Kraken (21 page)

He was crying freely now, and as the tears fell from his eyes he saw the pod still outside of his body unfurl like some terrible blossom, at the same time as he registered a great squirming, deep in his guts. The indigo porous pod was splitting apart, displaying a rich, vivid orange center, coated with a thousand tiny fronds, each topped with a tiny gaping mouth. They wove back and forth in the air, opening and closing as if seeking a hold, and a pain flowered deep inside Will. From each mouth came a tiny pearl-like ball, surrounded by an opalescent mucous, and the tentacle lunged forward and spread the gel on Will's face, clogging his nostrils, eyes, mouth. 

Suddenly Will couldn't breathe, couldn't see, could only feel the tiny mouths biting his skin, drawing blood in dozens of infinitesimal cuts, and the sting as the mucous mingled with his own fluids. Will imagined Cyrus's essence being drawn into his arterial system, and he felt Cy's tentacle deep in his bowel burrow further, rotating, thrusting, driving into him to release its load as well. 

His arse felt like it was being penetrated with shards of glass. He opened his mouth to scream, but it was filled with a thousand tiny wriggling shapes, biting Will’s gums and inside his mouth. His tongue was coated with Cy’s mucous, sugary and cloying, and Will felt as light-headed as if he had drunk a bottle of spirits. He sucked in a breath, but none came, only wetness and a mouthful of yielding flesh, as the incessant pulsing in his anus skewered him in burning agony.

Will struggled to breathe, as the pod expanded wetly to fill his mouth and nostrils with its pulsing, sucking feelers. Cyrus raised him up from the bed with the tentacle in his arse, forcing his head back with the slimy grasp of the second pod on his face, until his back bowed. Will’s own bodyweight impaled him on Cy’s appendage, his anus ripping open further as he tried to scream, but could only harshly whine in his throat as the sweet sticky taste of Cy filled every inch of him. All he was conscious of was wet pain and heat, like burning molasses.

There was a hideous bursting sensation deep inside Will, and Cyrus let out a liquid gurgle, abruptly lowering Will to the bed and relaxing his weight onto Will's back. Will ripped his face away from the pod, and burrowed into the sheets, wiping his skin back and forth, trying to free himself of enough sticky slime that he could see. The tiny suckers from Cy's pod protested, digging further into his cheek and neck, and Will held still, until at last they relaxed and let him go. Will brushed them off, shivering, and managed to clear his eyes and nose enough that he could breathe, and, once he blinked and wiped some more, see a little. The slime felt bubbly, and the tiny gel balls rubbed across Will's skin and burned where they touched.

Cy had changed color, to a deep metallic burnished gold. Will could feel pulsing in his arse, and as the tentacle around his neck loosened, Will scrambled off the bed, only to be brought up short. The pod in his anus was wedged deeply, quivering as it pulsated and bulged and discharged its load. Will felt his belly swell, and he fell to his knees, retching. Cy wrapped a suckered arm around Will's torso and lifted him to the bed again, bringing him close, and wrapping around him, his tendrils playing around Will’s sac and limp cock. One arm tried to work Will to hardness, but Will shuddered instead.

"It doesn't matter," came Cy's voice, from deep inside the ball of arms and tentacles. He laughed wetly. "It doesn't matter if you enjoy it or not. My seed is inside you now. You're mine."

Will could only cry in helpless rage.

After long minutes the tentacle in Will's arse pulled free with a slimy popping sound, and the pod laid a trail of seed down the inside of Will's thighs, mingling with the warm wetness Will feared was his own blood. Cy laid his tiny protuberant suckers over Will's balls, where they slowly nipped and mouthed at his skin. Will screamed, and curled in on himself, then sobbed as the red-hot pain slowly subsided into a throbbing ache.

“Please,” whispered Will. “Please let me go now.”

In response the arms around Will contracted in a spasm, and the suckers dug their hooks in to his pale chest. Pinpricks welled up; a constellation of blood on Will’s tender skin. He lay quietly for a long time, every breath bring a fresh gift of pain to his body.

The mucous was slowly drying now, contracting and tightening on his skin as it formed a shiny hard crust. He could feel his hair plastered to his head, and the bed was slimy and wet underneath him from Cy’s secretions. “You have to stay,” burbled Cyrus. “You can’t get up yet. My seed has to fill you and stay inside you until the morning.”

Will lay still, too exhausted to try to move any more, and he felt the arms around him relax slightly. His anus pulsed and itched, and Will shivered despite Cy’s velvet warmth. He felt the sickening feeling of Cy’s arms roaming possessively over his skin, as an arm darted into his hole again, daubing itself with Cy’s own sticky cum, then painting with soft strokes across Will’s belly, over his nipples, then finally wiping it across his lips, as he fought off revulsion. When Will closed his eyes they resisted opening again, as his eyelashes stuck to the goo remaining on his face. After a while Will stopped trying to open them. And a little while after that he knew nothing at all.

In the morning Cy was gone from the bed. Will was still a half-unfurled comma. He tried to stretch out straight and winced at the terrible pain in his anus, his back, his neck. There were scratches all over his body, and the dampness on the sheets had not only been Cy’s slime. His eyes were nearly crusted shut, and he could barely stand, let alone consider how to get away. He couldn’t bear to have the touch of the sheets against him any longer and forced himself up, moisture at the corner of his eyes from the exertion. Will struggled to the bathroom, but before he could shut himself in the bedroom door opened, and Cyrus entered.

"Get out!" screamed Will. His throat was scoured raw. "You fucker!" he shouted. He slammed the bathroom door, grabbing the lone chair and propping it under the handle. He rested his head on the cool wood, sobbing. When the shower was as hot as it would go he tipped a bottle of shower wash onto the nail brush from the wash hand basin, and scrubbed at his skin, the water running into the drain a soft pink. He thrust his face under the stream, rubbing it with his hands, as he retched as the thought of Cy’s invasion. Will fumbled blindly for the washcloth and roughly drew it over his skin and tongue, flinching at his own touch as the sting from the cuts and bites ran through him.

A heavy weight thudded once, twice, against the other side of the door, and it splintered off its hinges. Cy stepped through the wreckage, saying nothing, just peeling back the shower curtain and getting in beside Will. Will struggled to get out past him, but Cy caught him in his arms and held him tight against his body, as Will dissolved in sobs. "Sshhh, my love. You're all better. It’ll be all right now."

Will dashed tears from his eyes, and shouted at Cyrus. "No, it will not be all right, you fucker! Let me fucking go."

Cy was immovable, and murmured into Will's hair as he thrashed and fought to get away. "We'll be together now. There won't be any leaving."

"How do you know?"

"What's that, my love?"

"How do you know that this works? How do you know what it does?”

“Sshhh, my love. You’ve felt it all this time, haven’t you? The urge to come back to me? Back to the island. I wasn’t able to complete the seeding last time, but it’s better now.
I
’m
better now. There are two stones in place. I’m twice as strong. And there’s still one to go.”

Will felt the horror sink into him. “You tried to do that to me before, didn’t you? You tried to do that to me when I was eight years old!”

“You were always mine, Will. But I couldn’t finish: you were too young, too small. I couldn’t pod you properly. And you ran away.”

“You’re a fucking monster!”

Cyrus laughed, and Will felt the vibration run through his stinging skin. “Why, yes I am, Will. You’ve only just noticed?”

Will fell to his knees in the shower, sobbing. Cyrus lowered himself to the base of the shower and wrapped his arms around Will, kissing his bent neck.

“You’ll see. It will be better now.”

Cyrus carried Will to the living room, lying with him on the sofa. He kept playing with Will like a precious new toy, dipping his tendrils into his mouth, his ears, his hole, making Will gag and wince in pain. Cyrus possessed every orifice.

Finally Cyrus tired of his game. He tucked a quilt around Will, and went into the kitchen. Will lay quiescent, listening to the scrape of metal on cooking pans, willing himself to gather strength. Cyrus came back with scrambled eggs, and gently fork-fed them to him, while he let his suckers grab hold of Will’s skin, then peel away with a sticky pop. Will hung his head as he chewed, and tried not to shiver as Cy’s pod slithered up his leg and stroked over his torn hole. The very tip penetrated him, just enough to make Will twitch, but not enough to start the bleeding again.

After a few bites Will was no longer hungry, but when he turned his head away the suckered arm playing with his anus began to pull on his ring, and push inside quickly, more roughly, until Will quickly opened his mouth and bit at the fork in Cyrus’s hands. When the plate was empty Cyrus stroked his hair, and played with the strong grip of his suckers on Will’s skin, marking him lightly on one side from shoulder to toe.

Cyrus went back into the bedroom and came out with his arms full of their ruined sheets.

“I don’t think I should let Ella take care of this lot do you, my love?”

Will could think of nothing to say. Cyrus dropped the sheets, walking over to kneel above him, extending two uncanny arms and wrapping around Will’s body. He cradled Will’s head in his human hands, and kissed him on the lips.

“I didn’t quite catch that. What did you say?”

The immediate grip around his belly and chest took Will’s breath away. Cyrus kissed him again, flicking at his tongue tenderly, and enveloping Will’s mouth with his soft lips. Will could only gasp and writhe as the tension around his chest forced the air from his lungs. He was in a vise, and he wondered dimly how much compression his skin could take until he ripped in two.

Cyrus’s grip loosened. “What did you say?”

“No, Cyrus, no,” said Will. “I’m sorry. Please not again.”

“We’re going to go and swim now, my love.”

Will groaned at the thought. “Yes, Cyrus.”

“The salt water will heal you faster. You’ll thank me later.”

Cyrus half-prodded, half-pulled him to his feet. Will, still naked, followed him haltingly down the steep path to the tiny beach. There was a better chance of getting away if he could be where other people might have a slim chance of being. His head ached and felt clouded, as if he had the flu, and he kept shaking himself from his stupor. He felt terror arc down his spine, as he realized that maybe soon he wouldn’t want to get away.

The tide was nearly full low, and the ocean flat calm, with gray clouds striping the sky. The light from the sun was dull and muted through them. Will was surprised to see it was early afternoon already. Will staggered into the cool water and half dived, half-fell, ducking his head under. The cool surrounded him, caressed him, and leached the pain from his flesh. He hated admitting it, but Cyrus was right: this did feel better. He opened his eyes underwater to see the tiny blennies playing in the crevices in the rocky drop off. Cyrus swam up behind him, tangling Will’s legs with his indigo arms, and supporting Will’s weight with his body. Will rested his head back against Cy’s chest, as Cy whispered, “Shhh, listen.”

The noise was like an old fashioned transistor radio, tuned to static. Cyrus nodded towards small holes in the clay cliff. “Do you see them?”

Will nodded.

“Those are kingfisher nests. That sound is the babies.” Cyrus nibbled Will’s ear, as he lay limply in his arms. “They should grow fast this year. I took one egg from each nest for my collection. It makes the others stronger.”

Gently Cyrus pulled Will further over onto his back until he was lying down, resting on top on Cyrus in the water. They slowly swam out into the bay, Cyrus propelling them with his slowly-waving arms and tiny squirts of his siphon.

Cyrus whispered in his ear, barely audible over the oh-so-gentle ripples he stirred with his arms. “We’ll do this every day. We’ll swim, and lie in the sun. The island is nearly protected; there’s only one stone left to place. We’ll do it together. It’ll make it ours.”

“Is that what you wanted to do today?”

“Yes. But I’d forgotten how tough on humans podding can be. It’s been a while. It can wait. I’ll give you a day to get over it, my love. I’ll want to enjoy you as soon as I place the last stone.”