3. Monster

3

MONSTER

Her scent called to me.

I prowled through the dark and stalked the woman who rode her bicycle back to the tower. She slammed her front door, cutting herself off from me. The sound echoed across the grass and through the trees, putting a barrier between us that I wished to tear down.

I wished to devour her. My mouth watered as I caught her lingering scent on the wind. I inhaled it, a low growl leaving me.

Click. Smart little human. She’d locked herself inside. Not that the flimsy mechanism could keep me out if I wished to see her. I allowed the desires to play through my mind. Breaking down the door and stalking to her bed, seeing the moon over her naked body as I tasted her.

Pearlescent light haloed the harsh bark of my skin. Lichen and mushrooms sprung between the cracks, dark green vines extending from me and writhing with anticipation. I wished to bind her in them and feel her heart pulsing frantically.

It took every ounce of restraint I had not to rush to her door.

There was something alluring about her.

The way she moved. The way she smelled. I wanted to taste her blood. I wanted to feel her beneath me.

Desire was new to me. It made me feel out of control. I wanted to claw it out and bury it in blood, but I simply could not bring myself to kill her.

Not yet, at least.

Reluctantly. I sank back into the woods. I needed to feed on something. I had to get away from her scent. The sounds of other creatures in the forest roared around me as I went deeper, slowing as I scented a stag. I pressed my body to the trunk of a tree and waited. My body morphed to camouflage with my surroundings, becoming one with the natural world.

I inhaled the musky scent of my prey. I remained unmoving as leaves rustled, the stag moving closer. It raised its head, black eyes searching its surroundings. It knew it wasn’t alone.

My patience was running thin. My hunger was becoming unbearable, a death lust overcoming me. I waited for the stag to get within range before moving in a blur.

It was quick. My vines grabbed its legs as I brought its neck to my mouth, piercing flesh with sharp fangs. It struggled against me, kicking hard, but it was no use.

Animals weren’t as satisfying as humans were. Even so, I started to feast on the body, ripping open the chest and feeding off the heart first. My claws made the process easy. I tipped my head back as I started to satiate my hunger, even if it wasn't in the way I preferred.

The season had come where the humans returned to the village, awakening my hunger for their flesh. It happened every year. Months where their lost lambs would wander into my woods and become my meals.

I want her.

The thought twisted through me as I continued to eat.

I craved her . The darkness that shrouded her piqued my curiosity and as I devoured the rest of the stag, I imagined hunting her through these very woods. Hearing her scream as her feet tore open from rocks and twigs.

My vines crept across the blood soaked ground, feeling the earth. I drained every drop I could, the heat flowing down my throat. I grunted as I released the body, now just a hollow shell of bones and hide.

It wasn’t enough. I could hunt every stag in the forest, and it wouldn’t satisfy me tonight.

Foliage crunched under foot. I stalked further away from her, fighting every impulse begging me to turn back.

What if I did?

What would she do?

Would she scream? Would she beg?

I doubted she would. She was a fighter.

A low growl left me. The leaves rustled and I raised my head as a figure darted through the trees. It was another one of the fools that believed they could take power from this place.

The power would rot them from the inside out.

I went very still as their footsteps grew louder. I sank back against a tree, becoming one with it and the darkness. The human passed by without realising how close to death they stood.

Soon there would be more of them in the woods. I wasn’t looking forward to having to hide as much. Especially as the students came out to do their rituals, pretending to do something they had no knowledge of.

Every year, I shared the world with humans, and wished to devour them all.

Well, maybe not all.

Once again, her face came to mind.

Would she recognize me?

Would she remember what happened that night?

Leave her be.

I cannot.