Random smut stories with plot

by Jokiba

Smut of all kinds with good plot too

87. Maternal Darkness

Maternal DarknessXRayGunSummary:

These are strange days: Superstition marches alongside and alters progress. Innocents quietly vanish into the hungry dark. Young Elias wants dearly to save his ailing mother, his only kin- but in the face of darkness beyond his imagination, what hope does he have?

Notes:

Something I've been messing around with in honor of the spooky season. This is my first attempt at writing in a good few years, and my first ever attempt at writing a smut/kink fic. So,

I'd appreciate any feedback

Consider yourself warned: It's just amateur purple prose and weird, weird fetishes.

If you're worried about the scent kink stuff, it's probably not as bad as you think. The rest probably is.

Chapter 1Chapter Text

"Dearest," cooed the voice at the window, "darling child." as it always began- at midnight, without fail- in the nights since Elias and his mother had fled the forest, "Sweetest thing…"

What tore his father from them had been a blur amidst the dying leaves— an indefinite shape that flitted through the foliage after their carriage. And now, Elias was certain, cast the long silhouette through his curtains.

"please…" it beckoned warmly, patiently, "...let me set my eyes upon you." Something alien, like unearthly birdsong, bled through the thin veneer of humanity, crept in the silence between each word.

It was toying with him. It must be. Terror wracked his small, trembling form. Neither the dim flicker of the oil lantern at his bedside nor the covers over his head offered any respite from the thing.

"Beloved. It simply is not safe…" the voice half-scolded, in its low, almost maternal timbre. Its words carried strangely through the large, empty space— his bedroom the whole of the old house's second story.

Elias peeked from his covers, watching as the outlines of spindly fingers traced in shadows across the curtains of the lone, large window at the far end of his room. He could not escape the horrid thing's luring words— the things it said about his sleeping mother each night.

"Sweet child, I'msovery sorry, but your mother is not well."

That false sympathy wound his insides up in knots— turned his stomach. Butitwas right. Elias knew all too well how sickness ravaged his mother.

---

She'd been hurt when their carriage overturned. Hurt badly. It was a wonder she'd been able to find and wake the boy from his stupor. The delirium of sleep still clinging to him, it was all he could do to keep her upright as they fled through the underbrush. Even once they reached home, his mother kept the wound hidden from him, "not a sight for little ones" she insisted, smiling weakly.

Each day his mother grew weaker, forcing herself through obvious agony to care for him. He wanted so desperately to help. Countless times he'd cooked, tended the gardens, offered to work in her stead, did everything he could— but, paranoid and fearful she'd lose him as they had his father— she soon forbade him from so much as touching the stove, let alone leaving the house. There was little the boy could do. He hadn't the chance to save his father— nor even to mourn his loss. He couldn't bear to lose his mother, as well. Though it pained him, he resolved to disobey his mother's wishes in secret. "A doctor",Elias had thought, "ma needs a doctor."She had said they couldn't afford a doctor's aid, but Elias was certain if he pleaded his case, offeredsomeservice in return, he could find some generous soul willing to help. He'd waited for her to fall asleep before he stole away into the night, taking only a lantern and a paltry handful of coin with him. Alnham was the nearest town, and his only hope of finding a doctor. If he made haste, he could be back by dawn with a doctor in tow.

The night was as dark as he'd ever seen, and the flickering light of his lantern conspired with the pale moonlight to play tricks on his weary mind. Faster and faster still he bolted down the once well-trodden road, as ruins— homes mere months ago— whipped past him. Strange shapes loomed in every darkened doorway and peered from every mouldering window. He ran and ran, the sounds of midnight drowned out by his heart beating furiously in his ears. Elias' mind spun, the boy terrified and near-exhausted— but not once considering retreat. Only knowing he had to move forward. On he ran through the countryside, driven only by the dim hope that he could somehow save his mother. Thatsomeonecould. Finally, mercifully, the boy set foot on the cobbled street into Alnham. Now bathed in the warm glow of street lamps, he cast a furtive glance back down the dark road. Something stood there, in the inky black. Just over the crest of a hill. Just outside the light's reach.

A chill ran up Elias' spine, and he hastened to make his way into town. Unlike the distant sprawling cities the boy had heard tell of, the small Hamlet of Alnham was far from bustling at such an ungodly hour— but the sight of the odd passerby was enough to offer the boy some small comfort. Still, he needed to find a doctor, and fast. Where before he was numb with terror, now exhaustion weighed heavily on his small frame. Heavier, even, than when he'd fled the forest. Shortly, he stumbled, falling in a heap against a wagon's wheel.A doctor, he thought in a haze. Something stirred in the wagon as Elias' eyelids grew heavy, and the boy drifted off.

Elias awoke to the tinkling of metal, the smell of pungent herbs and incense filling his nostrils.

"Awake?" inquired a muffled voice.

Elias' bleary eyes drifted about the small room, lingering on the clutter of charms, wards, and talismans that adorned the walls and dangled overhead.

"Yes. Awake. Good." he thought he could hear subtle relief in the man's stilted speech.

The boy sat up from a cushy, ornate chair, intent on both profusely thanking and apologizing to the man— but froze at the sight of his benefactor. He'd found a doctor, of sorts. The kind Elias had seen doing their grim work as death swept across the countryside. The kind clad in dark robes and stark white masks whose beaked visages betrayed their vulturous trade. Most saw them as holy men, healers sent by god. Others, as traveling charlatans. Too many times Elias had seen them darken the doorways of friends' homes emptied by some unspoken tragedy. He could see them as little else but omens. "s-Sorry, ssir, I—"

"No sorry. No need. Here."

The masked man gingerly set a steaming mug on a small table before the boy. He gestured towards it with a gloved hand.

"Bitter, but will help regain strength."

Elias' eyes flitted warily between the mug and the man.

He raised one hand, adding: "No charge."

As if ordered, Elias sipped at the foul elixir. It bit at his tongue, and his face made this disdain clear.

"Mm." He chuckled softly. "Thereiscost, it seems."

It shook the sleep from him, if nothing else. So, too, did the revelation that he hadn't the faintest idea how long he'd slept. "When's sunrise?!" he blurted out.

"Few hours. Why? Out so late, no family, yes? No one to worry."

The words had struck Elias like a dagger through his heart, dreading that they might soon ring true. He was doing all he could to ensure they wouldn't, he explained shakily. The doctor listened intently to the boy's tale of woe, subtly clutching one of the countless glittering wards that adorned his wine-red robes as the boy recounted thethingtaking his father, wounding his mother.

"Mn… Not first."

Elias was taken aback.

"Handful. Always child, sometimes parent escapes. Days, weeks pass. Sicker and sicker. Then…" He doffed his wide-brimmed hat, holding it over his heart. "...gone."

He let the word hang in the air a moment before returning the cap to its place. Noticing the grim look on Elias' face, he gestured toward himself. "Have only heard from others. Never had chance to treat. Cannot promise help."

Elias' expression darkened further.

"But will try."

The doctor's wagon rattled its way down the same path Elias had walked hours before. The sun lingered just below the horizon, and though he could scarcely make anything out through the dusty window, Elias could swear that same shape was keeping pace with the wagon as easily as it had followed him on foot.

It was nearly dawn when they arrived at the boy's home. He preceded the doctor, careful not to wake his mother with a start. He listened for movement from behind her bedroom door, and hearing none, sat uncomfortably in their modest living room, fidgeting in his chair. The doctor sat opposite him, fiddling idly with some charm. It wasn't long before Elias heard her beginning to stir from her fitful sleep. The two waited. Shortly, her door creaked open, and there his mother stood. Just the sight of her tore at him. Where before there had been a boisterous, full-figured woman with bright blue eyes and a warm smile, now only a husk remained. Dull eyes peered out from behind ragged amber hair. A twitch flickered across her face, something the boy couldn't quite read. She glanced at the doctor, then Elias before hobbling over to the pair, legs overburdened with what little weight still clung to her withering frame.

"My." she croaked, attempting courtesy, "A doctor in our humble home? I hope Elias hasn't caused you any trouble. Here, will you take tea?" she gestured toward their modest kitchen.

The doctor stood from his spot. "No need. Examine you."

"Ah, but we couldn't possibly afford the services of—"

"No charge. Examination. Here, follow." Opening the front door, he beckoned her into his wagon.

Elias stood from his seat, only for his mother to give him a stern look, pressing him firmly back into the chair.

"No, Elias. Stay here."

She shut the door behind them, and the boy was alone in his empty house. It wasn't long he sat there, the dim flame of hope flickering inside him— before the two returned, his mother, wearier than ever, retreating to her room. The doctor stood grimly in the doorway.

"Cannot understand. Nothing works. Cannot help."

He strode towards the boy, and spoke in a hushed tone.

"Alnham church, good people there. Can take you. Sisters very kind. Look after you when—"

"NO! No. no." Elias was numb. So overwhelmed with emotion, his body's only recourse was to try and dull the pain in hopes it would fade.

"Understand." the doctor nodded, producing a modest talisman from the pocket of his coat. The charm, though sizable, wasn't much to look at: a pale orange rock that protruded from its cast iron cage. "Take. Will protect, bring better days." He pressed it gently into Elias' hand, before turning to leave. He hesitated at the door, "Offer stands." and shut it gently behind him.

Elias could faintly make out rattling and the whinnying of horses growing distant as he lay still in the chair. He let his hand go limp, the talisman clattering to the floor and out of sight. Hours slipped by. His mother hadn't left her room since morning. He stood by her door a moment, only to be sure she'd not yet left him. A rotten feeling began to fester from the numbing emptiness.

It's my fault. Ma's sicker, and it's my fault.

Sluggishly, he lumbered up the stairs to his room, throwing himself onto his bed.

Shouldn't've got a doctor. Now ma's hurting worse.

He hadn't eaten all day, and was exhausted from the night before.

Maybe it's right I starve. 'm not good enough for food

He felt more rotten with each passing hour. He'd done all he could— all he knew to do— and it just made things worse. Night fell, and at last the dam burst.

sobbed into his was all for nothing.

"Do not weep, dearest child…"

That was the nightitfirst called to him.

"...nor fault the good doctor, I beg of you. Neither he nor his fellowsknow. Not yet. But…Ido. I can help. Please, my lovely one…

…won't you let me help?"

Chapter 2Notes:

Kinks in this chapter (SPOILERS)

Chapter Text

Fingers drummed at the window, startling him from the thoughts that swirled in his head.

"Dearest one? You are still there, aren't you?"

Thatthing—whatever it was— hadn't left. Of course it hadn't— he was never rid of its sickly sweet voice until daybreak.

"You cannot stay here, not with her."

He hated it.

"She is sick. Very,verysick."

He had endured this forweeks.

"And she may spread it to you, my dear…"

Dread, anger, and sorrow churned in his chest.

"or worse—"

He threw off his covers, shooting up from his bed, hot tears streaming down his face. Planting his feet on the floor, rising shakily, Elias forced his fears to the back of his mind. He stomped intently, fists clenched, towards the window and threw back the curtains to cry out:

SHUT UP!

...but the words wouldn't come. His blood had run cold. Through the thin pane, two bright white orbs stared back at him from deep, dark circles recessed in a pale, pointed visage. It might have been mistaken for bleached bone, had the sockets around its eyes not flexed so, widening at the sight of Elias. Amidst a small explosion of feathers: an inborn mask, fused at its edges to the thing's charcoal skin. The skeletal avian head sat atop a long, slender neck— sinewy flesh glistening in the moonlight— swallowed up in feathery black cloth where its neck and shoulders would have met.

What little else Elias could see of the figure was wreathed in a vast black cloak that hung awkwardly on whatever lay beneath— catching and clinging on odd shapes as it swayed in the soft autumn wind. A wide-brimmed hat completed the thing's forgery— a hazy vision of those vultures' holy garb plucked from some half-remembered dream. A distorted imitation, born of misunderstanding or malice. A black pillar that vanished down into the darkness below from which a dark, spindly arm protruded, terminating in a hand with long, slender fingers pointed like talons. A hand that pressed against the glass.

"Ahhhh…" Steam puffed from its nostrils, fogging the window. "Dearest one~" it's voice beamed, beak unmoving. "At long last, I look upon your face in earnest."

Elias stood paralyzed, unable to summon the strength to even shut his eyes, let alone turn tail and run.

"Would you lavish me with your name, precious one?"

The boy stammered quietly, any words of defiance dying in his throat.

"Ah! Apologies." it gave a soft, feminine gasp, its hand parting briefly from the window to tip its hat. "It would please me greatly if you would call me Althea. It is my very good pleasure to meet you properly, my dear…?" she trailed off expectantly.

"e-e-El-Elias"

"Elias~" she hummed the word with reverence, savoring its sound. "E-li-as…" She enunciated again, letting each syllable linger on her tongue(?) "Ah, but…" the light faded from her voice, falling to a dulcet whisper. "I forget my purpose here."

Elias' eyes remained fixed on the strange she-thing as she seemed to get lost in thought.

"Dearest Elias," she said with conviction, "let me profusely apologize for the discourtesy of disturbing you each night— would that there were another way— but this is a most urgent matter, one that requires your trust."

Trust. Trust?Elias felt sick. He wanted to scream at the thing, bellow his hatred for it, but could only mutter weakly: "Y-you won't get me. Or m-m-my m-ma. m–m-Monster."

There was a long silence.

"...monster?"

Never in his short life had Elias heard such heartbreak in a single word. The boy felt guilt wash over him, despite himself.

"I… understand. I wished only to help, and acted, unthinking. Perhaps, had I been more careful, I mightn't have frightened you so." She paused, shoulders slumping. "...no. No amount of care would change what I am. None should have to look upon me. Least of all you, dearest one." Her hand slipped out of sight. "I will do all I can, that you might forget I am here 'til my work is done. And when it is, you'll never suffer the sight of me again." She forced the sorrow from her voice. "But still, my workmustbe done. For you, Elias. You must heed my words— youcannotremain here. Your mother…" She slowed her pace, choosing her words carefully. "Your mother is terribly ill, Elias. More than you know. I'm sorry to say, she's not going to get better. If you remain here with her, you will be in grave danger. You must leave come morning. You have my word, I will tend to her in your absence."

He couldn't bear the thought.

"m-maybe… Maybe I'll… I'll die with ma." he choked out, face wet with tears.

"Oh… oh, sweet child, no…" she warbled softly. "No, no… you don't understand… She— Please, Elias, you have to trust in me. I'm sorry, dear, I don't mean to hurt you so— but your mother, she—"

The door to Elias' room creaked open. Althea tensed.

"Elias? Honey? I thought I heard you moving around. Is everything alright?" There his mother stood: soft, warm, vibrant— as he had remembered her from better days."It's alright, little one. It's all just a bad dream. Come here, let me hold you and make everything better."

She extended her arms toward him. He wanted nothing more than to bury his face in her ample bosom. He glanced back at the window. Nothing there. Without any further thought or hesitation, he ran excitedly, leaping into his mother's embrace.

"Oh, Elias!" She crooned, arms wrapped tightly around him. "Sweet Elias. Sweet, stupid, simple Elias."

He assured himself he'd misheard.

"You've taken such good care of me, sweetie." Her grip tightened as she continued in a singsong voice: "all that fear, and sadness, and despair— oh, it was just delicious! You've fed me so well this past month."

Her grip was suffocating.

"I thought that awful doctor might catch on and do me in— all those wards really did a number on me."

The pressure was unbearable.

"I thought I might starve again. But you filled me right back up! And every day since, you've fed me more and more! And now that I've grown fat on all the worries in your pretty little head, I think it's time for a reward~! Let me slip into something more comfortable, and we'll have a nice little family reunion!" She threw him down, slamming him into the floor. He stared up at her, transfixed in abject horror as his mother's face melted away, her form swelling hideously outward— moaning in sadistic glee.

"Oh, you have no idea how good this feels, not having to squeeze all these curves down into your mother's pitiful little form~" Slime oozed from the surface of the thing's skin, finer details growing soft and indistinct, draining of color, until only a great, growing mass of pallid purplish flesh remained. Elias, unable to stand, began inching backward on his hands, still facing the thing.

Only in loose terms could it be said to resemble a human now. Its torso was a perverse parody of the female form— the belly alone dwarfed the boy, a wall of jiggling fat easily swallowing a sixth of the room. Where a navel should have been was instead a drooling circular maw— a tunnel of teeth that seemed to extend infinitely into its insides. The immense pile of flab slapped heavily against a second wobbling mass resembling a vast, shapely bottom— out of which extended two similarly massive thighs fused at the middle into a fleshy, oozing tail before branching downwards into a tangle of writhing tendrils in place of feet. Two massive swollen breasts sagged down from atop its colossal gut— each one half its size and possessing a slavering mouth of its own— leaking and swaying weightily at the corpulent creature's thighs.

Some small, primal part of Elias' brain made his loins stir at the sight of the fecund horror, but was swiftly drowned out by overwhelming fear.

In the place of arms, two long, coiling tubes of translucent flesh: monstrous lamprey that slithered along the floor. Most horrid of all was the head that traced slimy trails along the ceiling— shaped in the thing's veiny flesh was his mother's face, frozen like some twisted death mask— her tongue lolling out of her gaping mouth. Elias might have been thankful he couldn't see her eyes, were it not for the large, leech-like mouth in their place.

It spoke in a discordant chorus of quivering moans, drool dribbling down his mother's cheeks like viscous tears. "OOOOOoooohhhhh yyyyyYYYESSS!" it swelled further, "sussshhh delllissshhuss agoonnnnyyyy~!"

Elias still lay on the floor, devoting his few remaining shreds of strength to a slow, futile retreat. On he crawled, sick with terror, his empty stomach heaving, body trembling, face wet with tears and sweat and spittle. Rational thought had all but abandoned him. Unable to scream without retching, he could only whimper and sob, a gibbering mess.

The leech relished every second of it, isolating his mother's voice in its wicked choir: "Oh, Elias, she wassohungry before we came. Her sisters ate every living thing for miles and left her for dead— she wasstarving! It took everything she had left in her just to chase us down. She couldn't even have fun with your daddy, the poor thing. She had to tear him apart and gobble him right up! When we crashed, I couldn't find you— I wassoooscared! But I found something evenbetter!I found a beee-yootiful leech lady swallowing down the last of daddy! She was nice and full, so she could take her time to play with lucky ol' me~!" The wretched thing inched forward at an agonizing crawl.

Elias' ears begged for the cover of his hands, but his mind screamed at them to stay his cowering course.

"It was so muchfun,Elias! First she used hersexytendrils to violateevery. last. my body! It was better than any sex I'd ever had~ She stretched me out in ways daddynevercould~ I could feel my brain turning to mush— she fucked me so hard I forgot you existed! A few minutes in and I was just a braindead little fucktoy!" The leech-woman crept ever forward, Savoring every morsel of torment she inflicted on the boy.

"Oh, oh, but here's the best part! She said she could make me feeleven. better.I couldn't believe it, what could possibly be better than having her ruin every hole I had?! She promised to show me, but only if I promised something in return~"

The room's lone window on the far wall lay 20 Feet Away. Elias shuddered. Even if he could break it, he wouldn't survive crawling through.

"I'd give her anything she wanted!Anything!"

18 feet away. The last vestige of his rational mind searched desperately for an escape. For somespeckof hope. Even if it were to come in the form of Althea, despite the dread and mistrust she had inspired.

"Can you guess what she wanted, sweetheart?"

He could.

He wished he couldn't. 15 Feet away.

"That's right!You!"

12 feet away. Every moaning syllable of his mother's voice rent a hole in his wavering soul.

"I didn't even know who you were, soof courseI promised she could have you!"

10 feet away. Too terrified to even tell himself she was lying.

"And in return for such asmallprice, she started sucking down my feet with thisbeautifulmouth of hers~ It really tickled at first, and she nibbled me on the way down! I was all the way up to my knees in her cute little belly when thetinglingstarted~ Then she folded me in half so my face was pressed right up against her gut! And wouldn't you know it, I could see right through to her stomach! Isn't she just incredible? She kept playing with my holes, and I got to watch as my legs melted down into nothing but bones and red slop! I even got to see what was left of daddy!" Her arms slithered along the floor towards Elias.

5 feet away. He wished he was deaf. Thatallhis senses were stricken from him if it meant never having to listen to another wretched word, never again know this horror.

"But she didn't stop there, oh no no no! She's a growing girl, after all~ A few dozen more orgasms and she swallowed me all the way up to my waist! Feeling the caustic slime in her insides eating away at my body was unlikeanythingI'd ever felt before~ I couldn't believe I was still alive! I kept squirming in pleasure and agony as she sloooowlllyy gurgled me away, all the way up to my tits~ It was only an hour, but it felt likedays!"

His back pressed against the wall under the windowsill. No chance of escape.

And now, Elias…" The enormous leech-thing hunched over the trembling boy— drooling, inches away— belly and breasts like three walls surrounding him as her cacophonous choir crept in, "...youuu tasshhtyyy lllittle thiinnng…" fading once more to his mother's whisper:

"You will share in the samedelights."

Chapter 3Notes:

Kinks in this chapter (SPOILERS)

Chapter Text

A great crash.

Curtains flew open in shreds. A thousand jagged shards glittered in the air, sailing harmlessly over Elias and showering his tormentor like a rain of crystalline needles, piercing deep into the leech-thing's flesh. At the epicenter of the explosion of glass; a long, dark arm. Its spindliness belied the powerful muscles that flexed beneath charcoal skin unmarred by the glass's innumerable merciless edges. The palm had violently struck the leech-woman's death mask, forcing it inward upon itself as five slender, taloned digits wrapped around her head.

"WretchedPARASITE!" roared the voice from the window, words dripping with venom, its talons digging into the horror's flesh. Shrouded in black feathery cloth that swept softly over Elias, a large clawed humanoid foot stepped deftly into the room, planting itself firmly between the boy and the she-beast, forcing her back. Another followed, the black wreathed raptoress emerging fully into the room. Twice Elias' height, she stood nearly 10 feet tall— but a twig before the enormity of the leech-woman.

"Hell has no pit deep enough for anabominationso hateful as you," Althea snarled, "no eternal torture duly abhorrent—" her talons began to crush the shrieking leech's head, "but the devil won't have you—" its head collapsed with a sickening squelch, "Iwill."

With a grunt of effort, she flung the bulbous behemoth to the far wall, the bedroom door splintering apart at the impact of a single buttock. She turned sharply to Elias, flicking the purple gore from her hand before stooping to look him over.

A flash across Elias' brain. A fleeting, hazy thought only faintly discerned from the roiling sea of woe. The face that had frightened him so, in this instant, looked almost… gallant.

"Elias!" she nearly wept at the state of him, "oh, dear Elias, I prayed it would never come to this. I hoped beyond hope you'd be spared this awful truth. I…" her voice welled with sorrow, her hands reaching out unconsciously to the boy's weeping face before she seemed to catch herself, pulling back. "I could never ask for nor deserve forgiveness for what you've endured. But if you would allow me, I will explain myself—" Her head spun like an owl's, turning to warily eye the leech as it began to twitch and stir. "—but not here, not now. She will not stay down long. I will tend to her, as promised— but before all else I must see you to safety, somewhere far from here, fromher."

He looked up at her through eyes bleary with tears. All he knew of her til tonight had been honeyed words. Each night at his window she'd spoken only of how deeply she cared for him, and how vital it was that he leave his mother's side. Words, he'd thought, clearly meant to lure him to some unspeakable end. He realized now, as Althea stood steadfast between him and atruemonster, that she was something more. She'd gone about it wrong, certainly, but everything she said, she said in earnest. He began to see her— strange though she was— as his sole refuge in a maelstrom of utter despair. Agony and terror still assailed him, but the turn of fate returned some modicum of strength to him.

"We cannot risk the door" her gaze still flitted between Elias and the leech, then to the window, eyes playing along the jagged edges consequent to her violent entrance. She slumped her shoulders and sighed, fog pouring from her nostrils as the cold crept in from outside. "Oh, Elias. This night is far too unkind for one so sweet. We must escape— this window, our only means, but…" she hesitated, "...but you would not be spared the glass's bite, as I am." She couldn't fully meet his gaze. "Forgive me, dearest one, but…" her head hung shamefully, "...but could you bear the embrace of this wretched old carrion crow, for but a moment? I fear that… only under my cloak might I see you to safety."

Elias hesitated, only for a moment. He wiped the mess from his face with the tattered remnants of a curtain. "Okay." His voice was little more than a whisper.

Althea timidly offered her hand. "...Are you certain? I… should think you've seen enough…monsters…" the word caught in her throat, "...for a lifetime."

He placed his hand in hers, seeming to send a shiver through Altea's body. Her hand was warm and soft, softer than any he'd held. He was by no means small for his age, but her palm alone fit nearly the whole of his hand. Her long fingers enveloped It, grasp gentle but firm.

She pulled him carefully to his feet, making certain he could stand before swiftly pulling her hand away, not allowing herself to linger in that moment. "I suppose I should…" she looked down to her cloak, as did Elias. Gingerly, she began to part it, forming an opening just large enough for the boy to step through. Steam billowed out as a wave of warmth washed over Elias, scents both strange and familiar swirling around his head, tickling his brain in ways he didn't understand. Like the cold night air in the woods gone hot, like sweat and fire and something sweet he couldn't place, and—

"Elias? Dearest?" Althea cocked her head.

He looked up at her. Moonlight illuminated her stark white visage, and trickled through the part in her cloak. Though he could make out little more than a silhouette, it was clear her form was distinctly feminine, if beyond the bounds of human anatomy.

She touched her hand to his shoulder. "We can think of another way, if…"

"No. 'm sorry. I shouldn'a said… I- thank you… for comin' back." He smiled weakly up at Althea.

Another shiver up her spine, her hand seemed to grow warmer on his shoulder. "You- ah- I… truly?" she stammered, words tinged with cheery birdsong, "d-darling Elias, of course— I never left, I'dneverleave you to her, but I— fweEEK!" Althea let out a shrill cry of pain as a tendrilous leech wrapped around her long neck, constricting as it tore her away from Elias.

"Yyyyyoooouuu bitsshhh!" the gurgling mess of a head spat through frothing purple ichor, "Agh'll ssshhove thad boytoyyy innshhhide youu 'n fugckh youu bodth ta deadth!" The mangled lump swelled in pulses, waves of its abundant excess mass flooding into the dangling, deflated flesh. Slowly, It began to rise— lopsided at first— wounds sealing themselves shut as shape returned to the leech-woman's hateful head. Althea struggled against the leech's choking grasp, clawing desperately at the tendril that writhed around her neck drooling slime.

Elias stood, paralyzed once more with fear, hope and affection once more cruelly torn from his grasp.

The leech-thing growled in pain, her whole body quivering as she commanded her body to heal. Jagged shards of glass were forced out from deep within her flesh, tumbling out on slimy strands to shatter uselessly on the floor. Althea's ambush undone, the rotund parasite arched her back, swollen breasts parting and swaying at her sides as her stomach's cavernous maw yawned open wide, hungrily awaiting her prey. She lurched forward, pulling her tendril taut, tightening it like a noose around the huntress's neck.

Althea dug the talons of her feet into the floor, forcing all of her weight forward toward her charge to tear away from her gruesome adversary, but found little purchase as she was dragged inexorably backward, deep gouges in the floorboards trailing after the tips of her claws. A snapping maw shot forth on another slimy limb, the raptoress only barely managing to seize it before it could ensnare Elias as it had her.

He trembled as the leech splattered him with spittle. Twice now she'd spared him from depraved, agonizing death. He was terrified, but he couldn't just stand there, useless— he had to help, to fight, just force himself to move,something!

"Ssshhtuupiid old buzzshard!" the leech-woman cackled, her other tendril coiling around the arm that had plucked it from the air, "Yyyouu jussht made thish eashier! Hee'sh aaash good ash fucked. Ssho're yyoou!" She feigned a gasp. "III knoooww, let'sshh pluck your feathersh n' shhoww'im hissh final reshhting plache!"

He couldn't hope to move either of the leech's limbs that restrained his newfound protector, or even reach them, sowhat…?The faint glint of reflected moonlight drew his eye to the mosaic of shattered glass that littered the floor— to one long, particularly nasty looking shard. He inched backward, still facing the mortal peril unraveling before him, and tore a strip of cloth from the tattered curtains.

Althea flailed violently as the leech-woman bound her hands together, freeing a tendril to begin pulling at the edges of her cloak. No longer starved of air she sputtered, trying to offer some weak reassurance to the cowering boy. "She won't have her way. I promise. No matter what I may face." She faltered, "But please, dearest, just… don't look. Please."

"Letsh shee the pretty bird!" She knocked the hat from the woman's head, then with a single swift motion, the wretched leech flung Althea's cloak open wide, a wall of black feathers between the perverse abomination and her prey-to-be. "Liike whatcha shee cuuuteey? Whish hole you wanna be sshoved in?"

Elias charged through the black curtain with reckless abandon. With the most furious scream he could muster, he plunged his makeshift dirk with all his strength as deep into the monster's thigh as it would go, stumbling back as it shrieked and recoiled in pain.

"yyyyYYOOOUUuuu worthlessh fuckingtoy!"she wailed, "thhissshh isshNOTHING!" She forced the dagger out with a grunt. "Thissh'll heal in no time, and then—AAAAGGGHH!"

Elias spun, Althea's cloak still falling to the floor. She stood impossibly tall, stark nude, steam pouring from the stygian anatomy framed by the full moon that cast a long otherworldly shadow over her quarry. In her hands: the twin tendrils, held like the reins of some great beast, her talons having run them through. Their eyes met only a moment, but her soft gaze stirred his heart and dispelled any doubts that still lingered in his mind. She looked now to the leech, eyes narrowing as hatred in its most absolute form painted itself across her scowling brow.

Althea tensed, digging the talons of her feet into the floor. Her grip tightened, pulling taut the tendrils that writhed in her clutches. She reared back, upper body turning fully to one side with force near enough to wrench the thrashing leech-woman's arms from their place. With a single word: "Run!"she swung back, muscles rippling and bulging as, with an inhuman cry, she tore the colossal leech from the floor. Elias bolted through the splintered door, the whole house shaking as the leech crashed thunderously against each wall.

He rushed down the stairs, nearly falling over himself as terror, anger, disgust, and sorrow all still tore at his heart, his soul. Thin strands of hope and affection only barely held him together. More sounds of battle from overhead— he'd cry his eyes out later, but this wasn't over yet. The sounds echoing down the stairwell told him the leech was losing, but he had to be sure. Sure the horror that tore his family from him— defiled his mother and wore her face— would die at the hands of the woman to whom he now owed his life (and a more thorough apology.)

A sword, a knife, fire iron— something!Elias' mind raced in his frantic search for a weapon, something that would at least hinder the demon parasite, even for a moment. He winced with every creak and thud as the storm of blows raged on, battering the old house. He feared that every one might be the last, struck against Althea. A distraction wouldn't be enough, he decided, but what more could be done?

He searched his memory for anything that might ensure Althea's victory. Salt, he'd been told, would deter demons and leeches alike, but unconsecrated as it was, using their meager store of the stuff for combat would be farcical. What else? His family wasn't in the habit of keeping charms or— the talisman. He ran to the darkened living room. Dropping to the floor, he felt around near-blindly for the trinket, no time to light a lamp. At last he found it, plucking it from under the chair where it had laid unseen for weeks on end. He prayed the trust he was placing in the doctor's word wouldn't go mislaid as he clung tightly to the cast iron ornamentation at the base of the unassuming orange stone.

He stood shaking at the foot of the stairs, sick with dread but not once considering retreat. Only knowing he had to move forward. A tendril burst through what was left of his bedroom door. It fell to the ground, crawling sluggishly down the stairs toward him, only to be ripped violently back through the door frame in a blur. Another crash and a horrible shriek rang out as Elias hastened his ascent.

Chapter 4Notes:

Kinks in this chapter (SPOILERS)

Chapter Text

His room was in shambles, only the bed and lamp somehow miraculously unscathed. Countless splatters of slime clung to the walls, the floor, theceilingin thick globs— each one a record of myriad crushing blows struck against the bloated leech-wretch that lay in a jiggling heap in the far corner of the room. Even now she stitched herself back together, albeit far slower than before. Opposite the writhing lamprey: Althea.

The raptoress was drenched with sweat, heat radiating in rising wisps of steam from her glistening pitch-dark skin, puffing from her nostrils with each heavy breath. She didn't bear down on her wounded prey. She just stood, claws splayed— statuesque, mistaken for some obsidian effigy to a deity of eons past were it not for the rise and fall of her shoulders. Through huffs, she spoke intently, gaze remaining fixed on the leech: "Elias? Dearest one, why have you not fled? You are not safe while she still lives."

The scene flooded his thoughts with discordant emotions vying for dominance. He looked to the profile of Althea's pale visage, willing his eyes not to drift downward. He struggled to keep his head clear enough to form a coherent thought, only managing to squeak out: "Wanted to help… doctor… gave me… this…" he held up the talisman, meekly. "she said these hurt her… so…"

Althea's eyes darted to Elias. To the trinket— a flash of recognition— then once more to the leech. She gave a deep sigh, relief seeming to wash over her. Her voice was softer now. "Elias, you…" she tried to scold him, unable to hide her elation at his presence, "...you needn't have risked your life for this old crow… but… thank you." She extended her hand towards him, "if you would be so kind?"

He pressed it firmly into her palm, his hand lingering a moment. Inspecting the trinket, she held it out before her as if to present it to the leech. She took a long, confident stride forward. "Your'toy'" she spat, "has just sealed your fate,parasite."The leech hissed. "Rejoice," Althea continued with another step forward, "he's spared you a more protracted vivisection."

The voice of Elias' mother bubbled from the thing's throat, panicked and incomplete, "Elias, sssweetie, honey— I'm still in hereee you know, you don't want this nasssty old vulture to split us apart againnnn, do you? Why don't you come over here to mooommmmmyyyyy, hm?"

Elias wiped tears from his eyes. "You're lying." he was shaking. "I know she's gone."

The leech woman hissed, turning her hateful death mask to face Elias. "The ssslut sold you just to get off. She's gonna be innnnhell— withme.I'm gonnadefileher for alllll oF ETERNITY!"

Althea, clutching the talisman, plunged her fist down the leech's throat to her shoulder, pulling away empty handed. The leech writhed weakly in silence, her only protests the impotent slap of tendrils at the floor as all but the last vestige of life ebbed from her vile form. Her prey subdued, the victorious huntress spared the wretch not another second of thought, instead stepping toward Elias, gaze and tone softening. "Dearest Elias," she started, wiping the drool from her arm with what was once a curtain, "she's wrong. Your mother's soul will not suffer her depravity ever again. And it is not hell that awaits this parasite— this, I know for certain." Sadness crept into her voice. "Are… are you alright, my only one? I… cannot begin to imagine how you must hurt."

The shock of the leech's spiteful words had yet to fade fully from his mind. And yet, trusting in Althea's words, he felt all that weighed on him slowly beginning to lift away. The heartache lingered still— and a time would come soon for him to mourn. But not yet. He still had an apology to make, thanks to give, and perhaps more. He nodded.

And in that moment, as the urgency and dread of their mortal peril began to fade from their minds, both he and Althea recalled her utter nudity.

"Ah!" The raptoress gasped, leaping backward and covering herself with her hands, voice coming apart at its seams into birdsong as she sputtered incoherently, "Dearestone mysincerestapologiesIforgotmyselfintheheatofbattleInevermeanttoupsetyouI—" she shook her head and shuddered at herself, trying to grasp even the most fleeting semblance of composure. Voice still rapid, shaky, and twittering apart, she started again: "Dearest E-E-Elias, I-I amso very sorryto have exposed you to something my d-disrobing was involuntary, the fact remains that I should have taken a great many more precautions to ensure that you were not e-exposed to thisunsightlyold carrion crowin a state of un-d-dress, and f-furthermore—"

He tried to keep his eyes averted to spare her further embarrassment. "No— Althea, I—" Elias shook his head profusely. "It's alright, it's— p-please calm down, okay?" He was already having trouble putting his thoughts together, the towering huntress's flustered jiggling certainly didn't help.

While calming slightly, Althea persisted rambling on in her emphatic apology. "Sweet Elias, it is most kind of you to try and spare a vulture's feelings but—"

Elias took a deep breath. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry I called you a monster, I- I didn't know, couldn'a known— I was just afraid, I thought y'were gonna hurt me— I- I thought you were trickin' me, thatyouwere the thing that took my pa, that you'd come back for me and… andma." His lip quivered, voice going hoarse at the word.

Althea had fallen silent, offering only a longing, sympathetic expression.

He beat back the welling sorrow that threatened to bring him to his knees. "But I was wrong, an' I'm sorry. I'm sorry I hurtcha. Y'saved my life- you- You're not— you're not a monster, you're not repulsive! I don't understand what you are, but—" he worked up all the courage he had left, "—but I want to!" He hadn't said all he'd meant to, couldn't set straight and speak all the thoughts that cluttered his brain— but he'd said enough, for now.

Althea fidgeted, a quiet, breathy chirrup slipping from her throat. She hesitated a moment. "Elias, you… truly mean that, don't you?" It was plain from her tone that, while in disbelief, her doubt was greatly outweighed by joy.

Elias gave a firm nod.

"Oh, Elias! Dearest!", she swooned, "Thank you, my sweetest thing. How my heartachedat the thought my presence heaped more woe upon your shoulders!" She tried, less than successfully, to quell her giddiness. "Though surely, you'd rather I were clothed, no? I should think you've no desire to see an old crow saunter about in the nude." she half-jested.

Now it was Elias who fidgeted, his face growing redder by the second.

Althea's eyes went wide with surprise, "E-Elias? Forgive me, but it seemed for a moment thatIspurred your cheeks to rosiness, but that simplycannotbe! …can it?"

He wasbrightred now. "W-well… I-I-I— I wanna see what you look like…" he struggled to keep his eyes locked with hers, "all of you— t'... to help u-understand you." It wasn'tentirelya hasty excuse; taking in the whole of the figure that had lay beneath her cloak would help to make Althea feel a little less alien. Though it was uncertain if the object of his newfound…fascination…could discern as much.

A flutter seemed to travel through the whole of Althea's towering body— rising from her curling toes all the way to the shock of feathers that adorned her head. The fog that persistently puffed in hot breaths from her nostrils now billowed out in plumes, her words thick with birdsong as she only barely managed to string together her question: "Dearest, are youcertainyou wish to see me just as I am?"

"I'mcertain,Althea."

"T-Then I shall oblige." Slowly, she drew her hands to her sides. "Ah. Mmmh." She took long, shuddering breaths. "P-please,grace me with your gaze, darling Elias."

Before, in the throes of agony— in the heat of the skirmish, Elias hadn't lingered long on the sight of her naked form— hadn't even thought to. But now, granted her blessing and able to devote the whole of his rapt attention to her, something awakened in him— he was utterly captivated.

Althea was, unmistakably, not human. She stood impossibly tall. Atop a long neck: her avian face, a stark white faux-mask— fleshy, in spite of seeming almost skeletal. Her skin, darkest gray— only barely distinguishable from pitch black. Her arms— muscular despite their apparent spindliness— hung down to her knees, terminating in large hands with long, slender fingers. Her legs were similarly elongated, and her feet, though more human, extended as seamlessly into talons as her hands.

Yes,unmistakablynot human. And yet, despite this— no,becauseof this, he saw before him no monster. Blasphemously, he saw Althea as not merely a woman, but a deity- agoddess. Most otherworldly of all, her face: that which first stirred his heart. It was the first glimpse he'd had of her, as a pale shape at his window— it terrified him then. Now, itthrilledhim. Those luminous eyes, like twin moons in pools of void, most of all. There was a certain subtle softness to her long, gently curved beak— smooth as porcelain, save the flex of her brow, flare of her nostrils, and the faintest suggestion of a mouth. Atop her head, framing and contrasting its rounded edges: a wild, unkempt tangle of black feathers made up like short, fluffy hair whose boundary he could scarcely discern against her similarly dark skin.

He could not shake the image of his savior as some plutonian goddess of war— but to bestow upon her the mantle of Athena would prove, though not misguided, inadequate. Indeed, the immaculately defined musculature of her arms and back (and further, the state of the leech and the room) made plain her capacity for violence— but over much of her brawn lay a blanket of plush, supple fat. At her belly: a round, sizable paunch atop which rested two great breasts that hung full and heavy with a gentle sag. The width of her generous child-bearing hips spanned nearly the whole of Elias' height; Each smooth, curvaceous cheek of her ample posterior, Elias supposed, easily half his mass— her voluptuous thighs even more so. In light of this, the raptoress would be more aptly suited to the role of Freyja: not only a goddess of war, but death, love, andfertility.

His eyes, alight, danced about Althea's stygian physique as— with every longing, meandering gaze— he fell further under her spell, awaked to another of her myriad charms— each, in turn, awakening in him a new desire. The subtle gap between her thighs. The softness of her large, taloned feet. The faint creases under her arms. The sweat that glistened on her onyx skin— a sea of stars in the night sky. Her plump lower lips and the downy black feathers that lay in a wild tuft above them. The warmth that poured from her in swirling steam, clung to her like mist to a great black mountain, fogged the air with her every trembling breath. But what, at length, sounded the final death knell for a future spent with any other— what fully awoke his lust and swore it to her in its entirety forevermore- was the scent that hung thickly about her and carried on the cool night air.

If it was Althea's unearthly alabaster countenance that first stirred at his heart, it was this that first stirred the most primal parts of his brain— that which now impelled him to step forward, eliciting a sharp gasp from the huntress. For this moment, reason fled him as he drew closer. Each breath the scent filled his head— traced delicate searching fingertips about its surface, made it tingle and spin. Closer still, he breathed deeply, filling his lungs, utterly intoxicated with Althea's powerful aroma. It was strong, and musky, and warm— thick with the sweat of work and battle, the smoke of campfires, the woods at night, the morning mist— something strong and sweet and alien— and all of it,all of it, melded harmoniously as though in asymphonycomposed solely to make him feel that his mind mightmeltfrom desire alone— such that there could be no doubt that he was utterly hers.

In such a haze, he was only faintly conscious of how close to Althea he now stood.

Althea, in stark contrast, wasincrediblyconscious of how close Elias was. Her shuddering breaths had grown hot and heavy, her fidgeting having given way to trembling. Much about Elias had made itself evident to her, but most pressing in this moment was that the boy wasn't going to wake from his revery unaided. Through heavy breaths and chirrups, she tried to rouse the boy. "Dear Elias, I- am I- am I truly so fascinating? What, pray tell, compels you to this apparent enthrallment with the sight of a naked old crow like myself— to-to-to- standsonear?"

Elias looked up at her softly smiling, half in a dream.

Another flutter washed over Althea as her gaze met Elias' deep sea-green eyes. He'd made his feelings quite clear, but still some small doubt lingered in her twittering voice. "A-a Fascination with the unknown, no? A fixation o-on my peculiarity?"

Elias shook his head.

More resolutely now, joy and something more creeping through in birdsong, the raptoress began: "D-dearest one, darling— Elias— am I to understand that you cast those emerald eyes rapt upon me with more than simple embarrassment— mere bewilderment? Tha-that you would look upon this silly old crow with—" she put a hand to her cheek, "—l-lo-love?"

He quietly reached to hold the hand that lay fidgeting and sweating at her side, giving a nod, still trying to pull his thoughts together to convey the emotions that bore and so thoroughly befogged them.

"Aaaah~!"Althea swooned, with an elated tweetling gasp. Her long slender fingers twitched, desperate to reciprocate the gesture. Still, it seemed, doubt played at her mind as she spoke in what was only narrowly more a voice than birdsong. "A-are you quite certain, sweetest thing? Would not a suitress be better found among your own kind? Is this not some fleeting infatuation? Not for a second would I think to refuse you, mind, but even so— You have not seen the whole of my strangeness, what if it repels you- I wish to spare your heart, my own— and see how weight clings to my frame- why, I simply can't be rid of it, not with… —anyhow, would you not prefer a slender young woman to a jiggly old rook?"

"Althea. I can't explain it myself. I can't make full sense'a tonight, and I don't yet know all the words t'say how I feel about you proper. But I know I wanna learn how, n' I wanna learn aboutyou— see every side of you— an' stay by your side if you'll have me. And 'til I know how tosayit, m' just gonna haftashowmy love for you." He intertwined his fingers with hers as best he could.

Althea did the same, if unconsciously— sweating even more profusely, and sounding like an amorous aviary.

"An'... t'be honest… s'not just my heart you've gotten hold of." he blushed harder. "I mean, you're… y'know… I can't imagine ahumangirl bein'nearas beautiful.'Speciallynot as… shapely…" His eyes played about her ample curves.

"OhElias!" She swept him up, wrapping her long arms around him, lifting him off the ground and into a warm, soft embrace that buried him in her abundant bosom. "My dearest, my darling, my only one— you cannot know how happy you've made this old crow!" She clung to him as though he might be stolen away, as though there were nothing in the world more precious. "I will teach you, my love! All I know of myself, and the world, and more—somuch more! And what I know not, we shall learn together!" She swayed giddily about, utterly enraptured with the boy— ruffling his hair and nuzzling him with her beak.

"Ohhhwould that I could kiss you, my sweet Elias!" her voice dripped with longing. That thought, punctuated by the annoyed gurgling of the leech that had been all but forgotten in the corner, seemed to give Althea pause.

Chapter 5Notes:

Kinks in this chapter (SPOILERS)

Chapter Text

Elias, both thanking whatever god lay above and cursing his anatomy's inadequacy to the task of wrapping his arms fully around the giantess, pulled himself from the haze that was quickly settling back into his brain. Peeking up from the wet, musky valley between Althea's heaving breasts, his eyes met only with the powerful muscles of her long, slender neck— her chin resting atop his head. He could hear her words taking shape from their primordial state— warbling near the base of her throat. She mused aloud, the thrum of her low timbre reverberating throughout Elias' body.

"Perhaps…

…

Elias, my beloved… You wished to learn- to know more of me, and see my each and every side. If such a side were…" She sounded lost in thought for a moment. "...monstrous—trulymonstrous… would you still wish to see it?"

A pang of guilt tore him fully from his euphoric delirium. He hated himself knowing his words still wounded Althea so, and opened his mouth to console her, assure her that his adoration would abide— but she continued, having realized his intent.

"I not, dearest Elias,I know.I do not doubt your love. But… I confess, despite yourthorough, enthusiastic'examination'—" she chuckled softly— "there remains that which I've taken greatest care to keep hidden from you. It is my fear that, no matter the depths of your love— the horrors revealed to you tonight, and further, that most primal, most fundamental of your instincts would turn your heart at the sight of it— that once more I would be a monster in your eyes. This, I could not bear."

There was no doubt in his mind that those that lingered in hers were unfounded. He hugged her as tightly as he could, hands caressing everything within reach. "My heart's yours, Althea. Whatever it is won't change that, promise."

She hugged him tightly, lowering him gently to the floor. She lingered in that moment awhile, not wanting to let him go. Finally, reluctantly, she broke away. She fixed her eyes on Elias', a serious look on her face. "Elias. I am a hunter of beasts, of monsters— of all horrors that prey on the innocent. This much, I hope, is apparent. So too, am I their warden— theirprison."

Plain on Elias' face was both his unwavering love and his complete bewilderment.

She faltered, only for a moment. "It is not my duty and desire to merelyslaythe enemies of man— but todevourthem. To swallow wretched creatures body and soul. To in lifeanddeath hold and torment them inside myself. To melt away all of them that is earthly— nourish myself upon their flesh— and condemn their spirits to torment everlasting upon my body." She gestured to herself. "These curves that you've so lovingly admired are countless wicked souls in ceaseless suffering. My every joy and pleasure: another agony heaped upon them."

She took a deep, shuddering breath. "And, so you might see this side of myself that I'd hidden, I will condemn the parasite before me here and now. And you may watch, if you can bear the gruesome spectacle." She held her shaking hands to her beak, eyes downcast, voice sullen. "Forgive this old crow for playing with your heart, my dearest one. I will not fault you for fleeing. Butplease…don't thinktoopoorly of me." With that, the subtle seam in her beak split, and her mouth opened wide.

Hot, sweet-smelling breaths washed over Elias in huffs of steam. Strands of drool oozed from the parted pink flesh, trailing between her gaping jaws. It appeared that she lacked a tongue.

"Elias, love…" Althea drew his attention to where her throat should, by all rights, have started. There, instead of a cavernous opening, was another mouth. A large, morehumanmouth with a pair of full, plump lips— a subtle horizontal slit to each side. They pursed, smiled sadly, then bared a mouth full of sharp, glistening fangs. "... ghastly, is it not?" She couldn't bring herself to look at Elias— at the look of horror she was certain he now bore upon his soft, gentle face. Any moment, she had no doubt, his desperate fleeing footsteps would ring in her ears. But they never came.

"Oh, my only one… do you stand before me, paralyzed with fear… or disgust? Or… no… you remain to spare my heart…" Though Althea's trembling inner lips shaped her words as she spoke, their movements were not wholly aligned with the sounds that escaped them. "There is yet more, more you need not endure out of kindness, my dear Elias." Still, she could tell, he remained. "…very well." Her inner lips, rather, the apparent innermouthbegan to open— wide and wider still, would-be cheeks parting at horizontal slits into one great, bestial maw. A large pointed tongue emerged from between these slavering internal jaws, slithering beyond the confines of her beak as its unknowable length snaked forth from her throat— dribbling drool onto the floor. It twisted and curled in the air before receding to vanish behind her teeth.

Elias didn't move.

Althea drew her beak almost shut, leaving a narrow gap through which steam issued on anxious breaths. "Sweet Elias, surely you must abhor this beastly maw? Irelishin my duty to devour and torment— is that not perverse? Do yoOOOOOOoouuuuoouugghhh~"

Elias, standing on the balls of his feet, affectionately kneaded Althea's plump belly— pressing his face into her soft paunch, kissing and tracing his tongue along its smooth obsidian surface. Locking his lips with its entrance, he slid his wriggling tongue into her bellybutton in a deep, passionate kiss— swirling his wet, probing muscle in circles as he plumbed the depths of her navel.

Althea gave a shuddering gasp, words falling apart into chirruping whimpers and low, rapturous moans. She placed a hand on Elias' head, as if to pull him away, but only managing to run her fingers through his hair.

The taste of her sweat tingled pleasantly on Elias' tongue as he plunged it deeper and deeper into the warm, inviting passage. Only when his lungs burned for air did he reluctantly pull away— face slick with sweat— strands of saliva trailing between his tongue and the center of her pudgy tummy.

They stayed like that for a moment, both breathing heavily.

"Elias—" Althea warbled between hot, huffing breaths, "what… (goda-bove!)...whatonearth…wasthat…?"

"Well, 'm not tall enough t'reach your lips, an' I needed t'show my love—" he gave her belly a quick peck, "—show you my mind isn't gonna be changed—'' another peck, "—an' help you, ah, punish summa those wicked souls…. h..how'd I do?" He stepped back to meet Althea's dreamy gaze.

"Y-you… Mmmnf…" she was still catching her breath. "I am certain… that in the whole… of my long life… as a huntress… I havenever…been asmercilessa warden as you~." she teased through slowing pants. "Heavens, Elias, I'd dare say you've a… calling as a huntress's aide."

"...Would you… want an aide? …'n' if you do, could I help you take care'a… ofher?"He gestured vaguely toward the leech, looking up at Althea meekly.

"Oh, Elias, darling… I've no need of anaide."

His heart sank.

"Why, just tonight I found a most promising apprentice. Brave, caring, eager to learn… and displaying great natural talent in handling more…luridmatters." She held him close, ruffling his hair. "For that matter, it seems I've also an inaugural lesson to teach."

"Y'mean…?"

Althea nodded. "It would be my pleasure." She crouched down, wrapping her arm around Elias and nuzzling her head against his. "Since first we spoke I'd dreaded that you might witness theconclusionto my hunt— might come to know my lesspresentablequalities. There are no words to describe the joy I felt hearing your confession, but still this dread crept in my mind. Iknew—I simplyknewthat you could never love me were you to see this most bestial side of me. But your,mnnnh…display of affectionleft little room for that doubt, my love. I trust that you will remain by my side undeterred, even as I…indulge…in my strange pursuits."

Elias beamed, grabbing and squeezing her hand tightly. "There's nowhere I'd be happier!"

Althea scooped him up into a hug, happily chirping and humming as he reciprocated her affectionate cuddles. "Shall I begin, my sweetest thing? Show you how best to help? It should prove quite useful if you're to join me in my hunts."

Elias nodded emphatically, making the huntress giggle.

"There's so much to teach you, my sweet apprentice, I can hardly wait! …but for now, simply giving her a few hearty shoves should suffice." She thought for a moment, her tone becoming a little less cheery. "Of course, I could scarcely fault you, were your discomfort too great to lay hands upon her, given—"

"I'll be fine." He wouldn't be. Not entirely. "I want ta… t'help givver what she's owed. T'help you." This want, however, was far stronger than his woes and worries that came in swells. Through the suffocating fog of dissonant thoughts and desires— it was this earnest wish which cut through most clearly. Albeit tinged with less noble impulses.

With long, confident strides the huntress approached her quarry. The leech gibbered and gurgled weakly as Althea set Elias down by her side, remaining crouched to speak to him face-to-face. "It is my usual wont to start with the feet— or lower extremities, failing that— that my prey might bear witness as they slip down my gullet." Her focus softened for a moment as she rubbed her thighs together, half-moaning, "The vain struggles of my quarry as their last glimpse of the outside world vanishes from sight is a thrill I am powerless to resist." With a sigh, she returned to her full senses. "I beg your pardon, dearest— as I was saying, given certain…traits, it's likely best for your sake that I begin at this parasite's hateful head."

"y-You don't hafta, if…"

"Oh, 're too sweet for your own good, trying to forsake your aching heart to humor this old crow's proclivities." She gently stroked his soft, pale cheek. I won't have you suffering for the sake of my perversion. And before you try and argue— she'll offer little resistance or excitement in the state she's in, anyhow." She glanced at the leech. "Do you need a moment, dearest?"

He shook his head. "M'alright. …Thanks."

"Very well. Just know you may step away at any time. You needn't worry for my feelings, I'll understand." With a quick hug, she broke away, standing to her full height. "Are you ready, my lovely little apprentice?"

"Ready!"

Chapter 6Notes:

Kinks in this chapter (SPOILERS)

Chapter Text

"Wonderful!" She stretched, readying her muscles to once again shoulder the enormous weight of the obscenely voluptuous leech-woman. "Oh, and mind: I'll be rendered unable to speak once she's in, so it's imperative you learn to decipher any gestures I might make." A nod. "Then without further delay—" She seized the leech's head, taking care to obscure the death mask from Elias' view, and spread her jaws open wide. The leech offered only a raspy "biisshh" in defiance as she was bathed in the hot, panting breaths of the nearing pink abyss.

"Look uponyourfinal resting place,parasite." Althea bore down, pulling the leech closer and enveloping the crest of her head with her widening inner mouth. One hand moving to the she-beast's neck, the huntress forced her prey further in, the whole of the leech's head vanishing behind her lips.

Elias, paying rapt attention— compelled both by his wish to help Althea's and the strange urges that made his heart race— stepped closer. The pants of his pajamas tightened slightly as he watched the leech's head emerge as an indistinct bulge into Althea's throat. She swallowed, the bulge shifting downward to press at the top of her sternum.

The raptoress gave a muffled moan as her tongue began to snake out from her mouth, wetly winding its way around her prey— savoring the leech's flavor as its impossible length constricted around her massive, jiggling curves and tendrilous arms on a slow and inevitable course for the tendrils that acted as her feet— until she was expertly bound in the slavering pink muscle. Grabbing hold of the leech's shoulders, she swallowed hard, the head-shaped bulge in her throat vanishing behind the huntress's ample bosom with a jiggle and a delighted moan.

Elias looked on, pants tightening further with every inch of the leech that disappeared down Althea's throat, knees trembling as the indistinct bulge of the creature's head began to press Althea's soft belly outward.

The leech's shoulders having met her lips, Althea spread her already gaping maws wider, cheeks and throat bulging to each side in a way that might have seemed painful, were it not for her moans of obvious pleasure— moans that grew louder as, with no small effort on the part of her long tongue, the huntress forced her quarry's shoulders down her throat with several hard swallows. As the last of the leech's head and neck squeezed into her stomach, Althea massaged the growing bulge. Then, kneeling down, she gestured for Elias to assist.

Trying to conceal his own growing bulge, he eagerly obeyed, stepping behind the pitifully writhing leech and pressing his hands firmly into her enormous, jiggling rump that threatened to swallow him up to his arms in wobbling assfat. Excited by the prospect of some small form of revenge and doubly so by helping Althea gorge herself, the boy pressed against the wretch with all his might. With a loud, wet gulp, the leech's wide shoulders were forced past Althea's plump, gaping lips and began their slow descent down her throat. Elias continued pushing, encouraged and aroused by the appreciative moans of the ravenous raptoress— her throat now stretched as wide around as Elias was tall.

With the rest of the leech's grotesquely fecund form presenting an obvious and far larger challenge, Althea gestures for Elias to step back a moment. Hunching down to his level, she repositions the leech's lower "legs" such that she's forced to kneel as though on all fours. Now at a better angle, her oversized ass jiggles as Elias more easily finds purchase and shoves her straight forward.

Guiding her massive meal into her drooling maw with her hands, Althea gropes at the leech's swollen breasts and belly— both to toy with her prey and to compress them as best she can. Despite her best efforts, however, the leech's assets were immutably immense, and therefore hard to swallow. Althea lapped at the fertile fiend's every curve, her probing tongue paying particular attention to the two massive breasts which sagged heavily to the floor. She squeezed them with her dexterous pink tendril, savoring their flavor, moaning as she both teased the leech and lubricated her at once.

Elias, leering at the spectacle from behind the cover of the leech's enormous bottom, felt his pants becoming uncomfortably tight. Althea gestured to Elias, moving her fingers to indicate that he should take a step back, then charge forward with his full (modest) weight. She splays out her fingers, and begins counting down. Elias assumes a running stance. 5… 4… 3… 2…

1— Elias bolts forward—

0— and rams shoulder first into the leech's ass, the impact sending ripples through the wall of wobbling fat. The leech's whole body lurches forward, her massive, pendulous breasts swaying and slapping against her rotund belly before being squished flush against her body— half her torso now engulfed in the warm flesh of Althea's esophagus. Every inch of the leech-woman's voluptuous body that still dangled out of Althea's beak shook and jiggled in violent fits as the huntress swallowed repeatedly in quick succession, pulling her deeper in sharp jerks. With a hard swallow and a muffled moan of delight, Althea's lips crest the two purple peaks and gulp down the last of the leech-thing's breasts, leaving her belly, arms, and lower half still to be swallowed.

Elias continued to push at the leech's rear end, but even as Althea's long fingers sunk into the immense quivering cheeks to join in his efforts, it proved ineffective. Ushering Elias away, the raptoress threw her head back and the leech along with it, her tendrils and blubbery lower half flailing about in the air. Hands still trying to coax her meal into its rightful place, again and again she jerked her head back— drool pouring from her beak as her maw stretched to its limits and gravity drove the leech-woman a few inches deeper.

Elias stood on trembling legs, unable to look away— his sex aching against the fabric of his pants at the sight. Packed tightly into a bulge in Althea's massively distended gullet were the leech's enormous, swollen breasts— their impression in the raveness's glistening obsidian skin slowly shrinking from sight behind Althea's own impressive bust, only to re-emerge into her now enormously swollen belly.

Once more Althea dropped to Elias' level, her method proving to be of little avail in clearing the leech's overgorged gut even with the assistance of gravity. She raised a hand, to bid Elias stay put as she pressed the leech's ass against the floor. With a moan of effort, the huntress forced her head down, and gradually, over the quivering ball of flab. She slowed her advance, only the underside of the leech's belly peeking out from between her jaws— slipping past the raptoress's lips as she threw her head back yet again with a hard, triumphant swallow. With a loud moan and a shudder of pleasure, Althea basked in the sensation for a moment— the leech's belly now but an enormous round bulge under her jet black skin. She stoops down, compressing her belly— now larger than her— against the floor as best she can, resting atop it as she again positions the leech's evidently obstructive posterior at eye level with Elias.

With a wet, protracted slurp, the leech's long weakly writhing tendrils disappear past the leech's rear and behind Althea's lips to join the rest of her prey's overgrown form as bulges in the huntress's overfull throat and distended, still-swelling belly. She let out a long groan of both pleasure and fatigue— one hand idly slapping at the fat, obstructive cheeks that had halted her progress. With the other, she beckoned a supremely flustered Elias over to resume his assistance.

He braced his back against the pale posterior, Althea's hands and tongue following suit in a concerted effort. Feet planted as firmly as he could manage, he forced his body against the leech's cheeks, leaning into it with all his strength and weight.

Althea, grunting and groaning, sucked and pulled with all her might— her tightening tongue and powerful digits digging into the leech's blubbery bottom— the narrowest point of the she-leech's hips budging only slightly, mere fractions of inches at a time. Althea leaned in further, unconsciously rocking forward atop the squishy black hemisphere of her colossal belly until, all at once, the whole of the leech's jiggling, preposterously large ass was wrenched past her lips and into her throat. The force of the sudden jolt imbalanced the moaning huntress, toppling her forward. The two great cheeks bulged in her throat, followed in short order by the rest of the leech's lower half— and Elias' head.

In what seemed an instant to the boy, Elias was lifted from the ground and into wet, hot darkness, the whole of his head engulfed in soft flesh that rippled around him, threatening to pull him deeper. He watched as the leech's tendrils slid effortlessly down Althea's throat before him— vanishing into the oblivion of the raptoress's stomach that lay below. Her lips suckling around his neck and tongue wriggling about under him, fear played at the back of his mind— the instinct of an animal in the jaws of death. So too did the strange lust that had been awakened in the boy, roused by the sensations, the intimacy— the feeling of being more than either, he felt absolute trust. Trust that proved well-founded, as the moan of pleasure that came from all around him quickly gave way to a cry of shock and horror. Large, strong hands grabbed hold of his ankles, a long tongue sliding past the bulge in his pants to press against his face and force him out from the warmth of the cavernous throat and into the cold of the night.

Long strands of drool stretched and trailed from the boy's face to Althea's lips. Words chittered in her throat that wouldn't come— the huntress weak from overexertion and emotion alike— but her eyes made clear her aching heart. She hugged him tightly to her body, words sputtering and dying in whimpers as she ran her fingers through his wet hair. Her whole body trembled as she held him tighter, her mournful warbles and coos forming only the suggestion of words as strength slowly returned to her.

"...rry sssoorry sso soo soorryy ssorry soorrryy ssooorry sssorrry sssorryyy ssorry soryyy…" Gradually, her speech became clearer, the words unchanging. "Sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry—"

Elias hugged back as tightly as he could. "It's okay. I'm okay."

Her words trailed off, and she gave him another squeeze, holding him only barely far enough away to see her eyes as tears poured down her cheeks. She was a blubbering mess. "I'm so sorry, so so sorry, my baby, my darling, my sweet, my beloved—" what strained her voice was beyond sorrow, neared desolation as words fell from her lips, "—Elias, my only one, I didn't mean to— I'd never, never, never,never—I-I can't even bear the thought of it— that I— that all that would remain of you in this world would befaton awretchedold carrion crow— I couldn't go on, couldn't live with myself knowing I'd-I'd—feelingyou as— I-I—"

He stroked her beak affectionately. "It'sokay.I'mma mess— but y'didn't hurt me, an' I knew you wouldn't, Althea. Knew I'd be fine— that you'd get me out safe n' sound. S'just somethin that comes with bein' an apprentice right? Just part of the lesson. Probly the least danger I'll be in when we're huntin'. So don't worry about it another second, alright?"

She nodded, her trembling hands steadying as the boy's words calmed her nerves. She breathed deeply, some light returning to her eyes as she spoke, words still wet with sadness. "Oh, Elias… that you would place such great trust in me… I- I suppose you aren't wrong, but… but all the same, I should hope to avoid it as best we can." A few more deep breaths as she regained her composure further, drying her eyes. "No matter how sweet you are, I mustn't go making a treat of you, hm?" She joked, perking up a little more. "I'd think you'd prefer not to be my personal lolly-pop."

"Ah…" Elias blushed.

The single syllable shook her from any lingering sorrow. "Elias, surely you cannot mean—?" She looked at him in disbelief, before burying him back into her bosom. "Ahh, you've many unusual affections, haven't you?" she teased. "You'll hear no complaint from this gluttonous old rook. Hedonist that I am, I'm in good company." Her embrace pressed his lower half against her enormous belly, his length throbbing through the fabric of his pants against its soft black surface. Her mind wandered, a whisper slipping unconsciously from her lips: "(Oh, my~verygood company, it seems…) ah! But we've other matters to attend to, I'm afraid. We've yet to finish our lesson, after all. Though I can hardly teach it like this…" she looked down at her perch atop the jiggling black hill of a belly. She set the boy back down on the floor. "I confess, this beast is by far my largest catch in alongwhile. I… may require your assistance getting back on my feet— do you think you could roll me over, dear?"

Chapter 7Notes:

Kinks in this chapter (SPOILERS)

Chapter Text

With a few gentle pushes and a bit more rocking from Althea, Elias helped her to her feet, and rounded her belly that otherwise hid the rest of her from view.

"Oough… a moment, dearest, ngh… we've made her weight shift about inside me." Her belly agreed with a low rumble. "Nnnh… Hahh."

Elias gently caressed and kneaded the side of her massive swollen belly. "Are you alright?"

"Nnh…" She moaned appreciatively. "Perfectly fine, dearest— and all the better with your soothing touch~" She ruffled his hair. "You're proving a talented pupil, Elias. Interpreting my every gesture with ease and not only ably aiding myingestion with aplomb, but mydigestion as well." She chuckled. "On that note— shall I explain as I demonstrate the latter?"

Elias gave an enthusiastic nod, still massaging every inch of Althea's belly within reach, her stomach expressing its gratitude with bubbling and gurgles.

"Ooooohhhh…Mmnnh… once (hahh) once my prey isentirelyinside my stomach, there isnomeanswhatsoeverby which it can escape, save for my mercy. At this point, di— (hahhhn)— digestion begins in full, and my stomach begins breaking my mmhh-meal down. First any physical form— body, possessed ohh-objects, so on— is mmh.. mmmnnfff… mmmelted away. That which isss…gainedfrom my prey in this way can be, ah, worked away. Once the physical form ahh-approaches complete diggghhh-digestion, my stomach begins the process again with the ssuh-soul. Unlike the (ahh) physical form, th-the soul is notcompletelydigested. Any remaining power, any agency—everythingsave for the consciousness, sensation, and memory is mmmelted away and subsequently… p-processed soul is then absorbed and stored as a smaller amount of more puh-permanent fff-fat where, as I explained earlierrrh, it experiences an equivalent level of due torment whenever I feeeeelllhhhnngg— (oh, yes Elias~) whenever I feel joy or pleasure."

Elias, his rubbing growing more enthusiastic and affectionate, hung on her every warbling word.

"Generally the, ah (aahn) dur-duration of the process depends on size, of course, any supernatural traits— spectrality, viscous body, any magick propertiessnnnnhgh a-and such (hahh,god)— as well as the s-struggles of the ingggh- ingested entity. Ourvolunteer—"she gave her belly a firm pat, "wo-won't (mmfffh) won't present much in the way of resistance innnhhh…. in her weakened state. Aside from what hersizeoffers, anyhow. Taking these fffffactors— and yourassistance~ into account, I (mmh)— I expect she'll start softening in an hour or so, and be…dealt with… by dawn."

"I'll be happy to rub your belly all night, but is there any way t'make it quicker?"

"H-hmm?" Althea tried to feign ignorance.

"Y'know, can y'speed up digestion s'more, maybe make it easier to move around? What if you hafta deal with several prey an' you can't move? There's gotta be a way t—"

"—Y-yes, there are a f-few other methods. I make use of certain magicks or elixirs if I'm in the fff-field and have them on hand, and… in addition to m-massage, there are othernaturalmeans of expediting the process, b-but…" A long pause, the flustered raptoress seeming conflicted. "...a lesson for ah-another time, p-perhaps."

Elias considered pressing her further, that he might offer her every form of aid he could. He refrained, however— both in consideration of her evident reluctance to elaborate, and more selfishly, because it allowed him more time to lavish her with the worship she was due. He thought a moment. "Does it hurt? Them digestin', I mean. Sounds like it does."

"Mmnnh… While I find itmostpleasant, my ff-foodtends to disagree— and some of my stomach'slivelieroccupants have expressed as much. I cannot say their words— no matterhowcolorful— have ever ssswayed my heart to sympathize…" She fell slightly somber, stifling her moans. "…given they'd done the same or worse to their innocent victims. Very few express remorse or repent before they expire, and fewer still actually mean it." She let out a long sigh. "But, such is the nature of beasts." Cheer slowly crept back into her voice. "I am thankful each day that I am grantedallof the faculties of man. That, predacious though I am, I am not controlled by my desires— and with them can punish those who are."

Elias gave a firm nod.

"...and of course, protect sweet little things like you~" She cupped his face, stroking his cheek gently with her thumb. He leaned into it, like a dog to his master's affections, not neglecting her belly for even a moment. It let out a long, ominous rumble. "Oooougghhh…" Althea moaned. "Oh dear, it seems she's further along than I thought—" the burbling grew louder, beginning at the lowest point of her belly and drawing nearer. "Forgive me, Elias, I don't wish to seem slovenly but—" the gurgling travelled up her throat in a bulge, a rumbling behind her words— "I'm afraid that— mphh—" she snapped her jaws shut, her beak swelling slightly as she failed to suppress a long, roaring belch that hissed through the sides of her mouth as sickly sweet steam.

It seemed there'd be no end to the "strange affections" Elias would awaken to this night.

"Oogh, excuse me, dear. I'd rather you didn't have to witness something so (hahh) uncouth, but excess *brp* gas is an unavoidable- *erph* property of this stage of digestion. I-*uuuurrpph* ngh. I'll do what I can to stifle my *urph* eructations."

"W-will that affect digestion?" It wasmostlyout of concern that Elias asked.

"Ah, *urph* y-yes, the excess air will escape sslower, prolonging the *uuph* process."

"Y-y'don't hafta be e-embarrassed, s'just a natural part of digestin', right?" Though genuine, he was doing a poor job of hiding the excitement that tinged his words. "An'— An' y'won't always have the luxury of takin' things slow, s-so I oughta get usedta it now, so it's not a problem when it matters."

"Oh, indeed?" She gave him a sly look. "You *mmhph* may be right Elias, perhaps thatisfor the best. We wouldn't want youunprepared,nngh-nowwould we?Yes, we should acclimate you to my outbursts posthaste. You won't mind assisting in that matter,will you?"

"Ah, mh…" He was bright red again, knowing full well she'd caught on. "...no, 'course I wouldn't mind, 'm happy t'help an—"

With one hand, she picked him up by the scruff of his neck and set him atop her bloated belly, the pressure of his weight alone exciting loud gurgling. "Now, if you'd be so kind, dearest, could you continue yourlovelymassaging on all fours? Toward me, if you would."

Elias couldn't see Althea's lips, but he was certain she was wearing a smug grin. All the same, he happily obliged— carefully and attentively applying pressure with his hands and knees— forcing the excess air toward her to form a large bulge under her breasts. If before her belly had groaned in appreciation of his efforts, now it rumbled in roaring waves of pleasure. So too did Althea express her enjoyment of the sensation with needy, gasping moans of delight.

"Mmmmnngggoood boooyy~ Oh,Elias, you were simplymadefor this~ Should you take so well to your other studies, you'll prove a veritableprodigy~"That thunderous gurgling rumbled behind her words. "Ooough… Mnnff… just a little more pressure, dear,right there~Mmmnnh… are you ready, dearest?" A shaky nod. "Mmmbbh." The bulge passed between her breasts, rising up her slender throat, her cheeks swelling— *bbbbBBBBBUUUUOOOOOOAAAAAAARRRRPPPHHH*

Althea's belly began shrinking, tightening itself around the curvaceous form of the leech-woman inside. Elias' hair was blown back, his face spattered with spittle— his efforts, it seemed, provedtooeffective, as nearly all of the air in her belly was forced out in the violent eruption. The deafening belch seemed to go on forever— the whole room creaked and whined, and the air was choked with that odd, sickly sweet smell. After what felt like minutes, it tapered off as she blew away the last of the gas with a long breath out between puckered lips.

"I beg your pardon, dearest, I wasn't expecting quite so much." She chuckled. "But, that should provemorethan sufficient to acclimate you, though, wouldn't you agree?Farmore intense than you're likely to see on a hunt, but you seem to have weathered that impromptu trial by fire quite well~!"

She set the boy back down on the ground, where his knees buckled and he flopped onto the side of her belly, panting. With every breath his brain felt more and more like it was soup.

"Elias? Dear? I apologize, I only meant to tease you— are you alright?"

Still huffing, he gave a shaky thumbs up and unconsciously resumed his rubbing. He'd noticed that her belly shrank, of course— but it wasn't until his hands returned to its taut surface that he noticed how tightly it now clung to its contents. With a few unsteady steps back, his breath hitched at the sight that met his eyes. Rendered in soft onyx was a woman, obscenely endowed, upended and curling back upon herself— her face and finer features (mercifully) without form, like some profane idol of fertility. Some strange satisfaction arose in him, solace taken from seeing the leech-woman in this state. In the knowledge the hateful monstress still suffered— would suffer forevermore— at Althea's hands and his.

Already in a haze, so too did the sight further stoke the roaring flames of lust within him— send his mind racing. It thrilled him, to see his tormentor as nothing more than a curvy outline— no more than an extension of the woman he'd fallen for— no more than her food, her prisoner, her plaything— unmoving, a statue— a monument to her own defeat to be melted away to build upon Althea's perfection. Again, that feeling his brain might melt from the countless desires that swirled within. He could hardly stand, but forced himself to Althea's side, fervently kissing and caressing all of her he could, speaking in pants and whimpers between kisses. "Mhh… M'brain's all fuh-fuzzy… n' you're just so beautiful, an' I love you s'much, an'... an'...nnhh…"

"Ah… E-Elias, de-dearesssst, as muh-much as I ahhhhn-appreciate yo-you-your affectionnnnnghhsss (hahh) p-nngh-perhaps th-this lessonngh— lesson has been tooooohh sti-stimulating for onnnne so innh-inexperienced— I'mmmh beginning to worryyyh ah-about your mmmmh-mental state… "

"Buh… but I wan… wanna make you feel good… I… I needta make you feel good… 'cuz I love you, n' this is the only way I know t'... t'do it… but iss'like Iknowthere's more… I jus' dunno what… dunno how… m'whole body wants t'... t' 'make love'..." The phrase sent a shiver up Althea's spine. "...but I jus'... dunno how…"

Althea eyed the unusually sizable bulge that strained the fabric of Elias' pants, trying to slow her heavy breaths, to keep herself from falling under the same spell Elias had. She squeezed her eyes shut tight and with a long, frustrated sigh, she willed herself to deny the lust that had begun choking reason from her mind. She gently pulled the boy away from his worship. He tried to protest, but fell silent at the shake of her head. "Elias, my dearest one, you cannot know the depths of joy and love you have excited in me. I have delighted in your every loving word— your every touch and affection. And, I will not deceive you, I too have feltthisandmyriaddesires foryou."She gazed longingly into his eyes. "I will teach you to make love, as I will teach you to hunt, and more— and I will relish in every moment— but not while the horror and strangeness of tonight still fogs your mind. Not until you can say— self-possessed and with unwavering certainty— that you wish for me to teach you." She ran her fingers through his hair. "Ohh, but Elias… my beloved Elias… the moment, theinstantyou do…" she trailed off into a long, shuddering breath, steeped in melodious birdsong. "I trust you won't keep this old crow waiting?"

He kissed the hand that held him, responding only with a saddened but affirmative "Mmmn." He wanted more than anything to make her feel good. To worship her body as it was now, as an expression of his love, a fulfillment of his strange newfound desires, and one last humiliation for the leech before she was gone from the physical world. But… he knew Althea was right. Every inch of his body ached for her, even if he didn't yet understand how to act upon that ache— but what little of his sense wasn't clouded knew she was right. As the night had drawn on, he'd become blinded by lust. He couldn't trust in his own judgement, but he could trust in hers. He trusted that he would stay by Althea's side, and that there would come other hunts. He trusted that any form she took would be owed its own worship, and that he would be all too happy to oblige. He trusted that the leech, in some form, would remain that it might suffer a lifetime of love, and longer. He trusted that even as this haze of lust left him his heart would not change— that as grief settled in its place he would have a shoulder to cry on, and that, after the grief had faded, his life would begin anew. Assured of this by Althea's warm gaze as she lifted him to rest his head upon her bosom, all at once, exhaustion settled on his small frame. Nestled snugly in the huntress's warm, soft embrace, her every faint sound coaxed Elias' tired eyes to close further and further. The low rumble of her belly. Her soft breaths. The beat of her heart.

"Sleep well, my darling Elias," She cooed softly, gently snuggling the boy as he began to drift off into a deep, dreamless sleep, "for the days to come will bring a great many things— more of good than ill, I'm certain." She nuzzled her beak into his fluffy hair. "Sleep well, and know that I love you."

Chapter 8: Epilogue: Morning and Extra Tonal WhiplashNotes:

Kinks in this chapter (SPOILERS)

Chapter Text

Elias was slow to be roused from sleep. After some time he at last awoke in his bed as morning light shone on his face. For a fleeting instant— in the infinitesimally small interval between his waking and opening his eyes— a thought crossed his mind, that perhaps he'd merely dreamt last night (in all its strangeness) up. But he hadn't the chance to believe it, nor consider whether he hoped or dreaded it was true— as he saw the state of his room. The debris had been cleared away, any unpleasant residue wiped clean— but his door was gone, and a sheet now covered what was once a window, as so too did several unfamiliar blankets cover him. At his bedside, a note written in immaculate handwriting read:

Dearest Elias, should you wake before I return, worry not! I am simply out procuring a few necessities, and will not be gone long.Though I may travel, my heart remains with you.

The smell of something cooking tickled at his nose, carried on the air alongside strange, jovial birdsong through the whole of the house, drawing him from his room and down the stairs. There, in his cramped little kitchen, stood Althea, as beautiful in daylight as moonlight— and, if the view from behind was any indication, laden with new softness that was once (and to some degree, still was) the leech-woman. His heart skipped a beat, the boy trying to keep his wits about him at the sight of Althea's nowenormousbackside jiggling as she went about cooking.

She must have felt his eyes upon her, and spun her head round to meet them with her own. "Good morning, Elias. Did you sleep well?" She giddily chirped.

Taking deep breaths to still his beating heart, he stepped forward, shaking the last remnants of sleep from his mind. "Mhm. Th-thanks." He blushed, recallingwherehe'd fallen asleep. "Can I help?" He stood by the kitchen table.

"I should like to accept your offer in future, dearest, but no need for that now, I'm just finishing up. I… haven't many chances to cook in such a fashion while on the hunt, so I do hope you'll forgive me if this breakfast proves unpleasant. You needn't force yourself to eat, nor spare my feelings— I can't hope to improve otherwise." She turned around, setting a towering plate of toast and scrambled eggs on the table along with some utensils, and revealing her odd state of dress. She was wearing an apron, of sorts— and an apron alone. It was evidently fashioned from a sheet of cloth similar to that which now covered Elias' former window. Taking note of the slight puzzlement on the boy's face, Althea gestured to the somewhat undersized garment. "My usual attire proved too cumbersome, but I thought perhaps cooking for another in the nude might prove unsavory, and you may be surprised to learn that tailors catering tooverfull-figured old crows are in short supply." She chuckled. "Especially before daybreak and on short notice. But nevermind that now— what… what do you think?" She wrung her hands expectantly.

Elias tried to pull his gaze away from the immense breasts the apron struggled to contain, the great round paunch that strained against the fabric. Trying to compose himself, he stuttered out: "Y-you look amazin', you, ah, y'wear the weightrealwell… an' the apron, too…"

Althea went stiff before snickering, then giggling, and breaking into a deep, hearty laugh that tweetled and chirruped at its edges. Her beak opened a crack, just wide enough that Elias could see the smile on her lips. He didn't know what he'd said that she had found so funny, but he was glad he'd said it.

"Thefood, dear—" she snickered, "what do you think of thefood?"Elias picked up a fork, blushing, both embarrassed at his misunderstanding and at the jiggliness of the laughing fit it had started.

He took a bite of the eggs, then the toast, distracting himself with a dutiful assessment of the Huntress's cooking. "Hmm…" His mind kept wandering to Althea's new, fuller figure. "...a lil overdone, maybe. Bit underseasoned." He took another bite, hastening to add: "But good!" The fledgeling chef breathed a sigh of relief as Elias continued eating. "Don't think I could eat all'a this, though." He gestured toward the plate piled high with eggs and toast. "...y'know y'don't hafta use everythin' at once, right?"

She nodded meekly, tapping her fingers together. "I may have been rather… overeager to cook for you…"

Seeing her bashful fidgeting, an urge overwhelmed him, compelled him to bolt up from his seat and toward Althea. He leapt at her, hugging her as tightly as his arms would allow, nuzzling his face into her belly. It was his turn to chuckle now, unable to wipe the smile from his face. "M'not complainin', not in the least!" He beamed up at her, surprise and joy melding together on her brow. "Thank you, Althea." She hugged him back, a bit flustered. "Siddown, an' let's have breakfast together!" A thought occurred to him. "ah, but… d'ya think youcanhelp me eat all this, or are you still, uh…" He stroked the sides of the soft, pudgy belly that peeked out from behind her apron. "...full?"

Althea trilled affectionately. "Oh, dearest, she'slonggone. Mostly to my rear, it seems." She lifted one of her smooth, thoroughly padded cheeks to let it fall and wobble. "I'll be lucky to be rid of her blubber before month's end, even with your training in mind. I digress— I've appetite aplenty, my love, and would be delighted to dine with you. We've much to discuss, after all."

Elias felt both excitement and a pang of the sadness he'd forced himself to keep at bay, and nodded, sitting back down at his place.

Althea glanced at the chair in front of her, then down at herself before scooting another chair up against it and taking her seat, which still proved woefully inadequate, creaking and groaning in protest as her bottom spilled out to either side. She picked up a piece of toast and, gingerly opening her beak, took a large, jagged bite out of it with her inner mouth. She took on a serious demeanor, despite absent-mindedly devouring the pile of eggs and bread. "Now, Elias, while there is a great deal that I would very much like to discuss… first and foremost: I would like to remain here with you for a short while to ensure your well-being. Further, I should like to see to it that the damages to your room are repaired— we can discuss specifics at a later time, but— is this agreeable?"

Elias (who up until now had thought they'd both agreed they wished to stay together) found it odd she felt the need to ask permission to stay, and expressed as much— concern creeping into his voice.

Althea noticed this concern immediately, and swallowed the last morsel of her meal before looking intently into Elias' eyes. "Dearest, it's alright. I don't doubt your feelings. However…" She sighed wistfully. "I- I truly wish to stay by your side, Elias, believe you me." She took his hand. "But you must understand that my living with you would expose you to certain risks, and your apprenticeshipfarmore so— risks that Iinsistyou consider before you commit yourself to a life spent by my side."

He squeezed her hand. "I'm sure, Althea, there's no doubt in my mind."

"I know, dearest, I know,I know…" she trailed off, melancholic. "But… you recall what I asked of you last night? To stay your…romanticadvances until reason has returned to you? This is much the same. Neither is a decision to be made without full clarity of reason."

"I don't understand… I'm thinkin' straight now, an' I know what I want. I'm certain I wanna—"

"Elias…" She had such love and sadness in her eyes. She rose from her seats to stand at Elias' side, still holding his hand. "I have absolute faith that your heart will not be swayed, but all the same I cannot in good conscience allow you to make these decisions while so much still weighs so heavily upon it."

"But I'm—"

"Elias, please… while fear, and love, and lust may have driven it into the furthest reaches of your mind for a time, you mustn't let your grief sit and eat away at you in silence. You can't." She cupped his face with her hand. "You have endured so much in so short a span of time, and done all you can to press on undaunted. But you needn't force another step. It's alright."

Elias knew what she meant. He'd known for a while, and knew she was right, but even so, he couldn't bring himself to let go. Like a trained reflex, he fought back the tears.

"It's alright, dearest, it will all be alright. No matter how much it hurts, itwillget better, I promise— so please, Elias, trust in me, and let out your each and every sorrow."

Tears welled in his eyes.

"It's alright, my love."

He fell to pieces, burying his face in her bosom. It hurt. It hurt so much it made him sick and numb and weak. And it had hurt for so long. For weeks on end his every worry had piled up inside him, and every one had been wasted, had fed that monster more, draining him and making him hurt worse still. Everything, every thought and revelation just made him hurt worse and worse.

"It's alright. Grieve and cry all you need. Hold tight to me and ask of me all that you might require. This pain will fade, in due time, and better days await— and so long as you'll have me, I will soothe that pain as best I can, and bid those days come swiftly." She hugged him tightly, heart aching for him. "You did so well, Elias. You were so brave. You will make a fine hunter, and a finer mate, I'm sure of it. So take heart, my dearest one, your future is bright. I will make sure of it."