Raen

((Hi everyone! So...I'm gonna go on ahead and apologize in advance for this craziness. I got snowed in the other day and this just sort of...popped out in the midst of my cabin fever. Anyway, I hope you like it!))

---

Jodie gazed out at the ocean, a few wisps of short, peroxide-blonde hair flitting over her eyes. She knew that the shimmering sheet of water should have filled her with wonder, or some nautical sense of adventure, but she was still trapped in a haze of gloom. As she sipped her sixth glass of free pinot grigio, (which had doubtlessly come from a Costco-sized box of some sort), she thought of her worthless ex-boyfriend and the enormous hole that his ticket had left in her bank account. Despite the vindictive joy she had felt while she tossed his belongings out of the window of their apartment, she couldn't help but wonder why he couldn't have waited just another two weeks before he stuck his cock in their next-door neighbor. They had been planning this trip for over half a year, and on such short notice, she couldn't find a single one of her friends to take his place on the cruise. She had been forced to eat the expenses and tour the Caribbean alone.

Granted, there were worse things in the world. But after spending two days avoiding gooey couples, ignoring the ballroom slow-dances, and pretending to be unimpressed by the gloriously romantic sunsets that turned the water into miles of glittering fire, part of her wanted to rig that Costco-sized box of shitty wine to an IV and shove it in her arm. On top of that, the Harlequin-esque fantasies she had entertained about finding a beautiful man to dally with during her trip had quickly been dashed to pieces when she realized that the ship was inhabited almost entirely by middle-aged couples.

Her thoughts were quickly interrupted as she glimpsed an enormous silhouette glide past the side of the ship. She squinted at the water, her brain struggling to comprehend exactly what she had just seen. It hadn't resembled any sort of fish she had ever heard of, but then again, she thought absentmindedly, the saltwater depths were brimming with alien-looking creatures. Like anglerfish. Eels. Giant squid.

Slightly unsettled by this hypothetical procession of carnivorous sea creatures, she scurried away from the rail and made her way towards the chair she had claimed in the middle of the deck. The sun beat down on her exposed shoulders, and a steady gust of wind made the hem of her filmy lavender sundress flutter over her knees. She was glad that she had finally had a chance to wear it: her long, thin legs had made the dress look scandalously short on her, and she had been terrified to walk around in it in public. But before she got too drunk, she thought firmly, she needed to apply another thick layer of sunscreen. She wanted to come back from her lonely vacation with a glowing tan, not a lobster-like complexion. As she flopped into the beach chair and opened her bottle of sunscreen, she suddenly felt the deck...shudder.

Judging from the dazed expressions of the tourists next to her, she wasn't the only one who had felt it. The hand that wasn't holding the bottle of sunscreen unconsciously gripped the edge of her chair, and she waited with baited breath until another vibration rumbled through the steel frame of the cruise ship. Her eyes widened with terror. The voices of the other tourists rose in a worried crescendo atop the deck, merging into a single hectic murmur. Jodie swallowed hard, and everyone went silent as a brief moment of perfect stillness passed over the ship.

Then, with a horrible groaning noise, the ship lurched precariously to the side.

There was a series of piercing shrieks as a few of the tourists were sent reeling over the side, and Jodie cried out as her chair toppled over and deposited her painfully onto the deck. The boat rocked again and she clawed at the smooth wooden surface, searching for something, anything to grab hold of as the motion of the ship sent her tumbling towards the rail. A tumultuous screeching sound sounded from deep within the hull, like a metal earthquake.

The entire ship had descended into chaos, and waves of tan, scantily-clad people were flooding onto the decks from their cabins. A man dressed in a tight navy-blue shirt and snappy white pants was shouting something about lifeboats. Another lurch, and Jodie screamed as her body slipped right between the railing poles. She clung tightly to one of the rungs, and her heart leapt into her chest as she felt the ocean spray mist across her calves.

"Help me!"

she begged in a piercing scream, and she thought she saw the man's eyes dart towards her seconds before the ship was ripped in half.

That sent her plunging towards the sea, and she was falling through space for what felt like an eternity before her body crashed painfully into the water. The impact knocked the air right out of her chest, and she could only watch as she was submerged in the frigid blue.

Her lungs seared as she paddled frantically back towards the glimmering light of the surface, and she finally emerged from the water gasping like she had never really learned how to breathe properly. Above her, bodies were plummeting from the towering ship like swarms of ants. She gaped at the scene before her, nearly oblivious to the chill of the water, and something pink and slimy and disturbingly large snaked its way around one half of the ship. It was impossibly long, and its pale underside was studded with a pattern of enormous white suckers.

She found herself growing dizzy, and a terrible sort of numbness was blossoming from her chest and spreading to her fingertips. The water around the ship began to ripple, and she watched in stunned horror as more of the gigantic tentacles shot out from the surface and twisted at the frame of the ship. The steel crumpled beneath their grip like paper. A tinny ringing noise blotted out the deafening groans of the ruined ship, her eyelids fluttered, and then her whole world was swallowed up by darkness.

---

A little moan echoed from nowhere, and Jodie's eyelids slid open. She heard it again, low and tremulous, and it took her several moments before she realized that it was coming from her own throat. Her fingers twitched. She was laying on something flat and solid, and her soaked sundress was plastered to her body. Icy water had puddled around her frame and in between her fingers, and her hands skidded against it as she strained to push herself into a sitting position.

"Good morning," a voice said cheerfully, and her eyes snapped up towards the source of the noise. "I was beginning to think you'd never wake up." There was a man sitting in a chair across from her; tan and gloriously shirtless. The portion of his torso that was visible above the tabletop was long and chiseled with lean muscle, his spine curved languorously as he leaned back in his chair, and an amused quirk of his thin lips brought out the sharpness of his cheekbones. Straight black hair fell down to just above his angular jaw. In fact, he would have been utterly breathtaking had it not been for...

"Your

eyes,"

she whispered. Although they were pleasantly almond-shaped, the irises and pupils were terribly pale---almost milky-white.

"The better to see you with," he teased lightly, and she watched uncertainly as he tilted an oyster shell towards his waiting lips. The tip of his pink tongue flitted out as he sipped at its insides, and she gazed at her surroundings in confusion. They seemed to be back in the ballroom of the ship, but now the mirrors that lined the walls were webbed with cracks, and the enormous crystal chandelier lay abandoned on the floor. Glittering pieces of it were scattered across the maroon carpet. The only light in the room seemed to come from a pair of windows behind the ruined stage, and it bathed the area in the orange glow of twilight. The entire hall was now slanted at a sharp angle, and the chair he was in was pressed up against a wall. Water was rippling all over the carpet, and it seemed to get deeper where the floor slanted lower. She was splayed out on a table in front of him, and she raised her eyebrows when she realized that the surface in front of her toes was piled high with oysters, caviar, grapes, and slivers of expensive-looking cheese. A couple of wine bottles glittered near his elbow. "No use letting all of this go to waste," he added once he had swallowed. As he spoke, the light glinted unsettlingly off of his strong white teeth.

"What...what happened?" she asked frantically, straightening up with some effort. "I remember the ship breaking...and...and that

thing,"

she continued in a tiny, trembling voice. "Is everyone---?"

"Dead? I'm afraid so," he replied. Jodie felt the blood drain from her face. He didn't seem put off by that at all---in fact, he seemed to address the tragedy with a sort of casual candor. "The beasts in these waters don't take kindly to intruders. And they've been so hungry lately." He calmly tipped another oyster shell against his mouth and slurped up its contents.

"But then..." Jodie's brows furrowed in incredulity, and her lips quivered as she tried to absorb the enormity of her situation. "But then, how am I...?"

"I saw you treading water," he explained, propping his elbows on the table and leaning forward. He smiled at her and she regarded him distrustfully. "I thought that you had lovely ankles." Something cool and slick touched her left ankle as he spoke, and she took in a sharp intake of breath before drawing her foot back quickly. When she glanced down at the thing that had tried to capture her foot, a low sound of terror rasped from her lips. A tapered, black, snake-like thing was curled on the surface of the table, and as she watched, it slid back over the side and out of sight. The man in front of her didn't seem to pay it any mind.

"What the fuck," she finally said slowly. Her brain was screaming at her to run, but her body wouldn't cooperate. It was like every monster dream she had ever experienced, where something was chasing her and her legs had turned into useless pillars of jelly. He leaned back and seized one of the bottles of wine, tilting the mouth of it against the rim of an empty glass and pouring in a steady stream until it was half full.

"Wine?" he offered, and she watched in horror as another tentacle, black and striped with rows of thick suckers, snaked up from beneath him and wrapped around the stem of the glass. He leaned his chin against the palm of one hand to watch her intently, and it lifted the glass and brought the rim of it very close to Jodie's lips. She scuttled back a few inches. Her body felt weak.

"N-no," she stuttered. She was suddenly very aware of how quiet the ship was. It felt like the calm before a very violent storm.

"Suit yourself." The glass dropped with a crash that split the silence of the hall, and Jodie screamed as another pair of tentacles shot towards her and wound tightly around her calves. She pulled back her legs and tore wildly at the slippery bonds with her fingers, but in a fraction of a second, two more had seized her wrists. They wrestled her down so she was lying flat against the table, and she let out a yelp as the tentacle that had just offered her wine snaked towards the neckline of her dress. With a jerk, it split the fabric down the middle, leaving her bare save for her bathing suit. Then the limb crept to the bikini ties on either side of her hips and unfastened them with a disconcerting sort of deftness, and another squirmed underneath her to untie her top. She twisted and jerked in his grip as the fabric slid off her skin and onto the table and exposed her completely, but the muscular limbs held her fast.

"Stop,"

she begged, her eyes welling up with hot tears. "Please..." Two of the tentacles began to squeeze and pull curiously at her breasts, and she choked out a little cry as the tips encircled her nipples and tugged gently. Another slid up the length of her thigh, and she jerked in surprise at the sensation. Despite the pure, unadulterated terror that was stabbing at her heart like a million little pins, an unexpected warmth was rising inside of her. To her horror, she felt a certain heat blossoming in between her legs as he touched her, and she struggled in his grasp as a black tip began to tease cleverly against her clit. She gazed up at him imploringly and saw that he was lazily reclined in his chair, watching the scene in front of him with thinly-veiled interest, like she was a show being put on just for him. His lips parted slightly as the thing wriggling in between her legs pressed against her entrance, and then she shuddered as it wormed its way inside of her.

She moaned as she felt it curl against her tightness and he watched her greedily, bringing a glass of wine to his mouth and taking a long draught. The two tentacles at her chest continued to maul her breasts, squeezing hard and rolling her nipples, and her head lolled to the side as the appendage inside of her began to fuck her slowly. Moisture was beginning to trickle between her thighs, and shame constricted her chest when she realized that it wasn't from him. Eager to join its brother's exploration, another black, slimy tip began to brusquely work its way into her passage. A few inches slipped in tightly and she bucked against him, sobbing out wordless pleas. She saw his lips curve into a little smile, and his pale eyes were practically burning as the second invading protrusion shoved into her as far as it would go.

Pain made her hands ball into fists, and a trembling sound of agony left her lips. The tapered pillars of flesh slipped partially out of her, but her relief was short-lived. With a fluid thrust, they shoved themselves urgently back into her only fractions of a second later. They filled her up, slick against her walls as they rubbed against a part of her that she didn't know existed, one that elicited a sort of hot, pulling sensation from somewhere just below her belly. Then they slid out again, and she shut her eyes tightly as they slammed back into her.

"Ahhh,"

she choked as he began to move them faster, pounding them into her with a violent sort of need, making her legs convulse with every thrust. The others tugged insistently at her breasts, and her breath began to come in short, choppy bursts. Despite her horror, her insides were becoming molten-hot, and the sting was being replaced by a sort of heady, warm, slowness. She gazed at him pleadingly as he caught a single grape between his long fingers and popped it into his mouth. His eyes rose to watch her while she trembled and thrashed from his ministrations, and the savage way that she was being pleasured and the sheer voracity in his stare was just...too much. She came with a frantic intensity that she had never experienced before, her limbs going limp with release as every muscle in her body tensed and uncoiled. He took in a steady hiss of a breath between his teeth as he felt her passage constrict and throb, and in a flash, the thick tendrils that had bound her wrists and ankles had flipped her onto her stomach.

Her body jerked as the invading limbs slid out of her, and she gazed up at her reflection in the mirrored wall across from her. Although her skin was pale, her cheeks were lit with a feverish pink, and she watched in faint amazement as the ropy tentacles that had been toying with her breasts moved to slither briefly around her neck, her waist, her arms, covering her with smooth touches. They released her ankles and she rose onto her hands and knees, but his hold on her wrists kept her still. She watched her reflection's face flush when she realized that her backside was completely exposed to him. A pair of warm palms abruptly grabbed twin handfuls of her buttocks and spread her open, and her skin broke into gooseflesh as she heard him make a low noise of appreciation. One of the tendrils knotted itself into her mussed hair to jerk her head back, and behind her reflection in the mirror, she saw one of the nefarious feelers rise to inspect her. She flinched as the tip of the tendril probed against the tight, pink bud of her ass, and the others held her wrists and head fast when she tried to jerk away.

"Wait, wait, wait," she said hastily, her voice trembling. "You can't---I haven't ever---" She was cut off as several thick inches of inky black flesh slipped into her open mouth, stopping just before the back of her throat. It moved in a disturbingly longing way over her tongue, caressing her mouth like a lover.

"Just relax," he said soothingly, and she gave a strangled wail as the tip of the protuberance wetly circled her puckered entrance. Her hands clenched against the wooden surface of the table, and the hold on her wrists tightened warningly.

"Relax,"

he repeated, his voice barely more than a breath as the tentacle began to apply a fervent sort of pressure. The first half inch of it wriggled tightly into her, and she let out an agonized groan at the invasion. He removed his hands, and she heard the creak of wood as he leaned back in his chair. It paused for a fraction of a second, and she desperately willed her muscles to loosen like he had told her to. Her shoulders finally drooped compliantly, and she closed her eyes.

Without warning, it suddenly plunged into her, and she screamed around the gelatinous flesh that had filled her mouth. Slowly, it slithered further and further into her ass, and her shoulders shook as she felt herself stretch to tightly envelop its width. The sensation was alien and strange and utterly painful, and her chest heaved in a grateful sob when it finally stopped moving. Then it was sliding leisurely out, and, when only the tip of it remained, it slowly---

so

slowly---slipped back into her until she was completely filled again. Another wormed its way into her sex as he continued his torturous movements, and she quivered as it began to writhe inside of her lazily, feeling around for the spots that made her jump and twitch. To her horror, she realized that she could practically feel the two rubbing against one another, separated only by a thin wall of flesh. The tapered limb that was gagging her began to slide in and out of her lips, and her eyes rolled back into her head as another two snaked down to fondle her breasts. They moved in unison; using her, pleasuring her, all at an agonizingly lazy pace.

Behind her, she thought she heard a low noise rumble in his throat. "You feel so

perfect,"

he groaned. The feelers that held her wrists constricted a little tighter against her skin as he spoke, like fists clenching. A tendril that wasn't doing horrible things to her rippled gently over her spine and shoulders as if in reassurance, and she felt her body go a little limp.

A tear rolled down the curve of her cheek, half from resignation and half from the waves of pleasure that were crashing relentlessly down on her. Nothing on the planet was supposed to feel this good. She had never been this

full

before...

"Come again for me," he crooned softly, and there was a faint strain in his tone that hadn't been there before. The limb that had been clutching at her hair lowered to circle her clit. Her whole body quivered and she let out another smothered moan, and her unsteadiness seemed to excite him. "I want to see you shake," he breathed, and his pace quickened eagerly. Her stomach lurched as she looked up at her reflection and saw a frail, trembling girl staring back at her with enormous blue eyes; her wrists bound firmly in front of her by a pair of living, writhing restraints; her body lurching forward rhythmically from the thrusts of the limbs that were pounding steadily into her; her lips stretched helplessly around the thick length of flesh that was thudding against the back of her throat.