"Take you where?" There was that laugh again.
"Why, on this bed, silly," she teased. She stepped up and rubbed her body against him. He lifted his arms to push her away, but the tendrils caught them and pulled them behind his back. They wrapped around his wrists like handcuffs, and were twice as strong. She leaned in and her cool breathe brushed against his shivering skin. "You know this is what you want, too. You're the same as me, I can see it." She pulled away and her eyes hungrily looked over every part of his body. "It's moving inside of you, pressing against every muscle and bone. Changing you into something better, more powerful, ageless."
Tony's heart stopped beating when the realization dawned on him. She was talking about the consequences of his encounter with the creature at the cabin. Like her and Professor Ward, he, too was now infected with the thing. If he didn't find a way to stop the creature, Amanda and his futures would turn out to be the same as the professor's own. He feared it was too late for Amanda.
"Don't look so worried and scared," she insisted.
Amanda raised a hand and cupped his cheek, then forced him to look into her face. He didn't remember her being so tall that their eyes were on level, but thought and memory were becoming difficult to manage. Her eyes were so dark and bottomless that he felt himself getting lost in those impossibly deep depths. She smiled and her finger reached over to toy with his lips. Her voice had lost that distracting echo and sounded so much like her own that he had hope he was seeing the true self of his girlfriend again.
"There, don't you feel much better now? There's nothing more to worry about. Just relax and let me help you through the change."
Amanda leaned in and softly pressed her lips against his own. Her body moved closer to rub itself against his and he felt her ample breasts push up against his chest. She groaned against his mouth and the vibration ran through his body like a jolt of electricity. His heart beat faster and when she pulled back he could see there was a smirk on her face.
"Like that?" she teased.
"We...we don't need to do this," Tony managed to wheeze out. He wanted this exhilarating feeling of ecstasy and sensuality, but he knew there was a price. He'd read it in Ward's journal. She chuckled and slid a finger along his cheek.
"You're right, we don't need to do this." Then she leaned in again and her eyes flashed with an unnatural light. "But I want to."
Then she captured his lips again, but this time in a pressing, eager kiss. She wrapped her arms around him and the shadows exploded from her skin to entangle themselves around his body. He felt like he was suffocating, and then he gagged when something pushed into his mouth. It was Amanda's tongue, but longer and thicker than it should have been. He choked and she pulled away to let him cough and released the stagnant air in his mouth.
"You know, you're very stubborn," she whispered to him. There was a hint of anger in her voice, but also of excitement. "But you know I like a challenge, and this one will be fun for both of us."
The tendrils that held Tony's hands together pulled them apart, and his right arm was pulled forward. Amanda clasped her hands around his own and flipped his over to look at his palm. The skin was now perfectly healed, but she still knew where to run her finger to follow the path of his cut exactly.
"It's waiting in here for when it feels you're ready," she whispered to him. Then she placed her hand down on his so their palms touched one another. "Can you feel its life-beat? There's no heart, but it still pulses a power we can hardly understand."
"Amanda, please listen to me," Tony replied. He caught her eyes and smiled at her. "I just want us to get out of here. I'm sure there's some way to help ourselves, we just need to find it."
"There is a way you can help," Amanda told him. His eyes opened and he leaned in.
"What is it?"
"Just hold still."
Tony then felt something shift on her hand and he tried to jerk away, but she held him still. From between their hands he could see those tendrils sprout and slither between both their fingers. Then he cried out when one of those dark tentacles pierced his hand where the wound had healed. The gaping hole was reopened, but her tendrils pulled back. She smiled up at him and removed her hand from his own. Tony glanced down and his eyes widened in horror when he perceived dark shadows emerge from his wounded palm. They sprouted slowly as though unsure of the air, but then pulled themselves out.
Tony screamed and clasped his possessed hand into his other to stop the things from escaping. It did no good, for he felt the tendrils flatten themselves and squeeze out from between his hands. There wasn't any pain from these things pouring out from his body, but the squirming, pulling things caused his mind to panic. He plucked at the things trying to rip them from his infected hand, but each pull caused pain as though he was trying to tear off his own finger.
"Stop fighting it, Tony," Amanda spoke up. She stood a yard off and watched his struggles with the creature with pain and frustration on her face.
"Are you mad?" he cried out to her. Tony fell to his knees and clung onto his wrist while his possessed hand violently shook. Sweat slid from his brow and his breathing came out in rapid gasps of air. She knelt at his side and put her hand on his shoulder. He glanced up into her face and saw the familiar smile of old that he knew so well. His body relaxed and his eyes widened. "Amanda?"
"I'm here for you, Tony," she whispered to him. She wrapped him in a soft, warm hug. "I would never let anything happen to you that would hurt you, I promise."
"Amanda..." Tony's panic slid off his shoulders like a stream over the river rocks. Her voice was like a sweet song to his tired ears. He closed his eyes and basked in her warmth.
"You don't know what it's like to be loved so completely, but please let me show you. Let me guide you into this embrace where we can be happy together." She pulled them apart and cupped his chin in her hands. "Just this once let me protect and guide you." She leaned in and pressed their lips together in a kiss that was more addictive than the strongest drug.
Tony no longer noticed as the tendrils in his hand thickened and lengthened. More pushed out of his hand and his skin turned a dark black color. The tainted hue traveled up his arm and enveloped half his body in its control. Other tendrils bubbled up from his flesh, but he was aware of only the kiss of his love. Amanda pulled them apart and her eyes burned with her need for him. His own eyes mirrored hers, and he felt himself harden.
He lunged for her and flung them both onto the soft carpet of the bedroom floor. His clothed body covered her naked form, for the tendrils surrounding her bare flesh from him parted. The half of his body that was engulfed in darkness stretched out to her own tendrils, and they intertwined in a dance as erotic as their passionate kiss. He took her lips in his own while his hands furiously groped and slid over her body. She broke their mouths apart to catch some air and he made do by planting soft kisses along the smooth skin of her neck.
The darkened flesh continued to spread across his body and the tendrils came after the change. They broke open his shirt and pants, and rend the clothes from his body. He paused and clenched his teeth when the larger tentacles broke from his back and ripped his shirt to shreds. When he looked down at his lover his eyes were glowing and full of lust. Hers matched his own and she gasped when he came down upon her breasts. His mouth and tongue teased her peaked mounds and she grasped his head to keep him there.
Against her wishes he pulled himself up, but then spread her legs apart. She felt him press himself against her wet, heated opening and she impatiently parted her legs to encourage him. He penetrated her and they both grunted their pleasure at the feel of each other. They were like wild animals as they clawed and pushed against one another, each vying to control the tempo of their love-making. Their hands fondled and stroked while their tendrils slid and wrapped around one another.
Their hips thrust and rubbed against each other, and Amanda arched her back to allow him to go deeper. His cock was larger than she ever felt before, and her walls trapp
ed and massaged him. He grunted with every push, and she matched him with her moans. What he couldn't perform on his own was helped by his tendrils and her own. They swamped her core, pushing their way into the pleasure holes he couldn't rub and wetting every part of her.
Amanda grasped onto his shoulders and pulled him up atop her. The tightening in her stomach was growing with each deeper penetration, and her legs wrapped around his waist to join their bodies as one. Their black skin, soaked with their sweat, rubbed and slid against each other. They hardly noticed when their flesh melded and mixed to become a single entity. The swirling darkness that intertwined and tumbled over one another. Their tendrils sprouted and arched, and then dove back down into the sensual pleasure of mixing their very existence.
Then she felt it, the climax barreling down on her from the shadows of their love-making. She gasped out and leaned back her head. Her eyes shot wide open and her clawed hands clenched so hard she felt them melt into his skin.
"Oh god, Tony. Oh god, yes! Faster!" His reply came out in a grunt of power and need.
"Deeper."
He pushed their hips together and drove his manhood deep into her wet core. She felt her walls tighten around him as she fell over the edge, and he spilled into her with all the force of his ravishing of her. Tony pushed once, twice, again and again. He emptied himself completely and then fell atop her. They both gasped for air to their spent lungs. The tendrils around them slowed and fell over Tony's back, but didn't stop.
They lay still for quite some time, and then Tony lifted himself up on his arm. His shining eyes, darkened by the creature inside of him, looked down upon Amanda. Though her skin was dark and she was framed in a circle of the tendrils, he still had never seen such beauty. Her forehead was covered in sweat and her eyes sparkled with the same color as his own. Watching her chest beneath him move up and down, he felt himself harden again inside of her. The tendrils, too, grew more excited and slithered faster around them. A sly half-grin spread across his lips as her eyes widened.
"Another go?"
The pair made love through most of the night. The rising sun found them completely exhausted and in one another's arms. They didn't stir until noonday, when Tony was surprised by movement at his side. He tried to grasp Amanda and hold her close, but she slipped from his arms and quickly padded out of the room. Soon he heard a door open and water running. His eyes cracked open and he found himself staring up at the ceiling.
Then he was hit by the full force of the night's goings-on, and bolted upright. He glanced down at his arms and found them to be his own. There were no tendrils nor darkened skin. Tony wiggled his fingers and winced when something shifted inside of him. Though on the outside he appeared normal, he realized the creature had merely retreated inside his body. He couldn't help but wonder if the light from the sun had frightened back inside of his body.
Tony's eyes widened and he snapped his fingers. The clue in the journal with old Jeremiah Allen and his efforts to ward off the creature with his flashlight. The thing abhorred light, and maybe that would bide them some time to figure out a way of expelling the thing from their bodies. Hell, that might be the very answer he was looking for to free them. His thoughts were interrupted by a sudden cry from Amanda
He scrambled to his feet and dashed off out into the hall. The bathroom day was open and he rushed to the entrance. He found Amanda on the floor with the faucet water still running above her. She sat hunched over with her back turned to him, and she furiously rocked back and forth. He flung himself at her side and put his hands on her shaking, rocking shoulders.
"What's wrong? What is it-" Tony jerked back when his eyes fell on her stomach. Her arms were curved around a large bump of flesh on her abdomen. As he sat there staring at the bulge he could see the skin tighten and expand. "My god..."
Amanda clenched her teeth together to stifle another cry as the bump made a particularly large growth-spurt. The bulge grew by a good inch, but then slowed to a near stop. However, the entire skin area had blackened skin and pulsed with a life similar to the creature's tendrils. Amanda lifted her head and Tony could see tears of fear and pain slide down her cheeks. Her voice was hoarse and trembling.
"W-what's happening to me?"
"I-I don't know, but we have to get you to a hospital."
Another spasm of pain struck her and she doubled over. Her skin stretched and beneath her hands she felt something kick. Her eyes widened and her mouth dropped open. She slowly raised her head up to look into Tony's face, which just held confusion.
"I-I think I'm pregnant." He was struck by her suggestion and leaned back away from her against the sink cabinet. She held back a sob of fear. "Tony, what happened last night?" He shook his head and his mouth was agape.
"I-I don't know." He ran his hand through his hair and tried to conjure up clear images. "It's like a dream or a nightmare. I just don't know what the hell happened. You're not even supposed to be able to have kids."
"I know, but I...I think I know what happened." She looked down and clutched onto the bulge which was now quiet. "I think that thing did this to me. It...it said we were both barren, but that it could fix us." She closed her eyes and shuddered. "I think it's allowed me to have a child."
"But what sort of a child is this? It can't be human, Amanda," Tony insisted. Amanda couldn't hold back the sob that had stuck in her throat. He gently shook her shoulder closest to him. "Amanda, whatever you feel about this, we can't keep this thing." Then she whipped her head up and glared through the tears.
"You think I don't know that? You think I wanted this to happen?"
"I don't know, did you?" he accused her. He was so stressed and confused by last night and now this abomination that he couldn't help his anger. "You were really willing to fuck me last night."
"How was I know this would happen?" she screamed at him. She cried out again when a stabbing pain shot through her body. Tony's fury subsided at her agony, and he wrapped his arms around her shoulders again.
"Oh Amanda, I'm sorry. It's just...this is just too impossible." She managed to choke out a bitter laugh.
"Yeah, tell me about it," she replied. Amanda gasped and gave a couple of quick breathes to calm herself. Her stomach didn't get any bigger but there was still the pain. Deep down, though, she felt something else. There was a calling, a pull, and it was growing stronger. She knew that somehow if she were to reach that spot where the thing beckoned, the pain would go away and everything would be all right.
"Whatever the hell happened or what's happening now, we have to get you out of here," Tony spoke up. He tried to lift her off the floor but she shrugged off his hands.
"No, there's some place else I have to go."
"We have to get you to a hospital!" Tony insisted, but she shook her head.
"No, we need to get to the mountain. Can't you hear it calling us?" She let out a cry and doubled over. The thing was demanding she leave now. There wasn't any time for this useless bickering.
"All I hear are your cries, and the hospital is definitely the closer of the two. Now come on before something worse happens." He tried to pull her out of the bathroom, but where he'd placed his hands the skin darkened. Before he knew what had happened one of her tendrils reached out from her flesh and knocked him in the face. He staggered back against the wall and slumped down to the floor, alive but unconscious.
Amanda stood up and stumbled passed him out into the hall. The pain in her stomach lessened for a moment, but the pull of the creature only strengthened. She clutched at her head even as the tendrils wrapped themselves around her in a soft, strong hug. Thanks to her body the things were warmer than they used to be, and she relaxed in their heated, gentle grasp. She closed her eyes and embraced the comforting closeness while her panic fled. The voice from before echoed through her mind and pointed her where she needed to go.
The mountain. You will both be protected there.
Amanda stroked her hands over her swollen belly and nodded. She'd go to i
t, if only for the sake of the little thing growing inside of her.
Tony awoke some hours later with a bruise on the back of his head and a fuzzy memory as to what happened. He groaned and leaned away from the wall. Then the memories came rushing back and he frantically glanced around the room. There was no sign of Amanda, and he struggled to his feet.
"Amanda? Amanda!" His cries went unanswered and he scoured the apartment for his pregnant lover. "Amanda!"
After a few minutes of searching and he was rewarded with disappointment. Tony ran a hand through his hair and paced around in a tight circle. Amanda had told him she needed to go to the mountain, so his head snapped over to where she usually laid her purse. The bag was gone, and he didn't doubt she was a few hours down the road. He promised himself he'd never return, but now he had a doubly good reason to go back. There was Amanda to rescue, of course, but whatever had allowed her to have the child, he had a feeling that after last night's sexual escapades that the baby was both of theirs.
Tony grabbed some clothes from his stash of spares in Amanda's room and dashed out of the door. It was late afternoon when he slid into the driver's seat of his car. He hadn't seen Amanda's anywhere around, confirming his suspicions. There was also the tugging inside of him, a gut feeling that felt deeper than even that. He wasn't so ignorant to believe it wasn't the creature inside of him pulling him back to the cabin, but he had one important stop to make before he went back to that hellish pile of rocks.
The drive back to Arkham Mountain was long and tense. Each hour that went by and with each diminishing of the sun, Tony felt the thing inside of him grow stronger and tug harder on his consciousness. Night had almost fallen on him when Tony spotted the familiar gas station and was relieved to see the lights were on inside. He messily pulled the car up close to the door and jumped out. There was a very important item he needed to buy there, half a dozen flashlights. They'd saved the old man, Jeremiah Allen, all those years ago and he hoped they could perform a miracle now. He needed them to keep the thing inside of him from bursting out, and they could prove the deciding factor when he faced off against the part of the creature beneath the cabin. Perhaps he could also find out if Amanda's car had driven by here lately.