Chapter 10
I returned to my apartment and slipped inside as the sun outside slipped beneath the horizon. My feet demanded release from my shoes, and I agreed as I plopped down on my couch and pulled my toes from their confinement. I groaned and slumped down on the cushion. For a short day it felt awfully long, not least of which because of my confrontation with Veers. Now he knew I was on his trail, or at least snooping around, and that made my sleuthing harder.
Or did it? I sat up and furrowed my brow. Maybe I could use his strange, inexplicable interest in me to get into the house and his confidences, and ask him about that key. He was more than willing to let me in today, so that was no obstacle. Getting him to spill the beans about the locksmith without him being suspicious would be the hard part. I sighed and slumped back against the couch. "How do detectives do this every day?" I mumbled.
My stomach replied with a loud growl, and I agreed with it. A nice dinner and a long, hot bath was what I needed. I got the dinner part over with quickly and headed into my bedroom for my pajamas. My eyes caught something that lay on my bed, and I turned to see the book had moved again. It lay atop my covers, but not flat like you'd expect. The book sat on its bottom and was balanced by the open covers. The empty pages faced me and I stumbled back against the wall when the familiar glow arose from the paper.
As delicious as the emotions it stirred in me were, my first reaction was to run from the unnatural book and its glowing promises. I raced to the entrance, but a beam of light shot out and slammed the door shut. The lock latched shut a moment before my hands grasped the knob, and try as I might I couldn't get the lock undone nor use brute strength to pull open the door.
The glow to my left grew stronger, and I glanced over to the bed in time to see a stream of golden light slip out from the pages. It flowed over the side of the bed and pooled onto the floor. The tendrils arose from the pool and slithered along the floor toward me. I let out a strangled cry and rushed to the opposite wall, but they followed. Their hot, thick bodies whipped out and grabbed my ankles. I latched onto the handles of my closet door, but the tendrils climbed up the door and tore my hands from the handles.
They pulled me to the bed, but I struggled and strained against their demands. I tripped and fell into the mess of tendrils that stretched out between the bed and the closet door. They were on me in a moment, touching and caressing me with their long, thin bodies. I squirmed and tugged, but my mind was losing its will to fight. The tendrils were soft and warm against my shivering skin. They ignited a pleasure inside of me that I couldn't deny I liked and desired. The creatures slipped beneath my tight clothes and pressed their hot selves against my burning, sensitive skin.
I gasped and groaned as they lit my body afire with their pleasurable touches. My struggles stopped and they wrapped themselves around my body, enveloping me in their lustful caresses. Beneath their thick bodies my clothes were torn to shreds and they massaged my tingling, heated flesh. My naked breasts heaved and swelled. I'd never felt them so heavy and large, and I liked the feeling. Beneath the gentle touches of the tendrils my skin felt as soft as butter, and my hips widened and rounded out to perfect curves.
My hands clutched the pool of golden light beneath me and I felt my fingers dip into a sweltering water of lust. I arched my back and the pointed tips of my breasts stuck out for a moment from the slithering mass of tendrils before being engulfed again in their sultry touches. The sensual, unceasing caresses of the hot tendrils were nearly maddening to me. Every squirm and shudder gave me a new, pleasurable touch from my golden lover. My body was engulfed in sweat and its hot, lustful tendrils. They touched everywhere, and all at once. I whipped my head from side to side and reveled in the sensual delight of being encased in this pool of golden light.
One of the thick tendrils pushed inside me, filling me deeply with itself. My legs were pushed apart to allow deeper penetration, and a small, gentle tendril rubbed up against my clit. I closed my eyes and groaned. The large tendril pulled out and slowly pushed back in. Each stroke was thick, long and gentle. I pushed my hips against it and reveled in the feel of our union.
The tendrils pressed against me and into me, and we made long, sweet love. The thrusts were hard and long, and I groaned withe very feel of it inside me. The tendrils outside touched and caressed my quivering, sweat-soaked body. They slid over my flesh and sent shivering chills through me. It was a perfect union but for one problem. I couldn't touch the tendrils. Each grasp was like touching water, and I longed to touch hard, tense muscle.
My disappointment was tempered by the tendrils' caresses. All thoughts were swept away. I knew only its touch against me, and the feel of it inside me. It was a slow, sensual lovemaking. My hips rocked with it as it thrust in and out. My muscles tensed and tingles of pleasure swept over me. I panted and strained against the rising tide of orgasmic sensations. I wanted these feelings to last forever.
The tendrils felt my struggle, and would have none of my protests. They pinned my hips into their pool and the thick tendril thrust hard and fast into me. I cried out in pleasure as each stroke was matched with a stroke against my sensitive clit. I twisted and turned as ripples of sensual pleasure flowed over me. My body was a mass of quivering, tense muscles that vibrated with lustful demands.
Then the tendrils stopped. They all froze, leaving me confused and frustrated. I whimpered and tried to grab them, but they grasped my wrists and ankles and pinned them to the pool beneath me. Still they didn't move, and I couldn't stop the sob of disappointment from escaping my throat. "Please," I groaned. "Please don't stop." The tendrils shifted a little, but it was only a teasing touch. They stopped again. I squirmed and arched my back. "Oh god, please take me," I pleaded with them.
The tendrils slid over me and the thick one inside of me gave a heavy push deep into me. I shuddered and groaned. "Yes. Like that. Please more," I begged. I didn't care how pathetic and weak I sounded. I was in the power of this thing, and all I wanted was for it to take me with all the fury of a lustful lover. My voice rose a pitch and I pulled against my hot bonds. "Take me. Please take me."
The creatures moved again, but only with slow, careful caresses. I wanted it fast and rough. My body demanded my orgasm, and I wasn't one to stand in the way of its needs. "Harder. Oh god, harder," I groaned. My tongue slipped out and wet my lips. "Faster. Take me." My voice was more growl than human, but I didn't care. There was only the creature, and the pleasure it promised me, and I wanted that pleasure.
The tendrils shuddered and washed over me, engulfing me in their thick, feverish heat. They pulsed with an intensity that swallowed my mind and body in a wave of delicious lust. The tendrils pressed against me and took my heaving breasts into itself, massaging and touching their sensitive buds. The thick tendril inside me grew larger and pressed against me, caressing every nerve and muscle. It pulled out and thrust back into me, again and again, faster and faster.
My muscles twitched, and I was covered in sweat and desire. I tilted my head back and a smile lit up my face. "Yes! Yes, yes yes!" I screamed to my lover.
All the tendrils over me and beneath me thickened and slid over my wet body with the eagerness of a lustful lover. My body exploded in a million touches and a million sensual desires, all fulfilled and created at the same time. I hardly noticed when smaller tendrils burst forth from the larger ones and dipped into the wet pores that covered my body. Their countless penetrations pushed my body over the limit. My eyes widened and my mouth opened in a scream for pleasure that I never could have imagined. "Yes! Oh god, yes!" I cried out.
The thick tendril inside me kept pumping me. I spilled over the edge again and again. My body was a mass of twitching, aching desire. I achieved climax too many times to count. By the time the creature stopped its thrusting my body was spent and I collapsed atop its golden pool. My breaths came out in raspy pants, and I twitched and shuddered. The tendrils massaged my tense muscles and their warmth lulled me into a deep, dreamless sleep.
&
nbsp; Chapter 11
I don't know how long I laid there, but when I awoke the sun was just coming up. My bleary eyes fluttered open and I glanced around. I was still on the floor, but my lover was gone, crawled back into the book that still sat on its bottom on the bed. I sat up and ran a shaking hand through my hair. The creature's demands were more insistent now, more demanding. It aimed to conquer me, and it was doing a damn good job of it.
I stood and swayed. My legs were like jelly and my body felt off, like the weight had shifted. I glanced down and noticed my breasts were larger than I remembered, as were my hips. My mind revisited memories of the creature sliding over my swollen breasts and hips. It made me hot just thinking about it, but I was too confused, and yes, even a little afraid, to want another sexual encounter.
I hurried to my closet, swung open the door, and slipped on my bra. The front barely covered half my breasts, and the clasp in the back almost didn't close. I had to stretch the cloth and bend my arms backwards to get the straps clasped together. Then I tried on my underwear, and they needed to be stretched to fit across my thick hips. My pants were very snug, nearly to suffocation. By the time I got to my tight shirt I didn't have any more doubts. The creature had changed me physically, and I liked it.
My smooth, rounded hips went well with my thin waist, and my breasts were the dreams of fashion models. Gone was the skinny little library nerd. Now there stood a buxom, beautiful woman with a body women would kill to have. I glided my hands over my hips and up my sides to my bouncing breasts. My largest buttoned shirt was still stretched far enough to almost reveal the tops of my breasts. One wrong move and the top buttons would burst.
I turned around and looked at the book. It stood there innocently watching as I admired my new body. I debated with myself whether to hug the thing or toss it out the nearest window. My heart said keep it, but my mind screamed at me to grind the pages into sawdust. I opted for the time-honored college student rule of doing something later that I could do now, and left it alone. Instead I went over to it and plopped down beside the book. The rolling of the bed hardly made it bounce, and it didn't topple.
I reached out and gingerly tapped the cover. There was no spark, no light. Nothing. It still didn't tip over. I pinched the cover between my fingers and pulled it open. That's when the book fell back lifeless onto the bed and the cover spilled open. I jumped up expecting a mess of tentacles, but there was only a faint light. The glow spelled out letters, and I leaned forward and read them aloud to know I wasn't hallucinating. "Keep following the trail," I murmured. I straightened and frowned. "Keep following the trail." My eyes lit up as I recalled my snooping around Veer's house. The book had asked me before to search, and now it wanted me to keep at it.
But why should I? Why should I follow what a possessed book wanted me to do?
I crossed my arms and glared at the open pages. "Why should I?" I challenged it. The golden letters swirled around and formed into new ones. I squinted and read over the words. "Because you crave to know the truth," I whispered. Damn it, but the book had something there. I wanted to know what this book was about, and what the missing book at the library was—
A thought struck me so violently that I clutched my head. The missing book from the library, this book that lay before me. How could I have been so stupid? So blind? Marvin mentioned the missing book was stuck between the black arts and Apocrypha. What I had here was a possessed book intent on possessing me. One disappeared just before the other appeared. The slip of paper with the location of the missing book was in the same pile where I'd found this one. These books were one and the same!
I slid down onto the bed and stared dumbly into space. It all made sense, and yet the puzzle wasn't complete. There was a little distance between the fifth floor collection and the return slot on the first floor. Somebody stole the book from the Forbidden Collection, walked down the stairs, and slipped into through the slot. I frowned and shook my head. "Why would somebody want to do that?" I mumbled to myself.
Maybe some sort of joke, but no sane prankster would go to all the trouble of getting that door key. That brought me to my snooping on the previous day, and what the book had just asked me to do. "Keep following the trail," I murmured. "Keep following Veer's trail?" I guessed.
The book beside me hopped straight up and slammed its cover shut. I jumped up as it fell back onto the covers. The book didn't move again, so I slipped out of the room and plopped myself on the couch where I could think in peace without a possessed book pouncing on me and seducing me. Now I had two options: toss the book into the nearest garbage heap and forget the whole thing ever happened, or follow its command and find out if Veer was the one to swipe the book and why.
While my curiosity ached to be satisfied, the first option was the most tempting and the most sane. The book had to go, or my sanity would move out of my head. I glanced at the bedroom doorway and thought how I could get the book out of here without it suspecting anything, and without touching it. The second problem could be remedied with a pair of salad tongs in one of the kitchen drawers. The first problem would not be easy. The book was smarter than it looked, though in all honesty the book looked like a bunch of papers strapped together in a binding.
I crept over to the kitchen, grabbed the tongs, and went to the bedroom door and peeked inside. The book lay on the bed as still as a-well, as a book. I moved into the room and snuck up to the bed. The room was deathly quiet. I raised the tongs over the cover. A foot. Six inches. Just a little more and I could clasp the binding. I leaned down for a better angle.
The book jumped at me and wrapped its open covers across my body. I screamed, dropped the tongs, and pushed it away. The book fell to the floor with the pages spread open, and the golden light spilled onto the floor. The light washed over my feet and trapped me in place. I squirmed and screamed as the brilliance climbed up my legs. Nothing freed me. Worse yet, I felt it seep into my skin and filled my body with its aphrodisiac powers. By the time it reached my breasts I was no longer struggling.
I gasped when its silky, glowing body flowed over my heaving, straining breasts. It groped and touched every tense muscle and tingling bit of my flesh. Nothing was a secret from its advances. I couldn't, wouldn't do anything to stop it. My mind clouded over with the carnal delights of its pleasures. Just as I fell fully into its clutches, it receded. The thing slid down off my body. I looked down in disappointment as the creature slipped back into the pages of the book.
My quivering legs couldn't hold me up, and I fell to the floor before the open book. The golden letters formed to create words. Keep following the trail. I shuddered and understood the warning. Getting rid of the book wasn't an option. It would foil every attempt, and prove to me who was in control. That meant my only choice was to find out what Veer knew about this possessed book, and what interest he had in it.
I put on a coat to hide my unfitting clothes and protect me from the cold autumn morning, and walked to Veer's neighborhood. The street was deserted, everyone having gone off to work or to school. I tromped through the leaves as quietly as I could and soon stood before his imposing house. The curtains were shut and I wondered if he was home. He did have a job, after all.
Apparently that job was pretty time-easy because Veer stepped out onto the porch with a cup of steaming something in his hand and his hair still wet from a recent shower. I ducked behind the shrubs, but he noticed me. "Hello there!" he called out.
I sheepishly stepped out from my bad hiding spot and weakly waved at him. "Um, hi," I replied.
"What brings you here this early?" he asked me.
"I, um, I was just in the neighborhood and, well, wondered if you were home, so I-"
"-thought you'd come in for a cup of cocoa?" he finished.
"Um, yeah. Cocoa."
Veer stepped aside and gestured to the front door. "There's plenty of steaming water, so come on in," he invited me.
"Um, thanks." I walked up the steps and path, and he looked me over.
/> "Nice jacket," he complimented.
"Oh, thanks. It's really nice." For hiding bodily changes caused by repeated rapture with a tentacle monster.
Veer opened the door for me, so I was forced to step inside first. He followed and shut the door behind us. The latch clanged eerily through the house, and in the dim light I caught my first glimpse of a small entrance hall with doorways on either side. The left side led to a nice dining room, the right to the living room. Forward was the straight staircase and beside that was a hall that led to the back of the house.
"What do you think?" he asked me. He walked past me and glanced up at the ceiling. "This place was a mess when I bought it, but I managed to find some old pictures in the college library and fixed it up like new."
"It's really neat," I replied. I noticed a few old doors down the hall past the staircase, and remembered the locksmith. "Do those doors have locks?" I asked him.
He laughed. "Yeah, and I've locked myself out of them more times than I care to admit."
"These must need some fancy keys," I commented. Smooth, Leslie, real smooth.
"Yeah, but there's a locksmith in town who does a good job with molds," he told me. There was my angle.
"Are you interested in locks, Mr. Veer?" I wondered.
"Jonathon."
"Huh?"
"In my own home my name's Jonathon. It's only Mr. Veer out there." He waved his hand at a window.
"Oh, well, do you like locks, Jonathon?" I rephrased.
"Only if they have some sort of historical value," he replied. "But would you like that cocoa or a tour of the house?"
"The tour." I could check out the house without him being suspicious.
Veer smiled and led me toward the left room. "Great. Follow me and I'll try not to be too boring."
Chapter 12
He was too boring, or at least more boring than my non-historical mind could handle. I managed to tune him out after he started to delve into the intricate workings of the baseboard wood cuts. My eyes were on the doors, and I found that it was a paradise for doorknob aficionados. Like every old house none of them were the same. We were on the second floor when I stopped in front of a large door with a very unusual lock. It was square.