Lauren put some strange music on. It sounded like the forest with its subtle string instruments and a rustling sound that reminded him of the eucalypts outside. It was a little creepy and it certainly wasn’t the kind of music that usually turned him on but if it made her more relaxed and got her to drink up then he could put up with it.
He poured the cognac, filling the glasses to the rim. The splashing sound of the precious brandy and the way it glimmered warmly in the soft light was somehow deeply erotic. He looked up at Lauren again as she turned around. He noticed the momentary look of concern on her face as she saw how much cognac he had poured, but she hid it well and he pretended to be unaware of it. He smiled at her and she relaxed. She walked over and sat down beside him.
Alex handed her a glass and they touched rims. The high note of glass on glass matched the mystical music perfectly. Alex watched her lips through the bottom of her snifter as she took a cautious sip of cognac. A tiny amount of the amber liquid flowed into her mouth. She lowered the glass and swallowed before parting her lips to release a breath of potent air. Then she sucked at her bottom lip.
‘What do you think?’
‘I love it.’
She took another sip, longer this time.
‘Be careful, it’s a strong drink for a girl like you.’
‘Is that right?’ she answered with defiance.
He just nodded and watched her drain the glass dry. She opened her mouth and stuck her tongue out so that he could see that she had finished it all. He felt himself growing even harder, the urgent need to explode coming back. But it was much too early for that.
‘Do you want a little more?’
‘Sure, but finish yours first.’
He drained his glass. They would have to be careful, if they drank too much too quickly they would end up falling asleep. He poured them another glass, but instead of handing hers back he left it on the coffee table and pulled her towards him. He kissed her quickly on the mouth and then started sucking at her neck. She responded by running her hand down his torso until her fingers reached the button of his trousers. She fumbled at it and he wanted to laugh at her clumsiness but managed to hold it in. He slid his hand under her dress and rubbed between her legs. He wasn’t hesitating any longer. His fingers crawled under the moist fabric of her knickers and explored her perfectly smooth folds of skin. He let out a satisfied groan and rubbed slowly. His fingers stuck together as though he had touched spilt honey.
She managed to get his button undone and tugged his fly open, then her hand slipped inside his trousers and started caressing him.
All of a sudden, something made a dull thud outside. The sound startled Alex and made him look up from Lauren’s neck. He glanced over the back of the couch in the direction of the wide sliding doors that separated the interior of the house from the verandah and the small but dense forest beyond. Even though the lighting in the living room was low, it was enough to make the glass doors act as a mirror. He saw a shadowy imitation of himself looking back towards the couch.
‘Don’t worry,’ Lauren whispered in his ear as she gently stroked him. ‘It’s just possums.’
‘Oh, of course, there must be dozens of them in those trees.’
The glass doors didn’t give the impression of providing much security. He wondered whether Lauren was afraid of being home alone at night. It wouldn’t be difficult for a burglar or rapist to break in.
Alex picked his glass of cognac up and took a sip. Lauren followed his lead. No, she wasn’t worried about burglars. A girl who invited a complete stranger back home didn’t let such possibilities bother her.
There was another thud, followed by a scratching sound. Alex looked towards the glass doors again and caught a glimpse of movement obscured by the reflection of one of the lamps.
He turned back to Lauren. She was unconcerned, still sipping at her cognac. She was right, of course; it was nothing more than possums carrying out their nocturnal shenanigans.
Alex waited for her to put her glass down. It was already almost empty. He gazed into her eyes, making a silent request, and somehow she understood. She picked her glass up again and drained it, licking the rim to make sure that she hadn’t wasted a drop. He finished his off too. Then Lauren stood up and walked towards a corridor on the far side of the room. She was starting to think that the cognac might have been stronger than she had anticipated. Alex had warned her but she had shrugged him off, wanting to pretend that she could handle her drink. Now she was stumbling in a way that she knew wasn’t very attractive but despite her efforts she couldn’t control herself. She hoped that she wasn’t making Alex regret coming back with her. She hoped that she wasn’t so drunk that she wouldn’t be able to enjoy the occasion.
It was so dark in the corridor that Alex barely noticed her awkward gait. He was feeling a little drunk too and had to concentrate on where he was going in a house that he didn’t know at all. When he felt the doorframe and nothing after it, he assumed that he was in her bedroom. He waited for her to find the light switch but it seemed to take a long time. He was beginning to suspect that she intended to make love in the dark. That would be out of the question, he was a diner who liked to see what he was eating.
Then a dim light came on and lit her bed up like a delicate mediaeval tapestry. He breathed a sigh of relief.
Her hand took his and she led him towards the bed. She pushed him down on it with the kind of force that meant that she was going to run the show. He decided to play along for a while.
‘Just watch,’ she said.
He nodded.
Lauren started dancing, or rather swaying from side to side in what was supposed to be the opening of a striptease. She looked ridiculous but that didn’t matter at all, Alex wasn’t interested in the striptease one little bit. He was just biding his time.
She pulled her green dress up over her head and almost lost her balance trying to get it off. Her arms were trapped.
Alex almost laughed at her. He didn’t get up to help, not because he didn’t want to risk offending her, but because he was getting a kick out of her predicament. At that moment, she was sexier than she had been all night – standing there in her stay-up stockings and almost transparent black knickers and bra with her sleek green dress wrapped around her head.
Try asking a question you probably wouldn’t otherwise discover the answer to later tonight. That’s what she had said when he asked the colour of her underwear. She had been acting like a femme fatale at the Bowery, a far cry from the ravishingly silly spectacle now squirming in front of him like a worm on a hook.
Alex didn’t help her, but he wasn’t going to just sit there and watch her either. He could tell that it was going to take her a while to work her way free and that now was his chance to make a move. He slipped off the bed and crept back into the dark corridor. His destination was the kitchen. He wanted to see what she had in the fridge.
It only took him a minute to find what he wanted, and once he had returned, holding it behind his back, she had just about managed to get a grip of her dress again.
‘Do you want a hand?’
‘No, it’s all right… sorry.’
He got back onto the bed as she pulled the dress free and tossed it theatrically into a dark corner of the room as though her difficulty had never even happened. She placed her hands on her abdomen and ran them up towards her bra before cupping her breasts and then starting to dance awkwardly again. Alex had seen a few stripteases in his time and this was one of the most pathetic, but for some reason that made it all the more enjoyable. He reached into his trousers and started stroking himself, half expecting her to tell him to stop – but she didn’t, she smiled broadly. So, he kept doing it, slowly and softly.
Lauren moved closer to the foot of the bed. She placed the index finger and thumb of each hand on the top hem of her knickers. Her other fingers stuck out like tail feathers. Swaying her hips from side to side, she slipped her panties down ever so slowly, until they had gone pas
t her knees and dropped the rest of the way all by themselves. Even though the light was behind her and directed towards the bed, he could make out her immaculately waxed lips. They were pouting, hungry for a warm kiss.
Alex pulled his trousers down a little so that she could watch him stroking himself.
She crawled onto the bed and removed her bra before edging even closer to him, lowering her head. A chill of excitement ran through his groin as her cognac soaked tongue lapped at his testicles. Then it licked up his shaft and curled around the head. She slid her mouth over him and he reached down and stimulated her nipples for a while before moving his hands up onto her back and towards her head. He combed her hair tenderly with his fingers for a minute but then started to push down on her head until he was almost entirely inside her. She tried to pull back up he didn’t let her at first and when he did she gasped for breath and almost vomited on him.
She slapped him hard and then got up on her knees, shuffled over him, and sat on his face, smothering him. It was supposed to be his punishment and she wanted to know whether he would accept it or resist.
He tilted his head back so that he could breathe and then began licking her hungrily. She decided to forgive him for the way he had treated her and reached down and pleasured him manually at the same time.
Their bodies tingled with growing pleasure until Alex could tell that Lauren was about to come. He stopped licking and lifted her gently off him, then lay her down on the bed. He ignored her groan of complaint and pulled a zucchini out from under a pillow.
‘What the hell!’ she roared.
‘What’s wrong?’ he asked calmly, pretending that it was a normal part of any sexual encounter. ‘It’s no big deal.’
‘Are you fucking nuts? Where did you… my fridge! You got that from my fridge?’
‘Hey, just relax,’ he whispered.
‘No way! You’re out of your mind!’
‘Oh, come on, it’s just a bit of fun… please.’
Lauren looked scared out of her wits. She just stared at the zucchini as though she had never seen one before in her life. It was the first time she had ever contemplated a vegetable being used in such a way.
She looked up at Alex. God he was handsome… and so desperately excited!
She frowned as she said, ‘All right… but you have to let me try something afterwards.’
‘Whatever you want,’ he agreed smugly.
Lauren rolled reluctantly onto her back and parted her knees.
‘Gently!’ she warned him.
* * *
It hadn’t been so bad after all. She hadn’t climaxed like that in a long time.
Now it was her turn.
She walked off towards a dark corner of the room until her perfect white buttocks bending over were all Alex could see. He heard a drawer being opened and something clinked as it was removed.
‘Cuffs?’
She stepped back towards him, smiling sweetly.
He touched himself; he was still hard.
‘Be patient,’ she told him. ‘I’ll take care of that. Just put your hands behind your head.’
He was only too happy to obey.
Lauren snapped the cuffs into place and checked that they were secure, then she picked the zucchini up and held it menacingly in front of him.
Alex gulped nervously and shook his head.
She laughed. ‘Don’t worry, that’s not what I’m into.’
‘What are you into then?’
She smiled, but it wasn’t so sweet now.
He shuddered and felt himself go limp. She wasn’t the same girl she had been a moment ago.
‘What are you into?’ he asked again. There was a nervous edge to his voice this time.
Lauren walked over to the door and for a minute he thought she was going to leave him there, but she stopped at the doorway and flicked a switch.
Light flooded the room, exposing every corner of it and illuminating its strange features. Glass vivariums containing branches and greenery lined the walls on either side of her room, making it look like they were in the middle of a jungle.
‘I got the idea from Cloudlands,’ she told him. There was a crazy glint in her eye.
‘What idea?’
‘The idea of turning my room into a habitat for insects,’ she replied slowly, as though it should have been immediately obvious to him.
‘Oh, of course, you study entomology, I almost forgot.’
‘Almost forgot?’ she snarled. ‘Let’s be honest for a change, Alex. You never really cared, did you?’
He tried to speak but his chin was shaking.
‘You just wanted to use me for your base desires. I’m nothing more than a sexual object for you to play with. You just wanted to make me feel cheap. I’m just a slut, that’s all I am. I hang out in bars waiting for some creep to buy me drinks and have his way with me.’
‘No,’ he stuttered. ‘I thought that you were into it.’
‘I am, of course,’ she smiled sympathetically. ‘You were just following your instincts. I know all about that. All animals have them, and people are no exception. I have instincts too. It’s just that mine are a bit messed up.’
‘What do you mean?’ Alex managed to ask.
‘Just look around.’
He looked at the vivariums but couldn’t see what was in them other than greenery.
She answered his unspoken question.
‘Praying mantises.’
He shuddered instinctively.
‘That’s right. I’m a praying mantis.’
Alex said nothing. He suddenly remembered the title of the textbook that had been lying on the living room floor, alongside an overloaded ring binder; Species Dysphoria. He hadn’t given it much thought at the time because the branch of biology that had been on his mind had been of a far more practical nature, but he now suspected that he knew what the title meant.
‘Do you know what they do after mating?’ she asked him.
He did, of course, but he didn’t dare answer.
‘Look up there.’
He followed her gaze and found himself wanting to scream. But he couldn’t.
A shelf stretched across the wall above the bedroom door. On it were five large glass bottles filled with some kind of clear liquid. The first contained the severed head of a middle-aged man with greying hair and intelligent features.
‘Daddy,’ she explained. ‘He couldn’t help himself. I guess you could even say that he lost his head over me.’
She looked to see if Alex was laughing, but his features were frozen in a grotesque mask that was transfixed by the row of glass receptacles.
‘Even great human intellects are built on a foundation of instinct. We’re all just animals, Alex. Humans think that they’re better than all the others. They even believe that mammals are superior to reptiles and birds. Insects… well, they’re considered to be no more than a mere nuisance. But I know better. Insecta is the most enduring class. It has survived the trials and tribulations of the ages and even now rules the world. Humans are nothing without insects. Their instincts have a far greater impact on the world than all our knowledge and inefficient industry. The praying mantis is one of the finest creatures on the face of this planet, Alex. Humans don’t deserve to be arrogant. They are pathetic compared to mantises. They should aspire to be more like them…’
But Alex wasn’t listening to her rant. He was just staring at the shelf. The second and third bottles held the heads of two young men and he realised with horror that, despite its condition, he recognised one of them.
‘Luke!’ he managed to gasp. ‘You psychotic bitch!’
‘Oh, you knew him? Well, if it’s any consolation, he didn’t give me as much pleasure as you did. None of them were up to your standard.’ There was no remorse in her voice, not even a hint of guilt. There was nothing that remotely resembled human emotion. There had only been a slight lifting of the eyebrows upon hearing Luke’s name; a fleeting admission of authentic surprise.<
br />
It had all been an act, she felt nothing for him. If his mind hadn’t been so thoroughly soaked with terror, it would have been drowning in the realisation that he had meant nothing to her, perhaps even less than she had meant to him. He had simply been used for sexual stimulation. He had been an essential component in a preordained mating ritual.
But Alex wasn’t looking at Lauren and his mind was in no state to attempt the futile task of trying to comprehend what precisely was wrong with her and what kind of expert help she would need to address her case of… what was that book called again – Species Dysphoria? His gaze was fixed on the shelf and he didn’t fail to notice that the fourth and fifth bottles were empty.
They were so invitingly empty. It almost felt as though the bottles were actually calling him.
He still wanted to scream but he could barely even draw a breath.
Lauren dropped slowly – instinctively – to her knees and reached under the bed for a toy that was far more terrifying than any mere vegetable.
The helpless human male didn’t even notice what the naked mantis girl was pulling out until it was too late for his stunned mind and bound hands to even make an attempt at resistance. She moved with tremendous speed, leaping onto the bed, and by the time she was on top of him, straddling his slumped body, his head had bounced off the mattress and struck the floor with a beastly thud.
Prenuptials
Lucy Taylor
In her dream, the witches bend over her cradle singing a lullaby. The words change, but the meaning is always the same: men are evil and lust-crazed. Fantasies of brute power lurk behind their avuncular smiles. Women exist to be demeaned and defiled and destroyed – the phallus is the sword that a woman falls on when she decides to kill herself.
We tell you about these terrible things only to protect you, coo the witches. Only because we love you and wish you to come to no harm.
In another land, the witches might have spread her legs and carved away her clitoris and labia. These hags do their mischief with loving lies and lewd caresses.
Of Devils & Deviants: An Anthology of Erotic Horror Page 19