Shifters, Beasts, and Monsters (51 page)

“Help,” she gasped.  She didn’t have the power to
scream. Her head was spinning.  The lava above her constricted as the blackness
of death circled around it.  Her eyes fluttered closed just as the bedroom door
burst open.

“Oh, god!” a woman screamed.  Nora, from the rally. 
That’s where she knew that voice from.  “This is much worse than I thought.”

Artemis could feel the men,
her
men, grabbing at
the demonic snake. He just whipped them away.  If she’d not been so battered
she would have had the strength to slip out of its death grasp.  Instead, she
rocked with the motion while Budd and his son struggled to free her from the
creature between her legs.

Vincent pulled at the snake, getting his arm wrapped
tight in the process. “King!  It was you all along?  How could you?”

“Don’t blame the snake,” Nora said, from across the
room.  “He’s possessed by a demon.”

“What demon?”  Budd pulled at the snake with all his
might.  The possessed King wove its tentacle tails around Budd’s big body, too.

Nora picked up that strange wooden box from mantle. 
“Budd, where did you get this thing?”

“Is this really the time?” Vincent panted.

But Budd responded, “It came with the house.  A lot of
this stuff was here when we moved in.  The last owner left in a hurry, seemed
like.”

The snake’s two tails surged in Artemis’s pussy and
ass.  Nora approached with the box in one hand and the lid in the other.  “This
is where your demon lives.  We’ve found its little home.”

“Well, make him go back there!” Vincent shouted as the
multi-tailed snake fought to push the men away.

“Okay. Everybody hold on tight.  This is going to be a
bumpy ride.”  Lifting the box over her head, Nora began reading the strange
words carved on it.

“Dad, what is she saying?” Vincent asked.

Budd shrugged.  “Sounds like Latin, to me.  Maybe a
prayer.”

“Make it stop,” Artemis begged as the snake burrowed
into her open orifices, like it could escape its coffin by living in her. 
“Budd, it hurts.  Help me, it hurts!”

The snake’s thickness and largeness opened her wider
than she ever thought possible.  It didn’t help that she was wet as hell, and
snakeskin smoothed an easy path inside.

The lava skies thundered above them as Budd grabbed one
cock-tail and Vincent took the other.  Nora raised her voice, reciting the
words on the box even louder than before.  When Artemis looked up into the red
sky, bolts of lightning crossed it, and thunder vibrated the room with deep
bass harmonics.  She wondered if that was hell… or if hell was loving someone
as great as Budd and choosing to leave because his house wasn’t safe.

Nora’s voice grew louder. It thundered over the
smothering rumble, commanding the demon to return home.

“This isn’t working,” Artemis said.  “It’s killing me…”

“We won’t let that happen,” Budd assured her while Nora
read on.  He tugged at the snake’s writhing tentacle, but when it didn’t budge,
a fierce love-driven strength crossed his face.  Doubling his effort, Budd
untwisted King’s tail from around his huge arm and stormed across the bed.

Artemis rolled toward him as the mattress sank under
his muscular weight.  He stopped her motion by pressing her shoulders down on
the bed.

“What are you doing?” she asked, breathlessly.

All he said was, “This,” before bowing to her lips and
kissing her with such passion and tenderness he became her whole world.  All
she could feel was the pulse of his tongue against hers.  All she could hear
was the hammering of his heartbeat.  Nora’s voice faded into the background as
Artemis derived strength from the man who loved her… from the man
she
loved.

His kiss faded the hell that surrounded them.  His kiss
drew goodness forward and warded off the evil.  His kiss sent the demon
spiralling out of Vincent’s snake.  When its tails left her body, she felt at
once abandoned and elated.

Thunder roared overhead while Nora’s words drew the
beast into its small wooden cage.  She clapped the lid on tight, and the lava
cleared from the white plaster ceiling.  The winds stopped howling.  All went
suddenly quiet.  The only thing Artemis could hear, beyond Budd’s heartbeat,
was the racing breaths of everyone in the room.  Then, through the closed and
draped window, came the refreshing sound of the sparrows singing in the trees.

Nora opened the curtains and sunshine gleamed in
through the window.  Budd traced a calloused finger down her chest and asked,
“He did this to you?”

She reached for a sheet, for something to cover her
naked body.  “It’s okay, Budd.  Don’t worry about me.  I’m fine.”

“No you’re not,” Vincent cut in.  His python was balled
up around his arm, and he held the fearful creature lovingly against his chest. 
“Dad, she’s not okay.  She’s been through so much since she moved in, and she
needs to tell you about it.  She needs to know you’ll always be there for her,
no matter what.”

“Well, of course I will.”  Budd lifted her hand to his
lips and kissed it gently.  “I love you, kitten.  I’d do anything for you.”

Tears filled her eyes as she nodded.  “I know you
would. You already have.  You’ve--”

The wooden box cut her off by flying out of Nora’s
hands and landing on the floor like it had legs.  They all watched in horror as
it shivered and shook, trying to rattle off its top.

Nora wasn’t having it.  She dove on top of the box,
smothering it with her chest.

“The monster wants out,” Vincent said.  “What do we
do?”

She cradled the box the way Vincent clung to his snake. 
“Vince, take me to the kitchen.  Get me some string or twine, and some salt. 
We need to bathe the box and the twine in salt water, then tie it up.  That’ll
secure it until we can do something more permanent.”

They left the room in an instant, leaving Budd in bed
beside Artemis.  He held her hand and gazed into her eyes, showing her he’d
always be there.

“It feels so different in here.  The air was thick
before.  It tasted swampy and… ugh, just gross.  And now the air is sweet. 
Budd, can you open the window?  Let’s hear the birds sing.”

Budd kissed her forehead before rising.  When he heaved
the window open, fresh summer air blasted the room with the scent of
wildflowers and freshly mowed lawns.  Not only could Artemis clearly hear the
birds singing, but she could hear the breeze in the trees, the neighbourhood
children laughing as they played, and friendly dogs barking as they tried to
join the games.

Turning from the window, Budd asked, “You’d really
leave without telling me?”

She shook her head.  “Not anymore, babe.  And I was
leaving because of
it
, not because of you.  I
love
you.”

“Then why didn’t you tell me what was going on?  Did
you think I’d love you any less?”

The hurt in his eyes drove a spike through her
already-injured heart.  “I’m so sorry, Budd. I was so stupid.  But you saw that
thing. You saw what it was capable of.  It was stronger than both of us.”

“Separately, maybe.”  He fell to his knees at the
bedside and kissed her knuckles.  “But together, nothing can take us down. 
That’s why I want to marry you.  Artemis, will you be my wife?”

Vincent stepped casually into the bedroom. 
“Knock-knock.  I brought this salt water.  Dad, Nora said you should wash
Artie’s cuts with it. That’ll seal up the negative energy or something.”  He
looked from Artemis in bed to his father on the floor and asked, “Did I
interrupt something?”

Artemis laughed.  She couldn’t help it.  “Your father
just asked me to marry him.”

Vincent’s face fell, momentarily, and he warily asked,
“What did you say?”

“I haven’t answered yet.”

“Oookay.”  Vincent handed the large bowl of saltwater
to his father and crept out of the room.  “Pretend I was never here.”

Budd laughed as he moved onto the bed beside Artemis,
swishing the washcloth around the bowl.  Artemis peeled the bed sheet down from
her chest, and it stung where blood had adhered the fabric to her skin.  That
was nothing compared to the sting when Budd traced that saltwater-laden cloth
down her chest.

“Ow, ow, ow!”

“I’m sorry!” he said, pulling away.

She took his wrist and pushed his hand back against her
stinging chest.  “It’s okay.  If Nora thinks it’ll help then we have to do it. 
I don’t ever want that demon inside me again.  Only you.”

With a charitable smile, Budd cleansed her flesh. She
dug her nails into his thigh to suppress the need to scream.  It hurt so badly
she wanted to cry.  And it hurt even worse when he traced the cloth down her
swollen pussy and her aching asshole.

Her toes curled. She bit her lip so hard it bled.

“I hate seeing you in pain,” Budd told her.  “If I
could bear it for you, I would.”

“I know, babe.”  And the knowing actually took some
pain away.  “You’re my hero, Budd.”

He broke out in a blush—an actual blush!  “Nah,
I’m no hero.”

“You are,” she said.  “You’re mine.  Forever.”

A childlike smile broke across his lips.  “Does that
mean you’ll marry me?”

Another round of tears filled her eyes when she said,
“Of course I will.”

Epilogue

Two rows of bikers tossed flower petals at Artemis and
Budd.  Their wedding aisle was lined by a dozen motorcycles.  Together, they
made their way down the beach, trailed by Vincent and Budd’s buddies.  There by
the water stood Artemis’s mother and sister, a few friends from out of town,
and Nora.  The sensitive also happened to be an ordained minister.  Who knew?

Artemis clutched her mother’s hand and smiled
gleefully.  She wouldn’t let anyone give her away.  Not a chance. Because no
one had ever owned her.

After today, Budd would own her heart.  Oh, who was she
kidding?  He already did.  They were just making it legal.

When Budd’s leather-clad biker friends formed a
semi-circle around the happy couple, Nora commenced the ceremony by picking up
a wooden box wrapped in layer upon layer of saltwater-impregnated twine.  It
was secure for now, but the only hope to be rid of the demon box forever was to
send it away forever.

“Thank you for gathering here today.”  Nora held up the
box.  “To begin the ceremony, Budd and Artemis would like to make a symbolic
gesture. Every couple experiences hardships.  Let this wooden box represent
everything Artemis and Budd wish to put behind them.  It’s wrapped in the
purified twine of forgiveness. Budd?  Artemis?”

When Nora handed over the demon box, its twine stung
Artemis’s fingers. She gazed at her husband-to-be.  He felt no pain.  All she
saw in Budd’s eyes was hope for their future.  When he kissed her sweetly, his
glowing warmth passed from his lips to hers.  She felt his confidence, and it
reassured her as they heaved the box into the ocean, both releasing it
simultaneously.

As the sun glinted on subtle sea waves, the demon
landed so far out Artemis saw the splash but lost track of the box.  Since Nora
had informed them a purified object must be released on an outgoing tide,
whisked into the oblivion of ocean water, they’d  arranged the entire wedding
around watching their horrific past float away.  Only their love and solidarity
would remain.

Brushing off the nasty feel of the demon box on her
scarlet gown, Artemis looked at Budd.  He offered his hand, and she took it.
When he gripped it tight she knew nothing bad could ever happen again, and
tears welled in her eyes.

She stared at Budd like a schoolgirl throughout Nora’s
wedding recitation.  The mushy sentiments struck her so deeply she didn’t even
need to hear the words.  Good thing, too, because her ears hummed with the
ocean’s outgoing waves.  She was lost in bliss with Budd.  It was a moment
she’d never forget.

Nora turned to Budd.  “Do you take this woman to be
your lawfully wedded wife?”

Squeezing her hand, Budd said, “I do.”

Turning to Artemis, Nora asked, “Do you take this man
to be your lawfully wedded husband?”

“I do.”  She nodded vehemently, blinking back tears. 
“I do, Budd. I do!”

Without waiting another moment, Artemis kissed the man
she loved.  When his lips touched hers, she was lost.  She’d be his
forevermore.

Their guests laughed riotously and applauded their
embrace.  Somewhere in the background, Artemis heard Nora say, “Would you look
at that?  They couldn’t even wait for me to pronounce them husband and wife!”

“Better hurry up,” her mother said.  “Jeeze, we’re
gonna have to turn a hose on these two!”

Quickly, Nora said, “I now pronounce you husband and
wife. You may kiss… well, you’re already kissing, so keep at it.”

When everyone chuckled, Artemis detected a distinct
rumble underscoring the laughter.  It was a familiar voice, a deep voice, and
one she’d heard too many times. 

Breaking away from Budd, Artemis spun around to look
into the faces of every joyful biker in their midst.  They’d launched the demon
into the ocean.  How could it possibly have escaped?  And where was it?  Which
of these men could it possibly inhabit?

She looked every smiling biker in the eye.  Blue,
green, hazel, brown.  No red.  Not a one.

Breathing a sigh of relief, Artemis laughed at
herself.  It was nothing.  She was just imagining things.  After all she’d been
through, she was bound to be skittish.  She turned to their minister for
reassurance.  In that moment, a red light flashed across Nora’s eyes.  Artemis
gasped.  Her muscles locked.  But by the time she’d blinked, the red was gone. 
It must have been a reflection from the sun. 

“What is it?” Budd asked.  “What’s wrong?”

She looked into her husband’s eyes and then back at
their minister’s.  She stared at Nora, but no trace of red.  Same old
sensitive: warm, knowledgeable, always willing to help in any way possible.  A
demon as wicked as the one they’d tossed in the ocean could never summon the
power to overcome her.

“Nothing’s wrong, baby.  Everything’s perfect.” Artemis
kissed Budd again.

Vincent started up another round of applause, and
everyone followed suit.  The crowd called out, “Kiss, kiss, kiss!” and, wow,
did they ever!  Artemis had her husband, had her happy family all around her. 
She was starting a wonderful life with Budd.  Together they’d extinguished the
demon that threatened their eternal happiness.  They’d launched him into the
salt of the sea.  They’d definitely seen the last of him.

She hoped…

The End

Find Giselle online at
http://donutsdesires.blogspot.com
or on Twitter @GiselleRenarde.

~

Giselle Renarde

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