25. Nora

25

NORA

I slept until dark. It took me about fifteen minutes to come up with a plan, and it was fairly simple but also invasive.

Alec would be hunting the monster tonight. He wouldn’t find him, but he would be away from the greenhouse. I was certain that he had to have journals or something within the conservatory that would give me some sort of information about him.

I needed to know more about the sadistic botanist.

I pulled on my coat and searched for my gloves, but again, one was missing. I sighed and gave up.

The sky was clear as I made my way to Alec’s. I went through the maze this time, my mind having finally mapped it out. Passing by the place John attacked me made my stomach twist with nausea, and I carefully went around the dirt I knew soaked up his blood. I came out the end of the maze and paused.

The greenhouse was both eerie and beautiful at night. Glass mirrored the sky, the Gothic architecture gleaming with an artisan’s love. Vines crept up the walls, mushrooms dotting the ground. It was as if nature was slowly consuming the man-made structure, dragging it back into the hill this place was built upon.

There was no light inside that I could see. I waited for a moment, listening for any movement. Finally, I stepped forth, reaching for the door.

I twisted the handle. To no surprise, it was locked. It would have been far too easy for it to have been left open.

I should have felt guilty for invading his privacy this way, but I could not find a shred of remorse. After what I had witnessed, I needed to try and find out more about him. They were moments where he seemed like a different person, times he completely refused to respond to me if I asked the question.

The more I looked back on our interactions, the more I wondered– was Alec the monster?

If he was the vine monster and was unaware of it himself, not only was he in serious danger, he was sabotaging himself constantly. An alternative explanation was that he was not my monster, but another.

My monster. I touched my throat, feeling the divets of the scar that had formed.

Alec was highly observant and always paranoid. He paid more attention than anyone else because of those things. The history of his mother’s death…

“Oh god,” I whispered to myself.

What if he had killed his own mother without realising it? Wouldn’t that be traumatic enough to perhaps separate his monster from his humanity?

He was so adamantly hateful towards monsters. Irony was cruel.

Alec was now my own project, whether he wanted to be or not. If he was going to force me to put up with him, and if he was going to be obsessed with me, then I was going to return the favour of turning him into my greatest psychological experiment yet. Perhaps that was cold of me, but I didn't care.

There were two sides to this. The primal side that desperately wanted to fuck him, and the logical side that wanted to pick his brain apart.

Alec Briar had chosen the wrong person to obsess over. I could become just as easily persuaded by that part of me. The part that grabbed onto something and didn’t let go until it was completely drained of all life force.

The front door was locked, but there was a door at the very back of the greenhouse. There was another way into this place, I was certain of it. If I had to break a window, I would.

I made my way around the building, surprised to find that the grounds in the back were completely unkempt. I stepped through tall wild grass and vines until I came to the back door. There was an old fountain to the right that was absent of water, the stone crumbling.

A scream echoed from the forests, faint but full of fear. I paused, wondering if I should investigate it. Could it be The Hunt sacrificing yet another person?

As heartless as it was, I didn’t care. I needed to focus on the task at hand. I went up a step and grabbed the knob, jerking it.

Locked.

I sighed and attempted to throw my shoulder against the door, but it was unyielding.

I’d circle back around to the front and try to find something to help me break a window. If Alec were inside… well… I’d find a way to explain things, surely.

The thought of him punishing me again made my cheeks heat. He’d gone from so positively feral to sweet. The bath and the way he’d touched me…

I shoved him from my mind to focus.

I trekked back to the front of the greenhouse, and on a whim, tried the doorknob again. I slowly twisted it and heard a click.

It was open.

“Fuck,” I breathed out.

Had Alec come back? But surely he would have locked it again…

I slowly pushed the door open, trying to be as quiet as possible. It creaked, and I froze. I held my breath as I stepped inside, met with the darkness of the countless plants. Leaves created shadowy figures, all unmoving. Still, they made me paranoid.

The sound of another fountain trickling was the only thing I could hear at the moment. I could make out the figure of the angel statue, as old and falling apart as everything else.

My fingertips itched with anticipation. I needed to be careful. I didn't plan on touching any of the plants, but I remembered what Alec had said before. This place was full of poisonous things and with one wrong step, I might end up in a place I didn’t want to be.

The last thing I wanted was to end up dead.

My vision adjusted. It was humid and warm, all of my winter clothing sticking to my skin. I left the door ajar as I started down the path, trying to remember where his office was. If he left notes or had a journal, reading them might give me insight into how he was.

It was a violation of privacy, yes. But he had established that he certainly didn't care about my privacy, and so I was not going to deliberate over the moral issue of breaking into his space and reading whatever he had to say.

I kept on the path, listening for any sort of movement, until I came to an area that was obviously his office. Everything felt so untouched, even though I knew he lived here. I went to his chair, and took a seat. There were a few stacks of papers on his desk, along with countless pots with plants I couldn’t name. Dirt was sprinkled on the oak desk top, pens scattered everywhere. A pot of ink sat half open. Messy.

I looked to the right and slowly opened the top drawer. Inside, there was a leather bound journal. I ran my fingertips over the top, feeling how soft it was. I placed it on the desktop and unwrapped the leather strip that bound it shut, opening to the first page.

Alec Briar. His handwriting was not the best, but it was still legible. I turned to the second page and began to read through the notes he’d made about different botanical things. They were drawings of different plants, along with their Latin names, and general facts about them. As I went further, the pages became more erratic, his handwriting turning illegible in some places.

Names were followed by notes about their deaths and who they were. Craig Duncan , Professor , Sacrificed. Graham Bell, Student, Torn apart. More scrawling, more lists of what appeared to be students and faculty.

A chill settled deep into my bones.

Nora. My name was written on a page in the middle of the book. And then again on the next page and the next.

I quite enjoyed the idea of plaguing him so intensely that he scrawled my name amidst the rest of his scientific notes.

The next page was full of notes, but none of them had to do with plants. In fact, it had entirely to do with my entire family tree. I blew out a slow breath, coming to terms with what I was dealing with. The man that I had slept with, the man that for whatever reason had allowed me into his world, had written out my entire family tree for the last thirty-three years.

Every name was crossed out but mine. Cause of death was written by each name. Tears pricked my eyes. Mother- unknown. Father- stabbing. Uncle- stabbing. Aunt- unknown. It went on and on, exhausting every family member I’d known in my childhood. I was the only one still alive.

Why was he interested in my family? Annoyance flared through me. Once again, my privacy was violated, which made me certainly feel less concerned about doing the same to him.

On the next page, there were notes about me. My height. My hair colour. Notes about the way that I walked, the way that I spoke. About my interest and what I taught. My hands trembled as I flipped to the back of the book, finding that the last few pages were empty except for a date written on the final page.

The date was the night of the party.

Before everything happened.

The night the professors had been murdered.

My heart leapt to my throat. Were those notes made before I even arrived?

Either Alec was an absolute mastermind or he was completely unaware of the things he was doing.

A timbre tone echoed through the greenhouse. I couldn’t make out the words, but I wasn’t alone.

Fuck, fuck, fuck. I froze, listening.

That was not Alec’s voice.

Who else was here? I got up quickly and shoved the journal back into the drawer. I took off down the path towards the front of the greenhouse.

A vine snagged my ankle and I stifled a yelp as I hit the ground hard. It dragged me back as I heard another voice, more vines pulling me around the corner and then into a wall of massive leaves.

I gasped as I landed against a hard body.

“You’re not supposed to be here.”

The monster.

I tried to turn around, but claws grabbed my jaw, keeping my face straight as light fluttered down the path we were obscured from. I watched through the leaves as two figures emerged.

Louis. Harold.

Harold was holding a knife.

“Oh gods,” I whispered.

It was the knife. The knife that belonged to John. The one I’d killed him with.

Two vines moved up my body, writhing and tightening as the monster pressed his cock against me, his strength binding me to him. His hand covered my mouth, silencing me as the two men beyond the doors spoke.

“This is his,” Harold said, turning it over. “It was buried in the poison oak.”

“Your hand will break out,” Louis said.

“It doesn’t matter. Briar is guilty.”

“This isn’t proof,” Louis hissed. “I hate him as much as you do, but the killer could have buried it here. John’s body was shredded apart in the same manner as the other professors.”

“It’s too coincidental,” Harold said.

“This is your fault,” the monster whispered, his breath hot against my ear. “If they discover us, I’ll kill them and we’ll hide the bodies.”

All I could do was nod. His touch sent ripples of fire through my body. Is this Alec? That was all I could wonder. Was the monster holding me a different form of the man who held me last night?

One vine slipped between my legs, the small nubs teasing me. I squeezed my thighs together, my eyes widening.

“I can’t stay away from you,” he sighed. “Where have you been?”

“You’re the one who’s been missing,” I hissed, only for his hand to clamp harder around my mouth.

Harold looked up. For a moment, I swore he could see me, but then he blinked and glanced around warily. “This place is chilling.”

A hot tongue grazed over my cheek. The monster licked me as Harold and Louis continued to talk. A vine pulled at my clothing and soon the pants I wore were sliding to the ground.

Fuck.

The vine pressed against my cunt, rubbing slowly. It took everything in me to remain quiet.

“You’ve been going places you shouldn’t,” he whispered. “Why?”

“What are you?” I asked. “Do you have a human form?”

He peeled my silk underwear down, exposing me completely. I watched through the leaves as Harold and Louis kept chatting. Their words were unheard to me over the rush of blood in my ears. I began to grind my hips, helpless against him as his cock rubbed between my thighs.

Are you Alec? The question pounded through me as a vine thrust into my cunt. My cry was choked by the vine around my neck, the monster holding me still. He started to fuck me with it, grunting softly in my ear.

Harold and Louis left quickly, disappearing down the garden path. I heard the greenhouse door slam shut.

The vine pulled away from my neck and I gasped for air, crying out as the one inside me pumped me fuller. He growled, precum dripping down my thighs.

“ Alec ,” I rasped.

He froze. His body stilled, the vine pausing inside of me.

“Are you Alec? Is he you?”

The vine stayed inside of me as he spun me around. For the first time since I’d met the monster, I felt a lick of fear. Moonlight filtered in through the glass, highlighting the tips of his horns and the gleam of his sharp fangs.

His eyes darted to the base of my throat where Alec’s scar was.

“He mated you to us.”

My breath left me as he wrapped more vines around my body. He leaned in, licking the healed bite, sucking it.

Pleasure burst through me. I gasped, confused as I arched against the vines.

“What is this?” I moaned.

“He doomed us. We were never supposed to mate you. We were never even supposed to meet you, but you called us… I couldn’t resist you. Just as I cannot now.”

“Who is we ?” I asked. “You are Alec. But why doesn’t he know? How does any of this work?”

“So many questions,” he purred. “I’m going to breed you and mate you and then burn down this entire university for you. They should’ve never tried to sacrifice you.”

“ What ?” I rasped.

The rest of my thoughts fell away as another vine thrust inside of me. The two of them began to move in tandem, stretching my cunt around them. I cried out, my scream echoing through the greenhouse as he fucked me. Pleasure rushed through my entire body, tears filling my eyes as everything was intensified.

His touch was intoxicating. The desire that he brought to me was unlike anything else, and I could feel the bite that he’d had throbbing as his vines moved in and out of me.

His tongue plunged down my throat. I kissed him, hungry for his touch, hungry for everything he had to offer.

The vines spread all of my limbs as he lifted me into the air. He raised my body until my cunt was right in front of his face. His tongue lapped around my clit, all while the vines thrust in and out of me.

My head fell back as I cried. “Oh gods,” I yelped. I orgasmed hard but I didn't have a moment to savour it. The pleasure only grew stronger, until I felt as though I was going to combust.

He held my limbs taut as his tongue circled my clit. It wasn’t until I was on the cusp of coming again that he lowered me down, pulling the vines from my pussy and replacing them with his cock.

My arms were pulled down and behind my back, my breasts pushed forward as he filled me. He sank his teeth into one of them and I moaned, tears streaming down my cheeks as he moved slowly in and out. Blood streamed from his fangs and he licked every wound.

I felt a connection. It was unexplainable, unlike anything I had words for. It couldn’t be real, could it? But I could feel him. Beyond the physical, it was as if every part of him had bloomed in front of me—every piercing shard of darkness, every primal instinct, and then his raw, poison filled heart.

“I’ll never let you go,” he growled as he pumped into me. “Our fates are intertwined and nothing will unravel us, not even death. You can’t tell him , though. You can’t tell him what he is.”

I whimpered as he drove into me, claws raking down my back. The pain felt so good. I gasped, going limp as I let him use me how he wanted.

“I’m going to tell him,” I rasped between thrusts. “How could I not?”

“He’ll go mad. He cannot know. These parts of ourselves cannot be together.”

“But… ah! ”

He moaned as he came, heat filling me as cum burst inside of me.

“What about his notes?” I panted. “Were they made before or after I arrived? ”

He lowered me to the ground slowly, his cock still inside of me. He grabbed onto my hips as he started to thrust again, slowly. More cum filled me until it was dripping out. He pulled out from me and then moved, leaning over me and straddling my chest.

His cock hit my face. I parted my lips, eager to taste him. He planted his hands into the ground and raised up, angling his cock for my mouth.

I slid my tongue around the stamen ending and was shocked as his essence filled my mouth. Every nerve in my body lit up, my hips moving helplessly until vines filled me again, squelching as more of his seed dripped out of me.

I took his cock into my mouth and it stretched as far as it could. He was careful as he moved his hips, hitting the back of my throat.

“Suck yourself off me,” he whispered. “I’m sure the taste of us together is as close as either of us will ever get to heaven.”

I moaned, taking him as far as I could until my vision started to dot. But I wanted more, I needed more.

Alec, Alec, I knew he was you.