Interview with Tentacle Demon Ch. 01

The tentacles went limp and the girl dropped to the floor with them. She pulled free of them and crawled away as the monster clutched at its bleeding wounds, grunting in pain, and slowly collapsed. Nevin ran to her and scooped her up. The campus officer looked in behind him and said, "Jesus Christ, what the hell is that thing?"

Nevin said, "We're not staying here to find out," and the two of them rushed the grateful girl back out to the squad cars.

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"...and I got out my emergency blanket so she could cover herself. I had her wait in the back seat of my car until the ambulance arrived and took her away. Per instructions from dispatch I stood guard outside the building until the military helicopter arrived." The recording of Nevin's testimony ended there. He was clearly disturbed by what he had witnessed but his training allowed him to maintain his composure. Monica, on the other hand, was a wreck. She had broken down crying several times while recounting the attack.

Claire followed Nevin's example as best she could, but still took several moments to gather herself before she could ask, "Alright, do you have anything you can to add to that?"

"Add? Yeah, I can add something. Getting shot really hurts," Gruthsorik said.

"You know you don't actually look like you've been shot," Claire said. "You weren't even bleeding any more when they brought you in here. Rapid healing seems to be a universal trait in shape-shifters, I take it that's the case with you as well?"

"Yes, yes, that's right. But that doesn't lessen the trauma of the wounds. That modern gun was much more powerful than anything I've ever been attacked with before. It took a lot out of me, obviously, since I was still lying there in too much pain to move when your soldiers came and shot me with knock-out darts."

Claire found herself completely unsympathetic to the monster's pain. She decided to go directly to the big question on her mind, and asked point blank, "Why do you do it, anyway? What is the driving force of a rape demon?"

"What do you think it is?" Gruthsorik countered.

Claire considered it and ventured, "Among humans, rape is much more often about power than it is about the sex itself. It's a way for a man to impose dominance over a woman he knows, to strike back at women in general in cases of rape of a stranger, even as a tool of terror by soldiers of totalitarian governments to reinforce the idea of helplessness in the oppressed citizens."

The demon chuckled, and said, "Well yes, the power thing is very nice. I completely enjoy my dominance over you lesser beings. Hell, plenty of spirits and demons in the old days liked to cause trouble with humans just for entertainment or to inflate their egos. Your kind would call it petty and cruel. It took me a long time to understand those concepts and the other nonsense you primates call morality. Once I did, well, I think it's absolutely delightful to be this thing you call evil."

"But that's not the only reason?" Claire ventured. "What's the rest of it?"

Gruthsorik stared at her quietly, reluctant to answer. Claire stared right back. Finally the monster gave in. "Oh, fine. I can't really keep this from you anyway, given my situation. How best to put this, you know how your kind often describes lust as if it were hunger? Well for me, it's not a metaphor. They literally are one and the same."

"Are you saying you feed on rapes?" Claire asked in disbelief.

"Essentially, yes. More specifically, I take sustenance from the raw, base emotions and sensations that they invoke in the girl, things like fear, pain, pleasure, lust," Gruthsorik answered.

"Wait, I get the fear and pain, but lust and pleasure?" said Claire. "Those are not words normally associated with rape."

Gruthsorik laughed wickedly, then explained, "Oh, sure, plenty of girls fight it the entire time, and I get what I need from that. The panic, the desperation, the despair of being violated, are all quite nice indeed, but when they enjoy it, it's much... what words would you use... tastier, and more filling. Most of those girls start to like it despite themselves, so some nice embarrassment or guilt gets added to the mix. And the ones that accept their plight, stop resisting, and give themselves over to it are the most delicious of all."

"So what you're saying is when you're attacking a girl, you're actually trying to make her feel good?" Claire said incredulously.

"Ideally, yes. Absolutely," replied Gruthsorik with a wicked grin. "And if I bring her to orgasm, mmmmmmmm, it's like a feast!" Claire shuddered. As a woman, she was completely disgusted by this trivializing of the abuse he inflicted on his victims. As a scientist though, she was intrigued. What he described was the most unlikely form of metabolism she'd ever heard of, and a startling discovery if it was the slightest bit true. The demon sensed her unease and pushed it further. "You know, that girl, Monica, of course she didn't admit it on that recording of yours, but when the policemen interrupted us, she was already starting to enjoy getting fucked in two holes." Claire couldn't keep the discomfort from showing on her face, even though she was trying to take him at his word here.

The mention of Monica's name also made Claire realize she had gotten sidetracked. She composed herself and continued, "Right, your capture. In case you're curious, the soldiers in that chopper Nevin mentioned collected you and sent you on your way to the base near here while agents debriefed everyone involved and assigned them a cover story. If anybody asks, Monica was raped at gunpoint by an ordinary human, Officer Nevin interrupted, they exchanged fire, and the rapist was killed. Only the military counselor we will assign to the girl will ever discuss what really happened to her."

"So you keep yourselves and your captured monsters a secret from the world. Very tidy," Gruthsorik said. "Not that I'm complaining about that, mind you."

"No, you wouldn't want to be public knowledge anymore than we do," Claire said. "And apparently you've done a remarkably good job of it if the first we've seen or heard of your kind is the morning you're brought in. We pay attention to these things, ancient mythology and today's urban legends alike. Although, rape is such an underreported crime as it is, so maybe it's not that surprising if your victims never tell anyone. And those that do have probably used the same lie we gave Monica in order to keep from sounding delusional." She paused, lost in thought for a moment, then said, "You know, you may just fit the description of incubus after all."

"Do tell," Gruthsorik said, though his tone conveyed that he didn't really care.

"Girls in the medieval era would have been just as hesitant to tell the whole truth about being tentacle raped," Claire posited. "Given the trauma and embarrassment, they wouldn't have wanted to describe the full details any more than a modern girl. Monica herself probably wouldn't have if others hadn't witnessed the tentacles too. People did still believe in demons though, so they could just reveal that much, that an inhuman creature assaulted them. And that makes things fall in line with most of the classic sex demons. They were said to seduce women or attack them in their beds while they slept, and feed on their energies. The modern interpretation is that stories of such things were hallucinations due to sleep paralysis or scapegoating out of wedlock pregnancies in a time when premarital sex was highly stigmatized. And both of those are probably accurate in most cases, but nearly every myth, in its original form, has a basis in fact. You or others like you could very well have been the origin of these stories."

"Well, goodie for me," Gruthsorik said snidely.

For that matter, if he'd spent time in Japan as he claimed, in some roundabout way he may even have inspired the infamous tentacle porn genre. Pleased with her deductions, Claire moved on. There was one more thing she wanted to know right now to complete the general profile of her new arrival. "So do you always go after students?" she asked.

"Schools make excellent hunting grounds," said Gruthsorik. "They're easy to get into and have lots of girls. Not just the students, the adult females as well. Teachers, coaches, janitors, sometimes even a principal or dean. But I'm opportunistic. I hunt anywhere I'm likely to find a girl or woman alone and vulnerable. Waitresses on the closing shift, dark alleys off empty city streets late at night, lone riders on a late night subway car, squatters in abandoned buildings. And away from cities there are hiking trails, secluded beaches, and farmer's daughters out venturing in their fields. Just to name a few."

"Sounds like you move around quite a bit," Claire said.

"Can't stay in one place too long," explained the demon. "You say victims don't talk, but I can't chance that. Have enough of them in the same area and sooner or later people might start noticing something. Better to make a few scores then drift off to somewhere else and remain unknown. And I enjoy seeing new scenery."

"And making yourself look human, that helps you get close to unsuspecting potential victims, no doubt," Claire said.

"It depends on the situation, it's not always necessary, but yes, that's right. Plus changing into a monster right in front of their eyes adds a bit of a dramatic flair that can heighten the initial fear response," Gruthsorik said.

"Quite the devious predator, aren't you," said Claire with more disdain than respect. Even with the cell walls separating them, her skin was crawling just being in the room with him. She had to get out, but one last question sprang to mind. "How young of a girl do you..." her voice faltered, she was afraid the answer might make her sick to her stomach.

"Do I go after?" the demon finished. "You know it wasn't all that long ago that girls were married off and started having children as soon as they reached puberty. Have I taken girls that young? Most certainly. But I do prefer them a bit more grown. High school age, in modern terms. Younger than puberty, not at all, doesn't even seem practical."

"Alright. Thank you Gruthsorik, for being so forthcoming about yourself. That's all for now. I've got some paperwork concerning you that I need to handle. I'll be in to check on you every now and then. If you think of anything more to add about your attack on Monica, let me know." The demon grunted in response, and laid down on the bunk as Claire hurried out of the room.

Continued in Chapter 2: Feeding

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