Here is the conclusion. Its long and took a while to find the time around a hectic schedule, but hopefully none of that dulls the flavor. Thanks for reading.

*

The house was lit only by a few candles in the sparsely furnished living room. Much of her surroundings appeared to her as a dark blur, though Jenna had no trouble seeing the sickly looking young man standing before her.

"D-Danny... what's happened to you?" Jenna asked.

Shifting his weight from foot to foot, Danny shook his head. The simple motion itself seemed wrong somehow, or unnatural in some way that Jenna could not quite grasp He held his long crooked arms close to his chest, his nearly skeletal fingers groping and scratching at his wrists.

"You shouldn't be here," he repeated.

Jenna glanced at Matt, who seemed unaffected by his brother's strange appearance. Instead, his large bluish eyes were trained upon Jenna, or more pointedly, at her chest. Looking down, she became aware that her shirt was still filthy and wet, and that her erect brown nipples were plainly visible through the thin fabric that clung to her breasts. She crossed her arms over her chest and timidly backed away from the brothers.

Danny watched her closely with his sunken unblinking eyes. Again he licked the front of his teeth habitually. The image of the horrifying thing in her bathroom surfaced in her mind. A discomforting thought entered her head.

"Danny... was it you?" Jenna said. "Was that you in my house?"

"It was never him," she heard a voice say.

Jenna turned to find a figure emerging from a door that led to the kitchen. Her heart lifted when she recognized his face.

"Blake," she breathed.

Rushing over, she flung her arms around him. She felt as though seeing Blake alive was the only thing that had happened that she could take real comfort in.

"My god, I didn't know what to think," she said trembling. "I-I thought you were...."

Blake chuckled and gently pried her away from him. When she looked up, Jenna saw that he was holding the back of his head, and she spotted a dark red stain in his short hair behind his ear.

"Are... are you okay?" Jenna asked him.

"Yeah, he did a pretty good number on me, though," Blake replied.

"He's out of control!" Danny hissed.

Jenna glanced from Blake to his sickly brother. Blake's eyes studied her curiously before wandering down to her chest, as Matt had done only seconds before. Again the feeling of discomfort came over her, and she returned her arms to her breasts.

"What is going on?" She asked them weakly. "Who are you talking ab-"

"You know I never wanted you to have to meet him, Jenna," Blake answered suddenly. "I was gonna go about this differently, but you sorta screwed all of that up."

The three brothers watched her in the dim room, and Jenna began to feel trapped beneath their oppressive gazes.

"What are you talking about?" Jenna demanded.

Blake grinned. "Man, you must have really given him a show, girl. He's taken to you."

A hard lump formed in Jenna's throat as a feeling of dread welled up inside of her. Her eyes began to instinctively search for an escape route, but Matt stood before the front door, and Blake was between her and the kitchen door.

"Who are you people?" She asked with tears burning her eyes.

Blake snickered. "We're just like you, Jenna. Just regular people trying to make a life for themselves."

He took several slow steps toward her, and she backed away on shaking legs. Her calf bumped an old couch, one of the only objects in the sparsely furnished room.

"You know, I never knew why they all hated my mother," Blake said with his eyes cast down. "I was too young to understand then. Ethan probably understood everything, and Danny, too. They're the oldest. You probably took me for the oldest, huh?"

Jenna remained silent, watching Blake warily like a cornered animal. Still, she could not deny that she thought him the oldest of the brothers, judging simply by the way he carried himself and the manner in which he always spoke of his brothers.

Blake shook his head and flashed her a broad grin. "I'm the baby boy. I'd never really heard the words they called my mom... whore, slut, heretic, witch... it didn't make sense to me. Of course, as I got older, I began to understand. I can't count how many nights I would lie awake from all the sounds I'd hear in the next room, from all her meetings."

His eyes dropped to the floor. He appeared to be in deep thought for several moments.

"I don't know what our father was," Blake said. "I don't even know where he is today, but I know we all have his blood. And it's starting to show."

Jenna felt her blood run cold. For a moment, she thought that she had not heard Blake correctly.

"We'll all look like him one day," Blake said, looking over at his brothers. "I'm guessing I have a few more years. Matt has already started to change, but it happens differently to everyone. I expected his eyes to show first, if anything, but who would have guessed his tongue would be the first to change."

Blake chuckled and shot her a glance. "I guess you've already seen how talkative he is."

Jenna looked at Matt, who stood glaring at her calmly, his face contorted in the same scowl she had always seen him wear. Her mind was racing to keep up, though truly, she felt as though she could not bear to hear more.

Blake motioned toward his other brother.

"It's really starting to show in Danny," he said.

"Blake, stop," Danny hissed.

"I don't even know how long this stuff is supposed to last," Blake said, ignoring his brother. "Even Ethan isn't completely there yet, but he's near enough to scare the shit outta someone, though."

Though Jenna was still stricken with fear, she could feel the animosity building within. Her lips tightened and she spoke through gritted teeth.

"Who are you talking about?" She asked. "Who is Ethan?"

Blake blinked at her, as though he had forgotten she was there.

"He's my brother," he told her flatly. "The one that's been watching you."

Jenna's mouth hung agape as she began to understand. The hideous grinning face of the creature she'd seen in her house flashed in her mind. She shook her head, refusing to accept such a thing as reality.

"B-but you... said that Danny-"

"Didn't you hear me earlier?" Blake snapped suddenly. "I lied. It was never Danny, it was him."

Jenna stood speechless, trembling from the cool air inside the house. She wanted to protest, to tell Blake that he was wrong, or that he was insane. She searched for the words to say, but she couldn't muscle past the sick feeling in her stomach.

"When I was little, my mom used to tell me these strange... stories," Blake said. "It wasn't until I got older that I realized they were all true. Then, when the day came that they hunted her down and...."

Jenna watched as his eyes dropped to the floor. She could see his teeth grinding behind his cheeks.

"Well," Blake continued, "on that day, she gave me a job, a task. Mom told me how much she had sacrificed to bring our father to this side, and why it was so important. Because I was the youngest, and the last to change, she entrusted the future of our bloodline to me. I was to make sure that our seed was planted amongst humanity to grow, so that when the time was right, we would be ready. Something about, 'the race that will reign when the world is ablaze.'"

Jenna had heard enough. She frantically dashed toward the front door intending to shove straight past Matt, but his long arms scooped her up as though she were merely a toddler. His arms hugged her to his chest tightly, and though she clawed and beat at them, Matt seemed to hardly notice. She howled in frustration, shaking her head and kicking her feet.

Blake laughed as he walked over to her. Her chest heaved and her heart raced within. She looked toward Danny desperately. He stood to the side, with his crooked arms still folded and his long bony fingers scratching his chest. His large eyes darted this way and that, like those of a frightened animal.

Blake stepped up close, and Jenna drew back from him as much as possible. His warm breath brushed her tear streak cheek as he leaned in close. She glared as fiercely as she could manage into his tiny blue eyes.

"What the hell do you want from me?" Jenna sobbed angrily.

A look of genuine sadness formed on Blake's face as he studied her.

"I'm afraid I don't want anything from you anymore," he told her. "It was supposed to work the same way as any other place. We hit a bar or a club, find a few junkie whores or maybe some drunk daddy's girl that wouldn't remember much of anything, and move on. It's just getting harder as we get older. And who would have thought that someone so beautiful as you would be living next door. I could have taken care of you smoothly, no harm done. But now he's caught your scent."

Jenna stared back at him, appalled by what she was hearing. Blake shook his head and chuckled.

"Damn, Jenna, you must have given him quite a show," he said. "There's no way to keep you safe or quiet now. He almost cracked my skull open back there. He'll probably try to kill me if I keep you from him."

"Blake, don't do this!" She heard Danny hiss. "It doesn't have to be this way."

Blake glanced up at Matt and gave him the slightest nod. Then, he turned and headed into the dim kitchen, and Jenna felt herself being carried after him. Her breathing became erratic as she began to tug and claw at Matt's arms again. She saw Danny's stooping form shift into Blake's path. His rolling lidless eyes glared down at his brother.

"You are losing it!" Danny said in his strangely hissing, grumbling, and whining voice. "Think about what you're doing. This is murder!"

As Blake shoved his deformed brother aside, Jenna began to panic worse than ever. She screamed and tried to plant her heels on the floor, but her wet feet slid along the linoleum. She drove her elbows back, kicked at Matt's feet and shins, and beat at his face. When she opened her mouth to scream again, she felt his large hand clamp down over her mouth. Instinctively, she bit down on his hand, and immediately regretted doing so. The taste and the smell of his flesh was so acrid and repulsive that Jenna coughed and gagged.

At last they came to a halt in a dark hall. Cutting her eyes as far over as she could, Jenna could make out a white door that had several padlocks from its top to bottom, which looked as though they had recently been installed. She heard the jingle of keys and saw that Blake was working to unlock each of the locks.

"You know, you've kinda become a real pain, Jenna," He said. "I mean, do you know how hard it was to find a house with a basement nowadays? Now we'll probably have to pick up and move in a day or two, look for another vacant house for sale."

As he removed the final lock from the bottom of the door, he rose and turned toward her.

"You probably thought we bought the place, too, huh?" He smiled. "Just because we took the sign out of the front yard."

He opened the door wide, and a draft of cold air washed over Jenna, filling her nose with a putrid odor. Her eyes went wide as Blake brought his face close to hers. His blue eyes and handsome grin now appeared menacing and heartless to her. With a single skinny finger, he brushed her wet stringy hair away from where it clung to her forehead.

"I wish we could've had that drink, Jenna," Blake whispered. "We could have had a great time together."

His eyes bored into her own, and Jenna found herself frozen with fear and uncertainty.

"Now, you belong to someone else," he said, "and I can't be sure what he'll do with you."

Before Jenna could do anything or cry out, Blake nodded to his brother, who began to drag her toward the door. Blake disappeared and her eyes fixed on the darkness beyond the threshold in front of her. She wailed into Matt's palm and thrashed about frantically. As they neared the door, she flung her legs out desperately. She managed to plant one of her feet on the door frame, and she pushed away from it with all her might.

It made little difference to Matt. He flung her through the door and into the darkness, and her leg buckled under the force painfully. Jenna found herself sailing through the dark. She yelped briefly before landing violently on what could have only been stairs. Her arm twisted beneath her, sending a white hot flare of pain through her shoulder. Downward she tumbled, her every limb assaulted by the steps as she fell.

When at last she reached the bottom, her back slammed against a hard, unforgiving wall. The back of her head smacked the surface with a sickening thud. Her head felt as though it had suffered an explosion within. Jenna distantly heard the garbled sobbing utterances that came from her mouth. All she could focus on was the pain. She blinked and tried to allow her eyes to adjust to see something, anything at all, but it was useless. Jenna was in the darkness, and it hurt too much to move.

She was vaguely aware of the moment she sank to the floor on her side, before her world slipped into a hazy oblivion.

****

Jenna felt her eyes open, though she was not sure what had stirred her awake. Confusion clouded her mind as she struggled to gather her bearing. She shivered, feeling the icy touch of the floor beneath her. In the dark, she could only make out a few shapes and shadows.

She lifted her head from the floor and sat upright, but immediately regretted doing so. The world spun and seemed to rush away from her with a strange sense of vertigo. Then, the overwhelming throb in her head ebbed like a colossal tide crashing on the shores of her brain.

She fell back against the unseen wall behind her and rubbed at the back of her head. When she did, she gave a hoarse yelp at the tenderness in her shoulder. It was then that the memories came flooding back to her. Her heart sank in despair as she remembered where she was. Jenna wanted nothing more than to be sitting safe in her house on her couch, to be bored and watching television, but it was useless as she glanced around and realized the truth of her terrible situation.

Jenna blinked, trying to survey the scene around her. She wished that she had her glasses, but they were lost to her now. Peering through the darkness of what she knew was a basement, she could not make out anything discernible. Her world was a blurred mess of black and grey obscurities, and undefined objects lurking in the abyss before her.

She sobbed hopelessly. She was in pure shock of how fast everything had happened, of how her perfectly normal existence had gone sour. Jenna only vaguely recalled the details of the story that Blake had told her, but she could not forget the terror that it had instilled in her. Remembering the impending fate that had been intended for her, she glanced around the dark room again, desperately searching for a reason to hope.

Then, as she craned her neck around to the side, her eyes were blessed with the sight of a large area of bluish white light. Turning so that she could find its source, she spotted a large square window in the foundation of the house at ground level. Jenna tried to picture the street in her head, and noted that there was a street light not far from that particular side of her neighbors' house.

As a small glimmer of hope caught fire inside of her, Jenna willed herself to stand. Her knees were sore and bruised, and there was still a dull pain in her upper arm. She winced from the pain but lifted herself up. Again she shivered, for her bare legs felt as though they were coated in ice, and her soggy shirt that clung to her body was useless against the chill of the basement.

Jenna took a few steps forward, her eyes scanning the blurred darkness around her fearfully. She felt a hard stone floor beneath her feet. Extending her arm out in front of her, she felt her way through the shadows slowly. The window was only a few yards ahead, though to her grief, it looked to be a foot or two higher than her head. It would not be easy to reach.

She suddenly ran into something large and metallic in her path, perhaps an old stove or washing machine. Clutching her hip and grimacing, Jenna stepped around it only to bump against a heavy object that hung from the basement ceiling. As she made contact with it, the object swayed before her. Startled, she recoiled from it, her eyes searching for its shape in the gloom. The object moved between her and the bluish light ahead, and Jenna cried out in shock.

While much of its features were shrouded in the dark, Jenna had no trouble discerning its overall shape against the light. There was no mistaking the silhouette of human hands and legs dangling limp from a lifeless body above. She lost control of her breathing as she panted in short gasps. It was then that the smell hit her, akin to that of a dead animal carcass baking in the sun.

Clamping her hand over her mouth, she absently wondered if her eyes had begun to tear up because of how frightened she was or from the stench. Looking away, she continued on, cutting a wide path around the body. She fixed her eyes on the light from the window. Jenna thought that she could see some sort of latch that she could possibly reach, but she couldn't be sure.

Just as she quickened her pace toward the window, she froze in her tracks. Her vision was impaired, but at that distance she could see plainly enough. Something had moved from the light, fading away into the dark. It terrified Jenna to know that she had been staring at whatever it was the entire time, but had only noticed it when it moved away. A burst of fear shot through her body, and her skin suddenly tingled as though a million spider legs were crawling all over her.

There was something in the room with her, of that she was certain. Jenna wanted to run, but she had nowhere to go. Her only option was to make a mad dash for the window and hope to reach it. There would be no time to search for something to stand on, not if the being in the room was who, or what, she suspected. The thought made her tremble.

Then, from just beyond the light that cascaded in through the basement window, Jenna spotted two pale green discs shining reflectively. Immediately she thought of the night she had seen the eyes at her window, and dread filled her chest, choking the breath from her lungs. The eyes floated slightly toward her, and the light from the window illuminated the face that came into its path.

Jenna was locked in the gaze of its wild lidless eyes as they studied her eerily. She recognized the wretched grin and hanging jowls as when the creature stepped into view. The few dead strands of grey hair that hung from its head shined brilliantly in the light, giving it a strange but terrible glow. Its long fingers worked tirelessly, feeling and groping at the air. The familiar wheezing and growling of its breath was just audible to her.

Jenna's mounting terror grew to an unbearable level. Without thinking she dashed toward the window. In an instant, she was at the window and clawing to get a grip on its ledge to pull herself up, but she was not fast enough. She felt a hand, albeit a rather large and oddly shaped hand, slip through the strands of her hair and pull her back.

Jenna screamed as she lost her balance and stumbled backward towards her attacker. Her feet kicked and stumbled along the floor. The roots of her hair hurt so badly that she feared her scalp would be torn from her head. Though the hand did not release her, the pain subsided and she found herself on the floor staring up at the thing that had grabbed her.

She stared up the length of its long bent legs, studying the creature in horrified awe in the light from the window. Its torso was a strange sight to behold. The abdomen was sunken and almost skeletal, with large folds of loose porous skin dangling down. The chest, however looked altogether different, for it was rather bulky and defined. The flesh there was stretched and thin. She stared at the arm that was curled close to its chest, and the elongated hand with its black fingers scratching at its chest.
Jenna's breath was shallow and quick, and she again tasted the creature's acrid stench in her throat. She had never been so frightened, nor beheld anything so horribly disturbing. Its large eyes examined her curiously and calmly. Jenna thought of what Blake had told her, of how his brothers had begun to change. Looking at the creature that held her by the hair of her head, it did appear that its body was warping from within, stretching the skin in places and leaving it loose in others.

The creature moved its free hand toward her, its spider leg fingers dancing as it came. Shrieking and turning her head as much as possible, alarms of terror rang in her head. Her wide eyes cut over to witness a single long and bony finger gently brush a strand of her black hair from her eyes. She shot a glance at its horrid smiling face, watching its tongue slither across its teeth.

Jenna could not contain her scream. To her surprise the monstrosity released her hair and she collapsed to the floor. Wasting not a second, she scrambled away from it, uncertain of where she would even go. The basement window was the only escape she could think of, but just as she reached the wall, she felt a giant hand seize her ankle. Her legs were pulled from under her, and when she fell her cheek hit the ground painfully.

It was then that the creature spun her body over roughly and bellowed forth its own cry. Jenna saw its jaw fall open, and it continued to stretch impossibly low and wide with its slithery tongue wagging. It fell over her, straddling her and emitting its strange hissing and grumbling scream in her face. Jenna turned her head and squeezed her eyes shut. She wailed and beat her fists against the thing, which had seemingly no effect on it whatsoever.

Jenna felt two cold fingers pinch her chin hard and turn her face back to face the creature. Her eyes opened and she saw the terrible grinning face looming over her. As close as she was to it, she could now make out every detail of the thing's head. She saw the wrinkled black skin inside its sunken eye sockets around the eyes themselves, which glared hauntingly down into hers. The skin that hung from its cheeks near the rear of the jaw was a pale bloodless grey, the color of dead flesh. Its ears were quite large, though they were long and misshapen.

Her eyes scanned further up the creature's head, where she saw two sizeable knots of curled and twisted flesh, situated across from one another with one above each eye. To Jenna, it looked as though this mass of skin was hardened and beginning to crack or split apart, as though something was preparing to burst forth from the skull beneath. Along the top of the head grew tiny black spines or barbs, which ran over the crest of the skull and presumably down its back.

She screamed again, which only seemed to enrage the thing more. It swayed and jerked back and forth, and its head twisted this way and that. Its odd hissing growl grew more furious. Jenna saw its chest heaving and bulging as it squatted over her. The putrid smell assaulted her senses, causing her to nearly gag. She felt the folds of the monster's flesh brushing her bare thighs. She kicked her legs until it squatted so low that the beast pinned her under its immense weight.

With her strength exhausted, Jenna resorted to pleading with the creature. She struggled to remember all that Blake had said to her.

"Nathan! Please, Nathan, stop!"

The abomination tossed its head back and let loose another hissing, groaning wail. Its wide eyes fell to hers again, its entire head trembling with what could only have been rage. Something that Jenna said hadn't sounded quite right. As her mind raced and spun, she saw the creature lift a single long arm above its head. Fear of her impending doom overtook her. Its elongated hand curled into a fist just as a thought crossed Jenna's mind.

"Ethan, stop!" She screamed.

The basement grew silent. The creature froze on top of her, its jaw retracting to grin down at her once more. Jenna stared breathlessly into the lidless green eyes that bored into hers. Slowly, it lowered its arm to its side, its long deformed hand relaxing. The hand that clutched her chin released her, leaving a cold soreness on her skin. She blinked, realizing that she had communicated successfully with the beast. It studied her curiously with its head twisted to one side, its stringy strands of grey hair hanging like the dead limbs of a willow tree.

"Ethan," she dared to utter, "please... please let me go."

As if to answer, it positioned its legs beneath itself and lifted its weight from her thighs. Its calm wheezing breath returned as its bulging chest heaved slowly. Its menacing round eyes watched her from above. Jenna had never felt so small and helpless beneath any other gaze. She was so shocked that the creature had listened to her and done as she pleaded that she didn't move for quite some time, but rather lay on the cold floor hypnotized by its terrifying presence.

Finally, Jenna built up the courage to scoot her body backward. Her jaw trembled uncontrollably. Her sore and bruised limbs were all but numbed by the incredible sense of terror she felt. Inch by inch, Jenna distanced herself from the wretched thing, while it looked on calmly. Its tongue slid across its teeth, but it made no move toward her.

At last Jenna reached the wall beneath the window. As her heart thundered in her chest, she considered what to do next. She feared what might happen should she try for the basement window again, but she knew it was her only hope. The wide teal green eyes watched her closely. She dared not make a move too sudden.

As easily as she could, Jenna lifted herself up against the wall. Though the last thing she wanted was to turn her back to the creature, she spun and glanced up at the glass above. She could feel the heat of the lidless gaze on her back. Blinking the stinging tears from her eyes, Jenna stretched her arms high. Her hands easily crested the ledge at the bottom of the window. She set her efforts to feeling for a latch or lever to open the window.

Before she heard the hissing growl at her ear, she felt a long hand slap around her throat and tighten like a vise. She tried to scream and found that it was impossible. Her hands immediately clawed at the creature's clammy arm. Terror lurked at the edge of her mind, though frantic desperation was all that she felt. She cut her eyes around to see the huge grinning thing that clutched her like a child's toy. There was not much to gauge an expression on its twisted face, but it was evident that it was enraged.

The light from the window cast a haunting glow on the monster, accentuating its horrible features. Its round eyes glimmered with reflectivity. Its entire head trembled as it bellowed into her face, and the flaps of loose skin quivered from the movement. The jaw had again fell open wide, like the mandible of a great snake that was preparing to swallow whole its prey. Its sour putrid breath filled her nose, and her throat struggled against the squeezing hand to cough.

As her legs grew weak and her flailing arms hung limp, it dawned on Jenna that she was going to die. She was terrified of the thought that in mere seconds she would cease to be, that her life would fade into nothingness. She thought she could even see the oblivion coming, for dark spots crept into her peripheral vision like a swarm of black flies. Her mind still refused to accept death, and willed her to survive. Fighting was useless. She could not plead with the creature as she choked.

It was then that she saw his face. The gruesome grinning visage was gone, replaced by the familiar warm smile and dimples that she so badly missed. She could see his beautiful eyes that lit up handsomely with that smile. Jenna imagined that she could smell him, and feel the caress of his hands on her face. She felt his fingers in her hair, and her eyes closed to bask in his touch. She reached forward and rubbed her hand gently down his cheek.

Jason's lovely face twisted into the reality before her as hand gently caressed the side of the creature's hideous face, her fingers tracing the lines in its warped skin. She cupped its head with her palm hoping to sooth the enraged thing into submission. It seemed to have no effect, and Jenna was sure that she was dead. She could feel the pressure building beneath her face. Her skull tingled and started to feel almost numb. Then, the massive hand that gripped her throat fell away.

Out of pure reflex, Jenna sucked in a great gasp of air. She began to cough and gag against the soreness in her throat. When her fit had passed, she lay heaving and gasping. Blinking several times, Jenna realized that she had fell against the monster's bulging chest. She recoiled and stared up into the grinning face above her. It was then she noticed that the thing was holding her by her arms, yet it did so gently, as though it had supported her when she fell.

With her breasts still rising and falling, Jenna studied the hideous beast carefully. Something in its bulging lidless eyes appeared incredibly human. She trembled in its gentle grasp, her mind struggling to decide how she should proceed. She chose to try the only thing that had worked thus far. Licking her lips, she spoke to the monster once more.

"Ethan," she began, "p-please... don't kill me."

The creature turned its head on its side, watching her curiously, but it remained silent save for its wheezing breath.

"You... you can understand me, can't you?" Jenna said hoarsely. "There's still something left of you... isn't there?"

She watched it fearfully and cautiously, but it made no move nor sound.

"Please, don't... don't hurt me," Jenna pleaded.

The creature emitted a low rumbling growl in response, and Jenna had no way to interpret its meaning. Tears stung her eyes and her jaw quivered with her forthcoming sob.

"What do you want?"

It lifted a giant hand and extended a single bony finger, pressing it gently against her chest. For several seconds, Jenna found herself in shock that the beast had responded. She felt how incredibly sharp its pointed black fingertip was in her soft flesh. Then, she found herself puzzled.

"Me?" She confirmed. "What... what do you want from me?"

Jenna watched as the monster lowered its finger slowly. Its large round eyes rolled to follow its hand as the black finger slid down her shirt. Jenna jumped when she felt the fingertip slide under the waistband of her panties. Her heart felt as though lightning had struck her in the chest. A gasp escaped her quivering lip as she stared at the creature in shock.

"No!" She breathed. "No... no, I cant... not that!"

The beast's eyes snapped up to glare at her wildly. Its jaw fell open, its tongue rolled downward sickeningly, and it let loose its strange hissing groan. Jenna recoiled as much as she could, turning her face from the hot blast of breath from its angry roar.

"Ethan, please no!" She begged.

Her words only incited more fury from the creature. It shook its huge head and rolled its eyes about. Jenna yelped when she felt its grip tighten around her elbow, its sharp fingertips piercing her skin. She panicked, trying to think of what she should do. She thought again of her husband, of happier times. Jenna felt a sense of helplessness unlike any other.

Staring at the writhing monster that screamed in front of her, and thinking of the horrible act in which it wanted her to partake, she felt her very mind twisting and bending inside of her skull. Jenna felt overwhelmed by the terror of it all, but things were becoming clear to her. She would have liked to think that she would rather die than suffer any more torture, but she had stared death in the face and could think of nothing more humbling. Furthermore, Jenna understood what it would mean to resist the creature, that it would quickly become the most painful and terrifying thing she would ever experience.

Jenna felt something change inside of her, something that coiled like a dead withering snake and fell away. She could not believe the vile thing that she considered. Through all the frightening things that she had been through, she feared that something inside, some part of her, had not survived. When her hands moved toward the frantic creature, it was as though she acted subconsciously, absently, with no reason or rationality.

With her hands, she cradled the monster's twisted face. Its unblinking eyes rolled about until they focused on her. Her gentle touch immediately had a calming effect on the beast. She ran her fingers down its face, ignoring the clammy porous texture of its skin, and along the loose flesh of its neck. Her hands came to rest upon the bulk of its massive chest. Her eyes traced her fluid movements in almost a daze. Jenna's breath came slow and steady, though it was cool and trembling.

Jenna shoved gently with her palms, and the monster allowed itself to fall easily against the wall behind it. Its jaw had retracted to grin once more at her, and its tongue slid out and across its jutting teeth. As its wild eyes danced over her body, Jenna pressed into its chest once more, guiding it downward, and she took a small measure of relief when she saw that it cooperated. The beast slid down the wall, squatting its long legs as it went.

Jenna waited for rationality to take root in her mind, but it had fled her entirely. She marveled at her own resolve, that she was giving herself to such a being. Again something shuddered in her head as her very mind writhed and wriggled within her skull. She stepped over the monster, straddling it and standing with her legs spread slightly apart. Gazing down at the hideous thing, Jenna somehow took comfort that she acted from her own will, and not by its brute force of action.

Jenna watched as the creature raised its pointed black finger and hooked it in the waistband of her panties. She shuddered at the intimate touch, and she gasped when she felt it pull the fabric from her waist. Her panties snapped in two, the remaining shred of silky cloth dangling about her hips, which reminded her of how sharp the pointed tips of its black fingers truly were. She looked on absentmindedly while the creature's spidery fingers tugged at her panties and pulled them from between her legs, leaving her bottomless.

Jenna stood with her lower half exposed before the terrible monster below, the cool air of the basement chilling her naked nether region. She felt violated, invaded, and corrupted, but free, wild, and uninhibited. Terror still gripped her, though she was accustomed to its horrible embrace. She squatted down onto the wretched creature in an almost lethargic state. With her most private area spread wide, Jenna trembled as she drew close to the warm flesh of the monster's lap.

Her eyes met with the lidless orbs of the frightening creature beneath her. She found that she was drunken on her own absurdity, her insanity, and her disturbing willingness to accept what was to come. Suddenly, she felt something warm and slick against her thigh. A nervous breath escaped her lips. Her eyes seemed to flutter at the touch of the long slimy erection on her skin. A thousand gnats ate at the frayed edges of her mind. She heard an excited rumble beneath her, the slow hissing of an abomination aroused by her embrace.

A final alarm sounded in her brain when she reached down with her hand and took hold of the long pulsing member protruding upward from the monster's lap. It felt not unlike any other erection that Jenna had seen. It was tender yet firm, and was slightly thicker that any cock she'd felt before. As she took it in her fingers, something strange did occur. The creature's cock seemed to contract and pulse, and Jenna could feel some sort of muscle writhing within like the belly of a snake. Her heart quickened at the peculiar sensation.

"You want me, don't you, Ethan?" She mumbled in a state of maniacal hypnosis. "This is what you want?"

With the creature's cock in her fingers, she positioned the flared tip against the budding folds of her lips. A jolt of insanity surged inside of her as something human cried out distantly in her mind. Jenna's brain coiled and contracted in her skull. The buzzing of the gnats was unbearable. She longed for them to be silenced, and she wished even more to be at last penetrated, no matter how horrible it seemed.

It took a mere thrust of the creature's hips and it was inside of her. Jenna felt her pussy invaded, filled with the girth of the monster's dick. A few inches at first plunged into her. Then, she sank down further to embrace the seemingly unending length of the foreign erection. It was horrible, detestable, and marvelously satisfying. A slow gasp escaped Jenna's lips as she took in the pleasant mass of hard flesh that spread her open.

At last the twisting and writhing of her mind ended with a tumultuous climax as her very sanity seemed to snap completely in half. A wretched, filthy, terrifying excuse for a living being had penetrated her most sacred of organs, and yet she could not have been more pleased. The creature's cock felt extremely orgasmic inside her pussy. Jenna couldn't believe it so, but she found that she absolutely could not wait to ground it until it was limp and devoid of filling.

Inch by incredible inch the foul beast's dick climbed into her, and Jenna was ecstatic. She felt two huge elongated hands grasp both cheeks of her ass. They squeezed with the passion of an aroused man, and somehow she reveled in their inhuman touch. Her eyes fell to the creature, and she beheld it in all its terrible glory. An odd sense of perverse arousal invaded her senses, and Jenna felt only invitation from its twisted form.

She thrust herself upon the long and slimy cock that protruded into her. Her body could not help but quiver at the sensation that the alien dick bestowed upon her. Her arms curled about the monster's neck. Her nails dug into the clotted flesh behind its head. Jenna could feel the pulse of its beating heart in its throbbing cock. Her pussy squeezed upon its length, and she only longed for more of the tender girth that she rode with insane fervor.

Her ass sank on the wretched creature's dick, feeling the bulbous testicles at its base. She thrust her hips inward, grinding her clitoris against the beast's sunken abdomen, and crying out at the surprising pleasure she found in doing so. Vaguely, Jenna felt a single hand upon her chest. She looked down at the monster as its greedy unblinking eyes flashed over her body. She let out a moan when she felt it thrust into her, its wriggling erection throbbing and contracting.

The creature hissed as it hooked its pointed fingers in the neckline of her shirt. With a swift movement, it raked its spidery hands down to her hips. Jenna froze, but realized that she was unscathed. Her shirt, however, was ripped open and hung from her body like a tattered vest. The fabric fell away from her petite breasts, exposing them before the creature's face.

Jenna's eyes rolled and her lips let forth a moan of ecstasy when she felt the warm breath on her exposed breasts. The hideous creature had dropped its jaw wide as before, only now to allow its long snakelike tongue to unfold and lay against her ribs. The tongue slid upwards, and slithered up to circle her left breast. It did not stop with a mere lick, but wound and writhed about Jenna's stiff nipple, and created quite a measure of suction, pulling her hard tip outward and causing her to wince.

Jenna lay her head back and moaned at the intense sensation of the monster's tongue circling her brown nipple that left a trail of warm slickness in its wake. It was then that the hips of the terrible creature began to thrust into her, its long cock jabbing into the soft flesh of her pussy. Jenna's mind twirled when she felt the dick curl and writhe within her like a great worm. She could not contain the wordless sound of ecstasy that escaped her lips. Never had she felt something so alive, so invigorating and forceful between her thighs.
His face appeared to her once more, yet the smiling handsome features of Jason's face seemed to teem with betrayal and evil. The orgasmic, twisted smile beneath her breasts was a welcome reprieve from the devilish dimpled grin of her former husband, though she could not believe it so.

Jenna groped at the creature's knotted flesh, welcoming its alien feel to that of human cruelty. She thrust her pelvis forward again and again, drinking in the sensation of the large foreign cock within her. Jenna fucked the monster vigorously. She wanted to show it what she was capable of, and more importantly, to satisfy it that it might spare her from any harm. She could not deny the pleasure it gave her.

Her ass cheeks clenched under its tight grip, and her back arched while it suckled her breasts. Insanity pervaded her every sense, but she could not say that she did not welcome it. All she could think of was the massive cock that bored into her pussy with such a passion that the very heavens wept at its grace.

Then, the window above her head fell toward her. Jenna glanced down to realize that she was being hoisted into the creature's long fleshy arms as it stood. Panicking briefly, her thighs tightened around its narrow sunken waist and her ankles hooked behind its legs. She felt weightless, as though all gravity had dissipated. The beast cradled her with its arms, while its huge hands clutched the cheeks of her ass so completely that its black fingers prodded at her inner thighs.

The creature craned its neck a wailed out in the darkness. Jenna cried out louder as it pumped its hips into her. Everything about the intercourse felt alien and strange, albeit somewhat familiar, but she was overwhelmed with ecstasy. Jenna relaxed her arms and allowed them to fall free, spreading them to her sides like the wings of a drifting angel. She did not fall, nor did she fear that she would. The beast held her gently, but with such strength and ease that she imagined she was floating.

It did not ravage her, but thrust into her with a slow and steady rhythm. She rolled her stomach and her hips up and down, matching the monster's pace. Her eyes widened as the peculiar contractions in its cock grew more intense, which felt as though it rolled and twisted inside of her. Jenna ground her hips deeper to welcome the sensational phenomenon.

She gazed at her horrid lover through sex glazed eyes. Disbelief and awe enveloped her. She watched its eyes roll and its jaw open and snap shut repeatedly. Its tongue hung from the side of its mouth, licking and toying with everything it made contact with, from its own bulging chest to Jenna's soft breasts. The hanging flesh shuddered with its every thrust.

Jenna's brow furrowed and she screamed with insane ecstasy when she felt the monster jam its hips into her. Her eyes rolled as its cock went into wild convulsions inside of her, sending tremors of nearly unbearable pleasure through her body. Jenna whipped her arms around the creature's neck and pulled herself close to it. She hardly noticed the clammy texture of its skin, nor the sulfuric smell that seemed to radiate from the beast.

The erratic convulsions of the cock within her only grew stronger until her eyes widened and her very breath was stolen away. She could have sworn that it felt as though the monster's erection was vibrating. A great tide swelled within her, and Jenna clutched the abomination like a sex drunken leech. All the while, its motions grew more desperate. Its thrusting turned to a great fluid roll of motion, with its entire lower half firing like a piston.

Jenna realized that with her every labored breath came a moaning yell. The world was nearly washed away around her as the rolling tide of her orgasm crashed within her. She saw nothing, and everything. She cried out, and was accompanied by a gutteral hissing groan. Her waves had crashed upon an even greater tide, that filled her with its warmth below.

The gyrating cock in Jenna's pussy contracted and extended as the creature pumped its seed into her. She'd never felt anything of the sort in her life. Tossed on the colossal tides of their flowing orgasms, she raked her nails into the twisted flesh of its neck and screamed against its chest. Her ass clenched and rocked against it as it continued to fill her with such a warmth that it nearly burned like hot bathwater.

With a great shudder, Jenna felt the cock cease its wild spasms. Likewise, her breath returned to her in gasps as her tense muscles relaxed. The world seemed to return slowly. She blinked her eyes in the gloom and realized that her head lay on the jutting shoulder of the creature. She could feel that her pussy was full of the monster's cum, and it oozed and leaked from her lips down her sweaty thighs.

Reality set in on Jenna. She lay gasping upon the hideous beast, in complete disbelief of what she had done. It shocked her not only that she had allowed such a creature to have her, and to willingly participate, but that she had enjoyed their intercourse. Jenna's world was on its head. She couldn't make sense of anything. Had she not been disgusted and terrified? Yet she had thrust her body on the creature just as passionately as it had fucked her.

Even as she lay against it in the wake of their formication, with its limber cock twitching inside of her, Jenna did not deny the pleasure she took from it. The creature's hot seed leaked from her, and she basked in its warmth. Her cheek found comfort in the heaving of its great chest. She felt no revulsion at the embrace of its twisted clammy skin, but rather safety and serenity.

Still, she was sane enough to know that she was mounted atop the cock of a dangerous abomination that was certainly not of her world, not entirely. Fear had dug its gnarled roots deep inside of her, and Jenna trembled as uncertainty overtook her. The thing seemed calm at the moment, but she could not know what to expect now that it had gotten what it had wanted. Jenna clutched the very wretch that she so feared.

There was, too, a feeling of awe at the thought of the vile thing she had done. Her emotions clashed, whipping and spinning together like a great storm. She had been violated, yet it was an incredible release. Jenna wanted to be immediately removed from the situation, and somehow simultaneously revived upon the creature's wondrous cock so that she might ride it again. She wondered distantly if her mind had truly snapped in two, if her sanity had fled her completely.

The large hands on her bare ass were motionless, its moist palms still resting on her plump cheeks and its sharp black fingertips pricking the soft flesh of her thighs. She heard the familiar wheezing of its breath. It was calm but quickened from its labors. Her exposed breasts pressed against the skeletal ribs of its midsection. A part of Jenna wanted to close her eyes and sleep on the beast, to be lulled by its heavy hissing breath.

Fear prompted her to do otherwise. As slowly as she could, she placed her palms on the monster's broad chest and pressed herself away. Her black hair clung to her cheek. Her glazed eyes searched the terrible features before her. The creature had sank against the wall behind, its head rolled to one side. Its large unblinking eyes stared off into the dark. The stretched lips above its grinning maw quivered and twitched, but Jenna saw no other movement. She thought the beast asleep for a moment.

Jenna swallowed, unsure of what to do. She thought of the how she had enraged the thing when she had attempted to escape, and how stricken with terror she had been at its reactions. She wasn't sure why, but she spoke to it.

"Ethan?" She said weakly.

Its flashing bluish green eyes rolled in their sockets to look at her. Then, its head twisted around oddly, its tongue sliding over its jutting grin. It raised a single hand toward her face, startling her at first. With one of its pointed fingers, it swept her matted hair from her cheek. Jenna shook uncontrollably, though the creature's touch was but a breeze on her face.

"Ethan... w-what happens now?" She asked.

Suddenly there was a thunderous clap from above. Jenna let out a yelp and hunkered close to the creature. The thing's head snapped upward, its wild eyes scanning the basement ceiling. Jenna could hear some kind of commotion above their heads, and what she thought were elevated voices. She wondered what new terrible occurrence was taking place on the main floor of the house.

Another loud report made Jenna jump. She vaguely recognized the sound as a gunshot, though it surprised her that it was so loud even from the floor above. Her heart grew cold from the implications of the noise, but before she had time to react, Jenna felt herself falling backward. The creature had lurched to its feet, swaying and shaking with its hideous grinning face glaring toward the stairs. Jenna was sent sliding off of its flaccid cock to the floor. She landed with a grunt and watched as the thing let out a hissing groan.

Her head snapped in the direction of the stairs when she heard another shot from above, followed by another immediately after. The creature wailed out again before it turned and bounded over Jenna into the darkness of the basement. She marveled at the speed of the thing and the odd fluidity with which it moved, with its long legs extending and pulling its hunkered body along.

The beast disappeared from sight, though for a few moments she heard sounds of scuffling from somewhere in the basement. Silence filled the musty putrid air. Jenna remained on the floor trembling for several minutes. Confusion and fear became tangled in her head. Briefly, she glanced up to the window. She knew her chance to escape had arrived, but her entire body was racked with weakness. She felt sore and completely drained of will.

Then, Jenna heard a familiar racket, one of padlocks being opened at the door at the top of the stairs. A gasp of relief filled her so suddenly that it spurred her to her feet. Before she had completely risen, Jenna was already stumbling toward the stairs, following the sounds of freedom in the dark. She tripped when her toe smashed an unseen step, her shin crashing against the edge of another. A sob of frustration escaped her lips, but she began her desperate climb nonetheless.

With bruises on her every limb and warm sticky semen trickling down her thighs, Jenna clawed her way up the flight of stairs. Then, a frightening thought occurred to her. She could not be sure who to expect when the door opened. Her heart wept when she imagined that it would be the deceitful grin of Blake looking down at her, or the cold scowl of his brother Matt. Jenna froze in fearful anticipation, her arms and legs shaking beneath her.

A light washed over her when the door was pulled open. She squinted her eyes and shielded her face from its brilliance. Peering up at the opening ahead, she saw the silhouette of a figure at the top of the stairs.

"Jenna?" Called a slurred voice.

She opened her mouth to cry out, only managing a weak sob. In a flash a large warm hand grabbed her under her arm and pulled her up. It all happened so quickly that she could not discern the person's identity. Jenna struggled to find her footing on the stairs but found that the single arm hoisted her upward almost effortlessly.

She was let down to the tile floor gently. It was the first she had seen of herself in such a light, and she nearly gasped. Jenna was filthy, with mud and grime caked onto her flesh. She saw a black film on her arms and hands, and again became aware of her nudity. Her breasts were relatively clean. She remembered how the monster's slithery tongue had felt as it sucked at her soft skin. Jenna glanced down at the substance on her thighs, which was a murky grey glaze.

On her hands and knees, Jenna's eyes darted across the tile floor to a pool of crimson beneath her right palm. Crystal blue eyes stared up at her from the floor from Blake's handsome face. Jenna's mouth fell open as she scrambled away from him. His eyes did not follow her, but stared blankly up at the ceiling. It was then that she saw his features were frozen in a contorted expression of pain. Briefly, she saw the wound in his blood covered neck, which still pumped and bled weakly.

Just before she could scream, Jenna stumbled backward over something, and she fell on top of the object. She spun frantically and stared in horror at yet another body on the floor. Though the lower half of the face had been shattered by a great force with teeth and flesh hanging from the mouth, there was no mistaking the scowling visage of Matt.

Jenna screamed with her hands over her mouth. Though her voice was hoarse and weak, her wail of horror was no less genuine. She stood and backed away, her eyes taking in the grisly scene before her. Blake's lifeless body lay still near the door to her left. His arms were across his sternum, his hands close to the wound that he had apparently tried to cover.

Jenna could almost picture the scene in her mind. She could see the blood running through his fingers as he grasped at the final shreds of life. Matt had but a single hole in his chest, but his mangled jaw was enough to tell his story. His long tongue was draped from his broken face to the tile.

A large hand took her arm. Jenna shrieked and spun about, only to scream louder at the wretched face that she saw.

"Jenna!" The face hissed. "Jenna, calm down!"

The screams caught in her chest. Her breath came in shallow gasps. The unblinking eyes stared back at her, and the grin was not one of joy.

"Jenna, it's just me," he said. "I'm... I'm not going to hurt you, I swear."

Trembling and cowering away, Jenna studied the thing in front of her. It looked not unlike what she had seen in the basement. She blinked her eyes, and recognized the shaggy hair atop Danny's head. The long fingers of his free hand worked tirelessly, while in his other hand he clutched the largest pistol Jenna had ever seen. He hunkered before her, his head twisted and his body swaying. Fresh tears rolled down his knotted cheeks.

"Danny," she breathed, "what did you do?"

His eyes twitched in their sockets. "I... ended this. I had to."

Jenna stared at the deformed human being through watering eyes. She held her chin upward and averted to the side, not daring to cast her gaze to the floor again. Danny appeared exhausted, his long legs trembling and his pale skin coated with sweat. His T-shirt clung to his chest while sagging around his abdomen. His jeans seemed three sizes to short where his crooked ankles poked down to a pair of elongated feet.

Something in Danny's huge eyes filled Jenna with grief. They were so devoid of life and hope, so wild but cold. Those bulging eyes wandered down her mostly naked and completely filthy body, and he gave her a strange shake of his head.

"Jenna," Danny gasped weakly. "What has he done to you?"

Even as he spoke, Jenna felt another trickle of warm fluid racing down her thigh. Danny's eyes snapped up to hers.

"Where did he go?" Danny asked suddenly.

Jenna shook her head. The words that came from her lips were hoarse and barely audible.

"I... I don't know. He's gone."

Danny's tongue skimmed over his upper teeth.

"Was he in the basement?" He snapped.

Jenna paused for a brief moment, remembering how the creature had leapt into the darkness and disappeared. She nodded to Danny timidly.

Danny hunkered lower as his head twisted in rapid jerks, his eyes scouring the room. Jenna's eyes darted as well, trying to follow his gaze. He slunk toward the kitchen window and peered through the glass. Watching Danny move was a mind bending thing to watch, for his movements were more like a spider than a human.

"He's been digging out," Danny mumbled in his hissing slur. "We were fucking stupid to think we could lock him up forever."

Jenna watched the kitchen window intently, waiting to see the familiar pair of glowing teal eyes.

"I hoped he would just run off," Danny muttered. "But he saw you...."

Danny froze as his large eyes fixed on the dark threshold that led to the living room. Squinting, Jenna could see that the front door was standing open, and that a silhouette swayed and twitched toward the kitchen in the shadows.

Danny slowly lifted the gun in his giant hand and pointed it toward the door.

"You saw her and you didn't leave," Danny said. Jenna watched as a large bulky form emerged from the shadows. The eyes flashed first before its grinning head poked forward. Its slouching body pulled itself into the light, the thinly stretched skin of its bulging chest shining and its black fingers clawing at the air absently.

She gasped. Of course she recognized the creature that came forth, but she had never beheld it with such detail. Fully illuminated, the nightmarish thing was nearly too disturbing for Jenna to look upon. She now saw the tiny spines that protruded from its skin in many places, and the very tips of its grey horns that pierced upward through the great black wads of flesh on its head. Every dark and repulsive color of the thing, from the dangling skin under the pits of its arms to its hanging erection at its crotch, was mottled and blotched together like the mold on a piece of old bread.

Its terrible grin seemed to almost snarl as its fleshy cheeks quivered. Still, its most striking feature was the pair of lidless eyes, which flitted this way and that flashing in the fluorescent light of the kitchen. When they fell upon her, Jenna's blood turned to ice.

"Jenna, run," Danny hissed.

Ethan's eyes shot over to glare at his brother. His jaw stretched low and wide and his tongue wriggled in his maw as he let forth a rumbling whine. Jenna did not move.

"It's done, Ethan," Danny spat. "This... this is insane. We... shouldn't even exist. Our family is demented! Look at what it's done to us!"

Ethan studied his brother calmly, but his breath was a rumble of thunder in his chest. Then, he cut his eyes over at Jenna, who was cowering in a corner of the kitchen counter. She swore she saw his features soften. Something settled inside of her like a feather atop in a pile of dead leaves.

"You're not going to take her," Danny growled.

Ethan dropped his jaw impossibly wide and hissed once more. It was a frightening spectacle to behold in the light. A horrid smell filled the room. Danny aimed the pistol towards his deformed brother with a long trembling hand, and braced for the recoil.

"Danny don't!"

Jenna could not believe the words even as she spoke them.

"Please... s-stop this!" She sobbed.

Danny's mutated head twisted to look at her. She saw his lipless teeth grinding in his skull.

"Have you lost it?" He said.

Jenna shook her head slowly. Tears trickled from her watery eyes. She did not know what had come over her, but she continued. She could not bear anymore hurt or death. She could not watch Ethan shot down like a dog.

"No... it's... he's not all bad... I mean, I don't-"

"Jenna, he'll kill you," Danny said sternly. "He'll kill you, and he'll eat you, and he'll suck the flesh from your bones! That's what he is! That's what we are! Nothing else!"

"No!" Jenna protested. She took a few steps to position herself between the deformed brothers. Her lip trembled as she searched for the words to say, but none seemed to form nor find their way past the knot in her throat.

"Didn't you see any of his pets down there?" Danny yelled, his long tongue having trouble remaining in his mouth. "He never keeps them long!"

She shook her head. "No! Please, he... he won't hurt me!"

Without warning, Danny's long arm flew up and knocked her aside. He screamed something to her, but his voice was drowned out by a deafening bellow of rage. Sliding on the tile, Jenna finally regained her balance to witness the two monstrosities locked in a furious struggle. Jenna screamed, though she wasn't sure why. Her brain seemed to have lost function of thought and reason.
She saw the brothers fall. Danny landed hard on his back, trying to wrestle his hand free to aim the huge pistol at the monster on top of him. There was a flash of grinning teeth and tongues, and the screeches were enough to deafen anyone. Her eye caught Danny's, and she saw his stretched lips form a word, though she could not have heard it.

Ethan's monstrous body squatted atop his smaller brother with his legs sprawled out like an insect. His hunkered torso loomed over Danny and his long bent arms pinned him to the floor. She watched in pure awe and terror, witnessing the twisted creature that was Ethan toss back its head, with its jaw impossibly wide, and let loose a primal ear shattering screech. Its entire body shook, the loose folds of its skin flapping and its huge chest shuddering. She could smell the sulfuric fumes just before she saw them escape from the knots of its skin that dotted its body.

Jenna's eyes burned and she coughed from the stinging film that formed in her throat. Panic seized her. She caught the look of terror on Danny's twisted face. He was still screaming at her, his bulging eyes rolling in their sockets. Jenna could bear no more. Her feet slid beneath her when she tried to run, but she found her footing and fled into the dark living room. The open door was a welcome sight to her eyes.

She burst from the house and into the drizzling rain of the early morning. Her feet never seemed to touch the ground as she flew down the steps. Darkness still enveloped the world her vision was once again a blur of confusion. The huge looming shape of her house became her focus. For just a moment she stumbled, but she never stopped clawing her way forward.

Screaming and crying, she fell against the brick surface of her porch steps. Jenna collapsed and could not find the strength nor the will to rise. She was home. Her bare breasts heaved as she wept. Her nudity was a thing far removed from her mind. She felt the tiny drops of rain on her face. It felt soothing and freeing. Jenna pleaded with herself in her mind to get up, to find a phone, to call for help, yet she lay on her porch naked, bruised, and sore.

From the horrible house next door, a single gunshot rang out, silencing Jenna's sobs. Her heart froze in her chest. She listened against the constant drizzle of rain, as though she might have heard any other sounds from the neighboring house. She blinked her eyes and wiped the hair from her face. It seemed like minutes before she realized that she was waiting for nothing.

Tears welled in her eyes nonetheless. She could not be sure of why for there was not simply a single reason. The horrifying night weighed on her broken mind, and she still couldn't believe that she was free. She thought of the bodies of the young men in the house and the terrible lifeless expressions on their faces. She worried for the poor warped soul that was Danny, whom she never met until she had been taken.

The thing that troubled her most, perhaps, was the insane conflicted feelings she retained for the worst horror of all, the eldest brother, the creature with which she had been so intimately entwined. She sobbed anew, wondering what had happened in the house after her escape. Jenna turned her face to the sky and watched its colors change and brighten for what seemed like hours. She prayed silently for an end to the confusion, hurt, and insanity.

Naked and weeping in the twilight of the morning, her world slid away.

****

****

She worked carefully, being sure to remove the crust entirely. She set the slim pieces of bread aside. Beauty would eat them, she knew. After cutting the sandwich in half, she placed the sandwich on the small saucer, and then glanced around and fetched a small glass from the counter. As she crossed the kitchen, she made sure to take a reassuring look through the living room window into the front yard. After pouring the glass of apple juice, she placed it beside the saucer on the dinner table. She wiped her hands on her shorts, adjusted her glasses, then hurriedly made her way toward the front door.

Jenna pulled open her door and stepped out into the warmth of the brilliant summer afternoon. She glanced around. The neighborhood was calm. She spotted a neighbor washing her car, and a young teen racing up the suburban street on his bicycle. She saw the woman named Tonya sitting on her porch down the road wearing only a bikini top and shorts. The most commotion came from her very front yard.

A smile spread on her face as she watched the two children charging across her front lawn. It made Jenna giggle when she noticed that the little boy was being chased by the smaller girl. The two were laughing and screaming at one another, running in wide circles. They collided and crashed to the ground, wrestling in the grass as they fought over the object in the boy's hand. Jenna rolled her eyes when she realized what the item was as a chocolate Labrador bounded on top of the kids.

"Ariel!" Jenna called from the porch. "Give Beauty her bone back!"

She shook her head at the futility of it all. The huge puppy wallowed on top of the kids, the three of them becoming a tangle of giggles, fur, and slobber. Jenna couldn't help but laugh at the absurdity of the scene.

It was then that she heard another woman's voice calling from the distance. Jenna looked up toward the house across the street. She spotted her neighbor, Carol, standing in her front door. The young woman was calling for her son. Derrick immediately turned toward his mother. Jenna watched her motion to the boy, her hands waving him toward her as she glared from the door. Jenna also noted the scowl on her face, and the disappointed look that Derrick gave her daughter before he headed home.

"Ariel, come on, honey!" Jenna called. "You need to eat something!"

The little girl rose from her dirty knees and skipped toward the front porch, her black hair bouncing behind her. Beauty was close at her heels, her tongue flapping wildly from her jowls. Jenna beamed as she watched her beautiful daughter ascend the steps of the porch, her hair a mess and her cheeks flushed with color.

"Derrick had to go home," Ariel informed her.

"I know, sweetie," Jenna said. "He's probably eating lunch, too."

She stared across the road, watching her neighbor Carol as she scolded her son and pulled him into the house. Before closing her front door, Carol looked in Jenna's direction. Jenna felt her lips become a tight line as she glared toward the woman, making a point to watch her until her neighbor retreated into her house. Looking down at her painted toenails, Jenna took a moment to calm her nerves and let out a long sigh. She shook her arms and craned her neck, loosening her taught muscles before heading inside.

Jenna entered the kitchen to find her daughter drying her hands at the sink. She felt relieved that the lesson of washing hands had stuck with Ariel. The young girl headed toward the table, and bent her leg beneath her to sit on in the chair. Jenna started to find herself a bite to eat, but frowned when she peeked over Ariel's shoulder at the plate in front of her.

"Baby, you have to eat the bread, too," Jenna said with a sigh.

Ariel did not look up at her mother, but did placed the slices of smoked turkey back in their place on the halves of bread.

"I only like the meat," her daughter told her. "The meat tastes the best. It's really juicy."

Jenna swallowed hard as her heart skipped, trying again to pass off Ariel's habit as picky eating.

"I know, but you gotta eat your bread," Jenna instructed. "It's good for you, and you can't go back outside unless you eat it."

"I can eat it, I just don't like it," Ariel replied absently.

Jenna turned and opened the refrigerator. She reached into the bottom drawer, looking to see that she had enough ingredients to fix herself a salad. She collected enough items, ignoring the dressing that called to her from the door, and began to prepare her food on the only clear counter space in the kitchen. Glancing over, Beauty sat attentively at her feet, gazing up at her with hungry brown eyes.

"You won't eat this stuff, girl," Jenna said.

"Beauty likes meat, too," Ariel informed her. "She can have some of mine."

Jenna grinned at her daughter. "No, you eat your sandwich. If Beauty wants something, she'll have to look in her bowl."

Ariel made a face and looked down at the Labrador. "Sorry, Beauty. We can't be picky."

Her daughter's words brought a smile to Jenna's face. She finished preparing her salad and pulled out a chair at the table beside Ariel, who was humming to herself as she took small bites of her sandwich. Jenna took note of the stains on the girl's shirt and was glad that she'd dressed her in old clothes that morning. It warmed her inside that her daughter was so active, but she sometimes wished she would ask her for dolls or stuffed animals instead of wanting to tromp through the woods with the boys in the neighborhood.

"Mommy?"

Jenna glanced up from her salad.

"When can I see Daddy?" Ariel asked with a dimple between her little brow.

A cold rush of surprise hit Jenna in the chest. She stared back into the bluish green eyes of the little girl beside her, and she began to remember things she had tried to erase from her mind for seven years. She was dumbfounded, even though it was not the first time Ariel had broached the subject. Jenna licked her lips, cursing silently that she still had no explanation for her young daughter.

Ariel studied her innocently, toying with a strand of her black hair and awaiting her answer. Jenna wondered how she had come to mother such a beautiful child. She shared her mother's face, and the same full head of jet black hair, but she always shivered somewhere deep inside when she saw her tiny shining eyes. They were breathtaking, like the clear waters of a tropical beach. Their light blue tint was blended around a small starburst of green around the pupils, yet there was no hint of Jenna's darker color.

Jenna took a breath and gave her daughter a weak smile.

"You'll see your Daddy again, baby," she assured her. "When the time is right, he'll be there for you. But you have to be with me for now."

Ariel's eyes fell to the remnants of her sandwich. Jenna fought the lump in her throat and swallowed it down, gathering her resolve.

"In the meantime, I want you to keep your window closed," Jenna said. "You hear me?"

"Okay."

****

Jenna lay awake in her bed, alone and troubled. She worried about her coming mortgage payment, and how she could possibly fit her grocery shopping into her schedule for the coming week. The dryer was beginning to wear down at last. She figured it was on its last leg.

Most of all, she could not shake away the concern for her daughter. She thanked God again silently that she had been blessed with such a smart and beautiful child. To her, it did not seem very long since she had wept every single night, praying for the right answer to come to her. She was thankful that she was given the strength during that time, for no one had been there to comfort her. No one could. The sickness and the discomfort were bad enough without her moral fiber being challenged daily.

In the end, Jenna was sure she had made the right choice, though the future was now uncertain. She remembered a time when she would look upon the swell in her belly and despair. She vowed that she could not be that woman any longer, but she wondered what sort of woman she would have be now and forever.

The Moon was out that night, casting the full brilliance of its light upon her back yard. Jenna had not slept with her blinds open and her curtains drawn aside in several years. She would not find sleep easily. Instead, she gazed out of her bedroom window in the dark. Without her glasses, she could make out no more than the Moon's rays upon the grass. She chewed at her lip and thought of a night from her past, which now seemed as a faded dream.

Jenna could see the pair of glowing green eyes peering in through her window. The spidery black fingers clawed at the air in her mind. Fear came back to find her, though she had long learned to bear its chill. The watcher at her window was forever there in her head, peering in at her greedily, teasing her from the borders of her periphery.

She rubbed her eyes. Though drowsiness hadn't claimed her yet, mental fatigue was wearing on her. Closing her eyes, Jenna propped herself up on her elbow and stretched her neck. She rubbed at her muscles, leaning her head from side to side. Glancing toward the window, the haunting green eyes remained at the glass.

Jenna blinked. Still the eyes were there. Her bottom lip fell open and her breath escaped. She rolled around and snatched her glasses from the end table. When she put them on, she scanned the window and found nothing there. Her heart fluttered in her chest. Everything was silent, and the sound was deafening.

In a matter of seconds, Jenna had flung open her back door and was standing on her deck. Her head snapped around to find no one standing by her window. The wind blew calmly and brought just a touch of chill to her skin. She held her long hair away from her face and looked out across her back yard. All that she could see was Ariel's swing set and a few toys scattered across the lawn. Just beyond, the trees danced in the woods behind the neighborhood. There, at the edge of the inky black darkness beneath their limbs, Jenna saw a defined shape slip from sight.

She descended the steps and jogged out across the lawn. Her breasts bounced freely beneath her tank top, a reminder to her of how much they had grown with the weight she had put on since having Ariel. Jenna slowed her pace when she neared the woods' edge. Panting slightly, she stared into the dark depths beyond the trees.

She saw nothing. Part of her believed that she had only imagined seeing something. Goosebumps spread up her bare legs and down her arms. A chill slithered down her spine. Jenna glanced across the stretch of trees and undergrowth. Something intangible enveloped her skin. She felt feeble and powerful in the same moment. Her head turned as she thought she heard something on the wind. A salty smell flirted with her nose. It was indistinguishable. Nevertheless, she did not need her senses to feel the nearby prescience. She had felt that familiar thrill of vulnerable before.

Jenna stood up straight, jutting her breasts forward and holding her chin high. Ripples of anger and defiance traveled through her body.

"Your daughter wants to see you!" She called to the trees.

She paused and listened to the wind.

"She wants to know who you are!" Jenna continued. "And... and so do I!"

The tall trees rustled and waved in the breeze. She felt the kiss of summer on her cheeks. Still she saw nothing, but the feeling did not go away. Her mind was pulled back in time. It was as though her heart was bleeding inside of her, filling her chest with a feverish sorrow. She nearly wept at the futility of it all.

"I... I... Jesus, I can't... do this," Jenna said to the trees. "I can't explain anything to her! And... and there's going to be a day when that will be a big fucking problem!"

The only response from the woods was a calm rustle of leaves. A dog barked in the distance. Jenna turned and glanced around at the neighboring houses to see if she had upset anyone. She realized how ridiculous she must have sounded standing in her back yard and screaming at the trees. She shook her head and rubbed the back of her neck. Her eyes wandered across the vacant house that had stood empty for nearly a decade. She shuddered and looked away.

Just before she turned to walk back to her house, she stopped short. She gave a final look toward the trees.

"If you're there," she began slowly, "she needs you... I need you. I don't care what happens. I just need you...."

Her voice trailed away as a shadow moved in the dark. Her breath caught in her throat. The moonlight caught a flash of reflectivity. Jenna saw a large silhouette, and the set of horns that crowned the head. What held her gaze was the pair of eerie teal eyes that stared back at her. She felt the wheezing rumble of its breath more that she heard it. Her heart was frozen with fear, but lifted like a bird on the wind. The watcher had come home. She breathed a word.

"Ethan."