Then to Amanda's horror her fingers, once pushed against the solidness of a cheek bone, felt the skin beneath her fist soften. The flesh twisted and inconsistently bulged like a wave over the side of the phantasm's face. The skin darkened and tendrils crept out of the black ooze. They wrapped around her fingers, her hand, her wrist and down her arm. She tried to pull out, to retrieve her hand, but there was no use. The ooze stuck like tar.

  Amanda's eyes widened when the rest of the thing's body also changed. The darkness spread across the other side of his face and turned the bones into a mass of running clay. The hair sunk into the black ooze while the teeth and eyes were swallowed into the depths of those bulging tendrils. The transformation traveled over his shirt and every bit of fabric the creature wore was consumed by the creeping darkness. The hand that still held her wrist softened and oozed over her skin, but she was still pinned to the bed against the push of the thing's weight.

  She tried to look away from this horrible blob of thin, creeping limbs and bubbling skin, but there was no where to turn. The creature leaned over her so its mass was only a few inches from her face. She felt as though the thing would suffocate for lack of air, though no putrid smell came off the ooze. Where its legs had once been were now only trunks of the mess of partially absorbed skin, cloth and the pulsing, slithering tar. Tendrils made from all three crept up her own legs toward her inner thighs. She understood what the creature wanted, what it meant to do, but this wasn't what she wanted. Not with this creature, this dead thing.

  With what strength she could muster given her awkward position, Amanda bucked and twisted her legs and arms. This only made the creature press down harder on her body and the back half of it completely collapsed on top of all of her up to her belly. Her legs were wrapped tightly by the tendrils even as they pressed against the top of her panties and lower part of her nightshirt. She continued to squirm and jerk to free herself, but the creature would have his way with her.

  "You are mine, dear sweet one. If you were not made for me from the beginning, then in time I shall make you for me." The voice bubbled out of where the face had lain, and drops of the ooze splashed across her face as it spoke. Its words ignited a fire of defiance in her that she thought had died with its soft touches. Perhaps it was her last bit of sanity or humanity speaking on her behalf, but either way it meant to fight this thing for as long as she could manage.

  "I'm not yours! I'll never be yours!" Amanda kicked and twisted her body, but the creature only chuckled. The sound caused her to pause, for it was a deep, rumbling noise which chilled her to her soul.

  "What fire! What spirit! Yes, this is perfect. The others were too scared. They didn't last, wouldn't last, against me. You, though, you are what I've been looking for all these long years!"

  Amanda was disgusted and terrified by the creature's proclamation, but at that moment she could do nothing to escape its clutches. The tendrils slid across her panties where her folds lay, and she couldn't deny the arousal within herself. The thing's touch was so soothing, so gentle, a completely opposite comparison to the madness in its mind. The creature's lovemaking was her addiction, her sin, and even with such lunacy from its words and actions she couldn't deny she wanted more. The creature was quite willing to grant more pleasure to her, especially when her lips parted in a gasp when a particularly curious tendril slipped beneath the band of her panties. She squirmed and moaned when the tips of the arm brushed against her sensitive area

  However, the creature had little intention of being sweet to her tonight, for it wanted to prove to her that she was under its control. Amanda gasped when her nightshirt was torn open to reveal her bare breasts, and her panties were sliced and pulled from her body. The creature lowered itself and fell upon her with all those twisting, eager tendrils. She groaned and writhed beneath all those touches, but the creature didn't grant her too much time to enjoy the soft touches. She felt the thing penetrate her, full and deep, and immediately the creature began pulling out and in.

  The impossibly heavy weight of the thing wouldn't allow her hips to rock with its movements, and she found she could only lie there at the mercy of its whims. The tendrils massaged her swollen breasts and teased at her hardened tips. They flowed over her hips and slithered around her legs while others reached up to wrap around her head. She was completely encased in this maddening ball of pleasure and could do nothing on her own to increase her delight. She felt so helpless and dominated, but the last item wasn't completely unpleasant.

  "Oh god..." she murmured as the creature continued its thrusting into her. Her head whipped back and forth as the pressure began to build. "Oh please more. Oh god yes!"

  The creature gave off a grunt and the thing raised itself up atop her. The partial form of a man emerged from the black mess of tendrils that pinned her down. On its face she could glimpse the joy and pleasure which their union caused it, and for that she was glad to see it, too, derived happiness from their act. Long, deep groans emerged from its throat and reverberated through its body down to her. She matched the groans with her own moaning and their chorus sped up with the tempo of its thrusts.

  The pressure inside of her grew tighter and tighter. Amanda gasped for air to stall the coming, to give herself just a little longer in this intoxicating bliss, but the creature's pushing was too insistent. Her whole body spasmed and squirmed beneath its great weight and the thing atop her groaned and jerked. She felt it tense and then collapse atop her in a thick mess of feebly flopping tendrils.

  They lay that way for only a moment before a noise was heard outside her room. Their own sounds had awakened Sylvia, for soon there was a wrap on the door.

  "Amanda, are you all right?"

  The creature flinched at the intrusion and regretfully slithered off its victim. Amanda, too, was unhappy to see it go as the thing slithered beneath the bed, but it couldn't be helped. Her friend couldn't find out about this illicit, demonic love affair.

  "One moment." Her hair was a mess and her naked body was covered in sweat, but Amanda tried to act normal as she put on another nightshirt from her drawer and answered the door. She smiled at her friend, who looked a little worried. "Something wrong?"

  "I thought I heard some noises in here and was kind of worried. Everything all right?"

  "Yeah, just having a, well, an interesting dream, that's all." Amanda blushed underneath the heavy scrutiny of her guest's gaze until Sylvia's face broke out into a wide grin.

  "Oooh, I see. Something to do with your Tony, I bet."

  "Yeah, something like that." With the creature taking on his form, Sylvia was both far off and close with her guess.

  "Well, sorry to interrupt you on that. Guess I'll let you carry on as well as you can." Sylvia gave a wink and hurried back to the couch.

  "Yeah, thanks."

  Amanda shut the door and leaned her back against the entrance. Her tired eyes glanced over to the ruffled bed and the darkness revealed beneath the wild covers. She sauntered over and knelt down at the side to look beneath the bed, and not to her surprise she found nothing but shadows. There would be no more fun for tonight, but as she crawled into bed her thoughts went back to those pleasant sensations and its possessive lovemaking. Her body tingled and she went to sleep dreaming of future rendezvous.

  While Amanda was having her trials and fun during that tumultuous day, Tony had a hard time focusing on his work. He stood by the copier for a while pondering the coming duty he'd placed on his own shoulders. The thing was up there waiting for its next victim, and he didn't doubt that he'd make a good appetizer for the creature if it could get its slimy tendrils on him.

  "Cochran, what the hell are you doing in there for so long?" That was his boss yelling at the top of his lungs, which was his usual volume whenever he really wanted someone to obey him.

  "Coming!" Truth be told Tony had stood in the copy room a little too long. His copies were done and cold when he picked them up and hurried out of there.

  Tony felt the workday
would never end, but like all nightmares he awoke when the clocks showed three. It was his promised hour to leave early, and he took it with all the gusto of a slave set free from their imprisonment. He hurried to his car and slid into the driver's seat, but his eyes settled on the rearview mirror. It had a perfect picture of the trunk where the rock was stashed, and he wasn't sure he wanted the cursed thing out of sight.

  The young man sighed, got out of his car and opened the trunk. The hunk of rock had shifted a little from his chauffeuring it to work, but other than that he found nothing suspicious with the thing. Tony picked it up and was still surprised by the weight. It felt so incredibly light in his hand for the size, but he supposed confusing the mind was a trick this creature pulled on everyone with whom it came into contact. He strode back to his seat and tossed the rock into the passenger area. Now he had a good view of the thing, and if anything funny happened, such as those tendrils beneath the cabin floor Amanda spoke about sprouting from the rock, then he could toss it out a window.

  Tony made the trek straight to the mountain without a stop. He planned to stay at a local motel for the night and already booked a room in advance to guarantee his stay. All he needed to worry about was surviving the mountain so he could check into his room just after nightfall. That left him very few hours to climb the trail, inspect the cabin, climb back down and then make a quick stop at the gas station to speak with the owner. He only hoped the old man would be there to speak to.

  Thankfully his stony passenger behaved itself and the drive was uneventful. He made good time by beating the traffic out of town and arrived at the foot of the trail a few hours before sunset. He would have to make a hurried hike up and down the path to avoid nightfall, but it wouldn't be impossible. Tony opened his door and glanced at the rock still sitting in the passenger seat. Getting rid of that needed to be the first chore of his climb because it would slow down his efforts at hiking up the mountain at a quick pace.

  Tony wrapped his fingers around the stone and lifted it from the seat. Without warning the stone, once light, now seemed to gain an unexplainable amount of weight. He found himself too surprised to keep a good grip on the sharp object, and the rock slipped from his fingers. One of the corners cut a deep gash into his hand from which poured a steady stream of blood. The rock itself clamored onto the seat and lay there with all the innocence of an inanimate object.

  The young man clutched at his wrist with his good hand and clenched his teeth. The cut was deep and the blood thick, and he quickly went to the rear driver's side door. He opened the door and grabbed his bag which lay on the back seat. Inside he found what he had most especially packed, a first aid kit, and pulled forth the sterilizing pads and gauze bandage. The wound was straight and clean, but he winced at the stinging pain from the pads. With one of his hands being the injured party he wasted quite a few minutes trying to wrap his palm, but he managed a satisfactory job.

  With his hand taken care of, Tony returned his attention back to the rock in the front seat. He glanced into the car and his eyes widened. The rock was no longer on the seat. He couldn't believe his eyes for a long moment, and like a confused child he padded down the seat and the floor to confirm what his eyes already told him. The stone had vanished.

  Tony backed away from the car and glanced around at the woods that surrounded him. A light breeze blew passed him and escaped into the thick of those trees, blowing their skeletal branches and clanking them together like rattling bones. The chirping of the birds and squirrels were silenced and the parking lot was eerily quiet. He shivered against the horror rising inside of him, but an image of Amanda smiling at him firmed his resolve. Then his eyes narrowed and his teeth clamped together. He was doing this for the woman he loved, and he wouldn't let some spooky trees and winds keep him from his mission.

  With more determination than he'd ever felt, Tony grabbed his bag and swung it over his shoulders. All his supplies were inside including a flashlight and lighter with an aerosol can. If the cabin threatened him in any way, he was willing to go to drastic measures to make sure it never bothered anyone again. Then he put his feet on the first leg of the trail and climbed up the mountain toward his possessed destination.

  Tony was quick to pass through the rattling trees and silent, watching rocks. He made up for the lost time at the car and reached the top of the mountain with an hour before sunset. He'd have to work quickly to avoid walking back down the trail in the dark, so he deposited his bag on the bare rock a few yards from the shadowed cabin. Everything was quiet like the last time he'd been up here with Amanda, and he didn't trust that silence. He removed the flashlight and lighting tools, and crept up toward the open door.

  A sudden breeze came up and slammed the door shut in front of his face. He jumped back and pointed the lighter and can at the entrance, but nothing more moved. He'd half expected some dark tendrils to come crawling out and drag him to the depths of whatever hell all the other missing people had gone to. He was glad to be disappointed. Tony lifted his foot and tapped on the door. It didn't budge, so the knob must have latched. He cautiously reached out and turned the handle, and the door swung open on its creaking hinges.

  The familiar room was revealed to him, complete with broken glass, tussled sheets and the burnt remains of Amanda's last fire. He stepped inside, careful to look behind the door for any surprise attack, and then he crept toward the small kitchen area. The food was as he remembered it from his last inspection of the cabin, for no rodents nor other wild animals had dared come into the possessed building in search of food. He glanced beneath the sink, and got on his hands and knees to look over the ground. He found nothing unusual save for the eerie lack of noise and animal crap. Next he turned his attention to the messy bed. The covers were still torn and bloodied from Amanda's frantic escape out the broken window.

  He moved over to the furniture, but only made it halfway when his foot stepped on something soft and limp. He yelped and jumped back, fearful the creature awoke early and was coming for him. His heart was beating like war drums in his ears as his rounded the center counter in the kitchen, and turned to face the creature. He was infinitely relieved when he saw nothing creeping across the floor, though he did see something odd in the floor.

  Tony cautiously moved back in front of the counter and stooped down to see what startled him. There, stuck between a pair of tight floor boards, was something white and nonthreatening. The offending item appeared to be some sort of a cloth, and he tentatively reached out to prod at the strange thing. He was surprised to find it was soft to the touch, and there was some sort of a frilly edge to the top. Then a realization struck him, and he wasn't sure whether to burst out laughing or shudder. What he had found, and what had startled him so badly, was the top of Amanda's panties.

  The young man sat back and wiped his sweaty brow with his hands. Amanda had told him the general story of the thing attacking her and making love to her, but to see evidence of the union was still startling. He found it impossibly ludicrous that the creature had removed her panties and taken them away like some sort of a trophy prize, but the evidence lay before him. Tony pulled at the underwear, but they were stuck fast between the boards.

  Then the panties suddenly shot down beneath the floor. Tony yelped and scrambled back on his hands and butt. From where the underwear had lain sprang a dark, crawling ooze. The thing slithered out from between the boards and he felt as though a pair of eyes focused on him. Somehow he knew the thing saw him and recognized him, and he got the feeling its intentions toward him weren't to his benefit.

  As he watched more of the thing spilled out from the boards and inched their way toward him. His heart was beating wildly and he moved back farther from the fast-growing pool of darkness, but his back hit the wall of the kitchen island. He kicked his feet out when the creature came within reach, but tendrils shot out and pulled his flailing legs against the floor. Tony grabbed at the black, oozing arms and tried to throw them off, but the moment his fingers touched the su
bstance they latched onto his hands. The flashlight was torn from him and tossed to the floor to shatter a few yards from where he lay.

  He thrashed and pulled at the sticky thing, but like tar it only made matters worse. By this time the pool along the floor was deep and thick with the creature's body, and even more continued to well up from between the boards. They washed over him and covered his legs up to his waist. Nothing was painful, only restricting, until the tendrils pushed themselves beneath the bandages on his hand. He cried out in agony as the thing pushed aside his lacerated skin and brushed against his bared, sensitive muscles beneath the flesh.

  Tony jerked and twitched as he felt the thing push itself deep into his body and spread out along the veins in his arm. In only a few second the darkness raced up his limb and into his chest. He knew the creature was working its way to his heart, there could be no other more important spot to attack, but there was nothing he could do to stop it. His breathes were coming out in gasps against the pain, but he was kept in place on the floor by the creature wrapping itself around his entire body. He felt crushed on the outside and penetrated on the inside.

  Just as he felt the part of the creature inside him reach his heart, Tony passed out from the pain.

  Tony didn't awaken until much later, and by then it was well past sunset. He shifted and groaned when his muscles protested the movement with little tingles of pain. The ground beneath him was rough wood, and small splinters dug into his skin. With a great effort he was able to open his eyes and glimpse a world of shadows and half-familiar shapes. Regardless of the pain in his body, he pushed himself up into a sitting position and glanced around.

  He was still against the side of the island, but there was no sign of the creature sprouting from the floor. That was the only consolation he had because he felt as weak as a child and there was a great deal of pain spread throughout his entire body. However, the main points of suffering were at his heart and his injured hand. He held up his hand to inspect the gash, but his eyes widened and his mouth dropped open when he saw that the wound was gone.