Ravaged 2: A Monster Box Set of 8 Erotic Tales (3 page)

Mary reached up and touched the Beast’s face, somewhat instinctively. She couldn’t understand it, but she felt something for him, more than a confusing kind of primal lust, but something more.

He nudged his large head into her hand as she caressed him, and he sighed heavily. After a moment, she broke the silence.

“So is there a way out?”

He looked into her eyes with renewed vigor and nodded. “Yes. I know there is. I designed the place. I should be able to navigate us out of there.”

Mary bit her lip, thinking furiously. “What about the others? The... other monsters.”

“I’ll take care of them.”

She nodded, not quite understanding why she did. They left the cell and headed down the corridor. Mary was all turned around after waking up, so she trusted the beast to be honest. After all, she didn’t have much of a choice.

If he was still lying to her, there wasn’t anything else she could do.

***

A
t every intersection they encountered, the beast guided them by instinct.

The torches grew closer together, and more light spilled into the cells, where grotesque and revolting beasts hid in the corners. As they passed each torch, Mary started to urge the beast to move faster and faster. A second wind had rushed through her at the thought of finally being free.

She watched the beast lurch forward with each step and she tried to figure out who he might have been before, how he might have looked.

He certainly wasn’t inexperienced, but if she believed what he said before about fathering all the beasts, did he mean only in the lab, or with his seed as well?

The torches burned brighter as they followed the hall to the end. The walls became less rotted and overgrown, more clean and maintained. At the end of the hall, a single steel door waited for them. It wasn’t like the cells, which had barred doors, but more formal. More final.

“Is this it?” Mary said, ducking under the beast’s arms and examining the door. Her mind raced. The beast guided her back with his hand and gripped the door handle, yanking it open with a satisfying hiss of air. Mary’s ears popped as the pressure equalized and she inhaled the scent of something fresh, the stagnant air of the dungeon all too familiar. As the door opened, the beasts in the cells all the way down the hall howled and moaned with astonishing ferocity.

Mary looked to the monster, finding his eyes which looked lost.

“Are you coming with me?”

“I’m afraid I can’t,” the beast said.

Mary frowned, she couldn’t tell him he wouldn’t be gutted and killed the instant someone saw him.

“I have to find a way to reverse this. Reverse the way I am,” he said.

“Reverse it?”

“Beyond this door is the laboratory. I’ll be able to work there, hopefully... these claws won’t fail me.”

Mary looked at her hands and his. A thought fluttered through her. “I could stay and help you.”

The beast snorted. “Impossible.”

“Why?” Mary fumed, offended. “I could help you!”

“You can’t. You can’t stay here much longer.”

“I don’t understand what you’re saying. I still need to get home too, how am I supposed to do that without help?”

The beast lowered his gaze and met hers. He grasped her shoulders with his clawed hands.

“This isn’t where you belong. This dungeon isn’t in a city, a building, or anything. It’s separate from your world.”

Mary’s mouth opened as if to interrupt, but the beast continued: “When you step through there, you’ll fade back to where you came from.”

“How did I get here in the first place then? I don’t understand...”

“I don’t know. I had agents on the outside with drugs that would induce the transportation, but they shouldn’t still be around anymore.”

“I don’t like it. I don’t want to leave if you can’t come with me.”

“I already said, I have to work on a cure first.”

Mary struggled against his grasp, freeing herself from his claws. “I don’t buy that. What if you find it and I never see you again?”

“We will find each other. I promise.”

She shook her head, a smile crossing her face. “I can’t believe any of this. I don’t even know your name.”

“Reizan.”

“Your human name.”

The beast frowned. “I don’t remember.”

“Reizan, it is then. I’m Mary.”

She took his claw and shook it, trying to not think too much about everything.

Reizan didn’t answer. He looked at her mournfully, long-fully. Before she could say another word, he grabbed her and shoved her through the open door.

***

H
er skin was moist and dewy when she came to again. Too dizzy and disoriented to speak, she tried to look around and gauge where she was.

Darkness surrounded her from all directions, she reached out with weak arms and brushed at it, and saw it flutter. The light broke through the darkness the brightness making her shield her eyes. As she recovered, she realized where she was.

She was under her bed, the skirt and sheets bunched against the sides and blackening the room. She rolled out from underneath and gasped for fresh air, clutching the sheets in her hands as tight as possible.

Her pants were torn, her shirt still moist, her makeup smeared, and her mind foggy.

She heard stirring outside her room, and she scrambled to her feet to shut her door all the way. April certainly couldn’t see her like this.

She thought about what Reizan said about having agents on the outside.

Jake.

Mary slipped some new pants on and stormed out of her room, slamming the door open against her wall. She found Jake and April talking in the kitchen, stunned by the loud noise.

“What the —?” April said.

Mary cut her off. “I want to know what the fuck Jake did to my drink last night. Show me the shit.”

“Mary, what the fuck?”

“Bullshit he didn’t. Trust me, I don’t even need to get into how I know. He better fess up or I’m calling the police.”

Mary came up to Jake’s shoulder and pushed him against the counter. “Right. Now.”

Jake held up his hands. “Okay, okay!” He gave April an apologetic look.

He fished out a small bag out of his jeans and handed it to Mary.

“I knew it,” Mary said, snatching it from him. “Where did you get this?”

“I— I don’t know, some dude gave it to me last week. He said it was ecstasy.”

“Then how come I was the only one to have any?” Mary asked.

Jake pointed to April. “She said you were really tightly wound and needed a break.”

Mary shook her head, pocketing the stash. “I can’t believe either of you, ridiculous.” She stormed back into her bedroom, leaving Jake and April awestruck.

In her room, she took the sandwich bag out and examined it. Three small pills were left. She folded up the plastic and hid it inside her sock drawer.

Her rush from confronting Jake and April was wearing thin, and she had a lot of catching up on sleep to do. She stripped off and climbed back into her bed, grazing her hand against the large red mark on her thigh one last time. Just as she fell asleep, she thought of Reizan. Of his escape from that hellish nightmare.

“T
he feast is tonight,” was what everyone kept telling me as I walked through the village stalls. I was looking for some food to bring home to my family on the outskirts of town, but no one was selling anything but their hardy leftovers. Whenever I asked why, they only responded with one thing.

I didn’t know what the feast meant. I had been too young to remember the last one, but despite that, no one would tell me what it was about exactly. I heard only one person mumble something about sacrifices and Gods, but I didn’t believe them. I thought we paid our penance every week? Sacrifice? It all seemed too unbelievable.

Regardless, when the moon fell that night, I joined the others at the well in the center of town. There, great torches blazed and illuminated the square. Hundreds of people had gathered around the town’s leader, Devon. He spoke over the crowd, a feverish excitement in his voice. I pushed my way through the throng as he thanked everyone who had shown up.

“... The time has come again, for us to choose a desirable woman to be sacrificed. Our town has gone through many hardships over the last couple years, a sure sign it is time to renew our vows to the God that lives on earth.” A hushed thrill ran through the crowd and the village leader held his hand up to regain their attention. “I know we aren’t supposed to talk about the sacrifice — that is one of the decrees — but once every fifteen years we must. Now if anyone would be willing to step up. It is for the town’s greater good.”

I gulped and looked around, staring at the faces in the crowd. No one volunteered. I still had barely any idea what Devon was talking about, but I wasn’t about to ask. A voice whispered in my ear, “How about you, Elizabeth?”

I turned to face it and found my friend, Caitlyn, always a joker. I shook my head. “What are you talking about?”

She giggled and prodded my ribs. “You should do it.”

“I don’t think so.”

Devon spoke up again. “If we do not have any volunteers, then I’m afraid I’ll have to choose myself.” He waved to the guards on watch.

He surveyed the crowd. “We only need one untouched woman. That’s all the sacrifice requires.”

“What does the sacrifice have to do?” I spoke up, raising my hand to steal Devon’s attention.

Devon shifted uncomfortably and wiped his brow. “Well,... we don’t really know.”

“What do you mean?”

“I assure you no one dies during the sacrifice.”

“Then what happens to them?”

“They vanish.”

I averted my gaze and looked back at Caitlyn, who’s face had gone pale. I nodded at her knowingly, wanting to scold her for daring to try and get me involved in this.

Devon scanned over the silent audience before snapping his attention back to me. “Elizabeth McShell.”

I shuddered as the words left his mouth, feeling the blood drain from my face. I felt ill. “Come up here, please,” Devon said.

The crowd murmured and parted around me, so I couldn’t hide. I hung my head and walked up to the podium that Devon was standing on. He clamped his hand on my shoulder and shook me. I sigh of relief seemed to fall over the crowd, and I felt sick to my stomach the instant it did.

“You should be honored,” Devon said carefully. “You’ll be hailed as a heroine for the town.”

“Then how come I don’t... feel like one?”

The guards approached behind me and gripped my arms. They dragged me down the stairs and the crowd followed me with their eyes. I didn’t try to fight, I only tried to decide if I wasn’t being absolutely stupid. I was needed, wasn’t I?

I looked at Caitlyn as I was carried out of the town square. She frowned and shook her head, as if it would be the last time she’d ever see me.

My stomach knotted.

***

I
was hauled miles outside of town. The location that was picked for the sacrifice was an old one, a large field with a single large wooden stake in the center. I had seen it before when I would go exploring, but could never get a clear answer from anyone what it was for. I swear I saw stained blood on it, and now I knew why.

The guards hoisted me up to my toes and pushed me against the pole. I stood there as they lashed ropes around my body, tightening them and forcing the air from my lungs. They bound my hands and feet to the pole, giving me no mobility.

The guard looked at me with sad eyes and nodded. He looked to Devon who had overseen the entire process. He huffed and blew air from his nose.

“It is done.” He turned out toward the empty field, ignoring the large gathering of villagers that had followed us out there. He spread out his arms and called out into the empty plains. “Azmu! We leave a sacrifice for you! Do with it as you please. For we are worthy.” I stared into the back of his head and tried to contemplate if this was really happening.

It was the first time I had ever heard that name, Azmu, and I was angry. The crowd began to leave, following Devon back up a small hill to the trail that led to town.

“If this god is so powerful how come I’ve never heard of him!” I struggled against my ropes as reality set in.

Devon stopped and shook his head. “We are forbidden from speaking of him except for times of great need... and sacrifice.”

I quivered. I looked to my parents who hadn’t said a word the entire time. “What about you two! You’re going to let them leave me for dead?”

My mother shook her head and my father cradled her in his arms. My father answered, “No. It isn’t for dead. It’s for the greater good.” He gulped back his tears and turned away to join the rest of the crowd. I screamed in confusion and rage as they disappeared up the hill. I was helpless and alone.

What could I do?

***

A
storm raged on the moors that night. It had been hours since the village had left me as a sacrifice, but there was no sign of Azmu coming to collect me. The rain ran down my forehead and I tried to lap as much of it up as possible. Who knew when I would get my next sip of water? I realized it felt absurd to try and stay alive, but I had nothing else to look forward to.

The night passed long and rough. I managed to get some sleep in, but mostly strange noises in the night woke me. A raccoon startled me awake at one point and I tried to kick it away, struggling against my ropes. The harsh fibers burned my skin when I moved. The raccoon eventually left me alone, deciding a woman soaked with rain water wasn’t that interesting. Some sacrifice I was.

I cursed the Gods and I cursed the village for leaving me like this. I knew they’d never come back. Why would they? Their precious Azmu was supposed to sweep me away, make me ‘vanish,’ for all they knew, I didn’t exist anymore. What was the point?

I sighed and hung my head, trying to rest my chin against my neck. It made my muscles ache.

***

I
woke in the morning to a loud swooshing sound. I craned my neck to try and locate it, spotting something dark against the mountain tops. I strained to make out what it could be, then the realization struck me. The stories my parents had always told, this was it. They were trying to warn me. Prepare me for this day.