She shook her head again, pleading with him to stop from behind her gag, but he ignored her. When he pressed the second finger to her hole, the discomfort turned to pain but he just kept going, kept pressing in and out, in and out, until she knew both fingers were fully inside her.
"Just relax and maybe you can enjoy it," he said.
She tried to tell him that she'd never enjoy it, that he was a monster, more a monster in human form than in beast form, but the tape muffled her words.
He moved his fingers inside her. "This will make it easier," he said. His thumb came to rest on her clit. Her mind screamed for him to stop but her body just reacted. When he touched her clit, it was just nature taking over. "Ah, that's better," he said, smiling, moving his fingers more freely. "Much, much better. Just another moment," he said, sitting down now. She couldn't tell what he was doing and didn't want to know. She turned her mind off at that moment, willing herself to separate from her body, forcing herself to not feel even as he rubbed her clit while his fingers worked inside her.
"All right," he said, pulling his fingers out. "That's over. Nothing wrong that I can feel or see. Curious why such a pretty little thing is still a virgin though."
She refused to meet his eyes but watched as he moved to the sink and washed his hands. Once he'd dried them, he took a needle and attached an empty vial to it.
"I just need to take a sample of blood, then you'll be all done. I'll need some more equipment before I can extract the eggs."
He didn't need to hold her still, the way he'd bound her she could barely move. Instead, she watched the needle pierce her skin, the pain only momentary while the barrel slowly filled with her dark red blood. When the first vial was full, he removed it and replaced it with another, taking a second then third helping.
"All done. You were very good, Rachel."
He took the scissors out of his pocket and cut her bonds. He then stood her up, looked down at her standing there naked and helpless, her mouth still covered with tape. He slipped off his lab coat and put it over her shoulders.
"I'll get you something warmer to wear. Do you need to use the restroom before I bind you?" he asked.
She pointed to her mouth, her eyes pleading with him to take the gag off.
"All right, since you've been good, I'll take it off. If you make any noise, however, I will replace it immediately and it won't come off again, do you understand?"
She nodded.
He tore it off and she winced, the skin tingling after the initial pain from the removal of the tape. He then led her to the mattress on the floor and cuffed her to the beam again. Once this was finished, he stepped back and immediately stumbled backward, grabbing his head with both hands and crying out in pain.
"Oh my God!" she said, watching him. It was happening, she knew it. This was different than the other times when he had pain. "Lance. Lance!" she screamed. "Uncuff me, Lance. Please! It's happening, you're changing!"
She watched as, before her eyes, his shirt and jeans began to tear. She screamed in terror and he opened his eyes, the look in them as afraid as she felt.
His body was growing and she could see how much pain he was in. He stared at her, unable to move. "Help me," he managed.
Tears spilled down her cheeks as she watched, powerless to help either herself or him.
He screamed with the next phase of the change and struggled to the stairs, looking at her one last time before forcing himself up. She heard the door close and the heavy lock turn and for the first time since she'd woken up, she was glad to be locked in the basement of his house.
Chapter Eleven
"Christ, what the hell is that smell?" Marcus asked, walking up toward Rachel's back door where Elijah stood waiting.
Elijah tossed a pair of jeans at him. "Took you long enough. You're out of practice."
Marcus pulled the jeans on and without another word, walked toward Elijah and the two hugged.
"Good to have you back," Elijah said, patting his back.
Marcus nodded. "Should have come back a while ago." He nodded toward the inside of the house. "Have you been in yet?"
"I just got here," he said, shaking his head. "She hasn't been answering her phone, but that's not unusual for Rachel these days."
"No, this is different," Marcus said, pushing past Elijah and heading inside. "Do you smell that?" he asked, wrinkling up his nose.
"How can you not?" Elijah asked, walking in and closing the door behind him. He looked around at the state of things in the kitchen. "Well, she did get the kitchen cleaned up at least," he said, noticing the dry dishes in the rack.
"Rachel?" he called out as the pair walked into the living room.
"This isn't good," Marcus said. "Rachel?" he called louder when he saw the torn bag of groceries, the oranges that had rolled into the living room.
"I'll go upstairs," Elijah said, calling to her again.
Marcus turned to the basement door. "The smell's stronger here," he said, running toward the basement, noticing the lights were still on. He flew down the stairs. Maybe she was in the safe room. Maybe something had scared her enough to chase her into the safe room.
"Rachel. It's me, it's Marcus," he said. It was then that he saw her phone on the floor. He squatted down to pick it up and found the glass shattered at the front.
"She's not upstairs," Elijah said, fishing out his key for the safe room.
"She's not here," Marcus said, looking around.
Elijah unlocked the safe room and pulled the door open. "Rachel?" he asked.
"She's not here. Fuck! She's not here."
Elijah looked at Marcus and Marcus ran a hand through his hair and turned away, slamming his fist into the wall. "If I'd been here to protect her … "
"We don't know what's happened yet, Marcus."
"What the fuck do you think happened? She drops a bag of groceries obviously panicked, trying to get to the safe room and we find her phone shattered in the basement, light still on." He ran up the stairs. "Christ, front door isn't even locked."
Elijah came up behind him and closed the basement door. "Let me call Kayla. We'll go find her. That stench has something to do with it, I'm sure."
"You think it's what we heard the other night?" Marcus asked while Elijah dialed Kayla.
"Hey, hon," Elijah spoke into the phone.
Marcus could her the baby crying in the background. He'd never even met his brother's baby. What kind of man was he?
"I have to look for her. Just make sure you lock up, keep the phone next to you, understand? Don't let anyone in until I get home."
Elijah listened.
"I'm sorry, I don't mean to scare you. Just stay in the house for me. I'll feel better about it, okay?"
He nodded.
"Good girl," he said. "I'll call you as soon as I can."
"We'll shift and follow the scent. It's got to be connected," Marcus said.
"Just a minute," Elijah said. Marcus watched as he scrolled through his missed calls. "There was a number I didn't recognize," he said, apparently finding that number. He hit Call and put the phone on speaker. After four rings, it went into voicemail: "You've reached the voicemail of Professor Lance Weston … "
At the end of the message, he hung up. "I've never heard of a Professor Lance Weston," Elijah said.
Marcus stiffened.
Elijah looked at him. "Come on, we'll follow the scent, see where it leads us," he said, putting a hand on Marcus's shoulder. "It's not happening again. Everyone who was involved died, Marcus."
Marcus searched his eyes. "We don't know for sure," he said.
Elijah inhaled and exhaled. "Let's go. We're of no use to her here."
Marcus nodded and the two set out into the night.
* * *
The creature roared and pounded on the door. Rachel cowered in the corner, trying to cover her ears, tears streaming down her face.
"Please go away. Please go away," she repeated over and over again. She wasn't sure how long it had been, but it felt like an eternity since it had been trying to tear down the door.
Just when she thought she couldn't take another second of the noise, it stopped. As abruptly as it had begun, it stopped and there was no more sound at all. She looked up from between her arms toward the stairs but all remained quiet. In fact, she heard nothing at all. She wiped her face on the sleeve of the lab coat he had given her to wear and shivered a little. He hadn't had time to get her anything warm and it was cold in the basement. She thought of him, of his plea as the obviously painful transformation from man to beast took place. He had begged her to help him. His eyes had been as terrified as hers. Even after what he had done to her, what he planned to do to her, she felt pity for him.