal people’s life essence!” I blurted out. As soon as the words were out of my mouth, I felt humiliated.
Still, I didn’t like what he was implying—that the spider had chosen me as a host because I had that same dark nature already inside of me.
Tomb shook his head. “I didn’t mean to imply that,” he told me, his gravelly voice low. “The black widow could have seen your independence, your strength, your…”—he coughed uncomfortably—“sensual nature. Those could’ve been the things she felt a kinship to.”
I blushed at his words. He wasn’t wrong. I was all of those things, and sex had always made me feel powerful in ways I’d never been able to articulate.
“For example,” he continued. “My earth ability as an elemental means I could already control things like rocks and stones. But even more, I’ve always been a natural protector. I raised my younger half-brother until he died. Gargoyles are ancient demon soldiers created to defend,” he explained. “I sometimes wonder what humans would think if they knew they’ve been posting sculptures of demons at their church doors.”
I snorted at the thought, temporarily placated with the knowledge that I wasn’t chosen by the black widow because of some serial killer tendencies I knew nothing about.
“You should rest,” Tomb said, resting his head against the wall. “Sleep makes the time go by faster.”
I watched him for a few moments before I curled up on the floor, propping my head up on my arm and closing my eyes. Time in the tank wasn’t so bad with Tomb here with me. He knew what I was, and he didn’t look at me with fear or repulsion. That knowledge made a soft smile spread across my face as I closed my eyes. I could get through this. I just needed to make sure I didn’t get hungry.
Days passed.
It was fucking boring.
No one ever brought us food to eat, but twice a day, someone would come by and shove water bottles through a slot in the door. The toilet in our confinement was true prison style, but I’d erected webbed walls to give us both some privacy. Tomb had smirked at that, but I wasn’t about to just do my business in front of the hot gargoyle. I did have some dignity left despite my rough appearance.
We mostly talked or slept, coming up with stupid games to play and pass the time. His favorite was tossing the ball of web I’d made him back and forth. Mine was asking him twenty questions.
Still, every day that they left us in here was another day that the hunger inside of me grew. My vampiric body needed blood, my human parts needed food, and my demon self needed life.
I was feeling the hunger riding me harder and harder, which was why every time I awoke, I was careful to keep myself busy. That was how I’d ended up making socks out of webs. They were surprisingly soft and comfortable too. I even made Tomb a pair of boxers, which he had just laughed about.
When I realized I could make those things, I started making other things too. My favorite was the hanging hammocks I’d constructed. The thick ropes of webs stretched from wall to wall so we could sleep more comfortably in them. It sure beat the hard floor. All in all, I was learning that this ability as a spider was actually really awesome.
But today, I woke up twitchy. My demon was agitated. She needed essence. I needed blood and food. I was a trio of hangry.
Tomb seemed unflappable though, like having no food didn’t bother him at all.
“Sit down, Motley,” he said from his hammock. “Pacing will only drain your energy faster.”
“How can you be so calm?” I snapped. I knew it wasn’t his fault, but I needed to get out of here soon. Fear was tormenting me almost as much as hunger was.
“I’ve been through this a few times,” he answered.
“Yeah, well, this is my first, and it sucks ass,” I said, licking the tips of my fangs that wouldn’t stop throbbing.
“Come here.”
His order had me stopping to look over at him. “What?”
“I forgot. It’s been a while since I’ve been around a vampire, so you’ll have to forgive me for being a dense idiot. Here,” he said, holding out his arm.
He was in his skin form right now, and sal
iva instantly rushed my mouth at the offering of blood, but I shook my head. “I can’t take your blood when you’re weak from no nourishment.”
“I’m okay. Really. Take what you need.”
The throbbing in my fangs intensified, and I felt venom drip down the sides and land on my lip. His dark eyes followed when my tongue darted out to lick the venom away.
“Give me a kiss, and I’ll give you a drink.”
I stared at him, horrified. “What? No.”
He chuckled. “One kiss. One sip. That seems fair.”
Gods, I was thirsty. I was aching to find out if he tasted as good as he smelled. Even my spider wanted me to taste his blood.
“No.”
He tilted his head in that thoughtful way of his. “What have they forced you to do?”
“What?”
“You’re scared to drink from me. And it’s more than you simply worrying about me being too food-deprived to give blood,” he decided. “So is your blood thirst tied together with how your demon feeds?”
All the humans I’d fucked and killed flashed before my eyes, and I felt the blood drain from my face.
“The Spector man who ordered us in here mentioned watching you feed. What do they make you do?”
The tips of my ears went red hot. I didn’t want to tell him, but he persisted.
“I’ve heard talk,” he said carefully.
My eyes flashed to his. “So you know?” I asked, both angry and embarrassed. “You know how they make me feed?”
“I’m asking.”
“Fine. I feed off of energy. Someone’s life. But I can only get it once I’ve been…”
“Been what?” he persisted.
“Penetrated,” I said with shame, dropping my eyes. Admitting it out loud made me sick. It sounded so fucking wrong.
“So that’s what they make you do? They bring you humans to fuck and then you feed off them and kill them?”
I nodded miserably. “Yeah, happy now?” I asked bitterly. “You’re stuck in isolation with a fucking monster.”
He cocked his head to the other side. “Is that what you think? That you’re a monster?”