Monolith Ch. 03

To say my obsession with the beast and his exotic lover had become an addiction would be an understatement. I thought of them constantly. When I dreamed, I dreamed of them. Waiting for their next show was torturous and if for some reason they did not perform one week I would fly into a rage that could only be tempered by a violent coupling with Sarah, who easily matched my ferocity with her own unquenchable need.

We used each other, used our love for each other, connected by our compulsion to become one with the mating beast and beauty. In the beast I saw myself. When Monolith's bulging, black eyes, seemingly blank and emotionless, finally would swivel to glare back at me, I saw his desire, his power, a wild ferocity that could never be satisfied, never be emptied, and I knew that despite my attempts at becoming a loving, intelligent man, I was still just a beast, deep in my chest, like a balloon being painfully filled with anger, all I wanted was to unleash it, and fill her womb with my rage.

But I was only human, and I couldn't match the intensity of Monolith. I thought to truly match the beast, to feel his power, I would have to couple with his vessel, to drive my fury into the woman who seemed able to take the beast inside of her and drain him. I would have to get closer to Adara.

I laugh to myself even now that I had that thought. To think that I could become like the beast if only I could be with Adara, that perhaps Adara could bring out the beast in me. Adara never brought out the beast in Monolith. She did the exact opposite. She helped to contain that beast. She didn't bring it out. But my obsession with her had become such that I just wanted the excuse to attempt to seduce her.

But how could I seduce a woman whom I only saw during a live sex show, and whom seemed to not exist otherwise? I had never seen her on the show grounds, never seen her walking around, leaving her carriage or tent, or even walking to the show. She seemed to mystically appear for her show and disappear until the next one. How could I become closer to a woman who was merely a phantom?

One night, after we had arrived at another town and had finished setting up for the night, I slipped out of the tent that Sarah and I shared, and walked towards Dr. Faustus's tent. I had rarely seen anyone approach his tent. I'd seen people setting it up. They seemed to work quickly, wanting to be done with it and move on. I'd seen the twins approach it, yell inside, and wait for Dr. Faustus to appear. But I had never seen anyone enter or exit besides Dr. Faustus. So, I could only assume that Adara resided within, though it seemed the most reasonable place.

The sky was particularly dazzling that night, with the moon a pale crescent, thousands of stars shining, and the fuzzy Milky Way stretching from one horizon to the other. People were milling about, joking, laughing, and yelling hellos at me as I passed. But as I approached Dr. Faustus's tent, always set away from the rest of the tents, the noise died down, until the voices were a dim buzz.

His tent was the largest, about the same size as many of the performance tents. The canvas whipped and cracked with the wind, a wind that I hadn't felt until I approached his tent. I could see the flickering light of candles through the fabric.

I looked around me, feeling the quiet, the wind sweeping around me, chilling my skin, driving deep into my bones, and every hair stood on end. I turned on my heel to see Monolith's cage standing several yards away from me and I saw a pair of glowing red lights shining back at me. I stared into his eyes and froze. I could barely see his shape, his huge form lurking behind the bars, his broad shoulders and huge head standing out against the night sky, but those eyes shone upon me like two searchlights and I was trapped in their beams. He made no noise. He didn't move. He didn't blink. He just stared. And I knew he saw me, that he was watching me, and if not for the bars confining him, I'd be dead already.

A chill passed through me, making my body shake violently, breaking my paralysis and I took in a deep, cold breath, the air chilling my throat. I coughed. I snapped my mouth shut and continued to cough, bent over, my hand covering my mouth, willing my throat to stop tickling, to not cough, to be silent. I watched Monolith's glowing eyes until the coughing fit had passed. He never moved. He stood perfectly still, a statue in the dark, watching me.

I almost lost my nerve. I straightened up and took a hesitant breath to make sure I wouldn't cough and glanced back the way I had come. I knew I should go back. I shouldn't be here. Nobody came to this side of the grounds at dark. Nobody came here during the day. Everyone left Dr. Faustus and Monolith alone.

Finally, Monolith moved. His head turned and the eyes looked away. I watched him move to the side, expecting to hear the loud clanking of his hoofed feet against the cage, but he was quiet as he moved to the other side of the cage, having become bored with watching me.

Without his eyes on me I found my confidence return. I turned, putting Monolith at my back and started walking towards Dr. Faustus's tent again. I was approaching the back of the large tent. As I moved closer I could hear a voice. Then I heard another voice. One sounded like Dr. Faustus. Though I had rarely heard his voice I remembered it. His voice was like ice, cold glass, brittle and sharp. When he talked I imagined his words slicing through my brain with a precise brutality.

However, I did not recognize the other voice. It was soft and feminine. I knew it had to be the voice of Adara. I had never heard her speak. I had only heard her whispers, a soft, delicate voice, that drifted through the air as she seduced Monolith. Her voice, if it was hers, was as I had imagined it.

I stopped as I reached the tent and stood still, my hands reaching out to brush the canvas lightly, tilting forward, to hear them speak, and at first I couldn't hear the words, they made no sense. I was struck by the mingling of their voices, hers gentle and perfectly erotic, seeming to soak my brain with lust as I pictured the words rising through her supple neck, between her soft lips, and just as abruptly I heard his voice, writhing down my spine and chilling the very warmth that she had created. I was hypnotized, like they practiced a dark magic with their voices, trying to enchant each other, and in the process captivating me.

The spell was broken when I heard a loud smack, the slap of skin against skin. Someone had slapped the other and the voices stopped. I imagined Dr. Faustus smacking his hand across Adara's face and I wanted to tear through the tent to strangle him. Instead I stepped to the corner of the tent and pulled the two flaps apart just enough to peer inside. I immediately saw them standing very close to me, much closer than I had expected and I almost jumped back, but stopped when I noticed the bright red mark across Dr. Faustus's cheek. The mark blossomed a deep red on his pale skin and he glared back at Adara who stood before him, a smirk on her face, daring him, deriding him.

They stood still, staring at each other. Dr. Faustus held a dark metal cane in his hand and leaned on it slightly. His black clothes covered most of his body, but made his hands and face seem all the more pale. His dark glasses hid his eyes, but I had experienced his hidden gaze on me and had not liked it. That Adara could withstand it with such poise endeared her to me all the more.

She stood with her arms crossed over her bare stomach, pushing her full breasts up higher inside the billowing, light blouse. A glistening green skirt slid down her hips and legs, a slit down the side promising a glimpse of her luscious thigh when she walked. Just her bare feet were visible with a gold ring on one toe. Her dark hair drifted down her back to her waist and I sighed as I imagined running my hands through that thick hair, pulling it back from her neck, my lips moving towards her brown neck, and I trembled as a cold chill traveled down my spine, pure lust slithering through my body. I had never seen her so close, so close I could almost touch her, and I wanted to feel her skin, caress her, kiss every inch of her dark body. She was the embodiment of lust, distilled passion, and my need for her clawed at my chest, a pleasurable agony that would drive me to depravity. And I didn't care. I wanted it. I wanted her.

"Do you feel better now, Adara?" Dr. Faustus said, his voice like shattering glass breaking the silence.

"Yes. I do," she said and smiled at him playfully.

Dr. Faustus tapped his cane on the ground once. "Perhaps you now expect that I return your slap with my own," he said.

"I expect nothing of you, Faustus. I never have," she said, her voice still light, no hint of the scorn I expected.

He lifted his hand slowly and touched her cheek. She didn't seem to notice his touch. She just stared back into his face. He caressed her cheek, his fingers barely touching her skin, and slid his hand down to her neck. He smiled at her. She smiled back, tilting her head to the side.

"You are a strong woman, Adara," he said, his voice as calm as I imagined it could be. "I chose you because of that."

"You didn't choose me, Faustus. I chose you."

He laughed and I shuddered, hearing his laugh that didn't seem to belong, a scream trying to be a laugh.

"Perhaps," he said, letting the word hang in the air. His hand slid down over her bare shoulder and then back to her neck. "But you are here because I will it to be so. If you displease me again then I may no longer want you here. And then..." His hand was touching the side of her neck, his thumb moving up and down the front of her throat.

"And then you will perish with me," she said, her voice cracking, losing the playfulness, a hint of fear creeping into that sultry lilt.

He smiled at her and stepped closer. His hand clenched her neck, his thumb pressing into her throat.

"You will perish, my sweet," he said. "But you will be alone in your agony."

Adara's mouth opened as she gasped for breath. She grabbed his arm, trying to pull his hand from her throat.

"You are not as special as you imagine," he said.

Adara clawed at his arm and struggled to pull away from him, but he didn't move. She couldn't make him budge and he continued to hold her like an insect in his fist.

"You can be easily replaced. That which you possess is not your own," he said to her, his voice still calm and flat. He pulled her towards him, her bruised face just inches away from his own serene façade. "I can easily give your gift to another. It is mine to give as I choose. Don't forget that. Not ever again."

He released her and she fell to her knees at his feet. She fell onto her back, gasping for breath.

I watched her as she writhed on the ground and looking back I feel disgust at my feelings then. I wasn't shocked or appalled by the quick violence, by the threat on her life. I had watched calmly, awaiting the outcome. I hadn't been afraid for Adara. I hadn't even thought of trying to help her. Then, as she lie on the ground, trying to breathe, I had only watched her chest rise and fall, her stomach heaving, and her legs curled under her, visible through the slit in her skirt.

I was aroused. I stood there, watching this woman whom I wanted to seduce, and as she struggled to breathe all I wanted was to fuck her.

Dr. Faustus stood over her, watching her. He tapped his cane on the ground near her head.

"You are just the beast's slut. There are many who could take your place. Never forget that," he said and turned away.

I watched him leave through the flap at the opposite end of the tent. I stepped away from the slit I had been watching through and listened for his footsteps, wondering if he would walk past me, and if he did what I would do. I couldn't let him see me here.

I trembled as I backed against the tent, trying to remain calm so that I could listen for him. I saw Monolith's eyes glaring back at me in the dark. I stared into that bottomless gaze as I listened. I heard the swish of grass coming along the side of the tent and I knew it was Dr. Faustus.

I froze. For an instant I stood there, feeling trapped between them, not knowing where to go or what to do. I held my breath and tried to melt into the side of the tent, my body pressing into the canvas.

I knew that even if Dr. Faustus didn't see me as he walked past me that the beast's glare would give me away. Then he would know. And what would he do? He would know I had heard his conversation, that I had been spying on him. He would give me to Monolith. I knew it. I looked into the beast's eyes and I knew he was waiting for me.

I almost screamed when something brushed my back through the tent. I turned, expecting to see someone behind the canvas, but saw nothing. I heard the footsteps coming closer and I wanted to run away, run as fast as I could.

Then, I saw a sliver of light coming through the slit I had been looking through. The slit had grown larger, peeled back from the support. I didn't think or hesitate. I just stepped through it and into the tent, pulling the fabric closed behind me. I crouched to the ground, holding the crack closed as I listened to his footsteps walk past me and continue on.

When I could no longer hear his steps I took a deep, quiet breath and dropped my head in relief.

"A valiant escape," Adara said from behind me.

I turned in my crouch quickly, ready to back out of the tent and run.

"Sorry. I did not mean to startle you," she said, a soft smile across her lips.

She was lying in a mound of large, fluffy pillows of various colors, mostly red and gold, with delicate trim and tassels. She was stretched out languorously, her body molded to the pillows, her arms extended to the side, one leg completely bare through the slit in the skirt. A gold ring glistened in her belly button.

I turned away from her quickly, feeling embarrassed by her raw sexuality. The tent, though large, was almost entirely full of crates and trunks, some closed, some opened showing piles of books, candles, gowns, tapestries, and jewelry. One trunk, almost hidden in the shadows seemed to hold figurines that appeared to be made of bone. A large, wooden desk sat at one side with papers and books strewn across it. Candelabras sat throughout the tent on tall poles the height of a man. The floor was covered in thick, rich Oriental rugs.

"Well..." she said and I turned back to her. "Come in and introduce yourself."

I stared into her beautiful brown eyes and I couldn't move. I opened my mouth but nothing came out. I was standing before her. Finally meeting her. And I froze. That seemed to be the theme for the night.

She smiled, a warm, pleasant smile that lit up her dark face. She rubbed her hand along one of the pillows. "Please, sit down and get comfortable. I don't often get visitors."

Her voice and smile relaxed me, seeming to soothe my tense muscles. As I moved towards her I started to feel more at ease. I forgot about Dr. Faustus and Monolith, about being scared, about spying on her, and breaking into her tent. I stared at her as I walked towards her, the lush rugs soft under my feet, and I felt like I floated towards her. She watched me as I walked towards her and her eyes slid along my body, moving down the length of me and back up to my face as I stopped in front of her and sank down into the pillows beside her.

She turned onto her side, the length of her long, brown leg curling in front of her, and she folded her hands under her cheek. She stared at me, a warm smile across her lips, and she sighed.

"I work for the..." I started, wanting to break the silence, feeling uncomfortable lying so close to her, so intimately close.

"I know who you are," she said, interrupting me. "You work with Sarah, the Dog-Tailed Girl." She smiled and ran her fingers through her hair. Her hair shined in the candlelight and I watched it fall back to her shoulders. "I've seen her show. It is very... seductive." The word seemed to condense in the air and wrap around my body, making every hair stand on end.

"When have you seen it? I have not see you there," I said, trying to maintain my composure.

"Oh. I've been there many times," she said, her hand swaying in the air as she talked. "I've watched her dance, seen her capture the audience with her movements, seen them those themselves inside of her. As she loses herself." Her body shifted and she moved an inch closer to me. "She is beautiful," she purred.

I thought of Sarah, imagined her dancing, her body gyrating in front of the crowd, and thought that she was beautiful. Had I forgotten that?

"Yes. She is," I said dreamily, looking through Adara's eyes.

"I imagine she is a wonderful lover," Adara said, her hand caressing the pillow in front of her.

"She is," I said, seeing Adara again, but remembering Sarah, her body on top of me, wrapped around me.

"Does she lose herself in the act of love as she does in the act of dancing?" Adara asked.

"Yes. She does," I said. "She..." I stopped, suddenly wondering why I was talking about Sarah and sex with Adara. I sat up on my elbow nervously and looked to the entrance to the tent. "What if Dr. Faustus comes back?" I asked.

Adara laughed softly. "Don't worry about him." She laid her hand on my shoulder, gently pushing me back into the pillows. "I will warn you if he comes back."

I sank into the pillows, feeling her warm hand on my shoulder, wishing the shirt wasn't blocking our skin from touching.

"I've seen your show," I said suddenly.

"I know you have," she said.

She removed her hand from my shoulder and I wanted to beg her to put it back.

"I've seen you," she said. "I've seen you both, trying to hide in the dark, watching us, coupling with each other."

"How?" I asked.

She smiled and started to idly play with her belly button ring. "Your desire burns bright."

"How do you do it?" I asked, starting to get comfortable in the bed of pillows, relaxing, staring into her eyes.

She glanced away from me, the first time she had done so. "It is who I am. It is why I am here. Why? I do not know. I use my gift as it was given to me." Her voice sounded distant and her eyes looked past me.

I used the opportunity to admire her as she reclined in the pillows and it seemed her clothes were becoming smaller or bunching around her body. Her leg was bare to her butt. Her cleavage seemed about to spill from her blouse.

I looked back at her face and she was staring at me, that smile on her lips, knowing I had been admiring her, but allowing it, enjoying it.

"Why did you come to me tonight?" she asked, and it seemed she was closer to me. I could feel the heat of her body and if I barely moved I could touch that heat, feel her skin, and there was nothing I wanted more.

"I needed to see you. I needed to be with you." I hesitated as I stared into her eyes, wanting to tell her everything, how I longed for her, how I had become obsessed with her, how I dreamed about her.

"You need me?" she asked, her voice seeming to drip onto me like honey.

"Yes. I dream about you." I reached out and touched her cheek. She didn't flinch or move away. She allowed me to caress her cheek.

"And what is it you dream about me?" she asked and laid her hand on top of mine, pressing my hand against her cheek.

"I dream...that I am Monolith." I slid my thumb along her cheek to her lips. "I dream that I am a beast." Her lips were wet and red, glistening like blood. "I dream that you take me." She parted her lips and kissed my thumb softly. "I dream that I take you."

"Do you want your dreams to come true?" she asked, her lips brushing my thumb.

"Yes..." I whispered.

Then, she was kissing me. My hand was on her cheek. Her hand was touching my face. Her lips were pressed to mine and my eyes were closed. I fell into that kiss, her lips soft and wet, and I felt my body could melt into her as her mouth opened, kissing me deeper. When she pulled away I leaned forward, searching for her lips.