11. Alec

11

ALEC

My cock throbbed painfully. I locked the greenhouse door and hurried towards my office area. I looked down at the silk glove I’d stolen from Nora’s pocket when I warned her about monsters, raising it to my nose and breathing in her scent.

Her obstinance was a problem.

I was at war against my nature. I wanted her out. I wanted her far, far away.

I want her beneath me, begging me, taking me, fuck ? —

Maybe I could convince the Dean to fire her.

I plopped down on my chaise and unbuckled my pants, shoving them down and releasing my cock. I held her silk glove to my face again, groaning as I breathed her in.

Nora Woulfe. She was lovely, but it wasn’t her appearance that made me want to rut into her like a wild animal. It was the bitterness I saw in those umber depths. It was the ache I felt and knew all too well. The reek of death and loss and weathering a storm that never stopped, and then the coldness she felt to protect herself .

She had layers and layers of armour and I wanted to strip her down piece by piece until I could clutch her raw beating heart in my hand.

I brought the silk glove to my cock and moaned. Knowing that it was hers aroused me.

The obsession had rooted its way in already. I was losing the war against myself. The thoughts that ran through my mind were beyond sinful. If the Dean only knew who he had hired.

I stroked myself and whimpered, thinking of how it would feel with her throat around my cock. She would feel as silky and soft as her glove.

I allowed the fantasy to consume me. I thrust into my hand as I imagined tying her down to one of my torture tables and carving my name on her breasts. Licking the blood up as I thrust into her over and over, fucking her as she begged me to stop. Begged me not to come inside her, even though she wanted it.

The image of her losing herself to me, giving into the madness, letting the desperation consume her—all of it was only making me want her more.

The thought of vines wrapping around her and fucking every hole came unbidden, but I couldn’t stop the way it made every nerve ending light up with intense pleasure. A monster fucking her, breeding her, using her.

“Fuck,” I rasped.

I killed monsters. I hated monsters. And yet, I couldn’t shake the thought of being one. Of wrapping myself around her, a shadow she couldn’t shake and would never escape. I breathed out, my cock throbbing in my palm as the pleasure grew and grew.

My imagination had never been so vivid.

I imagined moonlight caressing her skin as I hovered over her. Devouring every exposed inch of skin.

“ Nora ,” I rasped.

Cum burst from the head of my cock in thick ropes. I pulled the glove away, carefully not to get anything on it as my orgasm continued, my back arching as the images kept flashing through my mind.

For once, I wished I had vines I could wrap her in. My body tingled as I breathed out, basking in the thoughts of her.

I held the glove back to my nose, breathing in her scent.

I will claim her.

You can’t have her.

She’s already mine.

You can’t. You can’t. You’d kill her.

The voices warred inside my head. One had always been with me, some sort of imaginary friend perhaps, although I was much too old to have one. Still, I was annoyed, because for the first time I couldn’t distinguish who was who.

Was I the one pleading?

Or was he?

I released a breath and looked down at the mess I’d created. I couldn’t get Nora off my mind, no matter how hard I tried.

Who was toying with her?

If she was not stealing my oranges, who was breaking into my greenhouse at night? And why had I not discovered them yet? The last few days, I’d been so certain it was her, but the more I thought about that the more it didn’t make sense.

It was someone else.

Someone that knew she enjoyed oranges.

I practically lived here. It was very rare that I went back to my own townhouse, as it was almost empty. I did not like living close to the other professors, and I had no interest in being around them. What I did have interest in, however, was my greenhouse. For many reasons, good reasons, I had never been one for friends. But the plants were always there. They didn't argue, they didn't hate for no reason.

They weren't insolent like the students that I would have to deal with this semester.

I didn't sleep much, I hadn't for years. I was always plagued by nightmares, and it was easier to simply not rest and to work. But, whoever was stealing from me, they must've figured out when I fell asleep.

But why were they taking the fruit to Nora? The idea of someone watching her the way that I wanted to watch her made my teeth set.

The obsession was already rooting itself inside of me, going deeper and deeper. And what was I supposed to do? I breathed in her scent again. The silk glove would stay with me for now. Maybe eventually I would give it back. But I didn't want to.

What I did want was to know her. But I also wanted to keep her far, far away from me.

I needed another specimen to take out my frustrations on. I didn't necessarily regret killing the last one, but my work was more difficult when I couldn’t test poison variations.

For now, I would just continue to work with what I had. I tucked the silk glove in my pocket, used a towel to wipe up my semen, redressed myself, and settled in at my desk.

I had to shut the psychologist out of my mind for now.

The sun was setting outside, dropping the greenhouse into darkness. I lit a couple of candles and ignited the wick of an oil lamp, drawing out my journal. My handwriting was horrendous, but still legible to me. Some of my notes were erratic. I could tell when I was losing myself.

I flipped to a clean page and decided to refresh a quill. I still preferred it to a typewriter.

The last poison hadn’t worked on the demon. I’d since made a variation of it, one that included the poison I’d been able to swipe off the three dead professor bodies for testing.

I still hadn’t been able to identify where the poison had come from. It matched no plant, no animal, which made this mysterious monster all the more interesting.

I made my notes and lost track of time. Eventually, I looked up. I needed to stretch my legs and check on all of the buds I’d been growing.

I reached for one of the small pots and scowled.

It was wilted over, dead.

“What happened to you, my dear one?” I whispered.

I reached for another pot and found the same thing. No, no, no . Panic set in and I jumped up, pulling out every spliced plant and seedling I had.

All of them were dead.

“No, no, no !” I shouted. My heart pounded rapidly, my vision dotting. Who would have done this? This was months of work. Months .

I knew that it wasn't one of my students. None of them would've been brave enough to pull a stunt like this. I leaned over my desk, panting as I attempted to regulate myself.

I couldn’t think straight. I closed my eyes, breathing out. Breathing in. Heat crawled up my spine as my mind worked to try and come up with some sort of salvageable idea.

What killed them?

My eyes flew open and I stared at each of the plants. I leaned down to study everything closely. The soil was damper than it should have been and there were discoloured drops of liquid on the dying leaves.

Someone had done this to them.

Whoever had tried to sabotage me, I would find them and kill them. I yanked open a drawer and pulled out a few clean swabs and a dish, settling down in my chair. I spread everything out, still trying to calm myself though it felt impossible to.

Nora’s face flashed through my mind and absentmindedly I reached into my pocket, holding her glove to my nose and breathing her in.

Eventually my heart rate slowed. My thoughts became clearer as I took in the situation again. If someone had done this with purpose, then I was getting close. Right? I was getting close to creating the poison I wanted.

I slid the glove back into my pocket, letting out a dark chuckle.

There wasn’t a single man or force in this world that could keep me from her now.